Why (or why not) to vote for Bernie Sanders

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Despite my current political position as an ‘Anarchist who votes’, I never joined the Labour party to vote in the leadership elections. I had too many mixed feelings about it. I expect I would have been in the #labourpurge if I had though.

But not Toby Young, although his father was an influential member of the Labour party.

I have a friend who went to school in Dartington, according to her Lord Young was a nice guy but Toby was always an arsehole.

(I’m currently on a mental health break from anything resembling news, so I can’t guarantee I will see much going on here until the start of September)

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Given everything this place supposedly cares about, you should already be up to the 20th article.

WTF.

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Another endorsement for Bernie:

Cornel West Endorses Bernie Sanders, Calls Him a 'Prophetic Politician’

“Bernie has authenticity and integrity, whereas Trump is for real but not for right,” writes the activist.

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/cornel-west-endorses-bernie-sanders-calls-him-prophetic-politician

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I love this. For real but not for right is exactly what I’ve been thinking about Trump. He’s the funhouse mirror reflection of Sanders.

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What if it actually came down to Trump v. Sanders. Clinton keeps treading water over the email scandal, and Jeb Bush keeps saying stupid ass things…

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And, I respect this other message from West:

I think more progressives need to understand that supporting Bernie Sanders does not mean one supports the current, two party system. In reality, Sanders is an Independent running against an establishment Democrat as a Democratic reformer. Supporting Bernie Sanders to win the White House is support for opening doors to progressive third party growth in the near future.

EDIT: Just also read this great interview with Cornel West

Cornel West Talks About Endorsing Bernie Sanders, Black Lives Matter and Donald Trump

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[quote=“Mindysan33, post:397, topic:59394”]
What if it actually came down to Trump v. Sanders
[/quote]Sanders would beat Trump if that was to happen. Sanders will beat any Republican contender in a landslide, for that matter.

I tend to think Trump will more likely end up running as a third party candidate. Then again, as you’ve noted, the Republican party is in so much moronic turmoil it wouldn’t completely shock me to see Trump get the nomination at this point.

In the meantime, the corporate media has absolutely embarrassed themselves when it comes to their rampant downplaying of the Sanders’ campaign. I thought his “surge” (which in reality has been a steady, perpetual climb) was supposed to have been over quite a while ago? Hmmm…

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source

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Yeah, I think Sanders would just crush Trump in the election. It would be a really crazy election, though. Two honest candidates - One honestly believes that democracy can work and America can serve the American people, the other honestly believes that the rich should rule and that Mexicans and women should be put in their place.

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I watched Back to the Future II last night, and the alternate 1985 looked like how I imagine 2020 would look under Trump.

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oh wow. trump. is. biff.

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Rich Biff, from alternate 1985.

BTW, I flagged your post to suggest that BB henceforth refer to Trump as Biff Tannen.

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You’d probably really enjoy this interview with Cornel West I just read:

Cornel West Talks About Endorsing Bernie Sanders, Black Lives Matter and Donald Trump

excerpt:

" … I think the problem, as you can imagine, is, with Donald Trump, you’ve got somebody who is xenophobic shot through with a nativistic hostility toward immigrants. I mean, these attacks on our precious Mexican brothers and sister are just pathetic. Nobody really wants to talk about his blessed mother, Mary Anne with an “e” who was born in Scotland, or his grandfather Friedrich Drumpf — D-R-U-M-P-F. Trump is an Anglicized name from “Drumpf,” but his grandfather arrived in 1885 from Germany, and if the nativistic voices had been in place when his grandfather or when his mother arrived, they never would’ve got here.

I come from a people who have been here for 400 years. Black people built America in so many ways, along with white immigrants. But especially the slaves’ free labor built America. It’s just amazing to me that somebody like Trump — who just got here — becomes, in his mind, the definitive definer of who ought to get here.

The same is true in terms of his complicity with plutocratic corruption. He says, I have been a donor, I have been a participant in this corrupt system for 30 years. But all of a sudden now he’s going to make America great again?

No. Plutocratic corruption of government is unpatriotic. I don’t know how you’re going to be so much in love with America but you’re participating in plutocratic corruption of the system and then you wake up now 30 years later and say, “Lo and behold, I’m going to be the savior of overcoming the corruption.” No, that lacks integrity.

He has authenticity, but he doesn’t have integrity. Bernie Sanders has authenticity, but he’s also got integrity. Integrity, of course, doesn’t mean that you agree with everything that a politician does. But it’s just so rare that you get authenticity and integrity. With Trump, you get authenticity with no integrity. "

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Well, fortunately for us, Bernie Sanders will beat Trump in a landslide if Trump is to acquire the Republican nomination. Of course, if we’re still to believe the corporate media, Sanders still has no hope against Hillary anyway, so I guess we should all pack it up…

I suppose I’m just hallucinating all these polls from up to literally yesterday…

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friends don’t let friends use 3-D arrows.

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A number of these polls suggest that there are a lot of people who still aren’t that aware of Sanders, but are well aware of Clinton and may still see her as the only viable candidate - which leaves a lot of room for that gap to close. I can’t vote, but I’ve been trying to convince my (Republican) wife and in-laws to vote Sanders - if only for the chance of a more (small d) democratic control over politics and the economy and greater civil freedoms in other areas.

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Updated for today, Aug 31st. Thank you, you’re right. No one should use 3-D arrows; only blinking 3-D arrows will do.

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Meanwhile, Stephen Colbert is feeling the Bern:

More name recognition.

Indeed, and as we’ve already seen… the more name recognition Sanders acquires, the more he continues to make strident gains against Hillary while she’s continuing her persistent, downward spiral.

Polls have shown that Hillary Clinton’s name is synonymous with “untrustworthy” for many Americans. She really can’t shake that accurate label as time and her pandering goes on. Meanwhile, Sanders’ name is synonymous with “integrity” and people catch on to that fact the more they get to know his record and character.

And, with that said, Bernie Sanders will be a household name for most Americans in a few months from now. For example, Sanders is one of Colbert’s first few guests on his new show this month.

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While I’ve got Photoshop open, throw up this rough 'shop…

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Weird thing is though, he wants to tax the rich and spend on welfare. I didn’t notice that until recently…

Very strange; it’s tough to know quite what to make of Trump, except that he’s a nightmare for the Republicans :smile:

Scott Adams thinks highly of him.

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I really think he’s playing it by ear, with a strategy to ride this wave he’s found himself on as long as possible. It doesn’t matter to him what that takes. Independent? If needed, sure. Becomes irrelevant if he doesn’t take a veep slot? He’ll do it.

Whatever it takes to stay on that wave.

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Another endorsement:

And this:

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