Comments by "Xyz Same" (@xyzsame4081) on "Bernie Sanders"
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The Republicans have a whole system of voter suppression / stealing of elections, it is death by 1000 cuts. - The Corporate Dems keep deafening silence on that (almost all of them) - they have to please the SAME donors. In a "populist / progressive" emergency the Corporate Dems use those tactics as well. (Greg Palast spoke about mass purges of poor Latinos in New Mexico so an establishment candidate would win the primary. Or the preemtive purge in Brooklyn targetting Sanders. It would have been devastating for Clinton if she would have lost New York after she had been Senator.
The role of the Corporate Dems is to win primaries and keep progressives away from power, so they steal those not so much the GE (that is a Republican speciality).
Now when it comes to defeating Sanders the establishment of both parties might cooperate (in the primaries AND in the GE).
You bet Pelosi, Mr.Wallstreet Schumer, the Clinton machine, .... would rather have 4 more years of Trump than win the presidency and down ballot with Sanders. They and the corporate "liberal" media would not admit that of course.
Ratings for the media clutching their pearls (Trump bad, Russia, Russia), big donations rolling in as usual, the big shots in the party keep their seats in elections or get a cushy job provided by the big donors in case they lose.
All can keep the Trump tax cuts, there will not be the moment of truth where Democrats would have the power to undo them (but won't). If the Republicans run the show they can wring their hands. And do nothing else.
The ideal scenario from the point of view of Corporate Dems is to have the presidency and both houses but only with a tiny majority. There will alway be some (very gladly tolerated / encouraged) blue dogs who vote against the party and the interests of common people and with the Republicans.
That was exactely the situation when Obama purported wanting to do "bipartisan" regarding healthcare reform - despite having a majority in Congress and Senate and a resounding mandate by the voters (and that Republicans did not look good after 8 years of Cheney / Bush).
Never mind Republican members of Congress and Senate immediately had voiced their intent to NOT let have Obama any successes (so they fiercly opposed ACA, which is version of Romney Care, and like Romney Care based on a 1990s plan of the Heritage Foundation, which is a right wing think tank. HF developed that plan to counteract the initiative of Hillary Clinton to get healthcare reform - her plan would ALSO have let the private insurers have a major part of the "market" so it wasn't that good either).
Obama had sold out on the campaign trail already, it was his role to deflate the energy of the movement (the big donors are uneasy about organized mass movements). They did so by dragging out the process to get to a reform and letting the Republicans participate in developing the bill - but of course they only watered down what was an initially weak proposal. And still did not vote for it.
That effort of Obama on behalf of the big donors was succesful. Dems passed ACA (not even with a public options which is a very weak reform anyway - NOW it is sold as "alternative" to a genuine reform - 10 years after the Dems kiled it from the ACA bill).
ACA was passed despite fierce Repbulican opposition (incl. shutting down the government) when they had 60 filibuster proof days in spring 2010 - then they could have passed any bill - even a GOOD one.
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@tuckercarlson6204 they (Germany 85 million people, France plus 60, Austria plus 8, Netherlands 30 millions) have lots of people with benefits. starting with child benefits (no means testing, so it is like UBI). Think 150 USD and 12 - 14 times per year per child (Germany, Austria)
Everywhere: healthcare free at the point of delivery. It costs per person 49 - 55 % of the U.S. spending per person, it is much more cost efficient because the profiteers are kept at the fringes.
The mandated payroll tax is modest (good for low income people and companies that are not very profitable or just started out). The rest comes from government funding, so that must be generous. NOT as much per person as in the U.S. of course, but still ....
Free higher education (not only university, also lab technicians, massage therapists, ... )
Students get the child benefits longer (still not means tested but they must be enrolled in education / professional training). Students from a low income background (that is up to lower middle class) get extra help (means tested).
Maternity leave, with payments to the partents.
Then rent subsidies for low income people, very affordable childcare (run by non-profits, usually the cities or towns).
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@tuckercarlson6204 Broken promises of Trump: 1) Good and affordable healthcare for all. - Repealing ACA ? Good idea. But ONLY with a backup plan ready to kick in, and a good one at that.
2) Lowering drug prices - nothing happened in 3 years. That would be an easy one. Overhauling the whole system is a big project, but cutting drug prices would be the low hanging fruit.
Would be also politically smart - as very tangible success of his admin, 1 in 4 or 5 persons ration insuline. The exact same brand and volume costs 10 times more in the U.S. than in Canada. That also hits Trump supporters.
BUT: we wouldn't want to offend the swap creatures / big donors, would we ?
3) Promise: tax cut for the middle class not the rich. 80 % are for big biz and the rich - and that tax cut has added more than 1 TRILLION to deficit and debt already - more than expected deficit, mind you.
The cuts for big biz and the rich are permanent, but not those for the regular people. Many people had even a tax increase - if they have a regular income. The local taxes redued the federal tax burden. Of course NORMAL people get something back when their community has tax revenue to spend: streets, libraries, fire fighters, youth programs.
communities that ask middle class citzens to chip in to help good LOCAL services are punished, those voters are punished.
4) No more regime change wars. Meddling in Venezuela ?? I thought the general idea was to NOT have more refugees and migrants and upset in Latin America - so that people stay home and to not migrate to the U.S.
foolish attacks on Syria (Trump said: get the troops out - I'll give him credit he tried "sort of". BOOM "poison gas attack" - and he folded, in spring 2017 and 2018. In other words he was unable to stand up to the war machine.
5) the faiulure in Puerto Rico
6) Mexico will pay for the border wall (no they don't not even if the wall collapses in the wind and falls on their side).
7) bring the troops home. in Syria late 2019: Shuffling the troops AROUND in Syria, doing favors to Erdogan - moving them out of his way when he intended to attack the Kurds.
- the ALLIES of the U.S. - they NOT the U.S. contributed to defeating ISIS in that region.
plus sending U.S. troops to Saudia Arabia as human shields - the Saudis are unable to defend their oil fields from drone attacks.
8) draining the swamp. he FILLED the swamp with more swamp creatures - different than the former set, but they are even worse and brazenly open about their corruption
9) the outsourcing has not stopped, after a little bit of grandstanding the companies are not bothered anymore - not even those who get lots of government contracts ! Some waited until after the 2018 midterms to announce they would move plants, to Mexico for instance.
Trump does not annoy the donors - he wants their big donations for 2020.
10) there was not much investment in the U.S. (the narrative was the tax cut would prompt investement - Trump supporters might naively have assumed that refered to the U.S.), either stock buybacks OR investment in Asia and Mexico
11) no the companies do not pay better wages because of the tax cut, on average they have hardly kept up with inflation.
A few large companies have raised the wages to 15 USD per hour (Disney, Amazon), unions, striking workers and Sanders made that happen, not Trump.
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@Polio Nine Candidates / politicians like Sanders were systematically weeded out from the party. There ARE NO YOUNGER people like him in office, the party establishment made sure of that. The leaders of the Civil Rights Movement were quickly elected into office once black people in the South could vote - but they have arranged themselves more or less with the system. And they are even older than he is.
It was with luck he could have a political career. - Sanders somehow could carve out his niche in Vermont (and survive there while in the country the New Deal was dismantled and neoliberalism took over).
The state is tiny, they have no major industries (read: Big Donors that would interest the D.C. insiders).
In Texas, New York, California, .... a Bernie Sanders would not have become or stayed member of Congress. They would have thrown money into the races against him left right and center
Because VT is so small a transformative mayor of the largest city - of 40,000 people - could win national races with grassroots back in the day (before the internet and independent media).
And he had enough integrity and stubbornness to never sell out.
Many arrived shiny eyed in D.C. but usually they were brought to heel or they feel for the incentives.
Fast.
See Howard Dean. Or Elizabeth Warren.
AOC said she expected pressure but it was even more impactful than she had anticipated. It gave her new appreciation that he had withstood the pressure to conform for so long.
The independent oddball was able to win if a Democrat was not the spoiler in 3 way races. So the DNC ** decided they would not run / finance Democratic candidates against him anymore to avoid unnecessarily losing the seat (his willingness to run third party gave him leverage).
Their condition: that he would caucus with them
The DNC made the state party fall in line with that decisions.
Surly the Democratic establishment in D.C. could tolerate him - what could he do, even if he wasn't in sync with the status quo and ignored how the game was usually played in D.C. ?
That was after the Nov. 1988 election: the Democratic candidate had handed the Congress seat to a Republican. Who won with approx. 35 %, Sanders as Independent with a grassroots campaign not far behind, the Democrat had in the low 20 %.
Sanders won the next race against a Republican in Nov. 1990.
** the state party (the machine, not the base) continued to not like Sanders for many ! years. Now they get along well and he fundraises for them.
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I assume that man voted for Obama - and Obama sold him out (like many other Corporate Democrats - and they are STILL utterly comfortable to "improve" ACA and to misrepresent M4A). The first order for the "reform" in 2009 was to keep the insurers (and also the for-profit hospitals) happy. Not to forget big finance: Wallstreet loves for-profit healthcare as well.
All other nations have taken the for-profit motive out of the equationmany decades ago (especially with "insurance coverage" and hospitals). They set a benchmark and regarding spending they all blow the U.S. out of the water, it is not even close.
Some people testified in 2009 about the advanatages to follow THAT highly successful long time tested model.
Obama and the Democrats ignored it. so the reform was based on a completely corrupted (in more than one sense) foundation and was bound to fail. As years go by, people do not only have "coverage" the need to USE that coverage manifests. So the flaws of the system became apparent within a few years.
Single payer:
4 continents, 70 years, different age structure (Japan the oldes nation, Iceland relatively young population, and outlier in Europe. Many cultures, lifesstyles (diet, alcohol, nicotine, ...) and countries. All developed their systems nationally and independently often grandfathering in existing solutions.
BUT: adhering to some very basic rules, and the interesting thing that the overwhelming majority of wealthy countries is in a narrow range of spending per person 49 - 55 % of what the U.S. is spedning (which was 10,260 USD per person in 2017)
I see these basic and crucial principles reflected in the bill of Sanders and of Pramila Jayapal - all other candidates have flip flopped and violate at least one crucial condition for a successful reform.
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The DNC also has been ignoring all evidence that Republican governed states did a massive voter purge (Operation Crosscheck). The Democratic Party has the same big donors as the Republicans. The financiers do not want the unwashed masses to start questioning the legitimacy of the election process (it is abyssmal, there are states where the U.S. process is more like that in a banana Republic).
Corporate Dems (and especially the party "leadership") take their marching orders, a little complaining about ID laws and gerrymandering - but not a peep about easily ! hackable machines. About whole states where it is impossible to VERIFY the results. In Ohio the safety features of the machines have never been activated.
And the exit poll data are secret as well. The raw data must adjusted - but it would be interesting to see HOW they are adjusted. If that would be public, statisticians could see what is done and if that is plausible. you have to believe that the vote that you enter at the machine and see on the screen / on the print is the same as the data "in the machine", and that the data is also not altered after being sent to the tabulation center.
If there is a print there is at least a chance to do a recount. Still inferior to paper ballot, pen and hand count before witnesses.
There is NO way to verify w/o paper trail.
That is unthinkable in other democracies. - many states are won by 1 % or less - and it is possible to manipulate the exit polling so it could not be detected when the vote count would be manipulated. But even if so - it would be still impossible to prove that the election was stolen, only that result and polling are statistically implausible or impossible.
It would be much harder to pull off in a landslide victory because than the discrepancies would be glaringly obvious - provided the mainstream media would chose to report on that. (they might not when ordered by big donors / big advertisers / rich owners to not rock the boat. They all fall in line when it comes to war propaganda).
Deafening silence of the Democrats on hackable machines and potential (and untedectable) manipulation of the numbers (the change of numbers would be done with the smallest margin possible to not trigger a recount - in order to remain as near as possible to the polling results in order to not raise suspicions).
Greg Palast: Republicans steal elections, Democrats steal primaries. (He did not even refer to 2016, but to a primary in New Mexico: in order to help a neoliberal, Latinos were kicked off the voter rolls in droves).
The Big Donors assign to the Corporate Dems the task to win against progressives in primaries (and in an "progressive emergency" the ability also of Democrats to CHANGE the tabulation would come in handy.
That might explain the silence of the whole Democratic party on election results that cannot be verified.
Of course Dems and Repubs prefer to use methods that are less risky. Voter roll purges by "mistake", or under the pretext to remove people from the lists that have "moved". Or closing down polling stations at universities or in poor areas.
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