Senator Bernie Sanders will speak to his followers nationwide from Washington, D.C., next week Wednesday, August 24, at 8 p.m. Central/7 p.m. Mountain. The speech kicks off a new organizing movement dubbed “Our Revolution.” As of yesterday, over 2,000 supporters had signed up to host viewing parties across the country. A South Dakota for Bernie Sanders events page lists eight Sanders events in our fair state:
- Aberdeen: contact Amy Dunlavy
- Brookings: contact Kathy Gustafson
- Colman: contact Deborah Blissmer
- Elk Point: contact Liz Hajovsky
- Mission: contact Olivia Dhaliwal
- Rapid City: contact Eric Terrell
- Sioux Falls: contact Ellee Spawn
- Vermillion: contact Mark Winegar
As I campaign, I hear a lot of voters say they aren’t happy with either major-party candidate for President. I tell those voters I understand their frustration, then give them the advice that Bernie Sanders himself and I have been giving my fellow Berniecrats all summer: focus your positive, progressive energy on this year’s down-ticket races and organizing and recruiting for the 2018 races. That’s how you build a foundation to elect the President you really want next time.
Liberals in my circle are supporting the Green Party’s Jill Stein, Cory.
Stein for President that is, we’ll always be Bernie supporters also, of course.
Bernie supporters who reject Hillary are rejecting Bernie himself. It is hard to understand how anyone can form the belief in their own mind that they will “always be Bernie supporters” if they reject out of hand Bernie’s most recent and sincere entreaty to his supporters and the American people:
https://www.theguardian.com/global/video/2016/jul/12/sanders-clinton-endorsement-progressive-platform
At about 1 minute into his speech Bernie says “there is no doubt in my mind that Hillary Clinton is the best candidate” to accomplish the progressive agenda that Bernie and his progressive supporters are fighting for. For those folks who believe Bernie to be honest and support his agenda, one might speculate that his view point praising Hillary and urging support for Hillary would actually carry a great deal of weight and strongly influence their voting choice.
If you want to be like Bernie – be a Democrat!
I know Bernie supporters who are ok with voting Hillary. It’s really not a problem.
I saw a Jill Stein interview yesterday about YouTube talking on Hillary’s emails. Stein doesn’t whip a dead horse very well at all. I thought it was cheap, dishonest, and actually sort of disgusting.
Revolutionaries don’t vote for Hillary. More war, more Wall Street— that’s what Hillary is about.
Steve Hickey,
It seems that you would be more worried about your disgusting candidate Donald Trump is saying and doing.
The biggest plus Hillary has going is she is not Donald Trump.
Steve, I think you are mistaken in your description of what Hillary is all about. War, guns, munitions, defense spending are classic interests that Republicans fight for, not Democrats like Hillary. Tax cuts for the wealthy has been a Republican promise for years and Trump is no exception. Removing regulations from Wall Street is another Republican principle, not a Democrat theme.
Here is a fairly comprehensive analysis based on Hillary’s own public statements about her views on War and Peace issues.
http://www.ontheissues.org/2016/Hillary_Clinton_War_+_Peace.htm
As for Wall Street interests, the likelihood that Hillary will fight for the rich on Wall Street and abandon the middle class and the poor seems much less likely compared to the likelihood that a President Trump or any Republican in our little State will fight for the rich and work to remove government programs and protections designed to help the poor and middle class.
No worries, this is no attempt to create another third party candidate. We are participating in Vermillion by watching Bernie’s talk but the real agenda is organizing support for progressive down-ballot candidates like Cory, Shane Merrill, and I.
It is not about politics at all. There is a new Colonel Sanders in town who wants to “revolutionize” the fast food industry with free range chickens.
Steve Hickey, you are going to throw stones at Hillary Clinton for wars? Bush invaded Iraq and Afghanistan. Clinton just gave him the power to make the decision in the best interests of our country.
Your GOP nominee for president was for the war in Iraq until it went badly under Bush and then he was for pulling the troops out of Iraq quickly. Bush made an agreement to do so, and when Iraq started blowing up again, then Trump criticized pulling the troops out too quickly.
Trump was for overthrowing Momarr Gaddafi in Libya and then after the overthrow of Gaddafi Trump said we shouldn’t have overthrown Gaddafi.
Trump has been on both sides of every major military decision that the country has made in the last 20 years. And he was always for the war before he was against the war. What a revelation he is!
You see Trump is used to not living with consequences of the bad decisions that he makes. Trump pays too much for a piece of real estate in a down market, what does he do? Declare bankruptcy! Cost overruns on a real estate development, what does he do? He doesn’t pay the contractors! Casinos not making enough money in Atlantic city, what does he do? He doesn’t pay the state of New Jersey for the taxes his businesses owe the state and he fights in court until Chris Christie becomes governor and Trump’s taxes are reduced to 16 cents on the dollar; $25 million in taxes are forgiven.
What happens when Trump says he is for the war in Iraq and it goes badly under Bush? Trump says he was against the war!
If Hillary was actually for the rich, the wars and for Wall Street like everyone claims, Republicans would be stepping over each other to vote for her.
Too many years ago, several of us worked to get the New Democratic Coalition going. Jim Nelson, now deceased, and myself went to a convention in Minneapolis which was very interesting. We and others got several large meetings going in SD and my have kept a few people still involved with the Democratic Party. In SD, that party still included some old opponents of FDR trying to stifle McGovern even as face to face they practically licked his shoes with pandering.
I hope the Bernie people keep stirring, but also realize that Trump is a dangerous alternative even if they and I do not fully believe Hillary will change her spots and push for sensible liberal and progressive ideas which don’t necessarily benefit Wall Street brokers and bankers.
“Revolutionaries don’t vote for Hillary. More war, more Wall Street— that’s what Hillary is about.”
You can’t be serious, Mr. Hickey. Trump’s already making his clothing in China and Bangladesh, proposing big tax cuts for the 1%, asking why we don’t use our nukes, ticking off the Muslim workd, and inviting Putin to invade our deadbeat NATO allies if he’s elected. If Hillary is for Wall Street, Trump’s way more for Wall Street. If Hillary is for war, Trump is for nuclear WWIII. You think you’re safe in Scotland?
Dang it, dang it, dang it! Bernie is trying to mobilize action down ticket, and folks keep turning the discussion back to Clinton/Trump/Stein. Folks organizing Wednesday’s meeting need to tell attendees to leave that discussion at the door and focus on how to elect Sandernista (bone thrown from the Carter-Reagan era) progressives to state and local offices. Wednesday’s meetings are about practically advancing a political agenda of reform/revolution, not about who’s at the top of the ticket and counting how many devils can dance on the heads of each lesser-evil pin.
Back on topic maybe, I’ll note that one of the reasons that the two major parties continue to dominate the political scene in America is because one of the major parties often adopts the good ideas of the minor parties. In that vein, I’ll continue to argue that Bernie’s revolution continues to greater effect in the agenda of the Democratic party and to the extent the Democratic party succeeds, Bernie’s revolution will succeed. Most Bernie supporters understand this.
Down ticket support is fine for Berniecrats, but if Bernie supporters want to have any hope of pursuing a progressive agenda, it has to start at the top-the presidency. Bernie understands this. Foisting oneself on the Jill Stein petard is not going to bring progressive changes to Washington. If Hillary wins, Berniecrats will have a voice in policy-making and there will be progressives in cabinet posts. If Trump wins, Berniecrats will have no voice and the 1% will be in control once again.
Bernie is trying to put the attention on the down ticket. Frankly the presidential race is going just about as badly as it can go for both candidates. Clinton is ahead, barely and if she wants to stay that way, she is going to have to give up her anchor. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/21/us/politics/hillary-clinton-presidential-campaign-charity.html?_r=0
There is an old saying that kind of goes, you are what you eat. Clinton needs to go on a diet from the foundation and shut it down, now.