Informing Everyone--Feeling the Bern

It's all about sharing information, telling what you know about the truth of Bernie Sanders and the state of our country, our world, with others. So, open your mind and consider how one Bernie supporter does it in the video below...

 
Perhaps the most mind-blowing thing about Bernie Sanders' run for the White House is how many ordinary Americans are willing to go out of their normal routine to  share Bernie's message with other voters. One such group of amazing Bernie supporters is Black Men for Bernie.

Watch and share their videos and check them out when they come to your town. These guys are powerful witnesses and tell it like it is. (Another great video of them in action in Detroit is here.) 

For those of you who are into "apps" on your iPhone, fellow Bernie supporter Michie has created the ultimate "Meet Bernie" app to help you share him with your voting friends and family. Download it at the iTune store here. Michie says, "It is intended for more people to be informed on who Bernie is and what is his stand on the issues." Thank you for sharing your talent with us all, Michie!

A functional democracy takes participation... Are you participating like the Black Men for Bernie and Michie? Are you actively informing your fellow voters about Bernie?  If you're feeling the Bern, don't keep it to yourself! Get out there and talk about our next president with everyone you meet. Phonebank and Facebank  and text your enthusiasm to other voters if you can't leave your home. No excuses! Here's a link to get started.

In this week's blog we feature some vital information we encourage you to share freely with other voters. Remember: an informed voter is a wise voter, and an informed electorate makes for a better America. #FeeltheBern and get in the game for Bernie!

The Clintons, the Black Vote, and the For-Profit Prison Industry
by Adam Rose

The refrain we hear from major media outlets is that Hillary Clinton is sweeping the Black vote in South Carolina and throughout the U.S.  Bernie Sanders is making inroads with the younger generation across racial divides. However, the majority of African-American voters still lean heavily towards Clinton.  Why is Clinton receiving so much support from this particular minority group?

For starters, there has long been a strong emotional bond with Bill Clinton, and by association Hillary, extended from the Black community.  Toni Morrison famously dubbed him the nation’s first Black President (years before Obama literally achieved that title).  Bill played jazz saxophone, one of his best golf buddies – Vernon Jordan – was Black, he spoke like a true Southern Baptist, and he was persecuted by the hypocritical Republicans for sexual indiscretions.  All of these elements, along with Bill Clinton’s improvisational and empathetic oratorio style, brought him acceptance and cultural identification from this group.

But the facts of the matter suggest a different and more disturbing narrative.  Bill Clinton, one of the first “centrist” Democrats, was the leading Democrat to co-opt the “tough on crime” narrative from the Republican playbook.  This platform included a lot of macho talk about “gangbangers”, “thugs” and “super-predators.” (This term was notoriously used by Hillary in speeches given to white senior citizens during Bill’s primary battles.)  It called for mandatory sentencing, draconian penalties for repeat offenders (the famous “three strikes and you’re out” policy) and targeted inner city minorities.

While the language itself contained some thinly veiled racism, the practice of implementing this policy was overtly racist.  The police departments, responsible for enforcing this policy at the ground level, focused their efforts on inner city criminals – low level street dealers mostly.  As a result, the prison population boomed, overcrowding became an issue, and thousands of Black and Hispanic offenders began serving decades long sentences.

The War on Drugs hyped by the elder Bush grew exponentially under the first Clinton.  Not only has it helped keep the price of street drugs high --and the profits rolling in to the big importers and distributors-- it has allowed the prison industry to reap enormous profits on the back end. 

Since Bill Clinton came into power, building prisons has been a sure way for investors to reap great returns.  Even a real estate baron like Donald Trump needs to hire an army of agents, marketers and PR firms to convince the public to freely buy into his bloated vision of gold-plated luxury.  Finding tenants for your prison development is less of a challenge.  There are no credit checks to run, and no financial vetting of any kind since the taxpayer is guaranteed to foot the bill.  All you need is a judge to render a guilty verdict, and you’ve got an 100% guaranteed tenant for years to come.

Management costs are also kept to a minimum.  First off, they are covered by the taxpayer, which further increases the profit margin.  Even so, what is a prisoner going to do if he loses hot water for a couple weeks?  Put his rent in an escrow account until the problem is rectified?  If the heat goes out for a few days in winter, will the inmates call the Better Business Bureau to register a formal complaint?

Building and managing prisons have surely become one of the booming industries of America.  Since our corrupt politicians select the firms who receive the taxpayer funds, there is limited free-market competition.  (As much as big business loves to preach to the public about free-market competition they do everything in their power to avoid it.)  A small percentage of the profits need only to be recycled back into campaign donations to keep the gravy train rolling.

Bill Clinton was a big factor in enabling this predatory industry, and Hillary Clinton has banked a hefty share of contributions from it along the way.  Black America would be wise to look beyond Bill’s cultural innuendo and Hillary’s charismatic platitudes and delve into the actual policy and its disastrous effects on the populace.  But as long as big media continues to extend a free pass on this topic, the chances of real inquiry are diminished.  However, as Bernie continues to raise the relevant issues and hammer away at the decades long Clinton mystique, there is hope that true progress can be made.

Bio: Adam Rose enjoys thinking, talking and writing about politics.  He is feeling the Bern because he values Bernie’s integrity and commitment and believes that a Bernie administration would significantly improve the economic, cultural and political climate in America.

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PBS political pundit Mark Shields recently wrote an essay entitled The Crackpot Idea of Free College Tuition  wherein he made the fascinating discovery that Bernie Sanders is not the first senator to propose free college tuition for all qualified American students. He's not even the first person from Vermont to do so, either!

This fascinating story explores how the first public colleges in the United States and how the historically Black land-grant colleges came about. You'll be surprised how and when it happened, too. What Bernie proposes about providing free education for all qualified students through college is nothing radical, and furthermore, it's very fitting with American tradition to do so.

Justin Smith Morrill, 1810 - 1898

Free Public Colleges? 

Another Great Senator from Vermont Thought of It First

by Peg O'Harrow and Norman Wilsman

With Bernie Sanders running on a platform of providing free tuition at public colleges, we are reminded of another senator from Vermont.  Vermont was and is allocated only one  member in the House.  Representative Justin Morrill (later Senator Morrill) lead a revolution in public education in the United States in 1862 by implementing the idea of the federal government gifting a grant of land to each of the states for the purpose of supporting public college education, specifically in the areas of agriculture, human ecology, engineering and military science.  Part of the rationale for this act was the ecological disaster of over-farming the land in the East.  The name of this act is the Morrill Act of 1862.

States were allowed to use their grant of land as it best met their needs.  Many states used their land grant to create a new university.  Iowa created Iowa State, Pennsylvania, Penn State to name two of many familiar examples of land-grant schools.  Other states used proceeds from the sale of their grant of land to enhance existing schools.  Rutgers and the Universities of Vermont, Illinois and Minnesota are examples.

In Reno, Nevada, the first building completed at the University of Nevada in 1887 (and still standing) is named Morrill Hall, and once it housed the entire university.  In South Carolina, Thomas Clemson, mining engineer and progressive farmer, also observed the poor state of agriculture and worked with Morrill to craft the Morrill Act. Clemson offered his own land so that South Carolina could use the land-grant, and in 1889 Clemson University (at the time known as Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina) was created.  Indiana’s story is similar. John Purdue donated the land, and Purdue University, Indiana’s land-grant institution, was born.

The 1862 Morrill Act was followed by the Hatch Act 1887 (William Hatch from Missouri) and a second Morrill Act of 1890 lead to a system of agricultural experiment stations in each state and the creation of seventeen historically black land-grant colleges.  I live in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin a few miles south of our Door County Peninsula Agricultural Station on Highway 42.

This revolution in public education is credited to the vision and values of a single legislator from Vermont.  The stories of how that original idea expanded throughout the country are the stories of the rest of us.  What are the odds that one Vermont senator could initiate and lead a political revolution?  I believe that all of us, behind one authentic political leader, Bernie Sanders, can bring about this political revolution. We did it in 1862. We can do the same in 2016.

Bio: We know this story.  Peg's Dad was a member of the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin.  Norm is a former member of the administration at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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This Woman is Bernie Strong! 
a weekly commentary by a female Bernie supporter

Moving Away from the For-Profit Model

by Effie Papadopoulos

There are some things that are best offered as institutions not tainted by for-profit existence:

1. Public education. We as Americans have raised the bar for job requirements or just evolved technologically to the point where we must level up in training, a minimum four years of public college as  in Europe. The Federal government making  a business of enslaving me to student loan debt so I can earn a degree means the government owns me. That is just not cool. If I have the ability and motivation to stay in school and do well academically, why can't I afford it without a loan from the government, private bank or anyone? 

Maybe I am doing something stupid or schools are just charging too much for tuition. Of course, the content of what is being taught comes up for debate. I've learned from experience, formal education, informal education and by being a diligent seeker of knowledge. In order to improve my individual situation, I decide what I want to do because I have the liberty to do so. I stop and help others along the way. It's the kind thing to do.

2. Health and rehabilitation when there are for-profit reasons, "for-humanity" reasons, decreases. Healthcare for profit institutions are making it so healthcare costs too much. Can we stop this?

3. Incarceration, physical and debt. The rate of people in prison in America is more than anywhere else in the world. What type of example are we setting? Student loan debt is just as debilitating as a prison record. See #1 again.

Campaign finance reform is a first root solution. One to three are systemic issues, and in order for the individual to be empowered again, we may have to collectively evolve ourselves to be better.

Equality. Don't be fooled by the wool being pulled over your eyes. Income inequality is what the top 1% want us to have. They throw out drama of other forms of inequality in order for us to lose sight of income inequality and pettily argue among ourselves. We must unite.

Bio: Effie says, "I was born in Connecticut. My parents were born in Greece, but we are all American or Greek-American, however, it gets labeled :)

I had an Indian-American this weekend get started with phone banking. He did excellent on the phone and we joked how he sounded like a Dell Customer Support rep. 

Lots of diversity, even an Irish-American has been over to my place to phone bank. Lots of cool accents and voices supporting Bernie over the phone and on social media. Bottom-line, we are all human and have to behave in a way that sets a positive example for humanity."

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Voters in KY, OR, CA, ND, SD, MT, NM--get to the polls! 

 Everyone else--phonebank, Facebank, text, canvass and share Bernie with your friend and family in these states. No excuses! July is just around the corner.

And introducing BernBank.com
Bernie Sanders only needs two things to win in California: phonebankers and donors. Pledge to donate 1 to 5 cents for every caller who makes 30 calls for Bernie at http://bernbank.com/