A Nation Based on Love

 A Nation Based on Love (Bernie's official press release)

A Nation Based on Love
by Cindy A. Matthews

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. --from 1 Corinthians 13, the "Love Chapter"

Bernie's short press conference regarding the recent tragedy in Orlando says it all. We must create a nation based on love and not hatred, on unity and not division. Those who try to divide us with their unfounded prejudices are not really "American" no matter how many eagles they stitch on their baseball caps or flags they fly in their front yards. These poor souls filled with bigotry are missing the point of America and creating  grief for everyone, including themselves. 

A house divided itself cannot stand. To risk destroying our unity, our community, we risk destroying ourselves in ways not even a madman's bullets or a bigot's hate can destroy. Hatred brings the death of dreams, and without dreamers there is no hope of a better day, no vision for a peaceful tomorrow.

When we take care of each other and our planet, we build a future to believe in that's worth dreaming about and fighting for. Otherwise, it's just plain ol' fighting and killing, a process which generates massive profits for the NRA lobby and the Military Industrial Complex. Enough is enough! It's time we listen to our very wise leader, Senator Bernie Sanders, and work hard to bring about a political revolution before it's too late.

Our sincere condolences to all who lost friends and family in Orlando and quick healing to all who are wounded in body and soul.  As Bernie says, "When you hurt, I hurt." Let us heal together and create a nation based on love. 

Listen to all six minutes of Bernie's press conference: https://youtu.be/WSgFuA502ds




Let's keep working to build a nation based on love. Let's not lose our hope and think we can't elect Bernie Sanders to the highest office in the land. There is still hope. Feel the Bern.

I came a discussion across online recently that helped me understand more about why now more than ever we need to say "Bernie or Bust!" and mean it. Our vote does count, and how we cast it says a lot about ourselves and our dreams of a better future. We must not allow others to bully us and tell us we're "wasting our vote" by voting for Bernie Sanders. But don't take my word for it--these commenters say it much better.

The Bifurcation Fallacy 
"Never fall for the trap of voting for the least worst."~Ralph Nader 

The troll said: "Not voting for Hillary is voting for Trump. As surely as voting for Nader was voting for Bush." To which the commenters replied:

Giovanna X

 Do yourself and the rest of the world a yuge favor and look up "bifurcation fallacy." Logic is a Pure Science, too, and far too few people are trained in the discipline.
 

P. ARTHUR RILEY

So far as I can tell...

Some here are advancing the discredited lesser of two evils fallacy coupled with the false equivalency by arguing not voting for Hillary Clinton is a vote for Donald Trump.

First, the not voting for Hillary Clinton is vote for Donald Trump is based on the false equivalency fallacy that a vote for one candidate somehow cancels or negates a vote for the other candidate.

If you vote for Hillary Clinton you vote for her. A voter cannot know what ultimate affect their individual vote will have on an general election consisting of tens of millions of votes. Suggesting not voting for Hillary Clinton is a vote for Donald Trump is analogous to spiting into an oncoming tsunami expecting to stop it.

Next, our responsibility as voters is to cast them in support of the candidate who, based on our individual judgement, meets our criteria for whatever office of public trust they are running for. It is not voter's job to enter a post hoc vote on the opposing parties primary and nomination process.

If segments of the Democratic Party were truly concerned about winning in November the party's primary process and national convention should make certain the candidate demonstrating the best chances of winning in November is the Democratic presidential nominee.

If the DNC's national convention doesn't put forth the candidate with the best chance of winning, it is they, not voters in the general election, who are enabling defeat. These past week's national polls have competitively ranked the remaining national political party's candidates in terms of relative competitive preference among the general electorate.

One of the three remaining candidates has consistently stood far above the other two in general electorate preference. Fortunately for the DNC that candidate is a Democrat. Unfortunately, the "inconvenient truth" the DNC and Ms. Clinton blithely ignore in their quest to make history instead of winning elections, it isn't her.

If the Democratic primary process elevated to presumptive nominee the candidate with the least likelihood to prevail against Donald Trump it is the responsibility of the Democratic Party's superdelegates to rectify that mistake.

In fact, according to the historical rationale of why the Democratic Party has superdelegates in the first place is to make sure a popular but non-competitive Democrat isn't the nominee. This happened in 1968 when George McGovern was selected as the Democratic Party's nominee.

Hillary Clinton is not the lesser of two evils compared to Donald Trump. Ms. Clinton is the obverse side of the same evil in a different form. That fact is reflected in Ms. Clinton sharing with Donald Trump the lowest favorability rating in history among American voters. 

Giovanna X
You might prefer to use the term "false dilemma." Bifurcation fallacy has many names, and while, in my opinion, "bifurcation fallacy" is the most accurate in dealing with the two-party system and other examples of monopolistic dualism, or what some have called "duopoly". (Examples of dualism as socially-assumed pre-philosophical monopoly: "You're either an American, or a Communist." "If you're not a Christian, then you're worshiping Satan." "Unmarried women must choose between the role of virgin or the role of whore." All of these statements reduce the wide plethora of choices available to a simplistic, limited and limiting two.) More relevantly, "bifurcation fallacy" is much less familiar to the population than something like "black-and-white thinking" or "false dilemma."
 
Sam Wolf
 Once again your observations are spot on and extremely well written.
I am so glad that you emphasized that only the DNC is to blame for running the weak candidate when Bernie is at the starting gate ready to take on the Trumpster. Bernie will kick that Fascist back underneath the slimy rock from which he emerged.

Because I will not vote for Hillary that does not indicate that I support Trump or would help that maniac get elected. It just means that I do not like her royal highness and choose to reflect that opinion at the polls.

In any case, if Bernie is not inaugurated on January 20, 2016 then Bernie or another worthy progressive independent will be in 2020.

We are definitely moving in the right direction; it is just a matter of when our cause will capture the White House.

A bad penny is bad on the obverse and the reverse as you previously stated. Support the political revolution: Vote Bernie!

***

I get it now. I won't fall for the "bifurcation fallacy" when others tell me I have to support a candidate I don't like. I'll vote my conscience, and I'll vote for Bernie. Better to choose the person I want in the White House than to play some silly game trying to make another party's candidate lose. The only real "losers" in that scenario are we the people!

Bernie made another important address to the public this week. It's the start of #OurRevolution  and taking back our government on all levels--local, state and federal. Listen to what he has to say and sign up to run for office or to help others run for office in your area. https://youtu.be/RzHSNjctOCk

 


Let's close with an uplifting song with some new uplifting visuals. Remember it's #OurRevolution and #LoveTrumpsHatred. Feel the Bern everyone!