And the Bern Goes On (To Win California, Of Course!)

 And the Bern Goes On
by Cindy A. Matthews
 

Sonny and Cher once sang those immortal words, "And the beat goes on. And the beat goes on..."

And it does.  It's the heartbeat of America. We feel it deeply. We feel the Bern. And the Bern goes on...

 I wasn't sure when we started where we would be one year later, but here we are today still putting out a weekly blog, still going strong. The Bernie Blog started out as a response to the negative media coverage--or rather the lack of any media coverage whatsoever--of Bernie Sanders' campaign, and it has become something much larger than we could have imagined. We've become the meeting of many great minds who hold great thoughts in common: How do we elect Bernie  Sanders to the White House? How do we show the positive aspects of his campaign to other voters so they'll come on board and vote for him as well? How can we play a part in the political revolution to create a future we all can believe in?

It's been quite an adventure, and the journey is ongoing. Thanks for coming along for the ride and sharing your thoughts and ideas with us. We've heard from people from all over the country and the world, male and female, young and old, all races, creeds and political persuasions. I encourage you all to please continue submitting your work to The Bernie Blog  because now more than ever we need to share Bernie with the world. November isn't far away. There are a lot of newly registered voters searching for a candidate. It's not fair to  keep Bernie to ourselves. Let's share him along with our enthusiasm. Let's ensure Bernie wins the presidency.

Our goal in the second year of the blog is to continue bringing you more of what Bernie supporters want to read. Are there certain topics or issues you want us to cover? Drop us a line at thebernieblog2016@gmail.com. Better yet, write what you'd like to read and submit it to the same email address. We enjoy hearing from a variety of voices.

Maybe I could get some stilts?

I know I'd like to cover more Bernie-related events in person. We're planning on going to Philadelphia in July for the DNC convention protest marches. It's  a story I don't want to miss. There's also an opportunity for me to hook up with our friends at Bernie2016TV and help broadcast the events live on You Tube.

I've resisted for some time, but now is as good a time as any to introduce a GoFundMe account to cover travel expenses for yours truly as the unpaid editor/chief writer/cook and bottle washer of The Bernie Blog. If you have an extra couple of bucks or even that magical $27 donation of Bernie's available and don't mind sharing, go here to donate. I sincerely appreciate it. Thanking you in advance for your generosity.  

The Bern goes on and on and on... Hopefully, it will never be extinguished. #SeeYouInPhilly 
 
And now to celebrate our first year as a blog, a poem from our co-founder, Barb McMillen:

Barb's Bernie Bush

Feel the Bern

The BIG THING they don’t get:
we are Leviathans now stirring
our own future, bigger,
even, than Bernie whom
we have become & he us. We have become One.
When he shouts ‘enough is enough’
We roar! The hurricane blows their minds.
Together. We are Bernie. Together.
We are Bernie.
Together, we are on fire.

    

Barb will be representing the Ohio 5th District as a Bernie delegate in Philadelphia at the Democratic National Convention. Good luck and Feel the Bern on the convention floor, Barb! (I'll be outside making noise with the other marchers.)

*** 

Investigative reporter Robert Parry in his article Waiting for California and the FBI states: "Clinton’s negative rating (is) nearly as high as Donald Trump’s, and with voters not trusting her by a ratio of 4 to 1."   

Our contributor asks a question voters of all persuasions are asking, one that needs to be seriously considered. Should voters expect to trust a political candidate?

How Important is Honesty 
and Integrity in Our Leaders?

by Peter Hager

To understand the difference between perceived front-runner Hillary Clinton and momentous underdog Bernie Sanders is to cease observing politics as one usually would.

Hillary Clinton is the polished candidate, from her hair to her vocal pitch and even in some cases dialect. She is the rehearsed candidate with an endless supply of handlers to ensure a politically correct message at every turn. Couple that with a husband who spent eight  years as our Commander-In-Chief with over thirty years of political power brokering wheeling and dealing. To top it off, she’s attempting to become the first Madame President in our nation’s history.

Bernie Sanders is the rugged, underdog candidate. He’s not polished as seen from his Doc Brown-like mad scientist hair to his thick Brooklyn accent. He is not rehearsed, but always prepared to tackle the order of the day with no pandering to special interests. He has a populist message that resonates and is backed up by a thirty year voting record.

How can someone remain in political life for so long and still be so self-righteous and authentic?

In most election years, Hillary would be a shoe-in for the Democratic nomination for president. She has most major financial institutions backing her candidacy and a slew of political endorsements all along the Beltway. Thirty years of political power brokering coming home to roost. Unfortunately for her, and for the political establishment at large, 2016 will not be like other election years.

Bernie Sanders started his campaign with an idea and an ideal. His idea is what if we could elect a president of the people, by the people, and for the people?  The majestic words from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, the greatest presidential speech by our greatest president, could not be more relevant than they are now. His ideal? Make this historic run to the presidency entirely clean.

By running his campaign with no Super PAC, he decided it was more important to be idealistic and lose than to be a special interests sellout and win. Not even Bernie could have imagined the response his idealism would receive. At nearly 8 million individual donors and rising, Bernie’s campaign has built up the financial war chest necessary to take on the big money interests backing the Clinton Machine.

So why is it so essential we elect Bernie Sanders? 

This election comes down to a simple question: How important is honesty and integrity when it comes to our political leaders?

We complain often about the corruption of politics and the lack of trust for our political leaders. Bernie Sanders did not just come from nowhere. He’s always been there, fighting for the common person without much fanfare for over fifty years. Who knows what lit the spark under him this late in life to go for the ultimate? As a libertarian-leaning independent and self-made businessman and homeowner, I’m sure glad he did decide to run.

Let me be very clear: I’m not a Democrat. Under no circumstances would I vote for Hillary Clinton. I’m sick of politics as usual. I want the leader of the free world to be reflective of the common person, not the exceptional person.

I studied political science, media journalism, and economics at Rutgers University. I know our presidential history like the back of my hand. Bernie Sanders is the candidate I've been waiting my whole life for. This election is not about Democrats vs. Republicans, Liberals vs. Conservatives, Capitalism vs. Socialism, or the Proletariat vs. the Bourgeoisie. 

This election is about defeating the TPP.  

This election is about our broken tax system and raising the minimum wage.  

This election is about the military industrial complex.  

This election is about implementing single-payer healthcare.  

This election is about our civil liberties and Constitutional rights.

 This election is about reinstating Glass-Steagall.

This election is about quality education for all.  

This election is about institutional racism.  

This election is about man-made climate change. 

 Finally, and most importantly, this election is  about overturning Citizens United and going to publicly funded elections, restoring our democracy from the throngs of oligarchy.

So, it comes down to a simple question my fellow Americans: Which candidate if elected as our next president do you trust most to follow through with these initiatives on behalf of the American people?

It’s time for all of us to #FeeltheBern.

***

The primary is heating up as we come into its final weeks. This week we experience yet another "Super Tuesday" with a number of states and territories holding their contests. Bernie needs all the delegates he can get. So hit those phones and phonebank California! Get out and knock on doors in New Jersey! Help get a friend to the polls in the Dakotas and Montana. Berners, you know what to do. Do it!

"Bernie's Restaurant"on Wilshire Blvd. in L.A. My sister Cathy took this photo on a recent trip.

This video poet (below) inspires us with her words to keep the flames alive and continue to fight on whatever the outcome. To Feel the Bern, we must first Strike the Flint.  And the Bern will go on as long as the people lift high the banner of the political revolution! #SeeyouinPhilly

 

Let's end on a high note with this upbeat tune! #FeeltheBern everyone!

 

Top Ten Reasons Why I Support Bernie

 

If you're out at the Star Wars premiere this weekend, you might see members of Bernie's Light Brigade with lighted signs. Tell them you support Bernie, too, and share your thoughts with others in line who may not have heard about him yet. Feel the Bern and may the Force be with you--always!

Now, to quote Julie Andrews from yet another movie classic (The Sound of Music): "Snowflakes and sleighbells and schnitzel with noodles, brown geese that fly with the moon on their wing...These are a few of my favorite things!" 

This week our blogger tells us his favorite things about the senator from Vermont. Read on and see if you don't agree with him. What other things do you like about Bernie? Share them in the comments below. Better yet, write us a blog article and submit it. We'd love to hear from you.

Top Ten Reasons Why I Support Bernie

by Terry Pensel

10) Equality

Bernie Sanders has supported equality and has been active in the civil rights movement from the sixties. He wants everybody to have an equal opportunity at an education, a decent standard of living, and a secure dignified retirement. He believes no one in a country as great as ours should work 40 hours or more a week and still live in poverty.  He is against discrimination by race, gender, sexual orientation, origin, age, and creed. If you don’t believe that all people deserve an equal opportunity, then to me you don’t believe in democracy.

9) Infrastructure

Unlike his opponents, Bernie wants to rebuild this country's infrastructure. We need to repair our bridges, highways, railroads, dams, levees, and schools. This is a function of government to develop municipal projects that improve the well-being of everyone. Even the former Speaker of the House, John Boehner, stated, “We badly need infrastructure improvements, but we have no money for it.” The problem is that Republicans won’t raise taxes on the corporations that pay nothing in federal income tax, or on the top 1% who pay a lower percentage of tax than ordinary people like teachers, truck drivers or electricians. 
 

8) Free Post-High School Public Education

This is a way of life for people in Europe.  Many countries pay for college students to go to school. The return on higher education investment is about six times for every dollar spent. Other countries have done this and continue to do it, and they are reaping the benefits with more high tech jobs, less social problems, better economic conditions and less poverty. The US, on the other hand, has the highest post-high school educational costs, the highest student debt rate, as well as lower paying jobs and less benefits.

7) Tax Code Fairness

Whether you use the Warren Buffett example, or a corporate welfare example, anyone who studies our tax code with any scruples at all can see it’s designed and written to benefit the very, very wealthy.  At least 57% of the new wealth is going to the top 1%, which means people who are making $231,000 per year are making even more and paying a lower percentage of their income in federal taxes.  If we increase just their tax rates, eliminate corporate welfare, offshore tax havens, and other tax loopholes, we would have enough money for all the infrastructure improvements, free health care, and free public higher education we collectively need as a society.

6) History of Progressive Politics

Bernie has a history of progressive politics. You can look at his voting record and what all he has fought for and his principles. You'll find he is very consistent and taken principled stands on the big issues and has been a leader in progressive politics for years. He stood up against the Iraq War. He promotes the single payer plan for universal free health care. He stands up for free public higher education, and daycare and paid family leave for new and parents of young children. All these benefits are a regular part of socialized democratic countries in Europe as well as Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

5) Integrity

This is a big point that everyone needs to consider when selecting any candidate. What do they talk about, and what won't they talk about. Many of the presidential candidates will not talk about tax code changes, exporting/outsourcing jobs overseas, offshore tax havens, for-profit prisons, monopolized industries, big pharma price gouging, out-of-control CEO salaries, huge billion dollar trade imbalances, or police brutality. 

Bernie knows what people are concerned about, and he fights for their interests.  If a candidate starts talking about Planned Parenthood, illegal immigrants, welfare people living high on the hog, takers, totalitarianism, losing your liberty and freedoms, Muslim Sharia law takeover and religious freedoms, they are really trying to make you surrender to fear and scapegoating the poor, so they can continue the economic/social relationships they have helped to create. 

Many of the candidates running don’t want any real or fundamental change in society. They are comfortable being the lackeys of the top 1% who want to take away what little social benefits we have fought for such as minimum wage laws, overtime, benefits, OSHA laws, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, environmental laws, food stamps, and unemployment benefits. Who do these candidates represent, the American public or their rich campaign donors? They want to extend the exploitation and servitude of workers to the status quo.

4) Truth 

I have reviewed Bernie’s numbers on various social and economic issues such as wealth inequality, poverty, unemployment, factories that have moved or shut down since 2001, prisons, pharmaceutical prices, health care costs. The media has not really questioned his numbers. I have vetted the numbers, and I have had no serious challenges on statistics on social/economic relationships Bernie talks about. We are on a downward spiral as a government, a people, and a society. Bernie has a plan and wants genuinely do right by the working people of this country. He stands for their collective interest. He is not afraid of the truth and promotes it everywhere in everything he does. 

3) Medicine/Big Pharma/Health Insurance/Big Money Hospitals

One of the biggest differences between Bernie and everyone else in the field running for president is his stance on health care.  Every major industrialized country has health care as a basic right. Bernie calls the U.S. health care system a national embarrassment. He wants a single payer system like many other countries have. 

The biggest problem with our health care system is it is based on a for-profit model. Health Insurance companies provide no medical services, but take one-third of every dollar spent on health care. Before Obamacare, there was no regulation with regards to profit. No other country spends as much per citizen on health care than the U.S. We spend the most on prescription drugs--anywhere between 3 to 20 times more than other countries for the same drugs made by the same drug manufacturers. We have non-profit hospitals that have CEO and administrators receiving mid-six to seven figure salaries. We need health care as a right, not some privilege only for the elite.  

2) Democracy 

This has been forgotten, but it is worth understanding who Bernie really is. He wants everyone to participate in the political process. He wants everyone to vote, debate and work out the problems of our society and come together to find collective solutions. He talks how Republicans are working hard to shut down early voting, absentee voting and late evening voting. 

Secondly, he is against the excessive stringent ID requirements that keep working class people from getting a voter ID card. Example: A former Speaker of the House, Jim Wright, could not register to vote with his expired driver license and his TCU faculty ID card. The purpose of these new voter ID laws is to keep minorities, working class and poor people from voting, period. Voter fraud is so low that it does not constitute even half of a percent of the total vote, but denying people access to the vote pays huge benefits to the party that does not have the majority to win an election. 

 Bernie is for honest democratic elections and automatic voter registration at age 18. Even more importantly, he wants to eliminate Citizens United that allows a billionaire or large corporation to donate unlimited sums of money to a political candidate. Big money has ruined our democracy, and we have to stand up against the richest and powerful people and organizations that subvert our regulations, our standard of living, and our economic rights.

1) Big Issues

Finally, Bernie wants to talk about the big issues: universal health care, free public higher education, paid family leave, excessive student loan debt, raising the minimum wage to a living wage, poverty, exporting jobs overseas, tax code fairness, inner city youth unemployment, infrastructure repair and improvements, trade deficits, and police brutality.  

Just listen to what other presidential candidates don't talk about, and ask yourself why are they not talking about the big issues. The big issue for other presidential candidates is to maintain the status quo.  One in eleven corporations pay zero federal income tax. Corporations get tax breaks to export jobs overseas. Sixty thousand factories since 2001 have moved overseas or shutdown.  Multi-national companies move their headquarters overseas to elude U.S. tax laws. Corporations overseas don’t have to follow environmental laws, OSHA laws or labor laws such as a minimum wage, overtime or pay benefits. 

The world climate is changing for the worse, and we have wrestle control of this country away from the ultra-rich or we will all suffer. Bernie is fighting for our interests. We need to help ourselves and fight on the big issues with Bernie.

Bio: Terry Pensel says: "I have been a progressive political activist since the late 1980's. I have been championed universal health care, free higher education, and decent living wages. I have a AAS in Electrical Engineering from Hawkeye Community College, Waterloo, Iowa. I have attended University of Illinois at Chicago, and DePaul University in Chicago. I do some web development, and IT support. My hobbies include playing the ukulele, teaching the ukulele, and biking. "

This weekend is twice as special. First, there's the Star Wars premiere and then on December 19th is the next Democratic Debate. Are you throwing a debate watch party/rally? Awesome! Want to attend one? Go to http://map.berniesanders.com/ and type in your zip code to find a party near you. Bring your spouse, significant other and/or a friend along. Introduce them to the best candidate running for the White House--Bernie Sanders!