Wednesday, August 3, 2016

The Ballad of Bernie




     

I walked into the voting place
To cast my ballot; where
I saw the arsenic and old lace
But Bernie wasn’t there.

An honest man was swindled by
A ceiling made of glass
The Democrats were riding high
A woman Prez at last.

I thought I'd vote for Dr. Stein
The Greens were my best bet
Although my conscience felt just fine
My heart was heavy yet.

Bernie Sanders ran a race
From him we all did learn
To live with honor, truth and grace
And always Feel the Bern...








Monday, August 1, 2016

What’s the Beef with Bernie: The Method to His Madness



           


Lately I have been reading about betrayal, defeat, and surrender of Bernie Sanders.   This has been emanating from angry disappointed people who a short month ago were Feelin’ the Bern in a large way.   Who is the culprit?  Hint:  They rigged the primaries and stole the nomination from Bernie.

Now some people are the trying to condemn the inspiration of the Political Revolution as though all was over for progressives.  Nothing could be further from the truth. 

For the record, I will not be voting for either nominated nasty nutcase.  My vote will be cast for whichever progressive is on the most state ballots.  Right now that looks like the Greens and Jill Stein and that is fine with me.

Those who think we have heard the last of Bernie Sanders are not Vermonters, the people who know him best.  Bernie never gives up.  He has defied attempts to underestimate him time and time again.  Bernie will return to the Senate, promoting progressive legislation and doing his best to hold Hillary to her tenuous promises.

Why then, did Bernie endorse the queen of corruption?  Why is he urging his supporters to vote for Hillary?  His stated reason is to block the horror of an orangutan in the oval office.   After all, who would clean up the mess?  That is a valid argument but I think there is more in play here.

Bernie is not really a Democrat.  He is the longest serving Independent legislator in American history.  However, he was always in the Presidential race to win.  Though we hate to admit it, third parties historically have a hard fight and are at somewhat of a disadvantage.  So, he ran as a Democratic Socialist.  As the candidate of a major party the presidency was realistically within his grasp. 

Bernie spoke to rank and file Democrats.  Perhaps this honest and straight forward man did not count on the extreme swindle of the DNC in their compulsion to anoint Hillary.




I say, glass ceiling be damned.  I am disgusted but not surprised by the dastardly DNC.

Did Obama boast about his African American heritage?  No, he has too much class to play the black card.  He accepted the nomination as a candidate, not a black candidate.  I respect him for that.  He must have followed the example of Jackie Robinson who broke the color barrier in baseball but excercised humility and never traded on his breakthrough.  He just played great ball and revealed himself in that way.

Bernie knew when he cast his lot with the devilish Democrats that should he lose the nomination he would be required to endorse and support the nominee no matter how distasteful it was to him personally.  He knew this going in and he deemed the risk worth it to legitimately engage in the presidential race.  As a man of honor, he lived up to his promise.  Also, he got some progressive concessions.  Who but Bernie will hold Clinton’s feet to the fire on these claims and promises.

Once the elections are over, he will Bern brighter than ever inspiring and leading the Political Revolution.  After all the aspersions and accolades he and ourselves experienced, who would believe Bernie would abandon the movement?  If you think so for a minute you have another thing coming.  As I said before and his opponents have learned:  underestimate Bernie Sanders at your own peril.

So, I implore Political Revolutionaries not to abandon Bernie as he would never do to us.  The Bern may be subdued for the moment.  It is temporary.  We should respect the man and the movement now more than ever.