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Bernie Sanders has 23 questions for America (and is having a CNN Town Hall right now)

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Town Hall is live on CNN now and the full question editorial is at the link

Bernie Sanders: We need serious talk on serious issues - CNN
https://apple.news/Ajy3RvjdTSuqLqVgClGNCeg
There are a lot of important questions to talk about, including:

How do we stop the movement toward oligarchy in our country in which the economic and political life of the United States is increasingly controlled by a handful of billionaires?

Are we content with the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality that we are experiencing? Should the top one-tenth of 1 percent own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent? Should one family in this country, the Waltons of the Walmart retail chain, own as much as the bottom 40 percent of our people? Should 52 percent of all new income be going into the pockets of the top 1 percent?

While the very rich become much richer, are we satisfied with having the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth? Can a worker really survive on the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour? How can a working-class family afford $15,000 a year for childcare? How can a senior citizen or a disabled veteran get by on $13,000 a year from Social Security?
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Call Time of Death on America if old
 
A

Aaronology

Member
We are now spending $80 billion a year to imprison 2.2 million Americans, who are disproportionately African-American, Latino and Native American. We have more people in jail than any other country on earth, including China, which is home to four times as many people. How do we reform a broken criminal justice system? How do we create jobs and educational opportunity for young people, not more jails and incarceration?
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I appreciate that Natives weren't forgotten in that statistic, as they usually are.
 
Bolivar687

Bolivar687

Banned
I liked it a bit better than the MSNBC one, a little more specifics on how to fix things, which I thought was missing from that one.
 
DOWN

DOWN

Banned
One guy who voted for Trump literally asked "Why does this administration hate small business?"

How the f do ya answer that, sir?
 
M

MrCheez

President/Creative Director of Grumpyface Studios
Sadly, I can't quite share your optimism right now, but damn do I still love ya, Bern. Still my idol.
 
J

JesseEwiak

Member
Conflict NZ said:
Should've been the President. You messed up America.
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Why would I wanna vote for the guy who will raise my taxes, then take away the good health care I worked for, and make my kids wait in line behind thugs and illegal immigrants? - Every Swing Voter on Election Day in a Sanders POTUS election.
 
M

Movement

Member
It's nice to see him actively trying to start a discussion in America. Think of how many people hear what he's saying for the first time and having it resonate.
 
T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
BetterWorldz said:
Are you saying you wouldn't trade Trump for Sanders as your leader right now?
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I'd take Sanders over Trump in a hotswap, but I don't want Sanders running for the presidency again.

I think Sanders is very good at energizing people but that we can do much better in who we elect to the highest office. That's all
 
S

SolarPowered

Member
Movement said:
It's nice to see him actively trying to start a discussion in America. Think of how many people hear what he's saying for the first time and having it resonate.
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This is one of the areas where he was pushing for change. He wanted the Democratic white house to really take advantage of the bully pulpit to sound alarm bells and get people to take action on the issues important to us. I'm glad he isn't waiting for the democratic party to take the lead because we wouldn't hear a peep.
 
G

GiantBreadbug

Member
It'd be nice to see him take a hard stance on the kind of reforms desperately needed to prevent rich fucks from doing what Hillary did to him by hijacking the DNC. This situation should never be allowed, and there are really simple specific measures that basically amount to anti-corruption policies which remedy a lot. Also just really aggressive voting rights protections and reforms.

Either way, the farther the political left gets away from anything resembling Clintonism, the better.
 
M

Mariolee

Member
The Technomancer said:
I'd take Sanders over Trump in a hotswap, but I don't want Sanders running for the presidency again.

I think Sanders is very good at energizing people but that we can do much better in who we elect to the highest office. That's all
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Based on this election apparently we couldn't.
 
F

FlowersisBritish

fleurs n'est pas britannique
The Technomancer said:
I'd take Sanders over Trump in a hotswap, but I don't want Sanders running for the presidency again.

I think Sanders is very good at energizing people but that we can do much better in who we elect to the highest office. That's all
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I think I would really like him in a Vice President position. My biggest issue with a Sander's presidency is primarily just how old he is. I really don't think he can take the stress at his age.
 
F

Foffy

Banned
GiantBreadbug said:
It'd be nice to see him take a hard stance on the kind of reforms desperately needed to prevent rich fucks from doing what Hillary did to him by hijacking the DNC. This situation should never be allowed, and there are really simple specific measures that basically amount to anti-corruption policies which remedy a lot. Also just really aggressive voting rights protections and reforms.

Either way, the farther the political left gets away from anything resembling Clintonism, the better.
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How do we do this without the left being propagandized as extreme in our center-right culture?
 
H

hypernima

Banned
Being in the audience I was kind of disappointed.

Also there were more elongated interactions between the business owner on commercial break.
 
U

Unknown Soldier

Member
The Technomancer said:
I think Sanders is very good at energizing people but that we can do much better in who we elect to the highest office. That's all
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This is such a hilarious thing for you to say when Trump is the President-Elect. Maybe we'll get a lifetime of Republican power in this country until the end of the world.
 
K

KO Traveling Hobo

Member
KernelPanic said:
https://twitter.com/cnn/status/818682769408741377

Respect level dropping. His silence on the Russia hacking/interference is mind boggling.
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The Technomancer said:
This I don't get. I get why Obama and Clinton are showing a nice face, but Sanders whole brand is angry outsider. I'm not really...angry at him about this so much as confused
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Trump and co are going to break down the door in ten days and wage open war on most of the country's citizens. That is a much more pressing issue, and in the meantime, we have Obama and the CIA working their asses off behind the scenes dealing with Russia.
 
T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
KO Traveling Hobo said:
Trump and co are going to break down the door in ten days and wage open war on most of the country's citizens. That is a much more pressing issue, and in the meantime, we have Obama and the CIA working their asses off behind the scenes dealing with Russia.
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I was talking more about being confused about his "don't obstruct" comment.
 
S

SL128

Member
The Technomancer said:
I was talking more about being confused about his "don't obstruct" comment.
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I could be wrong (it confuses me as well), but I think he means that they shouldn't obstruct policies they support just because Trump happens to support them as well, the way Republicans did when Obama agreed with them. Improving infrastructure is the main area of overlap between Democrats and ostensible Trump policies, and Sanders has been vocal about trying to work on that.

On social policies, Sanders seems completely intending to block Trump.
 
F

FlowersisBritish

fleurs n'est pas britannique
KO Traveling Hobo said:
Oh, my bad. Yeah, I'm not sure how I feel about that. I don't want the dems to go full GOP and just stonewall everything out of spite, but some of the incoming administration's ideas shouldn't be given an inch.
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I think it might be an issue of what he means by "obstruction." Actually, as I think about it, I don't really know what people want when they say they want the Dems to "obstruct" Challenging their bills sure, ignoring the bills that pass and pretending that they didn't show up? Maybe a little more iffy (My Rep Gov is currently doing something like this). Not doing their jobs at convenient times? Again, a little iffy. What does everyone mean by "Obstruction?"
 
V

Valhelm

contribute something
The Technomancer said:
I was talking more about being confused about his "don't obstruct" comment.
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Seems like it's a "when they go low, we go high" sort of thing. He doesn't want congressional Democrats to be as stubborn as Republicans have been under Obama.

However, I'm not sure if playing by the rules will help the Democrats and this country.
 
T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
Valhelm said:
Seems like it's a "when they go low, we go high" sort of thing. He doesn't want congressional Democrats to be as stubborn as Republicans have been under Obama.

However, I'm not sure if playing by the rules will help the Democrats and this country.
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That's the part that confuses me. Bernie's whole brand is that the way the rules are currently set up benefits the rich and powerful. We have something approaching a literal fascist entering the office, why would he give a damn about decorum or etiquette.

For my problems with Sanders I've admired his consistency on things like this in the past, I feel like I must be just misunderstanding what he means, except I don't think that's the first time he's said comments like that
 
J

JP_

Banned
The Technomancer said:
I was talking more about being confused about his "don't obstruct" comment.
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Well, that's a headline, not a comment or quote from Sanders.

And he drew another clear line with Trump, saying: "I will tell you this: He ran a campaign whose cornerstone was bigotry. It was based on sexism, on racism, on xenophobia, and on that issue, I will not compromise."

Still, Sanders said he hopes Democrats don't use the "obstruct, obstruct, obstruct" tactics against Trump that congressional Republicans deployed against Obama.

"I don't think that's what we do," Sanders said. "I think where Trump has ideas that make sense that we can work with him on, I think we should."
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He basically made the same argument when talking to various press outlets -- politico:

”To the degree that Mr. Trump is serious about pursuing policies that improve the lives of working families in this country, I and other progressives are prepared to work with him," Sanders said. "To the degree that he pursues racist, sexist, xenophobic and anti-environment policies, we will vigorously oppose him."
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And when details came out about Trump's infrastructure bill, Sanders wrote a post slamming it: https://medium.com/senator-bernie-s...tions-and-wall-street-f7d3ab463717#.mm47nm418

During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump correctly talked about rebuilding our country's infrastructure. But the plan he offered is a scam that gives massive tax breaks to large companies and billionaires on Wall Street who are already doing phenomenally well. Trump would allow corporations that have stashed their profits overseas to pay just a fraction of what the companies owe in federal taxes. And then he would allow the companies to ”invest" in infrastructure projects in exchange for even more tax breaks. Trump's plan is corporate welfare coming and going.
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Basically, he's suggesting we don't oppose good ideas just because they come from Trump... if somehow Trump proposes good ideas, we should support them. Otherwise, "no compromise."
 
F

FlowersisBritish

fleurs n'est pas britannique
The Technomancer said:
For my problems with Sanders I've admired his consistency on things like this in the past, I feel like I must be just misunderstanding what he means, except I don't think that's the first time he's said comments like that
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Sanders is also a "respect the process" kind of person. He wanted change, but he primarily wanted it through voting, not necessarily obstructionism. For example, when Hilary won the primary, he did urge his supporters to vote for her pretty early on.
 
V

Valhelm

contribute something
The Technomancer said:
That's the part that confuses me. Bernie's whole brand is that the way the rules are currently set up benefits the rich and powerful. We have something approaching a literal fascist entering the office, why would he give a damn about decorum or etiquette.

For my problems with Sanders I've admired his consistency on things like this in the past, I feel like I must be just misunderstanding what he means, except I don't think that's the first time he's said comments like that
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It's not about etiquette so much as what's good for the country. Sanders wouldn't go for a government shutdown if the Democrats somehow got another majority. He's probably suggesting that Democrats should be willing to cooperate on any GOP legislation that isn't harmful (like infrastructure spending SL128 said).

But this causes a problem. Allowing Trump a victory, even on issues where he might not be totally wrong, will improve his standing among American voters and potentially hurt the Democrats in the long term. On the flipside, a complete refusal to work with Trump on all policy could hurt a lot of people. It also would not endear the Democrats to voters, especially those in the middle.

This is a pretty tricky situation. Republicans are such an ideological party that they know their voters will turn out no matter what tricks they pull, but Democrats don't have much idealism to fall back to.
 
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