Feeling the Bern Yet?

Bernie Sanders continues to gain on Hillary Clinton. He is now leading in New Hampshire, and it catching up fast in Iowa. These are traditionally seen as the two key states, although Sanders is also closing the gap in other states as well.

It is a shocking development for Clinton, as she was widely regarded as the heir apparent to ascend to the White House. The Democratic nomination was basically a lock, this was supposed to be her time. The only question remaining was whether whoever comes out of the Republican side would derail her presidential hopes.

Instead, she is getting a strong challenge from Bernie Sanders, who was virtually unknown on a national level prior to this particular election. Clinton and her supporters surely are having a hard time understanding why, but I just found an article that emphasizes the differences in one paragraph.

The paragraph refers to a discussion by a supporter of the single-payer healthcare system that Sanders advocates, and in this paragraph, Clinton perfectly illustrates both how she got to be such a prominent name in American politics, as well as why so many people are sick and tired of her, because she seems to represent the same old same old. True, she might become the first woman president, but she also, in a stricter sense, very much represents the same old same old.

Here is the paragraph in question:

They got their meeting at the White House that month, and the two doctors laid out the case for single-payer to the first lady. “She said, ‘You make a convincing case, but is there any force on the face of the earth that could counter the hundreds of millions of the dollars the insurance industry would spend fighting that?’” recalled Himmelstein. “And I said, “How about the president of the United States actually leading the American people?’ and she said, ‘Tell me something real.’ ”

Clinton is showing a resignation to the perceived reality, that in this day and age, corporate interests hold sway, and thus rule the day.

By contrast, Sanders believes that public servants are beholden to the American people who elect them, and not to big money interests that too often control them. That is why he believes that the United States can and should establish a single-payer healthcare system, which has already been done, essentially, in numerous other countries already. Let us not forget that the United States is the exception here, being the only industrialized nation which fails to provide it's citizens with an adequate and affordable, universal health care system.

Sanders believes that we need to fight the seeming corporate takeover of the country, and to push back harder than they push are pushing us. This is a message that is resonating with more and more people, because it is different. This is a discussion of restoring to America what once made her great and different, rather than essentially resigning ourselves to the encroaching, all-consuming power of the almighty dollar as represented by the special, corporate interests who have grown far too comfortable with the immense influence that they seem to effortlessly exert these days in Washington.

If you have been wondering why Hillary is losing ground, while Bernie and his campaign are growing stronger all of the time, this is the essential fact that you need to understand. Bernie represents a real alternative to our lives inevitably growing worse, because we do not individually have the money or power to contend with the influence of big money in politics. Hillary, by contrast, represents exactly that resignation, and the proof is that she herself has personally profited from it, in more ways than one. It thus makes sense that she is all for it, and relies on their big money to fund her over-sized campaign, as well as why she feels so entitled to hold the same office her husband once held.

Sanders is fighting to restore a truer democracy that works for all Americans and, for once, many Americans are beginning to pay attention. He has an important message for us all, and this message is reaching a growing number of people, and has begun to eclipse the stand pat message that Hillary represents.

That is why Bernie Sanders is showing more signs that he is David fighting the big party Goliath, as represented by Hillary Clinton, and her numerous corporate sponsors. And that is why supporting Sanders, because you agree with his stance, is beginning to mean a lot more to people like you and me than simply feeling a lukewarm comfort with Hillary as the de facto, lesser of two evils option.


Here are some related articles that I hope you will take a look at:


Polling Trajectory Shows Bernie Sanders Winning the Democratic Nomination. It's Time for America to Notice. by H.A. Goodman, Posted: 09/01/2015

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/h-a-goodman/polls-show-bernie-sanders-winning-the-democratic-nomination_b_8069452.html

The difference between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton in one paragraph. byjames321, June 17, 2015:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/06/17/1394018/-The-difference-between-Bernie-Sanders-and-Hillary-Clinton-in-one-paragraph#

The list of 18 CEO’s follows:   
1) Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan  Amount of federal income taxes paid in 2010? Zero. $1.9 billion tax refund.  Taxpayer Bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department? Over $1.3 trillion.  Amount of federal income taxes Bank of America would have owed if offshore tax havens were eliminated? $2.6 billion.  
2) Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein  Amount of federal income taxes paid in 2008? Zero. $278 million tax refund.  Taxpayer Bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department? $824 billion.  Amount of federal income taxes Goldman Sachs would have owed if offshore tax havens were eliminated? $2.7 billion  
3) JP Morgan Chase CEO James Dimon  Taxpayer Bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department? $416 billion.  Amount of federal income taxes JP Morgan Chase would have owed if offshore tax havens were eliminated? $4.9 billion.  
4) General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt  Amount of federal income taxes paid in 2010? Zero. $3.3 billion tax refund.  Taxpayer Bailout from the Federal Reserve? $16 billion.  Jobs Shipped Overseas? At least 25,000 since 2001.  
5) Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam  Amount of federal income taxes paid in 2010? Zero. $705 million tax refund.  American Jobs Cut in 2010? In 2010, Verizon announced 13,000 job cuts, the third highest corporate layoff total that year.  
6) Boeing CEO James McNerney, Jr.  Amount of federal income taxes paid in 2010? None. $124 million tax refund.  American Jobs Shipped overseas? Over 57,000.  Amount of Corporate Welfare? At least $58 billion.  
7) Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer  Amount of federal income taxes Microsoft would have owed if offshore tax havens were eliminated? $19.4 billion.  
8) Honeywell International CEO David Cote  Amount of federal income taxes paid from 2008-2010? Zero. $34 million tax refund.  
9) Corning CEO Wendell Weeks  Amount of federal income taxes paid from 2008-2010? Zero. $4 million tax refund.  
10) Time Warner CEO Glenn Britt  Amount of federal income taxes paid in 2008? Zero. $74 million tax refund.  
11). Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier  Amount of federal income taxes paid in 2009? Zero. $55 million tax refund.  
12) Deere & Company CEO Samuel Allen  Amount of federal income taxes paid in 2009? Zero. $1 million tax refund.  
13) Marsh & McLennan Companies CEO Brian Duperreault  Amount of federal income taxes paid in 2010? Zero. $90 million refund.  
14) Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs  Amount of federal income taxes Qualcomm would have owed if offshore tax havens were eliminated? $4.7 billion.  
15) Tenneco CEO Gregg Sherill  Amount of federal income taxes Tenneco would have owed if offshore tax havens were eliminated? $269 million.  
16)  Express Scripts CEO George Paz  Amount of federal income taxes Express Scripts would have owed if offshore tax havens were eliminated? $20 million.  
17) Caesars Entertainment CEO Gary Loveman  Amount of federal income taxes Caesars Entertainment would have owed if offshore tax havens were eliminated? $9 million.
18). R.R. Donnelly & Sons CEO Thomas Quinlan III  Amount of federal income taxes paid in 2008? Zero. $49 million tax refund.  

18 CEOs Called Out By Bernie Sanders For Taking Trillions In Bailouts, Evading Taxes, And Outsourcing Jobs by Satyapriya, August 6, 2015:

http://collectivelyconscious.net/articles/18-ceos-called-out-by-bernie-sanders-for-taking-trillions-in-bailouts-evading-taxes-and-outsourcing-jobs/?utm_source=cc-articles&utm_medium=fb&utm_campaign=cc-articles