Holy Shit !!! - I'll Just Lay This Here...

[Peace Patriot]

82. I agree with much of the OP except for the following...

Now it is Donald Trump who boldly steps forth to declare that the intervention in Iraq was based on lies, and that it is the source of our current troubles in the region. No Democrat, including Sanders, is ready to make that case with equal force. None has since 2008. One can go on and on. It's a loser's mentality.--from the OP (my emphasis)

That's just wrong. Bernie Sanders has time and again discussed his prediction, on the floor of the Senate, that the consequences of the invasion of Iraq would be "our current troubles in the region"--destabilization of the region, raging civil wars and more. He predicted it. He mentions it often.

I don't know what this author means by "with equal force" (as Trump). I don't see how Sanders can be more forceful than he has been on this point. Does Michael Brenner want him to scream and yell and spit in Clinton's face (a la Trump)? He accuses him of being a gentleman, for godssakes!

An old Brooklyn Jew who advertises himself as a "Socialist" is not a compelling figure on the political stage. Intelligent and well-informed on domestic matters, he is not a phrase-maker, not verbally nimble, an incurably respectful gentleman, and largely disengaged from foreign policy where Hillary was custodian of ACT II in the pageant of American failure and fiasco in the Middle East.

Many wrong statements above. "Not a compelling figure"? I completely disagree! What causes 20,000 people to stand for hours out in the cold snow to enter an arena where Sanders is going to speak? 10,000, 20,000 people at such events all over the country. He IS a "compelling figure on the political stage." And it isn't just his background, his unique appearance, his excellent phrase-making and his obvious integrity--it's more; it's WHAT HE'S SAYING.

"Largely disengaged from foreign policy"? Not true. His record, even as mayor of Burlington, proves otherwise. (--just saw a recording of his views on Nicaragua--which he visited--during the period when Reagan's thugs--the 'contras'--were brutally trying to overthrow the elected leftist government). He's been absolutely consistent in support for peace and fairness in dealing with other nations. He's said a number of very important things about current foreign policy, including his support of Obama's overtures to Iran, his commitment to no U.S. grounds troops in the Middle East, the kind of coalition needed to defeat ISIS and what the U.S. role should be, his opposition to "free trade" agreements that damage workers and others in our own country, and I think most important of all, his strong, lifelong commitment to diplomacy first and war only as a last resort with our country in real danger.

These are very significant statements, and tell us quite a lot about what a Sanders foreign policy would look like, fleshed out. It needs some fleshing out, but he has meanwhile addressed himself to THE most important issue of national security: economic fairness HERE.

Finally, Brenner doesn't seem to realize how seriously disenfranchised and demoralized the American people have become. He says:

This evolution of American politics (he's speaking of lame Democratic leaders) in effect disenfranchised something like 25% of the electorate.

The disenfranchisement has been much bigger than this. Sanders has pointed it out--something like 60% of our people DID NOT VOTE in the last Congressional election (can't recall the exact stat).

As to black voters, the disenfranchisement has been systematic--and includes vast purges of the voting rolls, the gutting of the Voting Rights Act (Scalia and other assholes on the Supreme Court), the stripping of voting rights from prisoners even after they've served their time, the removal of many potential black voters from their communities to prisons in white rural areas and use of their bodies to add to population figures, Voter ID and on and on. Systematic, and viciously racist.

Non-black voters haven't suffered these overt outrages but why should they keep voting, when their own lives are being ruined by 1%-er looting, no matter which party is in power, and, even if they do vote, they end up with a Congress that has an EIGHT PERCENT approval rating. It is NOT representative (and, my conviction, NOT elected, in many, many cases).

The disenfranchisement and demoralization are huge. 50% for sure. Maybe as high as 75%. People in despair. People with no say. People with three shit pay jobs and literally no time for public participation and no hope that it would do any good. I have never given up hope, despite a lifetime of seeing all the things that Brenner says about lame Democratic leaders happen before my eyes. But many, many people HAVE given up hope that they have any influence on how their state or their country is run. It is run of, by and for the uber-rich.

Sanders is upending this pitiful and dangerous citizen malaise. Maybe it's cruel of him to give people hope again that democracy can actually work in the country that invented it. But Brenner is certainly wrong that Sanders follows in the tradition of lame or bought-and-paid-for Democratic leaders. He does not. He is a very exciting candidate, VERY different from almost everyone we've seen for the last forty years, and clearly capable of arousing the American people from their miserable slumber. And the beauty of it is that he calls upon us--the disenfranchised, the demoralized, the miserable sleepers--to rise up and clean this house!

AND, people are loving to be called upon! The heart of democracy is still beating!