Sanders: Good & Bad Billionaires?

"Both Parties Have Billionaire Donors."  

(March 14, 2016 update:  The following article was written in the runup to the 2014 Congressional midterm elections, before Bernie Sanders had announced any intention to run for President in 2016.  I'm reposting it due to all of the rhetoric about "billionaires".  Bernie Sanders himself made a distinction between good and bad billionaires a few years back. )     

OK, true..  But does that mean that "both parties are the same"?  Senator  Bernie Sanders (VT-I) doesn't seem to think so.


Sanders doesn't think the Democrats are doing enough (or are mad enough) at the way things are.. but it's clear from reading his comments in the article referenced below that he also knows the Democrats are quite different from Republicans, even when addressing such issues as "They both get a lot of money from Billionaires."

From Al JazeeraAmerica

In this excerpt from an inteview published October 6, 2014, at Vice.com, Senator Sanders was asked about "good" vs. "bad" billionaires (emphasis mine):

Q - "Democrats have also been able to get plenty of billionaires donating on their side. Does that present similar issues? Or is it a case of Good Billionaires vs. Bad Billionaires? 

A - Let me respond in two ways. I think the media has said, “Both sides are getting money from the very rich.” The answer is yes and no. The truth is that the Republicans are receiving a lot more money from the very wealthy, from the Koch brothers alone—who I understand will put $400 million into this campaign—not to mention many other people. So it is not a question of equivalence. One side is getting far, far more from the very rich than the other side is.

On the other hand, I personally, very strongly, believe that we have to overturn citizens united. I don’t think that any billionaire, regardless of his or her politics, should be able to play a significant role in a campaign. It’s not what democracy is about.

The third point that I would make is that when people say, “The Democrats are getting money from very rich people,” is that it’s true, though the Republicans are getting a lot more. Then you have to ask yourself, “What are the rich people donating to the Democrats concerned about?” You have some billionaire out there who’s legitimately concerned about global warming. You know what? Global warming is one of the great planetary crises that we face and it must be addressed. What are the Koch brothers concerned about? Their concern is that we should use more and more fossil fuels, that we should build the Keystone Pipeline, that we should significantly weaken the Environmental Protection Agency, and, by the way, that we should cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and education. It’s not enough to say that there are billionaires on both sides. You’ve got to ask what they want.

At the end of the day, I personally want to see all billionaires unable to heavily influence campaigns. I want to see Citizens United overturned, and I want to see public funding of elections."

The Democrats are not perfect. 

Now Sanders is an Independent who caucuses with the Democrats.  It's interesting to read his thoughts about the Republicans vs. the Democrats.  He mentions several times that the Republicans are a far-right extremist party. 

His complaint about the Democrats?

"...the Democratic Party has not been as clear as it should be in making the American people aware of the fundamental economic issues facing this country and their willingness to fight on behalf of working families and take on Wall Street and corporate America."

Are the Democrats perfect?  I agree with Sanders:  They need to spend more time and money on message. But that's a minor complaint when compared to the Republicans.  The future of our democracy (and we are a democratic republic, no matter what the righties want to call us) is imperilled by the current philosophy, leadership, and financing of the GOP. 

If Obama Has Accomplished So Much, Why Are His Approval Ratings Low?

Obama's Popularity:  Can a Good President Have Low Approval Ratings?  (Three reasons below.)

If Obama Has Accomplished So Much, why are his approval ratings low?

Someone asked this question in a comment to this column on Fourteen Things About the Obama Presidency That Most People Don't Know.  Here's my attempt to answer that question with a few reasons why President Obama has lower ratings than he should, considering his significant list of accomplishments:

1. We have suffered from 30 years of Republican dominated policies that have really made things difficult for the middle class. The kind of anti-worker/anti-middle class policies that were enacted in the 1980's often take years, even decades, to reach their full effect. I believe that some of the misery of the recent recession was the result of those 30 years of anti-worker/anti-middle class policies.  But I'm going to stick to the recent recession in these comments:  

The job market in the 2000's never reached the strength of the job market of the 1990's before everything came crashing down in late 2007/2008. The 2008 recession was the worst that any of us under 80 years of age have ever faced. We were really staring down the rabbit hole of another Great Depression. The banks were on the verge of failing, the US car manufacturers were on the verge of closing down; it was horrible; it was frightening. I don't understand why people don't remember how frightening things were in late 2008/early 2009.

As with any recession due to serious economic problems, it took a while for it to turn around. Yes, we started adding jobs in early 2010 and we've added over 2 million jobs a year since then, but things were bad, and some areas are still not what they were... and may never be. So people say, "I'm not doing as well as I was 5 -10- 15- 20 years ago, and it must be Obama's fault." They don't remember how bad things were.. or how bad they might be if Democrats hadn't taken over in 2009 and started us back on the road to recovery with a strong stimulus.

Economics is very complex, and many people want simplicity. So it's easier to believe the b.s. and decide that Obama is the problem.

2. Pure propaganda. If you keep telling people enough bad things often enough and loudly enough.. and you keep piling it on, people will start to believe those bad things. That's one of the first rules of propaganda.. keep it up. Make it louder and more horrible. Facebook and the blogosphere were not as influential during the early part of the 2000's and they have amplified the ugliness and the oversimplification.  Facebook photo memes are often ugly, inflammatory, often full of lies and misrepresentations. People don't want to read and analyze issues; they want quick info and they want to REACT. It's not just conservatives/righties that spit out the misleading, divisive memes, but the ones I've seen from the right (Yes, I do have rightie friends and family members) tend to be more inflammatory and more misleading on the whole than those from liberal sources.

3. Racism. No two ways about it; racism is a big part of the negativity towards Obama. Any time anyone claims that Obama is "lazy" (incredible... just look at his schedule on the White House site; I can't imagine anyone can work that hard), it is dogwhistle for "he's a lazy Nword".. no matter how much the person denies it.

In terms of the midterms, many of the most heated Senate races are in red or purple states in which Obama is less popular than in others. So he's not going to help those races by going to those states.

I continue to think that Obama will be considered a great President, considering the challenges he had to deal with when he took office, and considering the constant and undeserved obstruction and opposition. 

Obama Worse Than Bush? Hogwash!

Obama: Worst President in Modern Times! proclaims an NBC article citing a recent Quinnipiac University poll.

In fact, the headline of that poll at the Quinnipiac University site states:

Obama Is First As Worst President Since WWII, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; More Voters Say Romney Would Have Been Better

From NBC News/Reuters:  "President Obama loosens his tie in the heat before delivering remarks on the economy at the Georgetown Waterfront Park in Washington."

The righties are, of course, gleeful, for they were intent on destroying this man and his Presidency from Day 1.  Of course, Presidents usually poll worse when they are in office and better as people forget the misery they blame on that particular President.  Thus, Obama's legacy is far from decided, despite what the righties want us to believe. 

The Ignorant and Brainwashed Americans

I see this poll (and others that show similar results) this way:  This is another example of the dumbing down of the American people and the brainwashed ignorance of that population.  How could anyone consider "Obama worse than Bush", a man who pulled us into a trillion dollar war that cost tens of thousands of lives (both American and Iraqi lives) on lies? And Reagan the best?  What's wrong with this country?

"I don't believe in polls."

Now many people who lean left/Progressive/Democratic are quick to express skepticism of this poll and mention that it is only "one poll" or say that they "don't believe in polls."   Sigh.  Many of those same people do definitely believe in climate change and decry those who don't believe in climate change as being "not scientific" or "flat earthers".  Yet they don't believe in the statistics that underlie polls.  Sigh again.      

I think it is always important to know what the "other side" is thinking and what kind of effect they are having on this country. When we don't look at polls, we wind up with a 2010 election. I remember people saying that they "didn't believe in the polls" before the 2010 election, when the polls started to swing strongly to the Republicans. The polls were right. The Republicans took the House by a storm and the Dems were routed. (The polls also changed dramatically from summer to fall as rightie money poured into the races.)

Outrageous.

I think it is outrageous that a large chunk of the American population are unhappy with Obama, despite Obama pulling us back from the brink of total financial collapse, saving the automakers, presiding over the addition of 9 million jobs, moving us towards equality for LGBT people, limiting our entanglements in foreign wars, reducing the deficit, etc. etc, DESPITE constant Congressional obstruction, despite Republicans that were insistent on destroying his Presidency from Day 1, even if it meant keeping the American people miserable.

The poll mentions that Obama's approval rate is now somewhere around 40%. Even if you quibble about a few percent in terms of "not believing a poll", that's still a very poor approval rating for a man who has accomplished so much with so much opposition. It doesn't say much for the intelligence or knowledge of the brainwashed American people.

 
If this was just one poll, we could easily ignore it. But it isn't. Obama is getting hit in poll after poll this spring. Saying that we shouldn't pay any attention to polls is to me, someone who has spent some time studying statistics and polling, akin to saying that, because we've had a cold winter, "I don't believe in global warming." 

The issue isn't the polls; the issue is the brainwashed ignorance of the American people.

Racist Dog Whistle: What Happened America?

Don't let the righties get away with racist dog whistle such as the photo below!

The photo above was found on a Facebook page called Human Events.  Whoever put this together obviously wanted to emphasize a difference between Michelle Obama, the current First Lady and the wife of President Barack Obama, and Jackie Kennedy, who served as First Lady from 1961 to 1963 when her husband, John F. Kennedy, was President.

And the difference is obviously supposed to be negative, as Michelle Obama apparently does not look as "together" as Jackie Kennedy in this pair of pictures.  The racists will deny that the difference of skin color between the two women means anything.. but never allow yourself to be deceived.  Their biggest complaint about the Obamas really IS race.  But arguing with racists is really a waste of time.

As the added text, posted on my Facebook page, states:

Jackie and Michelle are both fashionable, intelligent women who speak/spoke for their generations. Perhaps Jackie didn't feel that she could show the joy that Michelle is expressing in the photo at the right. If so, how sad! And how far we have come as a people! Not only do we have a black family in the White House, but the First Lady can feel comfortable expressing herself! As my FB friend Sue writes: "How refreshing to have a First Lady with a desire to make changes for American families and not just be an ornament on the President's arm. Michelle Obama is LOVED around the country; her approval ratings are HIGH; she's a decent and honorable woman who loves her family and her country! We are so lucky to have her!""

Yes, Sue, we are lucky to have Michelle Obama in the White House.  But there's a significant part of the population that will NEVER accept her legitimacy as First Lady.  The picture above is one of the most mild in terms of criticism of Michelle Obama.  But it is SO mild that the racists can more easily deny any racist intent in posting. 

So sad.  But don't ignore racist dog whistle!  And know that it exists in this the land of "All (white men) are created equal."

Something drastically wrong in America--- The Final Word About the Bundy Ranch Situation.

Is this the final word about the Bundy Ranch situation in Nevada?

I doubt it will be the final word, but I found this in my archives, and it really fits the recent situation at the Bundy Ranch in Nevada.  For those who have just crawled out of a 100 year sleep, there are dozens and hundreds of stories about this from both the right and the left perspectives, but the basic issue is this:

A rancher in Nevada had been allowing his cattle to graze on public land for years, generations.  Until 1993, he paid his grazing fees to the government.  In 1993, he stopped paying those fees, but continued to let his cattle graze.  He now owes the U.S. government.. us, you, me, your family and friends.. over a million bucks in fees.  The federal government has taken him to court and he has lost those cases; as he refuses to pay up, the feds got the right to take his cattle and sell them for back fees.  Bundy got the word out, and the anti-government "militia" people came by the hundreds to "support" him against the "jack-booted federal government".  The federal government has now backed up, fearful of someone getting shot or seriously hurt, but I'm sure there will be a Plan B, C, or D.

I post the following with one caveat:  The Republican Party itself does NOT seem to be directly encouraging people to take up arms in this particular situation, but most of the people involved in these militias do appear to support the Republicans and their extreme candidates.

From the folks at Occupy Public Office, perhaps shared from elsewhere, as I can't read the credit in the left corner.  That word on the top line should be "something" (of course):

Vote Them Out of Office! Period!

For the past 40 years Congressional Republicans, well-organized and financed by the Koch brothers and a few other mega-rich guys, have created chaos in the country and in the government.  They caused the recession, forced the sequester on us, and shut the government down --according to the plans designed by these Koch brothers.  Do not be blinded by Koch money under the subtle disguise of Jeb Bush, Issa's scandals, patriotism, Christianity, "prosperity", paid experts, think tanks, unrelenting corporate-owned media, or 5+ years of Fox News' 24/7 propaganda.  Understand the impact of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, 5 Republican Supreme Court justices, 30 Republican governors with gerrymandered districts and voter suppression. 

The GOP-TP has conned enough Americans that they believe they can actually take over government AGAIN and again pillage our country (despite the damage done by two unfunded wars).  They believe they can legislate their twisted morality; they believe they can (with the help of Lyin' Paul Ryan's austerity budget) privatize the three trillion-dollar Social Security system, voucherize Medicare, cut food stamps, end job programs, repeal without replacement OBAMACARE (52 times),  establish MORE  tax giveaways for the rich and MORE loopholes for corporations-- And then claim all of this is done in the name of "Liberty, national security and job creation". 

American, how can you be so blind as to not see what they are up to? How easily you forget GWB's financial crisis, nationwide and worldwide, which resulted in more than 25 million jobless Americans struggling for survival? Republicans hate Americans; they hate real Americans who work everyday and raise their families.. struggling to get by even as their wages, jobs, and benefits are cut.  Republicans worship money and hide it in the Cayman Islands-- not to mention many other things that Republicans do that you and I don't know about.  

Vote them out of office!  All of them!  Period!!

(Thanks to "Hughes Hunt" commenting at the National Memo HERE.)


Visit me at Facebook:  Middle Molly's America

Kennedy: Proud to be a Liberal

Be Liberal and Be Proud:  

When someone calls you a "lib", smile and be proud!   

So many issues, so many the same, so many different.  As we approach the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination in Dallas, let's remember this great quote by John F. Kennedy when he accepted the nomination of the Liberal Party in New York in 1960:

If by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal." Acceptance of the New York Liberal Party nomination (14 September 1960)

Find out more about this speech using this Google search.

Added November 19, 2013, just a few days before the 50th anniversary of JFK's death, with this great collage from Tracy Knauss at Facebook: 

Every time that someone tries to denigrate the term "liberal", it's time to pull out this quote, and say strongly and surely:  "Yes!  I'm a liberal and I'm proud of it."  Don't allow yourself to be demeaned because you believe in civil liberties and the welfare of people. 

(--- and follow Tracy Knauss's page at Facebook.  He does great stuff!)