Why I Voted for Bernie

[ericadawn16]

My mom and I officially voted for Bernie yesterday, but I didn't get around to posting this.

Most of my explanation for why I voted for Obama in 2008 over Hillary still applies:

http://ericadawn16.livejournal.com/16504.html

"Hillary, who's broken promise after promise and lied to the American people. "

And this was 2008, this was before Benghazi and the emails and everything else.

Whereas Bernie...he thinks like me. He knows the US can do better especially for its citizens.

My mom ended up disappointed with Obama because he didn't do everything he promised. I knew better. I knew we weren't going to get everything. That's just not how it works anymore. It's weird, sometimes our conversations recently have reminded me of this exchange between Poe and Leia:

Poe: I keep thinking, this man, Ro-Kiintor, he's a senator. He's in the heart of the Republic, our Republic. And he was a traitor. And I'm wondering how many more are just like him, how many more are working for the First Order, how many more have sold us out.

Leia: Yet you still believe in the Republic, Poe.

Poe: Absolutely, yes. I remember how my parents spoke about life under the Empire, General. The fear, they said it was like a cloud everywhere you went, that it was so thick you could...you could breathe it. They used to say, until the Rebellion...they said you could see the hopelessness in the eyes of everyone you met.

Leia: That's the word, without hope.

Poe: Where did it go?

Leia: I don't know, but I know we have to find it again.

My mom still believes and I want to...I want us to find our hope again, but I don't think it's going to happen until the establishment realizes we're not going to play their game anymore. Until that happens...

Obama taught us we have to live to with compromise and if everything has to be a compromise, if we're going to meet in the middle in the middle of that ladder to get anything, I want that ladder to stretch to the International Space Station so maybe the middle will be at the Mimalayas or at least the Disney version whereas the top of Hillary's ladder looks about as tall as Chewbacca and she claims the expectations are low because they're "realistic" but how is she going to convince Rick Scott and the other Republican governors to expand Medicaid...and what does that do to really help the healthcare situation? The prices are still too high and people are still not getting the attention they deserve.

I have been wanting Donna Edwards or Elizabeth Warren as his running mate but Tulsi Gabbard! Wow! She gave up being Vice-Chair of the Democratic National Committee so she could campaign for Bernie! She'd be perfect.

"When I served in Iraq with a medical unit, one of my daily responsibilities was to go through a list of every injury and casualty in the theater of operations and make sure our troops were cared for. The names I saw every day were those of my brothers and sisters in uniform, those who carry the indelible wounds of war. Some of them never came home. All of them sacrificed for all of us.

I spoke with Sen. Bernie Sanders at length about his foreign policy vision. He understands the need for a foreign policy that robustly defends the safety and security of the American people. But he is committed to not wasting precious lives and money on interventionist wars of regime change. He appreciates that such counterproductive wars undermine our national security and economic prosperity.

As vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee, I have had to stay neutral in this contest. But I can no longer sit on the sidelines. The stakes are too high."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/29/opinions/why-im-endorsing-bernie-sanders-gabbard/

Ooh, mom just informed me Bernie had a similar, BETTER analogy:
"If you start your campaign and you run on a platform calling for a full loaf, at worst you're gonna get a half a loaf. If you start your campaign talking about the need for a half a loaf, you're gonna get crumbs. And the American people today do not want, do not need crumbs—they want the whole loaf."

I haven't decided what I'll do if the DNC gets its way and Hillary gets the nomination. Currently, my mom says she will write in Bernie anyway. In 2012, a fellow Obama canvasser gave me Hillary's autobiography and told me to pass it on to someone else once I read it. I've never read it but she gets the nomination, I'll read it and decide if I should give her another chance or it just confirms what I already thought. Jill Stein is a wonderful candidate also.

But I'm going to end on this story that I first heard in Tomorrowland and still resonates with me although I'm not always able to feed the right one:

ONE EVENING, AN ELDERLY
CHEROKEE BRAVE TOLD HIS
GRANDSON ABOUT A BATTLE THAT
GOES ON INSIDE PEOPLE.

HE SAID "MY SON, THE BATTLE IS
BETWEEN TWO 'WOLVES' INSIDE US ALL.
ONE IS EVIL. IT IS ANGER,
ENVY, JEALOUSY, SORROW,
REGRET, GREED, ARROGANCE,
SELF-PITY, GUILT, RESENTMENT,
INFERIORITY, LIES, FALSE PRIDE,
SUPERIORITY, AND EGO.

THE OTHER IS GOOD.
IT IS JOY, PEACE LOVE, HOPE SERENITY,
HUMILITY, KINDNESS, BENEVOLENCE,
EMPATHY, GENEROSITY,
TRUTH, COMPASSION AND FAITH."

THE GRANDSON THOUGH ABOUT
IT FOR A MINUTE AND THEN ASKED
HIS GRANDFATHER:

"WHICH WOLF WINS?..."

THE OLD CHEROKEE SIMPLY REPLIED,
"THE ONE THAT YOU FEED"

http://www.nanticokeindians.org/tale_of_two_wolves.cfm

Comments

[ragnarok-08.livejournal.com]

I remember hearing about the tale of two wolves, and it definitely rings true.

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

She gave up being Vice-Chair of the Democratic National Committee so she could campaign for Bernie!
I don't understand that. Why did she have to resign? Can't you be a Vice Chair of the Party and also campaign for a candidate?
I have to agree with your mom, I am disappointed with Obama too.
"Promises" were not kept.
Maybe you can answer a question somebody asked at our caucus tonight, What are Bernie's foreign affairs policies? Beyond being against war, I haven't really heard him talk about foreign affairs policies.
Hugs, Jon

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

I don't understand that. Why did she have to resign? Can't you be a Vice Chair of the Party and also campaign for a candidate?

No, she was supposed to be neutral.

https://berniesanders.com/issues/war-and-peace/

If that doesn't cover a specific question, I'll look it up for you.

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

Thanks. That page is more then I have heard in the campaign so far.

[verdande-mi.livejournal.com]

Belated happy voting day :) It's interesting watching the US election from the outside.

[dodger-sister.livejournal.com]

Yay, voting for Bernie! Our primaries were today and I voted for Bernie too! I really hope he gets it. Hilary will be fine, but I feel like it'll be four/eight more years of the same thing. Which is also fine - Obama could have done more if he hadn't been opposed at every turn, but he did some good things. But I don't want just fine - I want change! And I think Bernie'll bring it! And if he doesn't get the nomination this year, there's no way he runs again in four years, so that'll be that.

But here's the thing....if he doesn't get the nomination, we still all need to vote for Hilary. Not because we want Hilary, but because we DON'T want a Republican! Bernie is actually an Independant but he ran as a democrat specifically, as he has stated, so as not to divide the Democratic Party. Then half goes to him and half goes to Hilary and all the Republicans go to their nominee, (Cruz or Trump /shudder/) and we are screwed. If Bernie loses and Hillary takes the nomination, 100% guarantee Bernie throws his support behind her. Doing a write in for Bernie may be symbolic, but it's basically a vote away from Hilary. And that's a vote in favor of the Republicans. If it's Cruz vs Hilary and 1/3 of Democratic voters don't vote or write in Bernie, then Hilary has only 2/3 of the registered voters she should have had. Where as all the Republicans vote for Cruz, 3/3, he wins. And if the republicans win, we all lose.

I never push politics this hard, but I am fucking terrified of Trump or Cruz actually being my president (I actually have family in Canada and even though my brother is divorcing her, if Trump is our president, I am going to ask my (soon to be ex) sister in law to sponsor me to move to Canada. Not even shitting you). So I urge you and your mom (and everyone) to vote for Hilary if if she is our nominee. Just think about it. Because I don't want to have to move to Canada!

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

I hate that mentality of we "have to" which is probably because of my mom. In 1996, I voted for Bob Dole in my 8th grade mock election and she voted for Ross Perot. I voted Charlie Crist for governor against Nelson so I'm not a Democrat no matter what.

The thing to understand is that a lot of people are like me. They don't vote for that letter beside the name no matter what. If Trump gets the nomination, even Ben Stein said he would vote for the Democratic nominee.

BEN STEIN! He's like a poster child for conservatism.

Fox News has been pushing Bernie because they hate Hillary so much but they also hate a Trump presidency so when it comes down to it, they'd rather have Bernie than Trump.

Fox News

Cruz, that could be possible but he might not even be eligible. Plus, he has that serial killer vibe and is too conservative for a lot of moderates.

I have a friend who's going to Canada...for love, not politics, she'd love for me to join her but...

I've lived through five presidents. Some were good, some not but we're all still here...or as my mom put it, "We made it through Bush, we can make it through anything."

My faith says there's a plan to everything, even stuff like this.

However, if Hillary is the nominee, I will read her book and then, decide...fair shot like everyone else.

[jackdavfan692.livejournal.com]

*Rereads the comment I wrote when, in 2008, you posted why you voted for Obama over Hillary* It's interesting how one's views can change based on what happens over the course of a particular president's administration. More on that (kind of) in a minute.

Right off the bat, I'm going to say I'm still undecided about whether to vote for Hillary or Bernie in our primary (It's not until June 7th, so I still have a bit of time to think it over.). I'll explain the main reason I'm in such a conundrum. On the one hand, I really do like Bernie, because his views & ideas are very close to my own. But on the other, he doesn't have the foreign policy experience Hillary does (I'm talking mainly about what she did as Secretary of State.), which is very important right now, what with ISIS, North Korea seemingly testing nuclear weapons (AND threatening to use them, as per the statements of its crazy as a loon leader, Kim Jong Un, and others), and Putin essentially trying to restore the Russian empire by attacking the Ukraine. Not to mention the Syrian refugee crisis.

And there's one other thing that it doesn't seem like many people have mentioned or thought about. Say Bernie does get the nomination & wins. It's important to consider what a Sanders administration would be like if, by some chance, Republicans manage to hold onto their majority in Congress. If Hillary becomes president, as much as they hate her (and Bill) & will make things difficult for her, it's likely some portion of her agenda will get done, once compromises are made. If Bernie does, though? It's a certainty they'll kill everything
he presents to them right off the bat & completely refuse to compromise, because "socialism". It would be like the past eight years, but tens or possibly hundreds of times worse. In order to get anything done & passed, a President Sanders would have to sign a ton of executive orders, and that would, for Congressional Republicans & their supporters, just confirm what they (falsely) believe about Socialism: that it's evil, and leads to an oppressive, dictatorial government. Once that happens, I shudder to think what might come next.

In terms of what to do once the general election comes around if Hillary becomes the nominee, I'm with the person who said we should vote for her no matter what, or the country is screwed. Honestly, Trump disgusts me (and scares me a bit, what with his near-total ignorance about foreign policy and utterly unpresidential temperament), and Cruz terrifies me. Kasich is the only one of the three who I might be somewhat okay with, but despite his optimism about his chances, the possibility of him becoming the Republican nominee is virtually nil. So, unless the GOP decides to hand the nomination over to Paul Ryan or someone else, we could still end up with a President Trump or Cruz.

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, Sanders predicted that Panama was a problem with its tax havens in 2011 so he's not totally stupid about foreign policy.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/bernie-sanders-foreign-policy-realist/2016/03/08/c7f3422e-e48a-11e5-a6f3-21ccdbc5f74e_story.html

I'm just not as convinced at Clinton's successes as Secretary of State. Of course, everyone mentions the Iraq war but I've also seen a lot of people concerned on social media about her involvement with Latin America:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/analysis/Hillary-Clintons-Dubious-Views-on-Latin-America-20150412-0022.html

I realize that congress is a mess and it will probably be very similar to the last eight years but...
while the Republicans dislike any liberal, they HATE Hillary. They literally HATE her. Anyone who's seen any of the Benghazi hearings or Fox News knows that. Sometimes, Fox News even sounds favorable to Sanders just because they hate Hillary so much.

So I just can't picture her being any more successful with a Republican congress than Sanders. I don't see him signing a TON of executive orders. Most stuff needs to be done with other politicians involved...
which is why I acknowledge there will be compromise but if we aim high, the compromise won't be as bad.

Is the US headed for a civil war? Yes, we're already in the midst of one between those who believe in a America where everyone is respected and a America where only straight Christians happy with their bodies should prosper and be respected. I just hope we can skip the violence but I know there's already been too much violence as it is between the hate crimes, the abortion clinic bombings/shootings, etc.

If Hillary is the nominee, I still plan to read the book and pray on it. My mom is dead set against voting for Hillary. She gets more upset about Hillary's condescending tone towards Millennials than I do.

Either way, it's a powerful message that politics would have to change or disenfranchise the largest voting block since the Millennials now outnumber the Babyboomers.

Cruz would be worse than Trump but in a lot of ways, Trump's policies would be even harder to enact than Sanders. The Republicans hate Trump just because he exists against their rules and aren't likely to suddenly become BFFs just because he's president...so you would still get all those executive orders along with lawsuits about those executive orders from various groups.