Bernie

[ericadawn16]

I don't feel I have to decide anything until Bernie Sanders officially drops out and that's going to be at the convention at the earliest.

I know we're supposed to automatically fall in line and be "with her" but I'm pretty disgusted by the Democrats in general right now. Their current platform is atrocious and the primaries were a disaster. The convention requirements are embarrassing, like something out of a satire about rich people.

The fact that we're expected to just do whatever the party wants us to do is what I've hated about the current Republican party so no, I don't agree with that at all. This is the United States of America where we have the freedom to believe whatever we choose, not what people tell us we HAVE to believe.

I'm going to work to get Open Primaries in all states and then, if the Democrats haven't proved themselves to be inclusive and care what the younger and/or fringe voters think, I'm dropping them. This is their official warning. You're on Notice! as the old Stephen Colbert would say.

I still want to give Hillary a fair shot if it comes to it. I'll read her book but it's going to be pretty hard to win me over. My mom's already saying things like "We're not voting for her."

We'll probably vote for Jill Stein. Someone online claimed she didn't have Bernie's values but refused to tell me what she meant by that and I can't figure it out on my own.

Comments

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

I think a part of me is still hoping that somehow I will wake up and Bernie will be the nominee after all.

Hillary is so deep in the pocket of Wall Street that she has lint in her hair. I just can't like her. Yes, I'll end up voting for her, but only because it seems to me to be the best way to vote against Trump.


Gabrielle

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

Nate Silver has Hillary winning by over 70% which is like...then I should be able to vote for whoever I want...
unless everyone decides that and it changes the variables...

I also hate that the contest has been changed to Trump instead of ISSUES! Dammit, we still need that infrastructure and further healthcare reform and affordable college and jobs!

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

I agree with you. Voting for Bernie was my shot at getting to vote for someone who cared about the issues I care about and wanted to do something meaningful... but instead it's hold my nose and vote for the lesser of two evils. I am not the least bit happy about that.


Gabrielle

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

I still don't understand why Bernie's supporters are mad at the Party for not rushing to him. He's technically not even a Democrat.
Obama was not my choice, but I still voted for him because I support the Democrats positions before I will ever support the Repubs.
And this year the alternative is horrifying. :o
Hugs, Jon

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

We're mad because we looked at the issues important to us and the party went for who would continue more of the same instead of fighting for better.

The party should have been impartial until all 50 states voted. It wasn't.

This explains some:
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/bernie-sanders-democratic-platform-225070

I voted for Obama because I believed in him. That's what I do with all my votes. I vote for who I believe is truly best and not the lesser of two evils.

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

Would people be talking about/supporting Bernie if he had run on the Soicalist Party's ticket?
Being a Hillary supporter, I think that is what bothers me the most. He's not a Democrat.
Please know I am not looking to argue here, I just don't understand the whole thing. :(

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

We don't really have a Socialist party. Technically, we do but the only OTHER parties that ever get mentioned are the Tea Party, Green Party and Libertarians.
Yes, most people wouldn't have found Bernie if he had been on the Socialist Party's ticket which is important to the rest of us.
You're upset because he's not a Democrat and we're upset because he HAD to be a Democrat in order to get any kind of media attention or access to debates.
As it is, his media attention was still way behind Hillary and Trump but Jill Stein and Gary Johnson have way less and NEITHER of them were allowed at debates! Stein was even arrested for trying to get into various debates.
Presidential debates should include ALL candidates.

You don't want non-Democrats running as Democrats and we don't like that candidates have no other choice than to be a Democrats or a Republican if they want any chance or to have anyone listen to them.

Also, the Democrats that Bernie appealed to were those tired of the party being too moderate or caving into Wall Street or corporations or Republicans. Bernie may not have been technically a Democrat but he still matched up with the far left spectrum of Democrats whereas Hillary was about as far right as you could go without being a Republican.

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

I totally support all Party candidates being included in the actual Presidential debates, aka those coming up, assuming there will be some, but I don't think they need to be included in the Party debates.
I actually think it would be GREAT to hear the other Parties during the Presidential debates. We might actually get to hear something other then the pat answers/sound bites we get now. :)
I think Obama is much farther to the Right on the political spectrum then Hillary is.
And it kind of tells you are far to the Right that the Republican Party has gotten that Democrats "look" like Old Republicans. :o

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

I've kind of reached the point where maybe...we shouldn't even have parties?
I think the party debates should have been mixed because that could have given a much more realistic look at things.

Of course, I would also love if they just gave up this charade of it not being a farce and had a reality show where the candidates were forced to live together like Big Brother.

I know what you mean about not including the third party people when the parties are deciding but if people knew ALL of their options, maybe that would make them decide differently?

I disagree about Obama.

Some of the Democrats ARE former Republicans, like Charlie Crist.

[thespian15.livejournal.com]

and had a reality show where the candidates were forced to live together like Big Brother.
OMg, that would be a RIOT.
Last Man standing would be President? LOL........

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

This whole election is just beyond a mess. I think both parties should just agree to a do-over and start from scratch, Obama can handle one more year, right? :P Just to hold down the fort.

It's like, I can't get excited about anyone anymore because campaign promises are never kept and I know everyone just says what people want to hear (or they think they want to hear) so how can I trust any of them?

It's not supposed to be a two-party system, it should not be us vs them, but that is what it has become. People confusing religion with politics, unable to change sides or think beyond the party.

I'm so freakin' scared and I have no idea who i will vote for in November. I know who I won't vote for. And I know I will vote, because I will always exercise that right. But it's just too much of a clusterfuck right now.

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

Oh, I wish...

Yeah, my mom was really down on that for a while because she truly believed that Obama would do more. I hoped he would but was pretty sure he would be more like Clinton and have to compromise.

YES! If the party doesn't work for you, you need a new party!~

(hugs)

Right now, my mom wants to write in Bernie on the ballot.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised that anyone really believes things can get done in politics anymore. It's this US vs THEM mentality, and if you give an inch to either side, you are attacked and it is just ridiculous. We do have to make compromises for this whole system to work but for some reason Congress does not seem to get that, they want it their way or no way. But that isn't how life is (unless your a parent dealing with a child...hm...maybe that is how Congress sees us...)

There's just so much bullshit. Like I mentioned in the other post, I just finished 'Show Me a Hero' about trying to bring low-income housing to Yonkers, NY -- the whole thing starts in 1988 (actually, earlier because it starts with Yonkers FIGHTING having low-income housing at all) and when the last card pops up on the screen before the credits, it says the entire debacle wasn't officially over until 2007. RIDICULOUS! And it was because of politicians playing with the rules, stalling so they could get re-elected and people not wanting to make any kind of compromise.

Blah...I try not to be a cynical person, but politics makes me cynical LOL.

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, I feel more cynical than my mom but I know I can't be that way all the time or they've won.

I'm a little torn because I think there can be room for some compromise but then that can lead to things like Don't Ask, Don't Tell and Obamacare not being able to help everyone. I also get annoyed when there's an awesome bill and they add in stupid stuff so it has to be Vetoed or die.

Low-income housing is a very complicated issue because I don't know the particulars of Yonkers but elsewhere housing was a used as a form of segregation. They were able to make sure that Jews, immigrants and People of Color stayed in certain areas by making sure they could never afford the rent or purchase price in areas they didn't want them to be. This is why the suburbs are so extremely Caucasian. Thus, a lot of opposition to low income housing in general was that people didn't want these "foreigners/colored/wrong religion people" moving next to THEM.

A lot of people won't admit this which is incredibly annoying. A lot of people also won't admit that the rise in private schools coincides with more and more of these "undesirables" being able to live in predominately Caucasian neighborhoods and have access to their public schools. Of course, as the private schools became more and more popular, public school funding went down and down and down because who cares about poor kids who can't afford private school, right?

Gated communities also coincide with it all, including having pools in gated/planned communities or tied to the YMCA instead of being an open to the public community pool.

I hope I get to see that miniseries sometime.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you are right, those compromises didn't work because they were more sabotage than actually trying to find a middle ground. Sometimes I just want to 'Fight Club' things and start from scratch because I don't know how we will ever get to a place as a nation where people can have logical discussions about anything in politics.

I mean, if I sent a high school speech and debate teacher to one of our presidential debates, THEY WOULD FAIL THE CANDIDATES because no one actually debates the way we are all taught to.

Yes, I highly recommend the miniseries. I just checked out the book so I could get more details, but that is pretty much what it was all about. Other predominantly white areas of New York were told to build the housing and they all did except for Yonkers, who kept fighting it. They also talk about the kinds of housing that were built. Originally, NYC was full of these walkup apartments which just invited people to hang out in the common areas. A researcher finally said "hey, this leads to problems, you have to build affordable townhouses!" - which technically cost more to build but not as much for upkeep because the tenants feel more ownership and take care of their houses.

I know one of the reasons my Mom sent me to public school was so I was in contact with all kinds of people. She pretty much felt that a lot of people who sent their kids to private schools weren't doing it for a better education, but to isolate their kids from "them". It drives me crazy how we have created this culture, especially in the cities, where we don't fund the public schools enough and then wonder why the students coming out of those schools have done so poorly and have so little motivation to do well. Why is this so hard for people to see???????

**sigh** sorry I am in rant mode. Waking up this morning to the news of yet another shooting, the attacks on the Dallas police, and a sad email from Obama...every time I read one of those emails, I remember back 8 years ago when we were all so full of hope and excitement and it makes me so sad...

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

(hugs)

I agree with everything you say...but I went to public school because we were poor. However, she valued education so she always made sure I read and I did enjoy learning new stuff. My elementary school made an Erica rule...like Matthew on News Radio, there have been many rules at various places that apply only to me...anyway, the Erica rule at my elementary library was that I could only check out one book a day because sometimes, I would go through them too quickly. I even read all the volumes of Childcraft we owned.

There were two main elementary schools. Mine was the less affluent. About a third of the girls in my 5th grade class had been pregnant at least once by age 18. Not everyone even finished high school.
I feel I got a pretty good education, multiple AP classes but it was Florida and in college, I found out that they just assume all Floridian graduates will need remedial classes until proven otherwise.

I think we can get that Hope back but it's like Bernie said...we can't depend on politicians to do it. We have to make it happen ourselves.

[jackdavfan692.livejournal.com]

The second part of what thespian15 said (minus the bit about not wanting/supporting Obama).

I'll also add that in a state like yours, a Democrat who votes for a third party candidate will take votes away from Hillary, just as a Republican who does the same thing will take votes away from Trump (or whoever is the nominee, if the rumored "coup" on the floor of the convention is successful).

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

That's supposing that we live in a country that is ONLY supposed to have two parties and that was never intended to be the case.

Heck, we used to have the runner-up be the Vice President!

[paynesgrey.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with you. I'm a Jill Stein supporter, but I like Bernie too. It's awful how he's been treated. I wish all the parties were given a fair shot. I gave up the the Democratic Party awhile ago (even though I did like Obama), just not down with their practices. And you'd have to be a lunatic to support Republicans. I bet more people would look at Libertarians, Socialists and Greens if the two-party corruption didn't block them.

My mom is a Hillary supporter so I know she'll at least vote for her.

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

The Republicans used to have some wonderful people and they drove them away for being "too liberal".

I hope more people do find the other candidates...they may get a HUGE boost if Bernie does endorse Hillary as everyone keeps saying.

But it should be a lot easier for other candidates and points of view to be heard.