Sanders as a third-party candidate.....might it work?

[Peter Lemkin]

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[TD="width: 84%"]Democrats Need to Wake Up

By Bernie Sanders
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Surprise, surprise. Workers in Britain, many of whom have seen a decline in their standard of living while the very rich in their country have become much richer, have turned their backs on the European Union and a globalized economy that is failing them and their children.
And it's not just the British who are suffering. That increasingly globalized economy, established and maintained by the world's economic elite, is failing people everywhere. Incredibly, the wealthiest 62 people on this planet own as much wealth as the bottom half of the world's population -- around 3.6 billion people. The top 1 percent now owns more wealth than the whole of the bottom 99 percent. The very, very rich enjoy unimaginable luxury while billions of people endure abject poverty, unemployment, and inadequate health care, education, housing and drinking water.
Could this rejection of the current form of the global economy happen in the United States? You bet it could.
During my campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, I've visited 46 states. What I saw and heard on too many occasions were painful realities that the political and media establishment fail even to recognize.
In the last 15 years, nearly 60,000 factories in this country have closed, and more than 4.8 million well-paid manufacturing jobs have disappeared. Much of this is related to disastrous trade agreements that encourage corporations to move to low-wage countries.
Despite major increases in productivity, the median male worker in America today is making $726 dollars less than he did in 1973, while the median female worker is making $1,154 less than she did in 2007, after adjusting for inflation.
Nearly 47 million Americans live in poverty. An estimated 28 million have no health insurance, while many others are underinsured. Millions of people are struggling with outrageous levels of student debt. For perhaps the first time in modern history, our younger generation will probably have a lower standard of living than their parents. Frighteningly, millions of poorly educated Americans will have a shorter life span than the previous generation as they succumb to despair, drugs and alcohol.
Meanwhile, in our country the top one-tenth of 1 percent now owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. Fifty-eight percent of all new income is going to the top 1 percent. Wall Street and billionaires, through their "super PACs," are able to buy elections.
Let's be clear. The global economy is not working for the majority of people in our country and the world. This is an economic model developed by the economic elite to benefit the economic elite. We need real change. On my campaign, I've talked to workers unable to make it on $8 or $9 an hour; retirees struggling to purchase the medicine they need on $9,000 a year of Social Security; young people unable to afford college. I also visited the American citizens of Puerto Rico, where some 58 percent of the children live in poverty and only a little more than 40 percent of the adult population has a job or is seeking one.
But we do not need change based on the demagogy, bigotry and anti-immigrant sentiment that punctuated so much of the Leave campaign's rhetoric -- and is central to Donald J. Trump's message.
We need a president who will vigorously support international cooperation that brings the people of the world closer together, reduces hyper-nationalism and decreases the possibility of war. We also need a president who respects the democratic rights of the people, and who will fight for an economy that protects the interests of working people, not just Wall Street, the drug companies and other powerful special interests.
We need to fundamentally reject our "free trade" policies and move to fair trade. Americans should not have to compete against workers in low-wage countries who earn pennies an hour. We must defeat the Trans-Pacific Partnership. We must help poor countries develop sustainable economic models.
We need to end the international scandal in which large corporations and the wealthy avoid paying trillions of dollars in taxes to their national governments.
We need to create tens of millions of jobs worldwide by combating global climate change and by transforming the world's energy system away from fossil fuels.
We need international efforts to cut military spending around the globe and address the causes of war: poverty, hatred, hopelessness and ignorance.
The notion that Donald Trump could benefit from the same forces that gave the Leave proponents a majority in Britain should sound an alarm for the Democratic Party in the United States. Millions of American voters, like the Leave supporters, are understandably angry and frustrated by the economic forces that are destroying the middle class.
In this pivotal moment, the Democratic Party and a new Democratic president need to make clear that we stand with those who are struggling and who have been left behind. We must create national and global economies that work for all, not just a handful of billionaires.

...good as far as it goes...but doesn't go far enough. Any idea that Clinton and the DNC can be 'reformed' is naive. Our only last chance are new bottom-up parties to replace the one top-down one that claims to be two, IMHO.

[Magda Hassan]

...good as far as it goes...but doesn't go far enough. Any idea that Clinton and the DNC can be 'reformed' is naive. Our only last chance are new bottom-up parties to replace the one top-down one that claims to be two, IMHO.

Agreed. The Dem leadership cabal just supported fracking, apartheid Israel, and the TPP. Everything the membership does not want. What's the point of them?

[Peter Lemkin]

[Drew Phipps]

Bernie Sanders will campaign with Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, bridging party divide
Luke Brinker
Jul 11th 2016 8:09AM

http://www.aol.com/article/2016/07/11/be.../21429719/

Bernie Sanders will join Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail on Tuesday, the Clinton campaign announced early Monday morning, news that comes after the erstwhile primary rivals have moved closer together on issues like health care and higher education. Sanders, who has yet to formally concede defeat in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination but has indicated he will back Clinton in her likely face-off with presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, will stump with Clinton at Portsmouth High School in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The Vermont senator handily defeated Clinton in the Granite State's February primary, and the Clinton campaign's announcement last week that she would be campaigning in the state stoked speculation that Sanders would make his first post-primary appearance with her there.

Confirmation of Sanders' appearance follows Clinton's move to the left on key issues Sanders championed during his populist campaign. Last week, Clinton rolled out a proposal for free public college for students from families earning less than $125,000 annually, with Sanders lauding Clinton's "very bold initiative." Over the weekend, Clinton also unveiled new health care proposals, including increased funding for community health centers and an option for Americans over 55 years old to buy into Medicare. On a call with reporters, Sanders praised those proposals as an "important step forward," adding that on big issues, "The Clinton campaign and I are coming closer and closer together."


The Clinton campaign is eager for Sanders' most fervent supporters to see things the same way. Many "Bernie or Bust" supporters remain unsold on the former secretary of state, and it's unclear whether they'll be moved by Sanders' endorsement. Still, polls show that Clinton has largely consolidated Democratic support since clinching the nomination last month, and she now leads Trump by just under five points in the RealClearPolitics polling average.

[Peter Lemkin]

Bernie Sanders will campaign with Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, bridging party divide
Luke Brinker
Jul 11th 2016 8:09AM

http://www.aol.com/article/2016/07/11/be.../21429719/

Bernie Sanders will join Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail on Tuesday, the Clinton campaign announced early Monday morning, news that comes after the erstwhile primary rivals have moved closer together on issues like health care and higher education. Sanders, who has yet to formally concede defeat in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination but has indicated he will back Clinton in her likely face-off with presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, will stump with Clinton at Portsmouth High School in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The Vermont senator handily defeated Clinton in the Granite State's February primary, and the Clinton campaign's announcement last week that she would be campaigning in the state stoked speculation that Sanders would make his first post-primary appearance with her there.

Confirmation of Sanders' appearance follows Clinton's move to the left on key issues Sanders championed during his populist campaign. Last week, Clinton rolled out a proposal for free public college for students from families earning less than $125,000 annually, with Sanders lauding Clinton's "very bold initiative." Over the weekend, Clinton also unveiled new health care proposals, including increased funding for community health centers and an option for Americans over 55 years old to buy into Medicare. On a call with reporters, Sanders praised those proposals as an "important step forward," adding that on big issues, "The Clinton campaign and I are coming closer and closer together."


The Clinton campaign is eager for Sanders' most fervent supporters to see things the same way. Many "Bernie or Bust" supporters remain unsold on the former secretary of state, and it's unclear whether they'll be moved by Sanders' endorsement. Still, polls show that Clinton has largely consolidated Democratic support since clinching the nomination last month, and she now leads Trump by just under five points in the RealClearPolitics polling average.

::vomit::::vomit::::vomit::

[David Guyatt]

Bernie Sanders will campaign with Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, bridging party divide
Luke Brinker
Jul 11th 2016 8:09AM

http://www.aol.com/article/2016/07/11/be.../21429719/

Bernie Sanders will join Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail on Tuesday, the Clinton campaign announced early Monday morning, news that comes after the erstwhile primary rivals have moved closer together on issues like health care and higher education. Sanders, who has yet to formally concede defeat in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination but has indicated he will back Clinton in her likely face-off with presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, will stump with Clinton at Portsmouth High School in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The Vermont senator handily defeated Clinton in the Granite State's February primary, and the Clinton campaign's announcement last week that she would be campaigning in the state stoked speculation that Sanders would make his first post-primary appearance with her there.

Confirmation of Sanders' appearance follows Clinton's move to the left on key issues Sanders championed during his populist campaign. Last week, Clinton rolled out a proposal for free public college for students from families earning less than $125,000 annually, with Sanders lauding Clinton's "very bold initiative." Over the weekend, Clinton also unveiled new health care proposals, including increased funding for community health centers and an option for Americans over 55 years old to buy into Medicare. On a call with reporters, Sanders praised those proposals as an "important step forward," adding that on big issues, "The Clinton campaign and I are coming closer and closer together."


The Clinton campaign is eager for Sanders' most fervent supporters to see things the same way. Many "Bernie or Bust" supporters remain unsold on the former secretary of state, and it's unclear whether they'll be moved by Sanders' endorsement. Still, polls show that Clinton has largely consolidated Democratic support since clinching the nomination last month, and she now leads Trump by just under five points in the RealClearPolitics polling average.

::vomit::::vomit::::vomit::

Which simply goes to prove that the political establishment always support themselves and ultimately never the people they claim to represent.

It just a shell game where the voter is the pea.

[Albert Doyle]

I wonder how Bernie reconciles supporting a person that ultimately embodies everything he was criticizing in his campaign?

[Magda Hassan]

Well, that's just not going to happen. The people that supported Bernie support Bernie. Some will go to Clinton but most not. That is the point. Bernie should give his vote to Jill Stein.

[Peter Lemkin]

Well, that's just not going to happen. The people that supported Bernie support Bernie. Some will go to Clinton but most not. That is the point. Bernie should give his vote to Jill Stein.

SHOULD is the operative word there! But I fear won't and most sheeple will not vote for a third party in the USA, as they feel doing so is 'throwing their vote away'. In fact, voting for one of the two [sic] parties is the act of throwing one's vote away! I'm VERY disappointed in Sanders and he has let down and likely discouraged those who supported him from further participation in politics. I never thought Sanders was perfect and have many criticisms of some of his ideas especially on some foreign policy, but I never thought he'd sell out and give up. He said he was going to carry the fight all the way to the convention [he lied] and hinted he might carry it beyond [he's not]. Nothing changes in the Empire. Hillary will be President baring a last minute miracle and while 'better' than Trump [sic] - she will be a horrible President and the Banksters and WarParty will remain in power......nothing will change and I don't even believe any of the 'Sanders ideas' will change the Platform of the Democratic Party...or if they are there in word, will not be in deed.

Very disappointing!

[David Guyatt]

The words "lightening rod" spring to mind.

Perhaps I'm being cynical? If I am, then someone should explain why these things always turn out the same way and nothing ever changes.