Bernie Sanders would win – if US elections weren’t controlled by big money….. But he just might win anyway, and he is well on his way

The Independent Senator from Vermont, and US Presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, is riding a fast-growing wave of popular support across the United States. Sanders is getting ten times the turn-out for rallies as any other candidate, and the momentum continues to build.

Bernie Sanders is getting higher turn-outs to rallies than the Republican candidates, even in conservative strongholds. And Hillary still hasn’t had any turn-out that comes remotely close to those of Bernie.

If elections really were free and fair in the United States, Bernie Sanders would almost certainly win. But they are not. They are owned and controlled by Wall Street and the super-rich.

Beyond this, 90% of the media is controlled by the same large corporations and corporate elite who control Wall Street, the economy, the financial system, the electoral system and the major political parties. So a free and fair, open, democratic debate on the issues, or any free and fair, open discussion or coverage of elections, politics or any issues in the country, is very near to impossible. Propaganda, spin, noise and distraction, gossip and sensationalism are the rule, and this is very hard to break through.

There are excellent sources available for news and analysis, discussion, commentary and debate – sources which are not controlled either by big business or the government – such as Global Research, Trends Journal, CounterPunch, Z Magazine and The Real News Network; and the audience for independent media continues to grow rapidly and exponentially, while people continue to walk away in droves, in a virtual mass exodus, from the network media and the corporate press; but it still remains the fact that the corporate elite control the mainstream media and the major news outlets today: which means, they dominate and shape the public discussion, and to a great degree, control what can and cannot be discussed.

Until we have major media reform – meaning, most essentially, that anti-trust laws are applied to the media empires, and they are broken up – democracy will continue to be more theory than reality in the United States and other “leading” industrial nations. So media control and media monopolies are a major barrier to getting any decent person or party elected to government, including Senator Bernie Sanders.

If the corporate media don’t like you, then you are at a tremendous disadvantage – and if you don’t cater to the whims and the demands of the corporate oligarchy, then the corporate media are going to shut you out, ignore, marginalize or silence you, or else attack you, and try to portray you as irrelevant at best, if not something far worse than that. The gatekeepers of the establishment within the media play to the gains of their masters, and they will attempt to keep all doors closed to any real change.

Furthermore, the Democratic Party elite are terrified of Bernie Sanders. Why? Because he would return the power to the people. That means the Wall Street gravy train ends. And that means the gravy train for the party establishment ends. The party elite know who butters their bread. That’s why they don’t like Bernie.

But what if Bernie wins anyway? It is a long-shot, and Bernie is a definite outsider from the ruling elite circles and the establishment. But we need someone who is not an establishment man or woman, as Trump and Hillary are. And long-shots can, and sometimes do, win. Obama was a long-shot. Carter was a long-shot. And they both won, of course.

Bernie Sanders is climbing rapidly in support.

Bernie has won the support of veterans, because he fought tooth and nail for them.

Bernie is winning the support of labour, because he has said he is opposed to the TPP, which is yet another corporate rights agreement that will be disastrous for jobs and the 99% of the people who are not among the economic elite. Hilary is owned by Wall Street, and is silent, unsurprisingly, on the TPP.

Hilary laughed maniacally in a Reuters interview clip about the proposal to attack Iran, and was eager to attack. Bernie opposed the war in Iraq, and is still pro-peace.

Trump is a slime-ball corporate vulture, to be perfectly frank. Hilary is a hawkish Wall Street hack, eager for war.

Bernie Sanders is a grassroots populist who is committed to peace, environmental sustainability, a more equal society, the defence of freedom and civil liberties, universal health care and free education for all, the rebuilding of America and the US economy and infrastructure, and the removal of big money from politics. This is why he is so wildly popular with the people – because he resonates with their values and what they want. They want a peaceful and free, sustainable and democratic nation, with liberty and prosperity for all – not a war-obsessed gulag with increasing abuses of civil liberties and human rights, rule by the super-rich, the destruction of freedom and democracy, as well as the environment, and poverty or insecurity for the great majority.

Bernie Sanders is the only progressive candidate – and for that matter, the only one seriously opposed to big money controlling politics, to war, to the surveillance state and the destruction of civil liberties, to the obliteration of the middle class and the abandonment of the poor, and to the demolition of democracy in the name of profits, or for any other reason.

Bernie Sanders is the only US presidential candidate at all worthy of support. And if he continues to build momentum like this, he just might win.

Everyone said Obama had zero chance of winning in 2008. Everyone said Hillary would definitely win. But Obama came from out of nowhere, and won. Everyone said Jimmy Carter had zero chance. But he won.

Everyone said Bernie could never win and become mayor of Burlington, Vermont. But he did. Then the establishment said it was a fluke. Then he won two more times. It was no fluke. Then they said he could never win as a Congressional candidate. But he did. And then won as a Senatorial candidate, and is now the longest serving member of the Senate.

Bernie has a proven track record, not just of fierce integrity, honesty and courage in politics, not just in a five decade long record of consistency, but in winning, when everyone said it was impossible for him to win. This man is a lion – and a lion for the people.

I heard a great comment recently about the good Senator. “Bernie Sanders is the next most popular socialist after Jesus.”

One commentator put it ironically, and well, and said essentially the same thing. He said, “You have a problem with him (Bernie) being a socialist? Jesus was a socialist. Would you rather have Donald Trump?”

Or how about Hillary, bomb-em-now, Clinton, and her Wall Street cabal?

The Red Scare tactics simply don’t work on the majority of the people anymore. This is not 1955 and the midst of the McCarthy era. People look to Denmark, Finland, Sweden, or Canada, with their democratic socialist traditions which are blended with a capitalist economy, and they think, “Well, democratic socialism seems to work just fine there – in fact, it works better for the people than what we have here.”

Some people will say, “Ok, the man has good values and strong ethics, and he is admirable, and maybe would make a great president – but he doesn’t have a chance of winning.” I can understand this view, and there are certainly some good reasons for thinking this way, but I disagree.

A very dear friend of mine, and a very intelligent, well-read woman, basically said this of Bernie Sanders: that she respects his values and his ethics, but he doesn’t have a chance of winning. To which I said the following: I really hope you’re wrong. I think you might possibly be right, but I really hope not. And even if there is only a slim chance that he could win, I want to support him. In any event, win or lose, as Chomsky has said, the very fact of his running brings up facts and arguments and ideas that otherwise would not be discussed – so even if he loses, we all win, to some significant extent at least.

And as I write this, and look further into what is happening with the US presidential primaries, I find this startling piece of information. As of August 14, Bernie Sanders had passed Hilary in the polls in New Hampshire. Remember that New Hampshire is the first primary race. Winning in the first primary goes a long way to building momentum. Bernie could take New Hampshire, and conceivably, take it all the way to the presidency.

Let’s hope the US, and the world, are so lucky.

As one savvy political observer has said, “Bernie Sanders is the guy Barack Obama pretended to be in 2008.”

Go Bernie. The people need a champion in the White House who will fight for them, and not for the ruling oligarchy of the Wall Street elite.

Frankly, I have a feeling that Bernie Sanders is going to win. I pray that I am right. A change in the presidency of the most powerful nation on earth is not enough in itself to accomplish the major changes that are needed now in the world today, or even within the United States, but it could be a tipping point, and a decisive turn of events.

Go Bernie.

J. Todd Ring,

August 21, 2015

Update, September 18, 2015:

Sanders takes the lead in polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, leading over Clinton by 10 and 20 points, respectively. I think he’s going to win. I certainly hope so.

Here he is on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. And the crowd loves him!

http://www.alternet.org/media/watch-bernie-sanders-explains-colbert-why-he-doesnt-want-billionaires-money-late-show

Update, September 28, 2015:

Millennials are now the largest voting block in the US, and they are lining up behind Bernie Sanders. So too are progressives, labour, environmentalists, and people like prominent black American scholar Cornel West and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Meanwhile, Bernie still leads over Hillary in the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, two of the key primary states, is drawing bigger crowds than any candidate, and raising more campaign funds than any candidate, despite his rejection of the billionaires’ money. This is looking interesting, to say the least.

Labor for Bernie

For more information please see:

Senator Bernie Sanders nails it, in this two minute video from C-SPAN, from over 20 years ago – just as he did before that, just as he has done since then, and just as he is doing now. Watch this short clip to see who Bernie Sanders really is, and what he stands for. I think most people will agree, Senator Sanders simply makes sense. And he has the guts to fight for what is right, what is good, what is sane, and what is meaningful – the guts to fight for the real changes that we urgently need today.

Bernie Sanders: Where is the leadership? (C-SPAN, 6/4/1992)

Bernie For President: Progress

Sanders Was Progressive Before It Was Cool

Hillary laughs about possible war with Iran

Hillary Clinton: “If I’m President, We Will Attack Iran”

On Friday, presidential aspirant Hillary Clinton addressed a hand-picked audience at a Dartmouth College campaign event. She lied calling Iran an “existential threat to Israel… I hope we are able…

globalresearch.ca

Bernie Sanders’ track record distinguished by consistency

Rachel Maddow traces the political history of Bernie Sanders, from small city mayor of Burlington Vermont, to congressman, senator and upstart presidential candidate, all while staying consistent on a core set of issues – msnbc.com

MSNBC uploaded a new video

Bernie Sanders: My “campaign is about political revolution.”

All In with Chris Hayes uploaded a new video: Bernie Sanders: “Let me tell you something that no other candi…

Bernie Sanders: “Let me tell you something that no other candidate for president will tell you”

Bernie Sanders Unveils Racial Justice Platform

Bernie Sanders On Meet The Press

Good background info on the fast-rising tide of support for Bernie Sanders (from July 1):

Huge Crowds For Bernie Sanders Should Terrify Hilary Clinton

Bernie Sanders Surges Past Hilary In The Polls

Hillary Clinton’s Keystone Crisis – Common Dreams
Hillary waivers, waffles, obfuscates, evades, and refuses to take a stand, while taking big money from big oil

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/08/21/hillary-clintons-keystone-crisis