Why Bernie resonates with some of us oldies who have seen the long incfremental slide downward

[Armstead]

The problem with problems is that they accumulate in steps. Either you see those steps and address them as they arise, or manageable smaller problems become huge and embedded and unmanageable.

For at least 35 years, there has been a process and series of problems that developed and were not dealt with as they arose. The most blatant example is financial consolidation, with the economy being swallowed by a handful of massive megabanks. They have grown to the point where they are "too big to fail" and regulations have become so lax as to be impotent. Result: 2008, and a hollowing out of the middle class and small business.

This did not happen overnight, nor was it a force of nature. The global economy has become complex, but we never put in place rules to actually protect the American economy in an honest way. Just the opposite. We threw open the doors and threw out out ability to control anything. We allowed huge banks to swallow up competitors then merge into each other.

The GOP is expected to support and help this along. But the Democrats -- especially the Clinton Corporate Wing -- also enabled it. They either kept silent and let the GOP do their dirty work, or they actively collaborated.

BUT all along there were people like Sanders who warned about the steps as they were being considered. They tried to stop the small destructive steps. Who predicted the ultimate results -- and who were unfortunately proven to be correct.



But those who saw this coming were basically told to sit down and shut up, and they were dismissed as "fringe."

Welll things are becoming so bad that the cumulative results have become obvious to everyone. But there is still that reflexive support of the rotting process by the Democratic establishment.

Sanders popularity SHOULD be a wake up Call to the Democrats. Instead of resisting solutions yet again.

[cali]

1. Great post says this old(ish) broad.

[pangaia]

3. We used to call a 'broad' a chick.

As in, "hey man. you gotta hot chick."

So,, how old am I?



BTW GREAT work last night. I was following from a motel on my cell..

[Jenny_92808]

18. Insulting against women pangaia...

Please evolve....."hot chick"

[Jenny_92808]

19. Looking at your funny face

makes me want to demean you.......How do you like it? Stop the sexist stuff please.

[pangaia]

23. Uh, sorry if I offended you.

This was like 1960.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

2. Thank you for posting!

I cannot in good faith support Clinton during the primaries due to her ties to Wall Street and her support of the military industrial complex. I voted for President Obama with very high hopes that he wouldn't represent Wall Street, but I have been very disappointed.

Sanders may be our last chance to turn the party around. If Hillary weren't a woman, I just don't see the DNC giving voters enough reason to get out there and stump for the vote.

So, I will vote for Hillary if she wins because of social issues (which are very important to me), but are social issues enough to get the average voter excited? I don't think so.

[H2O Man]

4. Outstanding.

Recommended.

[Trajan]

5. I'll be sixty this year ...

A very youthful sixty, I might add ... (ok, I still act like a teenager, is what I meant to say) ...

I became aware during the JFK era ... I did believe in the words he spoke, and imagined a world that was free from want ...

Yes, a Pollyanna's view of the world, but it have people hope to think they WILL have a chance to rise above their parent's station in life ...

Over the decades, that feeling of optimism has collapsed twenty times over ... Clinton brought it back in the early nineties, only to squander it with overly severe sentencing rules and the suppression of New Deal bank regulations, among other aspects.

Bernie, however, has eclipsed them all with his message of fairness for all, and the promotion of a decent social program including university education, fair wages and pensions, stronger unionization, etc.

So happy that Bernie is running ...So glad to support this wonderful man ....

It's nice to feel even a little hopeful ....

[HockeyMom]

8. Destruction of the Middle Class

I can remember my Pediatrician (70+ years old then) saying this to my Mom back in the early 60's. There will come a day when the middle class will be eliminated. I won't see it. You (my Mom) may not see it. Your daughter most likely WILL see it, unless we take steps now to prevent that from happening.

Someone born in the 1800's was able to see it, but so many of us alive today can't?

[Armstead]

10. I remember some friernds sayiong that in the moid-1970's

At the time, I poo-pooed it...But then came the 80's

[Jenny_92808]

20. Trajan, I think you make a very good point

Well said!

[SoLeftIAmRight]

6. I have been very political since before raygun

The fundamental shift in the framing of issues has escaped so very many.

Even Sanders does not engage issues as it was common pre raygun

[Armstead]

12. Economic/Business values that would have been unthinkable are now commonplace

Obvius false nostalgia is not useful. But when I think back to what was unacceptable economic values and behavior when I was younger, and compare it to today....well the unacceptable has become common wisdom.

[Punkingal]

7. Great OP!

[Zorra]

9. The Democratic establishment would rather elect Trump or Cruz than Bernie.

Because privatization, the polarization of wealth, the enslavement of working folk, and control of resources and government by oligarchs, will continue to expand under any republican,

Just like they would under a Third Way Hillary Clinton presidency.

[Armstead]

11. Maybe not that, but they'd be content with a Bush

[Uncle Joe]

13. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Armstead.

[Armstead]

14. You're welcome (actually this is an excuse for another kick for [prime time)

[elias49]

15. You shouldn't have to do all the work!

Kicking.

[Uncle Joe]

16. A little help from down under.

[LiberalElite]

17. LMAO

[Armstead]

22. Great kick

and here's another

[Jenny_92808]

21. I second that vote...

excellent and very informing OP. Thank you for posting it Armstead!

[WillyT]

24. HUGE K & R !!!

[intheflow]

25. Christ almighty, I've been called fringe my whole life.

Just turned 52, and this completely describes my experiences with the Democratic Party over my entire adulthood, so much so that for years I've registered as an independent to avoid being associated with them. I only changed this year because I wanted to vote for Sanders in the primary. Thank you for this post!

[MuseRider]

26. Excellent post.

Thank you once again.

[islandmkl]

27. Kicked and recommended +1000

[AzDar]

28. K & R

[Vinca]

29. IMHO, the beginning of the slide began with Reagan, but when Bill Clinton

decided to "get things done" that amounted to giving the GOP what they wanted. It was during that period our manufacturers really started leaving the country and that, to me, was when the largest slide in income for middle class people began. People who used to make $25 an hour as a printing press operator were suddenly back to minimum wage flipping burgers. That was also when the big box stores started devastating Main Streets all over the country, too, thanks to cheap Chinese-made stuff. NAFTA was the beginning of the end.

[Armstead]

30. But, but,but all those call centers that were going to replace factory jobs -- oops they're gone too