nothing wrong, a regular atheist and gay.

Moose

^^Ooo! Good distillation, Moose - that is really what is important, after all..

Is he good or what?

Hard to believe, but he is going to win.

Hard to believe

but he is going to win.

I might well vote for her.

Policies that would promote these values include:

Guaranteed Housing—Government should ensure that no one is homeless by providing all with the bare essentials of housing. Even in the U.S., local governments that simply paid to have the homeless housed have shown it is more cost-effective than leaving them on the streets.

Universal Health Care—The United Kingdom's National Health Service is a government-run and provided healthcare system that consistently ranks at the top compared to every other country while costing less than half of what the U.S. system does per capita. Health care should be a human right, given that none of us chose to be born. Everyone uses the healthcare system at some point and it makes zero sense that everyone should not be covered by it.

Free Education—All education should not only be free, but higher education should pay a stipend to counteract the opportunity cost that comes with forgoing employment as a young adult. Several European countries already do this and have some of the most educated citizens in the world. We should want our citizenry to know as much as possible, and having a robust education system is key to scientific, technological, and culture advances.

Access to Transportation—Every person should be able to easily commute to their place of employment, to basic services such as health care or food, and to basic entertainment or socializing, so that they can be happy. This entails drastically strengthening public transportation and radically reworking our economic system to reduce sprawl, reduce car use, and eliminate fossil fuel use.

Guaranteed Employment—This is perhaps the most difficult value to enforce. Many European countries have far stricter regulations on hiring and firing than the U.S., but that doesn't necessarily benefit workers. We should desire that anyone wanting to work should find a job, but it's also necessary that firms be able to hire the best labor and fire those who aren't up to the task at hand.

Employment should ensure that society gains from it. This means that workers are treated with respect and allowed to unionize and bargain on their own behalf. It means that those who become unemployed receive both financial support and assistance in finding a new job. It means that those who have newly entered the work force are assisted in finding jobs that maximize their potential. We should want a system of employment that advances humankind and the individual simultaneously, rather than one that simply allows workers to survive while others profit.

Universal Income—Along with employment, socialism would use the resources of society (such as natural resources) for public benefit. Every person would be guaranteed a minimum level of income simply for being alive. This would enable freedom to choose one's own profession, while allowing industries such as the arts to thrive without the pressure of economic necessity. Many people in our society such as homemakers do work that the market cannot fairly value, but which has merit. This would be further encouraged by a universal income.

Fighting Climate Change—Finally, there is the issue of climate change. Human beings today have a duty to their children, their children's children, and so on to provide a world that benefits them. By allowing businesses and consumers to limitlessly emit carbon, policymakers have committed a sin that could possibly destroy the human race itself. Socialists would have a duty to limit carbon pollution and eliminate climate change by drastically reducing emissions and promoting carbon-capturing technology and plant growth.

The two policies commonly discussed are a carbon tax, and cap and trade. The latter would place a maximum limit on emissions and allow the market to determine the price of available permits to emit. A carbon tax, however, provides a clear cost-per-ton emitted and provides the government with revenue that would allow it to reduce taxes elsewhere if chosen. Both methods have their merits, but something needs to be done so that we stop destroying the habitability of our planet for future generations.

Ultimately, a system of socialism is for the advancement of humanity. Communism says "from each according to their ability, to each according to their need." However, socialism holds that "from each according to their ability, to each according to their contribution" to society is the way for us to not only advance society, but ensure that the average person's well-being increases too. Socialists would consequently want to create a society in which people do work for the betterment of humankind. That includes both their own personal advancement as well as society's.

Sanders may have no hope of winning the Democratic Party nomination in 2016. However, his candidacy brings to the table issues that might otherwise be ignored and that in itself is a win for the left. At best, he will normalize talk of socialism and inform Americans why they are screwed by our current system of political economy. One day, when our climate has changed for the worse, and the elite who benefitted from it live in luxury while the rest of us live in squalor, will we finally wake up?

are all strongly supported by a majority of citizens,

Bernie will win - if we have anything resembling a functioning democracy.

she was brilliant in the Senate and as Sec.

This will be yet another election where I don't vote for anyone I want, or think is qualified, but yet again vote for the least rotten candidate.

I don't actually think I have ever voted for a candidate I truly "believed" in. Kinda sad actually.

Please just forget about third ticket candidates, your vote will just make sure the wrong person wins.

If the Bernie and Black Lives Matter movements could be fused together

The Main stream media owned by rich right wingers will tear Bernie down to mud as soon as the day comes when they see their empire at risk

If the Bernie and Black Lives Matter movements could be fused together

If you want change, you have to ALSO vote for a Democratic Congress, because no President will be able to overcome their obstruction, as we found out. That's why Gitmo is still open - GOP obstruction

sorry, but saying you are the only candidate who has separated conjoined twins still
does not instill qualification skills to be President

I suspect however in his complete dickhead nature he's only saying that to try and scare the right into giving him the nomination.

As Jon Stewart said on his last day,

that went real well in Seattle ... didn't it!!!

JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
Aug 11, 2015 - 11:23am PT

The Main stream media owned by rich right wingers will tear Bernie down to mud as soon as the day comes when they see their empire at risk


I take it, then that the "Main street media" does not include ABC, CBS, NBS, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC or almost every daily paper except the Wall Street Journal.

John

Its too bad the gutless democrats are so willing to go face down ass up for another Clinton.

the right has the media they like to tune in to, and so does the left

Black Lives Matter

all lives matter

It's not that I don't like Hillary it's just that I like The Bern more. I wonder if he'd consider being her VP if the cards fall her way?

all lives matter

The two most enthusiastic movements right now are Bernie and Black Lives Matter.

She won't take office making the same mistake that Obama did, ie, believing he can work with the republican fanatics in Congress.

they still just shift costs around instead of controlling/decreasing costs; a good start would be working at getting rid of bureaucratic bloat at universities

Some huge foreign policy failure as Sec of State?

Aug 11, 2015 - 05:50pm PT
Yeah they'll both agree 100% that you and Norton the forum coward tools are total nutcases ......

Ted Cruz, and the other right-wing wackjobs to congress,

Mb, put Bernie and Hillary in a room to discuss political beliefs and they'd agree 90%.

Anyone that believes the founders got it right with separation of powers and the rule of law is anathema to a Marxist.

Hey MB,why can't you ask about the 6 trillion dollar war?Emails?

However, if in fact the Hillabeast is the Demoncrat choice, then ALL bets are off in my mind.

Her education proposals are weak--Bernie's are better, but they still just shift costs around instead of controlling/decreasing costs; a good start would be working at getting rid of bureaucratic bloat at universities--assistants to the assistant to the assistant head of a department wouldn't have to spend all their time looking busy to justify their existence since a student could probably handle the hour or two of scheduling work those folks do.

No, it's not the "emails." It's the fact that she set up an entire server that was repeatedly detected as entirely insecure, with bad certs, and that she did this with classified information as content TO sidestep federal records-keeping laws. She then did literally everything in her power to ensure that NOBODY had one shred of oversight over her communications, and then she WIPED the server before she could even be subpoenaed to have her processes reviewed. In short, she did everything possible to circumvent both the letter and intent of federal records-keeping laws, and she did it without even managing her server correctly.

Who KNOWS if the machine was compromised while it was unsecured? We'll now never know. For a person with the level of classified access she had, that is ENTIRELY unacceptable and flatly illegal.

Rand Paul for instance, I believe he really IS the classic definition of a Libertarian.

Except losing to the republicans has real world consequences.

Take Rand Paul for instance, I believe he really IS the classic definition of a Libertarian

for example, he has said that he would have voted against the Civil Rights Act
and has said that business owners should have the "right" to refuse service to anyone,
saying no to Jews, Blacks, anyone they do not like is just fine with Rand Paul

Personally, I have some real problems with the rationales some Libertarians, ok all,
put forth to justify their political definition, but I still respect their right to their opinions

Take a look at the Libertarian Party platform

This country cannot afford another Socialist.

So are Democrats confirmed Socialist

How are Democrats and Socialists different?

The workers' militias, based on the trade unions and each composed of people of approximately the same political opinions, had the effect of canalizing into one place all the most revolutionary sentiment in
the country. I had dropped more or less by chance into the only community of any size in Western Europe where political consciousness and disbelief in capitalism were more normal than their opposites. Up here in Aragon one was among tens of thousands of people, mainly though not entirely of working-class origin, all living at the same level and mingling on terms of equality. In theory it was perfect equality, and even in practice it was not far from it. There is a sense in which it would be true to say that one was experiencing a foretaste of Socialism, by which I mean that the prevailing mental atmosphere was that of Socialism. Many of the normal motives of civilized life--snobbishness, money-grubbing, fear of the boss, etc.--had simply ceased to exist. The ordinary class-division of society had disappeared to an extent that is almost unthinkable in the money--tainted air of England; there was no one there except the peasants and ourselves, and no one owned anyone else as his master. Of course such a state of affairs could not last. It was simply a temporary and
local phase in an enormous game that is being played over the whole surface of the earth. But it lasted long enough to have its effect upon anyone who experienced it. However much one cursed at the time, one realized afterwards that one had been in contact with something strange and valuable. One had been in a community where hope was more normal than apathy or cynicism, where the word 'comrade' stood for comradeship and not, as in most countries, for humbug. One had breathed the air of equality. I am well aware that it is now the fashion to deny that Socialism has anything to do with equality. In every country in the
world a huge tribe of party-hacks and sleek little professors are busy 'proving' that Socialism means no more than a planned state-capitalism with the grab-motive left intact. But fortunately there also exists a vision of Socialism quite different from this. The thing that attracts ordinary men to Socialism and makes them willing to risk their skins for it, the 'mystique' of Socialism, is the idea of equality; to the vast majority of people Socialism means a classless society, or it means nothing at all. And it was here that those few months in the militia were valuable to me. For the Spanish militias, while they lasted, were a sort of microcosm of a classless society. In that community where no one
was on the make, where there was a shortage of everything but no privilege and no boot-licking, one got, perhaps, a crude forecast of what the opening stages of Socialism might be like. And, after all, instead of disillusioning me it deeply attracted me. The effect was to make my desire to see Socialism established much more actual than it had been before. Partly, perhaps, this was due to the good luck of being among Spaniards, who, with their innate decency and their ever-present Anarchist tinge, would make even the opening stages of Socialism tolerable if they had the chance.

Almost Everything bernie says is spot on. No way he could handle the pressure of the job though INMOP.

It smells that the George Soros backed BLMatter groups have been disrupting Bernie's speeches. George supports Hillary .

I simultaneously like and don't like the way you think, Gary...

"It ain’t about me, it’s about new ideas, bro, new ideas. People with ideas, people who believe in truth." -Kanye

Socialism is already dooming our nation.....we can't afford more of this crap.

or the last time: "socialism" is government OWNERSHIP OF THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION

for the last time: "socialism" is government OWNERSHIP OF THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION

socialism is NOT corporate tax breaks, it is NOT enriching the Defense Contractors

socialism is NOT food stamps for the poorest Americans

socialism is not unemployment checks when the Tyson Chicken plant lays off 700

So shut the fvck up about "socialism" and the Nazi images you fear mongering dumass

By contrast, when Peter pays a tax that is directed to buy Paul's food, housing, healthcare, or others of Paul's "needs," Peter receives no benefit to HIMSELF for that purchase. Only Paul receives the benefit from Peter's purchase. THAT is wealth-redistribution, the theft of Peter's assets to add to the assets of Paul.