Bernie Supporters Do Not Want "Free Stuff"

Republicans and DINOs are saying that Berners want "free stuff". This is not the truth.

Under trickle-down Reaganomics, which has dominated our country since 1980, it has been 36 years of "free stuff" for the 1% on the backs of the 99%. We are not the ones who don't want to pay our fair share of taxes. We want to pay our fair share, and have been paying it all along. The 1% don't want to pay theirs, and have not been paying it, for 36 years. They've been freeloading for 36 years. They don't want to invest in the people, infrastructure or environment.

Republicans and DINOS do not want the tax structure changed so that everyone--all of us--are paying our fair share.  They want to continue with unfair tax breaks for the very rich and for corporations.  They want a society that, as Bernie says, is rigged, in which the fix is in and all the money actually trickles UP to the top.

Bernie and Bernie supporters want a society that is for the people--for all the people.  It is a question of priorities, not of "free stuff".  We want our tax money to be invested back into the people, in the form of health care for all, child care, maternity and paternity leave, college education, and other things that benefit our entire society in so many deep, enduring ways.  We want to invest in our infrastructure and our environment, instead of in wars for oil so that private corporations can get richer at the expense of our kids getting killed, and our blood and treasure being spent for no reason other than to explode the deficit and enrich private corporations.

So please understand:  it is the Republicans and DINOS who truly want "free stuff":  they don't want to pay their fair share of taxes.  They have proudly stated this for 36 years--this is what their candidates run on:  lowering taxes.  Not only is this "trickle-down" model that we have been living under for 36 years unfair, it is very unhealthy for our society, both ethically and economically.  It exploits and essentially makes the 99% slaves to the 1%, and it is also not sustainable, as it explodes the deficit when you have the richest among us not paying their share of taxes.

Meanwhile, while the Republicans and DINOs want "free stuff"--no taxes, no regulations, just allow the rich to hoard everything, on the backs of the workers of this country--by contrast, Bernie supporters DO want to pay our fair share, and we want our money to go toward making things so much better for all of us, for everyone.  That is what democratic socialism is.  It is ethical and it is economically sustainable, two things our current system is not.

While Bernie and Berners say: "Not me, us.", Republicans (and DINOS) say "Not us, ME."

Berners are the true patriots!!!!!!!!!  It doesn't get more patriotic than Democratic Socialism:  everyone pays their fair share of taxes, and that money gets invested back into the people and society, for the greater good.  It is far more ethical and economically sustainable than our current tax structure and set of national priorities.

Bernie Has Always Lived the Change I Wish to See in the World

Bernie and his campaign move me to tears, in a very good way.

He hasn't had to evolve; he's always fought for respect, dignity and equal rights for all people. In the segretated '60's, he put himself (physically) on the line in the civil rights movement.  He has always stood up for LGBTQI Americans, LONG before it recently became politically correct to do so.  He stands up for the earth, which has no voice.  He stands up for the poor, reminding us that our government is supposed to be by the people and for the people, not by the corporations and for their profit.  He stands for children, for college students and for senior citizens.  He stands for families--for policies that embody and empower true family values, like maternity and paternity leave, child care, and health care for all.  He has always stood up for what is right.  He has always seen it.  He has always known it.  He has always lived it.

Bernie lives the change I wish to see in the world

Sanders is About the Opposite of Violence

For the love of God. Now CNN is trying to spin Sanders' for saying "democracy is messy", trying to twist that into some sort of call for violence. He was simply saying that, in a democracy, there is diversity of opinion, there is DISSENT, there is debate, there is passion. It isn't all about UNITY, all the time, especially not at a party convention, which is about picking candidates and hammering out a party platform. If we were just about UNITY, we would be a staged parade in North Korea, not a democracy.

CNN is so obviously--ever since Nevada--trying to give legs to a narrative of Sanders and his supporters being some sort of violent mob. I think it is, indeed, taking off as a narrative with some, because people fear the real change that Bernie represents. However, Bernie condemns violence. In fact, the real change that he represents is about undoing the violence of the last 36 years. The violence that is what I've always called the "Robinhood in Reverse" effect of Reagan's trickle-down economics. The violence of corporate welfare. The economic and social violence by the 1% against the 99%, carried out via the Reaganomics we've all been forced to endure since 1980. Bernie is about UN-doing violence, and bringing about a fair, healthy economy and society that works for the people. So put that in your narrative, sit and spin on it, CNN!