Welcome to the weekly BERN (Bernie Election and Revolution News), a collaborative effort of the Daily Kos group,The Political Revolution. We are not affiliated with the campaign, except as volunteers. Numerous group members have contributed to this series in affirmation of Bernie’s campaign motto “Not me. Us.”
This is an election diary about Bernie Sanders and his campaign’s recent activities. Constructive comments and questions about his policies, issues, or campaign strategy are welcome. What’s not welcome is negativity towards Bernie, his supporters, or any of the other 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary competitors.
If there’s one thing that animates Bernie Sanders, it has to be disgust at rent-seekers. What is rent-seeking you ask?
Rent-seeking is an attempt to obtain economic rent (i.e., the portion of income paid to a factor of production in excess of what is needed to keep it employed in its current use) by manipulating the social or political environment in which economic activities occur, rather than by creating new wealth. — en.m.wikipedia.org/…
Sooner or later, most businesses discover it is easier to get rich by controlling markets and stifling competition, than it is to create new products or efficient means of production. This is why businesses spend billions lobbying state and federal governments. It certainly isn’t to ensure their customers get a better deal. The pharmaceutical industry has turned rent-seeking into an art-form. And at every step of the way it has long been enabled by politicians in both parties.
Nothing gets Bernie moving like injustice. That’s why he’s traveling with many diabetics, across the border to Canada, where insulin is available for a tenth what American pharmaceutical companies have rigged the price to.
The Trump administration is a cat 5 hurricane of rent-seeking, stocked to the gills with cheats and thieves eager to loot the public treasury and enable more looting for decades after they’re out of office. This isn’t a surprise, Trump’s father’s fortune came from rent-seeking, he got his start by building apartments for returning GIs. The only reason they were profitable is due to subsidies from the US government.
One of the most outrageous examples of rent-seeking in the Trump administration was the nomination of Barry Myers to head the NOAA. Myers is the CEO of Accuweather, a company that takes government weather data, gussies it up and sells it at a subscription fee. He lobbied congress successfully to prevent the NOAA from creating its own weather warning app. In this, he foudn willing Republican enablers like Rick Santorum. This is the guy Trump wants to put in charge of the NOAA, he’s already tried to close all public access to NOAA data by lobbying Congress. If he’s running the department, you can guarantee you’ll have to get it from companies like Accuweather. Their dream would be “surge pricing” when a tornado is about to touchdown in your area, to extract as much as they can from consumers. Michael Lewis’ new book, The Fifth Risk has a good chapter on this fraud.
In so many ways, Bernie is the exact opposite of Trump, but one clear distinction is in their relationship with the plutocrats who wield so much power in this country. Trump loves nothing better than hob-nobbing with his fellow millionaires and billionaires. In sharp contrast, Bernie seems happiest when he’s with the people.
Bernie Sanders held a “grassroots fundraiser” in Hollywood on Thursday night, delivering his message of political transformation to an adoring crowd at the Montalban Theatre. [...] “Some politicians go to wealthy people’s homes and they sit around in a fancy living room, and people contribute thousands and thousands of dollars and they walk out with a few hundred thousand bucks or whatever,” Sanders said. “We don’t do that. … To me, an $18 check or a $27 check from a working person is worth more than all the money in the world from millionaires.” — variety.com/...
You too can attend a Bernie fundraiser! You won’t have to pony up thousands of dollars or know someone with a house that can cater crab cakes and champagne! All you have to do is go to map.berniesanders.com and find an event near you. Bernie’s campaign spends a lot of time focusing on local activism, as he says it’s not about him, it’s about us, and about a movement for change in this country. And that has to come from the ground up, from local organizing.
For example, Bernie couldn’t attend the NetRoots gathering earlier this month. But he did prioritize joining the local activists as they protested the proposed closure of Hahnemann hospital.
Another example, here’s Bernie giving a boost to the Unite Here Local 11, which is organizing for better protections for hotel housekeepers.
Among other battles, the fight for Medicare for All continues and while Bernie was in Southern California earlier this week, he held a health care town hall on Medicare for All:
Along with this town hall, Bernie’s campaign is highlighting the health care and health insurance travails of ordinary Americans. The stories they are highlighting are heart-breaking.
Perhaps a minor issue, but one worth noting. Earlier this month, a prominent news personality/analyst questioned why women would support Bernie. The campaign has produced a short video explaining exactly why.
The smears leveled against Bernie for the past few years have always smelled off to those of us who interact with Bernie supporters. We know this is a very diverse group, one that widely represents all sections of society. In fact, a recent Morning Consult breakdown of the demographics of each major primary candidate’s supporters finds that Bernie’s supporters are the most racially diverse (39% identify as black/hispanic, or mixed-race), younger (64% under 45), more working class (66% do not have a college degree) and most evenly distributed among gender (50-50). Another way to put it is that the other major candidates draw their support from an older, whiter base:
Sanders' critics smear him as blinded by straight, white, male privilege. The mere mention of class gets Sanders and others condemned as class reductionists. The irony is that many of the most vocal critics attacking him for being insufficiently intersectional fail to address class altogether as an aspect of identity.
It's cruel, immoral and politically disastrous to dismiss the experience of working class people of all colors and backgrounds. But even those who openly mock the concerns of the white working class, undermine their own alleged commitment to marginalized voices when they ignore the diversity of Sanders' supporters. By ignoring the people of all ages, backgrounds, genders, sexuality, and ethnicity who support Sanders, they engage in the very erasure and marginalization of the women, people of color, LGBTQ people (and all the intersections thereof) that they claim to oppose. — www.commondreams.org/...
Finally, here’s a lighter note to end on, Bernie was at the NAACP conference earlier this week. His remarks ran a bit long as he enumerated all the things we need to do to for the people of this country suffering under Trump. He ran a bit over and ended with a knowing “etcetera”. The crowd loved it.
Bernie was also interviewed by the Pod Save America crew, who are all former Obama speechwriters or policy analysts. The interview showcases some of Bernie’s lighter side.
— @subirgrewal | Cross-posted at TheProgressiveRevolution