Howdy all. I just wanted to share an email I just sent off to my two sisters and my mother. I'm trying to get them excited and point the way toward Bernie. Hard to believe I've been hanging out here since before the 2008 elections! It's really been THAT LONG?
Through all of the in fighting and all of the us against them, and all manner of back and forth, I've managed to stick with it and rely on the evil orange web site to get my daily dose of politics. Good and bad. There have been times when I just didn't want to come here and get depressed. And other times when I was reluctant to "click" and was so happy to read some awesome diaries because I did click. I suppose that is the most important part. That I knew I could come here and read life change diaries, happy and up lifting diaries, recipes, sage advice and all manner of "other" or personal diaries. This place has evolved.
Enough background and butt kissing...Markos' head is already larger than life and no need to inflate it anymore (o:
Myself and my sisters are in our fifties. Mum is obviously older (o; I felt compelled to shoot off an email and wake the family up after I received an email from the mum. I had just tried to placate her and tell her what a wonderful job I think she did raising us kids and how we are all independent. Her response? "I'm glad you all have your own opinions on things , I just get frustrated sometimes that those opinions are so far from mine and it's obvious that you don't get your info from the same sources we do , and we try to listen to many sources of news I.e. Fox and CNN and local".
Yes, I was horrified...but not surprised.
And so follows my email...not singling her out. Just trying to point at things the Republican party stands for. I had totally ripped the current crop of Republican front runners in a previous email, again, not directing anything at her. I just stated my opinion...and she took it personally, like she was being attacked because my sisters agreed with me...
Well...here it comes. Son and little brother is going to go all political and tell you who you should be watching, learning about and paying attention to.
Here's an easy one for you mom. You don't like Hillary. Okay, I get that, I'm not thrilled with her either. Plus she's a Democrat. Scratch her from your list (as if she was on it in the first place).
I'm not going to go down the list of Republicans because it's too long. Suffice to say, they represent (or pander to) the religious right, war hawks and bigots. They want to slash taxes, end any kind of social benefit (calling them entitlements making them sound sinister) and spout off about how our government is broken while they do their damnedest to break the government, all while it's a job they were elected to do. Kind of like me working in aerospace and telling my employer aerospace sucks and I'm not going to quote any more aerospace parts. I'd get fired.
We have two brothers by the last name of Koch flat out telling everyone they are going to spend 900 million in electing our president. 900 million dollars. One family. Golly...do you think they expect something in return for their generosity? Nah...they are just exercising their "free speech"...and buying the country.
Now we come to Bernie Sanders. No PAC's. No Wall Street influence. And no media coverage. Why? Because he believes in America and say's so. He answers questions. He does not deflect...unless those questions are regarding Hillary. Why? Because he does not run dirty campaigns...he does not sling mud. His deflections turn reporters back to important things, not personal attacks.
He is an Independent Socialist. He caucuses with the Democrats and he is running as a Democrat. You will see "Socialist" tagged to him. And he will tell you he is a socialist. He supports social programs...you know, like the roads we drive on. The police and fire department we depend on. Social Security which I will soon depend on. And do you know which states depend on social programs more than any other? RED states...republican states. And who are the RED states? Bible thumping bigots. Fake Christians and racists. How these folks are so programmed to vote against their own best interests is baffling.
Socialism is not about hand outs. It's about helping people in need. Thank Ronald Reagan for stigmatizing such a simple concept into "Welfare Queens". I pay into Social Security. When I retire I damn well will be "entitled" to get back what I paid in and been paying into since I was 16. It's a pretty simple concept yet it is demonized by Republicans.
One healthcare plan for all Americans? Golly gee! We can't do that what with all of the fraud and fake claims! Better to let insurance companies be the middle men who provide absolutely ZERO health care. ACA sucks for many but benefits many, many more...but it's evil because "Obama!".
Today's Republican party does not represent people, they only serve the people (corporations) that got them elected. Democrats are right behind them hiding behind bullshit and putting on a good show of how they were stymied by the Republicans and "Gee, what are we going to do? We tried".
We can't continue to just keep going down this road, having the uninformed fighting the informed and having this country divided on bullshit political nonsense. There is no us against them. We are one country. Not fifty little countries fighting over a bunch of table scraps that the rich and truly entitled folks choose to throw us.
"We Are Entitled" to be truly represented and have this once great country be respected again, not feared, but respected.
Look up Bernie Sanders. Watch his debates on the floor. Watch his presidential speeches and "town meetings". Listen to what he says with an open mind. Appreciate his no BS approach. And imagine a President that actually cares about you and me. Wouldn't that be something?