{"id":130594,"date":"2016-02-24T06:11:58","date_gmt":"2016-02-24T13:11:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=130594"},"modified":"2016-02-24T06:11:58","modified_gmt":"2016-02-24T13:11:58","slug":"the-reason-bernie-sanders-movement-resonates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/02\/the-reason-bernie-sanders-movement-resonates\/","title":{"rendered":"The reason Bernie Sanders’ movement resonates"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMENTARY:<\/strong> The United States has entered a period where opposite forms of systemic change are mainstreamed; know-nothingism also expands. The social democracy of the last 80+ years is on one side; a possible theocracy and fascism is on the other. We have lost so much; the two, today, have little in common.<\/p>\n

\"Jerry

Courtesy photo<\/p>

Jerry Nachison<\/p><\/div>\n

Many modern Democrats, even understanding a push towards a “free\u201d economy, could support items in the 1952 and 1956 Republican platforms. Today\u2019s Republicans today reject them completely and utterly – true red flags.<\/p>\n

Democratic positions, adjusted for time, are still on target. Republicans, while fostering a “business America,\u201d have radically changed. Some now “irrelevant points” from their 1952 party platform: “America does not prosper unless all Americans prosper. \u201d\u2026”Government must have a heart as well as a head.\u201d\u2026\u201d Courage in principle, cooperation in practice make freedom positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

All are still true, regardless of today\u2019s demeaning words and uncooperative Republicans.<\/p>\n

The 1956 Republican platform supported worker and union rights. Though with business favoritism, it still said: \u201cThe protection of the right of workers to organize into unions and to bargain collectively is the firm and permanent policy\u2026\u201d Also, “…Labor is the United State\u2026\u201d and must remain strong. In fact \u201cthe men and women, who with their minds, their hearts and hands, create the wealth that is shared in this country — they are America.\u201d I hear echoes of Lincoln\u2019s famous 1861 words about labor and capital. It also said \u201cfight for the elimination of discrimination in employment because or race, creeds, color, national origin and sex.\u201d And, \u201cAssure equal pay for equal work, regardless of sex.\u201d<\/p>\n

No longer Republican beliefs. They\u2019re heavy into blockading, damaging or destroying long-time gains of workers and unions.<\/p>\n

If you remove Republican economic policy and adjust their core social positions from then to now it\u2019s frightening. We know about the improving economy, but the degree of devolution on the social side to old myths? Some examples: We no longer teach history or civics in many elementary and high schools. Texas rewrites history; Arizona puts a “religion first” home-schooler in charge of the State Board of Education; Kansas seems to believe religious freedom is a sword to be used against LGBT and other folks, not a shield for all (ACLU). Alabama\u2019s Chief Supreme Court Justice rejects constitutional law when first, over religion. Our parties have major disagreements on the \u201chow” and the \u201cwhat.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, New Mexico\u00a0still remains progressive on some social issues.<\/p>\n

What happened? Simply, federal policy has shifted wealth upwards since the 1970\u2019s. Now the top 1 percent+ own 90 percent of America’s wealth in a billionaire and multi-millionaire economy. These folks control most communications; they have successfully sold the one per-center\u2019s view of the world. As wealth continues to move upward, we devolve to multi-national corporatism — which can and will overrule sovereign governments (Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy).<\/p>\n

Some Democrats want to restore economic and social progress to our nation. Is this not preferred?<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Republicans are unhappy, loud, nervous and apparently fact-free. They are afraid of immigration, growing minority numbers and job losses. Trump uses his fortune to claim \u201cindependence\u201d and does what he wants; Senators Cruz and Rubio get almost all their campaign funds from corporations and multi-millionaire\/billionaire largess. Their failings are sometimes couched in fuzzy buzz words.<\/p>\n

Trump’s campaign is an unusual phenomenon. He works at being loud but is just another \u201cmodern” Republican. He spouts few facts, favors capital gains and does some Nixon mimicry. He would like Detroit to close up shop and move to the south, especially Tennessee, where workers are weak and pay is less. As he caters to America\u2019s lowest denominators, is he really a qualified presidential candidate? Senator Cruz, comments welcome.<\/p>\n

On the Democratic side we have an uprising on the left, also upsetting the establishment and party machine. The Democratic machine and former Secretary Clinton want to continue supporting Wall Street and the status quo. However, they\u2019ll throw in \u201csome” equality and justice for all as leavening. Clinton also gets 97 percent of her contributions from Wall Street and its friends.<\/p>\n

Senator Sanders is no outlier; he is within our two-party system and to his credit has authored many statutes and amendments. Remember, he\u2019s been a mayor, congressman and now a sitting senator. He wants a basic systemic fix for America — not Band Aids\u00a0that don\u2019t stay on. He gets nearly all his contributions from working people, many of whom want to adapt some Scandinavian practices while emphasizing basic U.S.\u00a0freedoms.<\/p>\n

This makes sense; he is different from all the other candidates. His movement resonates and expands as we recognize he has ideas — and respect for — we, the American voters. A vote for Bernie is a vote for America.<\/p>\n

Jerry Nachison is a 10-year Las Cruces resident who is\u00a0active in local politics and nonprofits. He\u2019s a retired social\/housing gerontologist.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bernie Sanders wants a basic systemic fix for America — not Band Aids that don\u2019t stay on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":113495,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,16],"tags":[708,226],"class_list":["post-130594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-guest-columns","tag-2016-election","tag-presidential-race"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}