Elections Have Consequences

[Jomtienbob]

This talk by Senator Bernie Sanders is worth a look.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-berni ... 99378.html


We are at a pivotal moment in American history, and many Americans watching the deficit talks in Washington are confused, perplexed, angry and frustrated.

This country, which has paid its debts from Day 1, must pay its debts. Anyone who says it is not a big deal for this country to default clearly does not understand what he or she is talking about. This is a nation whose faith and credit has been the gold standard of countries throughout the world. Some people simply say we're not going to pay our debt, that there's nothing to really worry about. Those are people who are wishing our economy harm for political reasons, and those are people whose attitudes will have terrible consequences for virtually every working family in this country in terms of higher interest rates, in terms of significant job loss, in terms of making a very unstable global economy even more unstable.

Our right-wing friends in the House of Representatives have given us an option. What they have said is end Medicare as we know it and force elderly people, many of whom don't have the money, to pay substantially more for their health care. So when you're 70 under their plan and you get sick and you don't have a whole lot of income, we don't know what happens to you. They forget to tell us that if their plan was passed you're going to have to pay a heck of a lot more for the prescription drugs you're getting today. They we're going to throw millions of kids off health insurance. If your mom or dad is in a nursing home and that nursing home bill is paid significantly by Medicaid and Medicaid isn't paying anymore, they forgot to tell us what happens to your mom or dad in that nursing home. What happens?

And what happens today if you are unemployed and you're not able to get unemployment extension? What happens if you are a middle-class family desperately trying to send their kids to college and you make savage cuts to Pell grants and you can't go to college? What does it mean for the nation if we are not bringing forth young people that have the education that they need? They forgot to tell us that. And if you are one of the growing number of senior citizens in this country who are going hungry, they want to cut nutrition programs. And on and on it goes. Every program that has any significance to working families, the sick, the elderly, the children, the poor, they are going to cut in the midst of a recession when real unemployment is already at 15 percent and the middle class is disappearing and poverty is increasing. That's their idea.

Shouldn't the wealthiest Americans and the most profitable corporations contribute to deficit reduction rather than just the elderly and the sick and working families? They say no. They're going to defend the richest people in this country -- millionaires and billionaires -- and make sure they don't pay a nickel more in taxes. We're going to make sure there is no tax reform so we can continue to lose $100 billion every single year because wealthy people and corporations stash their money in tax havens in the Cayman Islands or Bermuda, and that's just fine. We'll protect those tax breaks while we savage programs for working families.

Those are the choices that our right-wing Republican friends are giving us. Default with horrendous economic consequences for working families in this country and for the entire global economy or massive cuts to programs that working families desperately need.

Neither of those options is acceptable to me. Neither are those options acceptable to the vast majority of the people in this country. Every single poll that I have seen says that the American people want shared sacrifice. They don't want or believe that deficit reduction can simply come down on the backs of the weak and the vulnerable, the elderly, the children, and the poor. They believe that the wealthy and large corporations also have to participate.

In all honesty, I also must tell you that I have been disappointed by President Obama's role in these discussions. He has brought forth and idea which I categorically reject, that we should make significant cuts in Social Security, that when someone when someone reaches the age of 85, they would lose $1,000 as opposed to what they would have otherwise gotten. This senator is not going to balance our budget on the backs of an 85-year-old person who's earning $14,000 a year. And this senator does not agree with the president that we should raise eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 67, because I don't know what happens to millions of people who have worked their whole lives, finally reach 65 anticipating Medicare but it's not going to be there for them.

One of the most important lessons in all of this is that elections have consequences. Many people now are beginning to catch on to that. It is no secret that our right-wing Republican colleagues did very well in November 2010. They captured the House of Representatives.

If you believe that we have to start investing in America and creating the millions of jobs that this country desperately needs, elections have consequences. If you believe that we have to address the deficit crisis in a way that is responsible, in a way that asks the wealthy and large corporations also to play a role, in a way that calls for cuts in defense spending and bringing our troops home as soon as possible from Afghanistan and Iraq, you have got to be involved in the political process.

In my view a group of people in the House whose views represent a small minority of the American people are holding this Congress hostage. It is time for the American people to stand up and say, enough is enough; the function of the United States Congress is to represent all of our people and not just the wealthy and powerful.

Follow Bernie on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/senatorsanders

Follow Sen. Bernie Sanders on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/senatorsanders

[christianpfc]

Cutting the Military Budget is not even mentioned. In 2010, the USA spent 687 Billion USD for their military. Almost as much as the rest of the world together. Can you imagine, what one could do with 687 Billion USD?

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget

[Captain Kirk]

I'm British rather than American but if I were I supose I'd be a democrat although I'd probably not vote for either given my opinions on politicians in general. That said, I heard Obama utter the same phrase as David Cameron some months back: "We're all in this together". Absolute bullshit.

I doubt the recession will hurt the Obama or Cameron families in any way and neither will the thieving bankers suffer if their £10m a year bonus is curbed a little. As always its the people at the bottom end who suffer. As food prices rise the "underclass" for want of a better phrase may well have a day of fast thrust upon them whilst awaiting their next dole cheque. The low paid and pensioners will inevitably be left with the choice of eat or heat the house for an hour or two. Others will find their mortgage rise beyond that which they can afford and lose their home or find that the car has to go or whatever. The better off may well have to cancel the planned conservatory or extra bedroom.
The wealthy, the politicians et al will barely realise there is any recession. In it together my arse.
Oh and there I go again, another rant about my hatred of politicians. Sorry can help it.
People, please don't vote, you only encourage them to believe their own hype.

[lvdkeyes]

Not voting is a poor option. I believe voting should be mandatory. Only then would the voice of the majority be really heard.

[Captain Kirk]

Not voting is a poor option. I believe voting should be mandatory. Only then would the voice of the majority be really heard.

and look what the majority go and do. Vote like sheep for a bunch of two faced, lying, self serving, money grubbing, corrupt, thieving, vermin. (apply to just about any country and any major party) The US are $14trillion in debt. No idea of the US debt history but I'd be betting that the debt has increased year on year no matter if you have the blues or reds in charge. Isnt it time the people got some balls and told them both to go fuck themselves?
The politicians wont listen until they do. Same in the UK. Tory, Labour, Labour, Tory. See any difference? No, me neither. Corrupt to the core, the lot of them. Also trying very hard not to start on the flag waving imbeciles who believe their chosen guy will do his/her very very best for the sake of the country.
I will vote (in the UK) when there is someone on the ballot paper whom I wouldnt rather see six foot under.
The Romanians (almost put Romulans there ) had the right idea with Ceausescu. Round them up and put bullet holes in every one of them.

[Jomtienbob]

The problem in the USA is that all too many people do not vote. The higher the income and education, the more likely one is to vote. Elections typically are decided with 40 to 60 percent of ELIGIBLE (registered) voters actually casting a vote.

There is currently an epidemic of states actually curbing voter registration efforts. The aim, block youth and minorities from voting. In Texas, the preferred ID for voting is, and I am not making this up, a GUN PERMIT. Florida has made the registration process so onerous, that even the League of Women Voters, has stopped their more than 100 years of voter registration.

Efforts are currently under way in 40 states to make it harder to vote by making it harder to register, more intrusive to vote, and give people less time to do so.

This from a country that monitors and rates fair voting across the globe.

[Captain Kirk]

The problem in the USA is that all too many people do not vote. The higher the income and education, the more likely one is to vote. Elections typically are decided with 40 to 60 percent of ELIGIBLE (registered) voters actually casting a vote.

There is currently an epidemic of states actually curbing voter registration efforts. The aim, block youth and minorities from voting. In Texas, the preferred ID for voting is, and I am not making this up, a GUN PERMIT. Florida has made the registration process so onerous, that even the League of Women Voters, has stopped their more than 100 years of voter registration.

Efforts are currently under way in 40 states to make it harder to vote by making it harder to register, more intrusive to vote, and give people less time to do so.

This from a country that monitors and rates fair voting across the globe.

Like I said, all of the above = corrupt government.
So what difference would it make if the low income, under-educated folk did vote? The choice is still them or them. How did the US get into that state of affairs anyway? Two parties in a country that size cannot possibly reflect the needs of such a diverse society.

[Gaybutton]

Two parties in a country that size cannot possibly reflect the needs of such a diverse society.

Do you think there are only two political parties in the USA? Have a look at the following: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_po ... ted_States

[Captain Kirk]

Do you think there are only two political parties in the USA?

GB without even looking at the list everyone knows the number of parties that count on election day will be...2. I can name them even now with a year or two or however long it is still to go till then. I don't tend to take an interest in the minutiae of the US political system or its history so maybe someone can enlighten me by telling me the last time someone other than a rep or dem held high office in the US.

The one thing that would see me go and vote here is if and when the system changes so that my vote will actually count. Where I come from the Labour candidate would be elected if he or she never got out of bed during an election campaign. Therefore me voting for anyone else is a total waste of time in the current system.

[Gaybutton]

GB without even looking at the list everyone knows the number of parties that count on election day will be...2.

Really? Tell that to the Ross Perot supporters. If he didn't quit he just might have won. But we'll never know. Meanwhile, I'm not disputing that the US is in effect a two party system, but that wasn't my point. You had said the USA has only two parties. If it isn't too much trouble for you to click on the link I provided, you'll find there are many more than two, whether any of their members manage to get elected or not.