When I first started this blogging venture, I left myself an opening for non-sports news and opinion–the sandwich, if you will. It gives me great joy that I have the generational opportunity to write about one of the most important elections in history. So, I want to continue to spread the good news of Sports flim-flam and desperately subjective analysis–but with a twist.

The meat in this political sandwich is about everyone’s favorite Socialist: Bernie Sanders. Not only is this election batty but we also have one of the more interesting candidates in near-memory. But wait. Isn’t Bernie a long-shot/Jew/Communist/European who has a better chance of opening a Kosher Deli on Long Island than becoming President? Well, not in the opinion of this writer (though Bernie is a non-practicing Jew). I tend to be idealistic about the leaders I support, so I watch out for that. But, it’s way too much fun to oppose the mainstream storylines that CNN/FoxNews/Hillary slide out to us like so much room-temperature cafeteria food. So buckle in, this isn’t about Democrats or Republicans, it’s about one Millennial’s craving for something different. This is my case for Bernie Sanders.

Democratic Socialism and Why Stalin Has Nothing To Do With It

And neither does Hitler.

America has a Cold War hangover. My parents, and probably yours too, were raised (politically) around the idea that we were in an idealogical fight for our lives against a great, and ever-listening foe. The Soviet Union is dead and gone. Instead it has been replaced with a tenuously powerful government with a Fascist bigot for a leader. So it goes. But, that’s how it is all around. The world is in a state of great flux. Change can happen at any time and at any pace in the information age. Look at the Arab Spring uprisings, the current state of affairs in China, even Prime Minister Trudeau’s precipitous rise to power and you can see that political change will come to those who choose to wait. Especially for those whose platforms are built off of the accomplishments of the past. American politics has to change with the times as well. Reagan, himself, would have a hard time appealing to American voters right now. I’m sure Trump would have a bag of insults prepared for him post-haste. That’s because people feel powerless, they feel like their interests have been left out in the rain. Democrat or Republican, the theme for this whole cycle has been Anti-, Anti-something, Anti-anything. Until you ask the Bernie supporters.

Bernie announced his campaign in the Summer of ’15 (you can watch the whole thing here). His announcement occurred despite the nearly inevitable selection of Hillary Clinton by the Democratic National Convention. At this point in the cycle, I was mostly disinterested and hoping for something new to come along. He didn’t seem like he was that something…at first. But, a strange thing happens when you listen to Bernie Sanders and keep an open mind. You start to trust him.

I know, I know, how could an appropriately cynical person in the 21st century trust a politician? The truth is, unless you have some of that Cold War hangover coursing through your veins, there’s really no “swift boat” or Lewinsky for Sanders. Where are the clips of Bernie flip–flopping? Snafus are few and far between because he has made a habit of staying on the right side of cultural and social change. Where was Bernie during the Civil Rights movement? Marching in Chicago. How did Bernie do with LGBT rights? Bernie, the Mayor, was fighting for gay rights in the 80’s. And the social movement of today? What about Occupy Wall Street and the fight against wealth inequality? Well, I don’t think I have to add any links to convince you he supports that.

But what about the Socialism, man?

Well let’s take a look at the positions taken by the national Democratic Socialist website:

They don’t want your money. Nor do they intend for there to be a class war. It’s the people against corporate power (I.E. if you’re reading this, not you). Here’s their own words:

“Democratic socialists do not want to create an all-powerful government bureaucracy. But we do not want big corporate bureaucracies to control our society either. Rather, we believe that social and economic decisions should be made by those whom they most affect.”

They have as much to say against Communism as anyone and good arguments to boot:

“Just because their bureaucratic elites called [their governments] “socialist” did not make it so; they also called their regimes “democratic”…we applaud the Democratic revolutions that have transformed the Communist bloc.”

Their point is that unrestrained Capitalism can cause just as much harm as Authoritarian Communism:

“…the improvement of people’s lives requires real democracy without ethnic rivalries and/or new forms of authoritarianism…Democratic socialists always opposed the ruling party-states of those societies, just as we oppose the ruling classes of capitalist societies.”

But, the Economics of Socialism will always involve the plight of the worker. Remember how the LGBT community started to sway people towards compassion by suggesting that almost everyone knows someone with an alternative lifestyle? Well, you definitely know someone who has been screwed by their employer–probably yourself included. Listen to them:

“…we recognize that unappealing jobs will long remain…these tasks would be spread among as many people as possible rather than distributed on the basis of class, race, ethnicity, or gender, as they are under capitalism…this undesirable work should be among the best, not the least, rewarded work within the economy.”

(If you need an example of a job that is highly-paid but doesn’t require higher education–look to the Electric Lineman. They are paid better than teachers and even nurses because their lives are at exceptional risk. Apparently all it takes to get a good wage is to be in a situation where you can cook yourself alive on a daily basis…it actually just takes a strong union.)

So none of their ideologies involve the immediate death of Capitalism or American Economics…why not just change the name to the “Labor Party” or something?

“…no matter what we call ourselves, conservatives will use it against us…the fall of Communism should not blind us to injustices at home. We cannot allow all radicalism to be dismissed as “Communist”…we are proud to call ourselves Socialist.

The truth is, the more you learn about history and the world, the more you find that not any one ideology or system or plan has ever proven to be 100% successful. Our society has been built on the backs of the working people–I think it’s about time we put some weights back on the other side of the power scale in our country.

Bernie is the Anti-Trump

I could show you the difference between the crowds at Trump’s and Bernie’s rallies. I could show you the protestors and the fighting and the hatred that emanates, predictably, from Trump’s rallies and place side-by-side pictures of Bernie’s fans smiling and waving at a kind old man speaking on stage about the working poor. But, that would be anecdotal–totally subjective. It would, however, be an effective exercise to compare a very specific campaign arc and the language used throughout to acquire some objective dignity.

Black Lives Matter may not be the most popular social movement around, but it is an indicator of the times we are in and there are many, many respectable members who are fighting a good fight. Let’s watch how Trump performs when BLM protestors started chanting at a rally March 4:



For those too lazy, a group of young people of varying ethnicities (including several young black people) are pushed out of a hostile crowd to the door while insults are thrown at them and from them. Perhaps the most disturbing part of this video is the way Trump’s voice drones over the masses as these people are angrily leaving the premises. Chants of “Mexico, Mexico!” rolled through the convention center as Trump asks who will pay for his wall. If this bothers you–good. If it doesn’t, here’s how a 21st century politician is supposed to act:



If you can make it through the first portion of the video (the misplaced vitriol is real), you can see Bernie taking a very strong position: he pulled back. He pulled back and let them speak. That’s right, your scary, big-government Socialist let the people decide who they would support. I’m not going to say that these very angry women didn’t have good points, but the crowd quickly started chanting “Let Bernie Speak!” Here is where Trump would take the stage, call them “losers”, say “All lives matter” and move on with the Mexico thing.

But, Bernie wouldn’t budge. Speaking as a teacher for a moment, when a child makes a disruption, you don’t allow them to continue to disrupt your class because you have something to do and they usually don’t have anything important to add. Bernie, however, doesn’t act like an authority figure reprimanding a naughty child. He takes the mature approach and let’s them finish their speech. The crowd heard the piece offered and decided that it was Bernie whom they trusted. He’s followed this approach his whole campaign. Including one of my personal favorite political moments, “The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails!” Bernie Sanders earned my vote that day. Any other politician would have been glad to use that ammunition against their greatest opponent. But, he saw his advantage and used prudent action to capitalize on it, all without inciting any hateful rhetoric. That’s what a president looks like.

Superdelegates and Other Affronts to Democracy: The Hillary Clinton Story

I’m going to let the Sanders campaign start this one off.



What Representative Ellison is talking about here is that the media (all of the major Cable news networks, especially) have a strange habit of talking about Bernie Sander’s nominative future solely in the terms of pledged delegate totals that include superdelegates. A superdelegate is a fun little exercise the Democratic party does every year–where members of the party’s leadership vote on who they would like to be the nominee…before all the candidates announce their campaigns. Since Hillary Clinton has been planning on this since ’08 when she lost to the “cool black guy”, nearly all 700 delegates pledged themselves to her over a year before the convention. That’s more delegates than any single state (even California) has by about 200.

Here’s the kicker: superdelegates are not pledged until the convention. And we know that Hillary is not immune to being turned on by these people. How? Bill Clinton himself voted for Barack Obama in 2008. He had to. The will of the people had spoken and if he did not, he, and the party he represented, would have lost all credibility. So even if it is a lock that she will sweep the remaining states and stroll into the convention, it is still incredibly disingenuous to consistently show her up 500 more delegates than she is.

That is just the beginning of the shit storm that this race has turned into–yes, even on the side of the aisle not run by a hemorrhoid in a toupee. There is a Change.org petition to arrest and prosecute Bill Clinton for fair voting violations in Massachusetts. I’m not one to bash the Clintons, by the way. My first political memories include crying at a polling place in Slick, Oklahoma because my Mom voted for Bob Dole in 96′ and then having my mouth washed out with soap because I called a TV pundit a jackass for criticizing the President–again in 96′. But, the fact remains that, as of last week, a Hillary Clinton staffer was granted immunity by the Department of Justice in regards to her e-mail scandal.

I don’t want to see Hillary Clinton in jail for missteps during her service to our country. I, also, don’t want to see the general election hijacked by an indictment or at the very least a storyline that is dominated by this scandal. The Democrats need a unified front to combat bigotry and political falsehoods and unfortunately Clinton is far from the squeaky-clean politician America will need as a foil to Trump in November. The Twitter popularity of the hashtag #whichhillary was a rare moment in which social media reflected my own thoughts. I don’t know which Hillary we’re going to get, yet I can say with conviction that Senator Sanders will be the same guy he’s been for 74 years.

Moving to Canada Won’t Help Fix This

(But here’s what you can do)

So, if you’ve made it this far into the article, you either have been swayed, were already swayed before, or you have a sick appetite for punishment. Speaking to the former category, if you are not in any of the states that have voted thus far, you absolutely have a chance to make a difference for Senator Sanders. No Democratic race is winner take all. You need a certain amount for viability, then everyone that makes it that far gets a proportional amount of delegates. So even the states he loses will add to his count. He needs to win bigger in states he wins and lose smaller in states he loses. And, minus two wins in Iowa and Massachusetts-by less than 2% combined (and a fishy Nevada caucus)–the Clinton victory map looks like the Confederacy.

The African American vote is clearly the buoy that is raising up the Hillary campaign. But how many in the Black Community have seen this video? Hillary’s performance in this near-identical scenario to what Trump and Sanders experienced, was far less compassionate and her reaction is exactly why I didn’t vote for her: she’s blind to her weaknesses.

Bernie’s weakness and strength depends upon the will of the American people. He can be as great as we allow him to be. To me, Bernie is the picture of the American dream: the son of a poor immigrant who works his whole life to make the world better–not more wealthy or more powerful, but better.

How many are going to watch the debate in Flint tonight? Has this election been so predictable that we can see the way to the end so clearly? No? Well, here’s what you can do. Go out and vote for something you believe in rather than against something. Because if you don’t do that now, there will be no more opportunities of this magnitude for four more years. I’m looking at you Michigan.