Bernie Sanders has been making a lot of appearances lately, criticizing friend and foe alike, but mostly Republicans, to protect the poor and middle classes from the predations of Bankster greed and Republican hostage taking. I’m happy to say that he has been getting a hero’s welcome wherever he goes, because he certainly deserves it, as the following article by Jon Nichols and video demonstrate.

Declaring that “Social Security is the most successful government program in our nation’s history,” and decrying threats to Medicare and Medicaid that would punish Americans who did not cause the current economic crisis, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders brought thousands of progressives from across the Midwest to their feet Saturday, as they cheered his message to President Obama and the Congressional “super-committee”: “We can deal with deficit reduction in a way that is fair and responsible.”

“Instead of balancing the budget on the backs of working families, the elderly, the children, the sick and the most vulnerable,” Sanders said, “it is time to ask the wealthiest people and most profitable corporations in this country to pay their fair share.”

In several speeches to crowds numbers in the thousands who gathered for Fighting BobFest events in Madison, Wisconsin, Sanders continues to spell out the progressive economic agenda that argues against cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to balance budgets and address deficits and for tax policies that end special breaks for the wealthy and multinational corporations that offshore jobs from the United States.

President Obama is expected to deliver a major speech Monday on deficit reduction, and the White House has indicated that the president’s plan will not include “changes to Social Security.” Sanders is glad of that: “I am delighted that the White House has decided not to cut benefits under the program that has kept millions of retirees out of poverty,” the senators said in Madison. “Social Security has $2.5 trillion surplus, can pay out every benefit for the next twenty-seven years and has not contributed one nickel to the deficit. Social Security should be strengthened, not cut.”… [emphasis added]