Bernie Sanders Vs Republican Congress

Lets say Bernie Sanders gets elected president. What will he get done with a majority republican congress?

I think none of his socialist policies will happen. He would have to become a moderate democrat to get anything done with this current congress. Have any of you Sanders supporters considered this?

 

If no one tried anything simply because it looked difficult, none of us would even be here. Disqualifying him at the outset because he differs with those in congress is something I can understand though.

People need to be more informed that there are OTHER almost more important things to vote for besides electing a president. More voters, more solutions.

 

And if Bernie doesn't win?

 

Sadly, a lot of people don't vote when it's time for a new congress. I know very little about congressmen/women myself.

 

People who don't vote at all (the system sucks boohoo) or vote out of tradition and certainty (I vote for THAT one otherwise the republicans will certainly win!) but want change really bite themselves in the butt.

Shouldn't this be the default way to change things in politics... ideally. When you represent a big amount of the people on a certain issue you shouldn't be able to be ignored. This shouldn't just count for the president of course.

If the troops don't respond it's not on Bernie.

 

I think a President is as much about directing the attitude of the country as it is about getting your specific agendas past congress. Even if indirectly I think he will accomplish a lot via inspiring people to make a difference on their own and to stand up to the powerful. The other candidates, specifically Hillary, want us to stay pretty much as we are now, which is deadlocked. I'm not sure the American spirit can survive much more of this attitude before we become so completely apathetic we do start electing presidents like Trump and Cruz. Hopefully we're not at that point already.

 

I'm not sure why people think Hillary would be able to work with congress better than Bernie. I mean yeah she's great at compromising her principles and integrity, but she is also much more of a polarizing force.

I don't think Bernie will be able to accomplish everything he wants to accomplish unless enough Americans get behind him and become more vocal about politics - but he has a unique gift of inspiring people to do just that.

 

That's why Bernie is calling for a 'Political Revolution'

Obama made the mistake of disassembling the campaign machine immediately after the first campaign was over. The Sanders campaign is a grassroots organization that is inspiring people to donate, phonebank, caucus, vote, etc. and the hope is that this enthusiasm carries over into local, state, and congressional races after the fact.

 

Sanders keeps talking about things like single payer healthcare but his own state of Vermont couldn't afford to start one there. So why does he keep pushing for something that couldn't work in Vermont and that he knows will be stopped by this republican congress?

https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/01/25/costs-derail-vermont-single-payer-health-plan/VTAEZFGpWvTen0QFahW0pO/story.html

 

I imagine he is still pushing it because Americans need something better than our current system. Healthcare costs are out of control, the US currently spends more of its GDP on healthcare to cover only the most marginalized members of society than some other countries spend to cover the entire population, a lot of Americans won't use the insurance they pay thousands for a year in premiums because they can't afford the deductible and other out of pocket costs, millions of Americans are still slipping through the cracks because they don't qualify for subsidies and can't afford the cost of it on their own, insurance companies are driving up costs and a single payer would set more standardized pricing across the board, etc etc...

The fact that every other civilized nation on earth has some kind of single payer system shows that it isn't a matter of can it work, but how can it work. Bernie's current plan involves a small tax increase on the middle class (it will come out to a smaller amount than what is taken out of my paycheck for premiums) and then closing loopholes and increasing taxes on the wealthy. I imagine the latter wasn't really an option on a state level in Vermont so the burden of cost would have fallen mostly on the working and middle class.

As far as congress, yeah they probably won't pass it right away. So what? Change happens slowly but we need someone who at least isn't afraid to speak of the potential for change.

 

I will be voting for Bernie Sanders. As well as with my Democratic beliefs.

If Donald Trump wins the presidency, I will follow all necessary steps to become a proud Canadian citizen. Sounds funny, but I'm serious.

 

I've been saying this all along.

 

It'll be interesting to find out which of these campaign promises he lives up to, and which ones he's just lying about. You know, just like every presidential elect.

 

It is hard to say whether any president truly made a bunch of empty campaign promises or if they went into it with the best intentions then met their masters when they became president. I hate to be a conspiracy theorist but I'm sure there are a lot of issues a president can't really push very hard without risking total character (or physical in extreme cases) assassination.

I read a short article the other day about a Washington insider, and I'm sorry but I don't remember his name, but he wrote a book about the United States' shadow government - and one example the article included from his book was about how the Obama administration was surprised when they were first presented with options on Afghanistan policy after getting elected - they were given the option of committing a certain number of troops or a slightly smaller number of troops, and that was basically it. Their hands were tied as far as making any real decisions, because there are already people in place who make those decisions.

I've always wondered about that, what it must be like to bump up against the real powers that be as a new president.

 

how does someone get elected president and not realize this? one of the top bits of advice for job interviewees is to research the job and the company so you know what you're getting yourself into. but then a presidential candidate spends two years interviewing with the entire nation, and never bothers to check into the job that they're trying to get?

 

JFK also gave a speech about a shadow government and we all know what happened to him.

I really wish I could remember the author's name but he said it wasn't so much a conspiracy between a an evil shadow govt so much as the unchanging wheels of beaurocracy. He said a lot of policy just continues on the same course unchanged for decades.

 

Look up John Pilger. He is an Australian Journalist and is pretty blunt and informative in his assurances.

This sounds like him but if not, he is one to check out.

 

The dominance of money in US politics has always been a corrupting factor in its political system.

This has been exacerbated by the currently dominant free market/neoliberal economic doctrine

In the last thirty years the American people have been told (and many believe) that government is the problem not the solution the New Deal /Keynesian ideas of government involvement in the markets to bring about a fair distribution of wealth and prosperity have been lampooned and attacked (although a corrupted version was dusted off to save wealth after the last crash).

But it is more complex than that - Keynesian turned into military Keynesianism married to American capitalism and anti-communism to produce the military-industrial complex that at the end of the cold war and with the help of neoliberalism morphed into present day corporatism , where wealth (individual, corporate and financial) have great power and influence.

And all this had an effect on the US’s foreign policy the anti-communist policies did a lot of harm because those with an agenda were deft at portraying any progressive or reformist government (that were usually left leaning) as communist. In the Middle East US anti-communist policies lead to the establishment of the mad mullahs in Iran and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

With the collapse of Soviet Russia, many in America especially on the right believed that America had ‘won’ because of the special virtues of America and its form of capitalism and that they should spread this across the world (by force or connivance if necessary) and egged on my wealth (which had its own agenda) they did so. This has lead to Putin’s Russia, neoliberal trade agreements, the chaos of Iraq plus [SIZE=11pt]the East[/SIZE] Asian financial crisis of 1997 and the Western crash of 2008.

[SIZE=11pt]Anyway I don’t see a ‘secret government’ I see the blinkered politicians and the rampant self interest of wealth with too much power and influence. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]There is a need for the people to grab back control of their government but to do that there is a need to stop wealth having so much influence. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Even a little leaning to the left would be a start [/SIZE]