Jewish Journal went to a Bernie Sanders rally. Here’s what they learned talking to the fanatics,
There was a man in a Manning/Snowden ’16 shirt, a veteran who suggested he would support Rand Paul if Sanders weren’t in the race, and even more unkempt beards than you’d see on a trip to Seattle or Portland. Interviews with folks in the crowd were constantly interrupted by the screams that circled the arena as the “wave” made its way around a dozen or so times.
So, why is this grizzly 73-year-old senator from Vermont drawing the largest crowds so far of the 2016 presidential race? Two themes that came up again and again were that he’s not indebted to corporations and that Hillary Clinton isn’t a sufficiently genuine progressive.
Arrah Stamatakis, 27, singer-songwriter
“I’m excited to vote for a real progressive candidate. He offers authenticity more than Clinton does, and I want a single-payer health care system. I want free higher education.
Jamie Throgmorton, 54, drove 90 miles to attend
“I like him more than Hillary because he’s an outsider. He’s willing to speak truth to power…
Zoe Raven, 18
“… Bernie Sanders is at least for my demographic, being a black 18 year old girl, he’s the best candidate to help me and the people that I know become successful and live in a country that’s unified.”
Patti Hollis, attended with her husband and daughter
“I think Hillary’s attached to corporate money.”
On the socialism label: “I need to understand what that word means, what it meant, what it means now, if it’s different.”
Kevin Eden, 27, protein scientist at UCLA
On the socialism label: “I think a lot of people don’t actually know the definition of socialism and what it means to be a socialist, so the more he talks about what the agenda is of socialism, I think the more people agree. That’s why so many people are here.”
The actual rally began at 7 p.m., with various activists (including comedian Sarah Silverman) pumping up the crowd and making their case for Sanders based on a litany of progressive issues they hope will drive youth voters and the base to the polls during the primaries. #BlackLivesMatter, climate change, immigration, labor, corporate greed, single-payer health care — all were on the table even before Sanders took the stage. When he came out, the primed crowd went nuts — and stayed nuts throughout his nearly one-hour speech.
What do you expect from a demographic that gets their news from Comedy Central?
#BlackLivesMatter, climate change, immigration, labor, corporate greed, single-payer health care,
How many different ways can one say exactly the same thing, “Steal from the successful under the guise of good for those who can’t provide for themselves to create a larger more intrusive government”??
Shit, just come out and SAY IT.. That’s what socialism is, let’s define it thru examples.
The ‘singer-songwriter’ said it all…’I want free…!”
The stench of stupid is overpowering.
To the ignorant and the indolent, socialism is a great sale.
They don’t understand that “free” doesn’t have any meaning, in any economic sense. They cannot comprehend that costs are simply passed on, only to return at some later date in some other form.
@Gladys I agree. Why are the most stupid leftist socialist types also filthy and bedraggled? They are like animals.
“I want someone else to pay my way through life and to tell me what to do!”
Summation of The Socialist Mindset
Easy to explain: Free, free, free, free, free and more free!
You left out: Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme and gimme!
To an animal socialism sounds great. You got your food, you got your shelter, you got the vet, you got a safe cage. Let’s face it, to an animal socialism is paradise.
But I’m a human and I have a right to live on a level, governing my own life. I don’t want to live in the cages of the zoo of socialism, thank you.
Just. Shoot. Them.
The only question I care about is how many votes he would get next November were he the Dem candidate. I don’t see him getting a lot of independent’s votes.
If we’re calling it what it is, then the correct term is Marxist Communism!
Socialism is another commie ‘code word’ designed to deceive the proletariat just long enough to enslave them!
Aside from a few semantic differences they really are the same thing, comrades!
I like some of what Sanders has to say and am glad he is another outsider (outside the fascist oligarchical hierarchy) making waves. I think he would be preferable to Jeb! the uni-party cronyist. To wit: he genuinely supports the American blue collar worker and is opposed to open borders. This may change but that is his knee jerk position. He also is against corporate cronyism. That is probably our biggest problem to date – the corporate-government axis that feed the pigs in government and media. In fact this opposition to cronyism is the reason, the demonrats will keep him from the nomination at all costs. And I mean all.