Sanders a Growing Force on the 'Far, Far Left'

[babylonsister]

Sanders a Growing Force on the 'Far, Far Left'
Vermont senator is gathering clout as he takes on the Fed’s Bernanke

by Sasha Issenberg


WASHINGTON - The Senate may pride itself on a reputation as the world's most exclusive deliberative body, but it is turning into just about the only place in America where a self-described socialist

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has spent his career trying to remake American capitalism in a more Scandinavian image. His favored targets of late have been top finance regulators he considers far too deferential to Wall Street. Last year, Sanders spent five months trying to block a new Commodity Futures Trading Commission chairman before securing promises from Gary Gensler to aggressively fight market excesses.

Now Sanders is aiming at the top of the regulatory pyramid, putting a hold on the renomination of Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, whom he blames for the country's financial collapse as a "key architect of the Bush economy.''

Sanders, however, seems to be hoping that this particular adventure ends not with a peaceful detente but a spectacular confrontation.

"I'm going to do my best to defeat him,'' said Sanders.

Congress's only self-described socialist, the 68-year old Sanders gives the appearance of having stepped in from a tornado and speaks as though still trying to be heard over the noise.

more...

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/01/09-1

[CTyankee]

1. I now consider myself a socialist Democrat or a Democratic Socialist,

whichever way you like it.

I take no prisoners on it either...

[liberal_at_heart]

5. That's what I consider myself too

[CTyankee]

7. It helps when you say "...like European countries are" added to it.

If they want to argue about France or Switzerland or Germany, let them. But they don't...so many of these folks haven't travelled outside of the U.S. and they probably think the French, et al are deranged, but I set them straight. I have no patience with this whole thing...Americans can be so stupid I just can't believe it...

[paulsby]

15. american exceptionalism 101

du'er style.

[CTyankee]

19. Don't you think it is crazy for people to do this without knowing the FIRST thing about how

people in European socialist countries live their lives?

I do. I make it my business to go there and experience how they live. I am curious to how all that awful socialism makes their lives so horrible and their health care do detrimental to their health.

As someone who travels to Europe every year, this makes me crazy...

[Land Shark]

40. "Don't americans know diff btw socialism & communism?" -from my apolitical Nordic-country wife n/t

[shireen]

25. yes, me too... nt

[cyclezealot]

47. Take no prisoners

In this house, it's our badge of courage...

[valerief]

51. I consider myself a Shareist. Capitalism is a system of Takeists. nt

[liberation]

66. LOL, "shareist" I love it...

I am shareist too I guess, I like to play with others... playing alone gets boring after a while. I learnt that lesson in kindergarten, I always assumed libertarians and republicans were home schooled due to their lack of social conscience.

[valerief]

78. Ha! You got that right! nt

[kestrel91316]

57. Me, too. I get redder every year. Probably at 80 I'll be a flaming communist.

And people who don't like it can go suck an egg, lol.

.....to think I was briefly a libertarian in my youth......oy......

[JDPriestly]

67. I'm not getting redder. But many Americans have been brainwashed

by TV to be a lot more Fascist than Americans were as I remember it.

The myth that every one of us can be richer than every other one of us is just totally absurd. Some will always be somewhat richer, but most of us will always be about the same poorness, and we all need to work together to make our lives as good and livable and our society as fair as possible.

So, no I am not really a red or a socialist. I don't think of Bernie Sanders as really a socialist either, regardless of what he claims. I think of him as an independent and myself as a Democrat.

And yes, I know the European system very well. We lived there for quite a few years and paid our taxes there and enjoyed the health care and the love of the nevironment and all the many good things about life there.

[Sebastian Doyle]

75. I like the Mike Malloy theory of Democratic Socialism

Malloy says that we should nationalize banking, energy, healthcare, military, infrastructure and education. Everything else could remain private sector, but it should be regulated under the reforms passed by FDR, which worked great up until they were systematically destroyed, beginning in 1981 and sadly continuing to this day.

I think Thom Hartmann is pretty much on the same page with this as well, since he frequently references how well things work in various European nations which have similar Social Democratic setups.

[PDJane]

2. more power to him........

I'm fond of the man, and hope he gets his way.

[DesertFlower]

3. i like bernie.

[flyarm]

4. This man is almost the only one i still have respect for! Thank you Senator Sanders

for standing up for "we the people"..I have your back sir!

[SandWalker1984]

43. I too like Bernie, but he let us down on the health care vote.

Bernie admitted the Senate version is a bad health care bill, it gives too much to the corporations and does too little for the people, yet he voted for it. :shrug:

[northernlights]

55. his community health care clinics will do more right now than *anything* else would

Without sufficient healthcare delivery infrastracture in place, a public option or single payer would result in continuation of rationed health care. Just rationed in a different way,and leaving it open to heavy attack. The attempt at universal care in Massachusetts made very blatant the current worldwide shortage of doctors, nurses, technicians, etc. There, people have insurance but can't get on any doctor's client list because there simply aren't enough to go around.

Personally, I believe it's at least as important, if not moreso, to get the healthcare *delivery* infrastructure in place first, and making it a *public* infrastructure. By increasing the *supply* of healthcare, prices will come down or at least hold steadier on that front. It will also provide a way to "starve the insurance beast." Since demand already exists, this is a situation where supply-side economics makes sense.

I have no health insurance at this point myself, and was left without a simple lab test and round of antibiotics to die when I did. I plan to pay the penalty and use a Community Health Clinic if and when I need help. And I am currently studying medical lab technology and hope to work at one to help reduce my student loan debt once I'm through the program. So it's true I have a vested interest in this program, but I also have a little bit of an insider's viewpoint.

So this may not be the big knock-out blow people would like to see, but I suspect in the short and medium term will do a *lot* more good than a public option political victory with no healthcare delivery mechanism in place would have.

[Goldstein1984]

6. Sanders is the People's Representative

I'm also a Democratic Socialist, and so comfortable as such that I no longer even bother to rebut condemnation.

Axiom: For democracy to survive in the long term, it must be through democratic socialism.

It's self-evident to any sentient human being.

Even the Conservatives who condemn this proposition do so out of a fear that it is true and a recognition that it threatens their power.

[endless october]

8. far, far left?

he seems pretty much right on to me.

so if you're not a corporate shill, you're far, far left? shit, i am a capitalist in most areas and i agree with Sanders and Kucinich more than any others. i have no problem with a profit motive, i just think there are certain areas where profit shouldn't play the dominant role.

[SpiralHawk]

9. That's just the Post on bended knee to kiss corporate republicon butt

as usual they spin everything according the Republicon Rules of Pharisee.

[kestrel91316]

58. +10

[equinedemocrat]

81. Yes, but this from the people that brought us

"Obama is a socialist" and use the term "Nancy Pelosi, that San Francisco Liberal"

They have a VERY skewed sense of the political spectrum.

[Solly Mack]

10. 'Far, Far Left' Snort

shakes head

[GreenPartyVoter]

23. Indeed. *also shaking head*

[Hippo_Tron]

11. As a Senator it is his job to "advise and consent (or not consent fo rthat matter)"

I will be interested to see what comes of this.

[madrchsod]

12. "far far left" is now an old time liberal democrat

[Tabasco_Dave]

32. Unfortunately yes

I was called a communist recently for saying FDR was my hero.:eyes:

[SteveM]

56. Yeah, even LBJ would be considered a Communard (nt)

[harperlee]

60. Yep

[Vidar]

13. K&R,

[StarfarerBill]

14. Very glad to hear it.

With even a sizable minority like him, Congress would actually get things done for people other than CEOs, stockholders, and the obscenely wealthy.

[bullwinkle428]

16. Incredibly sad that "far,far left" is used to describe the senator who,

more than any other, truly places the interests of the people at the forefront of everything he does with regards to legislative activity!

[LWolf]

17. "Far, Far Left' of WHAT?

One doesn't have to take more than a small step left of center to be "far, far left" of tptb in the U.S..

[maryf]

38. hear, hear, nt

[iris27]

18. I'm not from Vermont, but I consider

Bernie Sanders MY senator. He speaks for me.

[ChiciB1]

52. I Wish He Was Mine!! Love Him! Mine? It's Extremely RARE That He

ever responds to anything sent to him! His name... Bill Nelson, FL!! Then of course, we have Mel Martinez who will be gone! Wonder what "character" will be on scene next!!!

[NewJeffCT]

53. Thom Hartmann calls him "America's" senator

which seems pretty fitting.

[OutNow]

20. Bernie Sanders - My Hero

I've supported Bernie since he was mayor of Burlington and have often included a We Support Bernie bumper sticker on my car driving around central Texas. (Well, other than Lloyd Doggett who else can you really support in central Texas? ) A young fellow stopped me one time in a parking lot and told me he was a student in Vermont and wondered how the heck I knew about Bernie Sanders. Bernie, I told him, was the representative for all socialists in America. That makes sense, he replied.

[krabigirl]

21. Funny how wanting to take care of Americans makes one far, far left.

Sign me up!

[HughBeaumont]

22. "Far Far Left" apparently =

"Someone who's against corporations getting a teensy bit less than 400 times what they already get over the American public."

[Canuckistanian]

24. You know

Without mentioning Sanders' name, you could do a poll on his issues and concerns - and 70% of Americans would probably agree with him.

It's just this "socialist" tag that makes him a media "untouchable".

[suffragette]

45. +1

And that's why they have to continuously highlight the tag to try to keep people from realizing that.

I still think Sanders might be able to become our Tommy Douglas and we would all benefit from that..

[Canuckistanian]

79. I listen to Bernie every Friday on the Thom Hartmann show

He's so common-sense about things. He knows his facts and can patiently explain the reasons for his positions.

And he's not afraid to call bullshit on most RW tricks and dishonesties. How anyone could consider him any kind of extremist is baffling.

[suffragette]

82. I do that when I can as well.

He's clearly in the zone on issues and policy.

But the media knows that if you slap the label on enough that many won't listen to find that out.

I think their biggest fear is that he'll be heard and he is being heard on a larger stage these days.

And I think he can move forward with that in collaboration first with his state, then with the nation, on effecting some positive change especially in health care.
But like Douglas, I think at this point, he'll have to work locally first to accomplish this.

[laundry_queen]

59. Exactly.

Just before the primaries started I was hanging out at a mixed, somewhat non-political board and someone posted about a quiz that would show you which candidate most mirrors your views (they had all the R's and D's). You would not believe the amount of Republicans who kept posting: "I got Dennis Kucinich as the politician who mirrors my views, who the heck is he?" Bernie Sanders and Dennis Kucinich are very in tune with most of america, but the media will be damned if they are going to let America know that.

[kath]

63. +10

Yep - when polled, many, MANY peoples' views match up with those of Kucinich and Sanders. But the fucking McPravda media portrays them as kooks on the fringe, marginalizing them :mad: :grr: :mad: :grr: Things are so totally fucked up in this country, in so many ways.

[eleny]

26. k&r for bernie

[donheld]

27. I love Bernie

[DKRC]

28. I would love to see Bernie put a hold on every damn thing

that is being shoved down our throats only to benefit the corporatocracy & their hirelings.
Bring everything to a screeching halt.

Has Rahm called Reid & told him to give Bernie whatever HE wants?

K&R for Bernie & the people of VT who know a good representative when they see one. :yourock:

[snot]

29. Did you say, "self-described Socialist"? Twice?

Is that supposed to be bad?

(Despite what many may have heard, capitalism does NOT equal democracy.)

[BurtWorm]

30. What a dangerous radical. Trying to improve the stanard of living for poor and working class people!

:scared:

Run away!

[omega minimo]

31. So that means the last vestige/resurgence of "two" parties?

[midnight]

33. Go get them Bernie, and don't let go until you shake every last stolen

penny.....

[DisgustedInMN]

34. Bernie is the best.

I NEVER miss Brunch with Bernie on Fridays. The MOST Democratic Senator in the Senate, is an Independent.

[JHB]

35. It needs to be pointed out that "far, far left" and "senator" are an oxymoron when used together...

...with emphasis on the "moron".

Maybe it doesn't need to be pointed out to (most) DUers, but to anyone who still considers the MSM to be "liberal media" (especially on economic issues), it needs constant reminders.

[Vinca]

36. Maybe we do need a third part: the Socialist Democrats.

[ChiciB1]

50. If This Party Could Ever Get Mobilized... I'm Joining! Right Now I Feel

like I don't belong to ANY political party! I'm a bit lost and wandering in the wilderness. When people ask me about my political stance I've been having some difficulty with it. Where I once said Democrat very quickly I now give an intro about how I consider myself a Democrat, but not the kind of Democrats I see in Congress! The party has changed and I feel left out!

I recall Ronnie RayGuns using the word Liberal as almost a curse word, and now I think my own party feels the same way!

[anonymous171]

65. Populism would be a better term. nt

[LeftishBrit]

37. He sounds like a very good politician..

and he is not 'far far left'. He is in fact centre-left by Europaean standards.

[xchrom]

39. Recommend

[patrice]

41. If he ever runs for President, he will receive every dime I have to give.

[Union Yes]

76. +1 nt

[Gregorian]

42. Regular people only have a couple of representatives. It's sad to watch.

The country is paying dearly for it's lack of representation. Because normal people are not far far left. They're just normal people. Everyone else is living in a nonreality. Some kind of fake world where everything is commercial and corporate at it's very center and root.

Bernie represents me.

[patrice]

44. Senator Sanders, PLEASE stay out of small airplanes!

[ananda]

46. LOL.. far far left.

Or is it far far far left?

Just how left do you have to go before
you'll be right?

[democrank]

48. Here`s a terrific example of

just how screwed up things are. If you`re a senator who consistently and courageously stands up for veterans, white AND blue collar workers, economic and social justice, you`re....well....far left.

[grahamhgreen]

49. ID put him center- left after his vote for the crapsurance scam.

[w8liftinglady]

54. I love listening to him on Thom Hartmann.

Yes-I wish those from "Our" side would adopt a more socialistic model-they'd be surprised the number of supporters they'd have.

[Utopian Leftist]

61. Vermont

How does it come about that Vermont gives us a hero like Sanders and neighbor Connecticut presents a villain of the magnitude of Lie-berman???

What is in the Vermont water and how can we spread that to the rest of the nation???

[handmade34]

62. simple

the American Society of Dowsers is in my (home)town. I have loved Bernie since the days of his time in Burlington...

...and my house in Danville has the best water you will ever drink

[liberation]

64. Sanders is Center-Left....

.... anyone claiming him to be "far, far left" needs to have their ideological compass calibrated or get a basic education in politics and ideological currents.


Good grief how idiotic and shifted to the right politics have become in this country.

[Enthusiast]

68. It ain't the far far left.

It's just the left.

[rhett o rick]

69. When Sen Sanders runs for reelection, we at DU wont be able to support him here

unless no Democrat runs against him.

[PSzymeczek]

74. I don't think Bernie has had

many, if any, Democratic challengers for office. The people in Vermont don't support them.

[rhett o rick]

80. That's great if the case. Bernie is the Senator for the working class. nt

[swilton]

70. Sanders is admittedly gaining more visibility

and perhaps he has more moral authority.

But to think that he has the power to come close to rivaling the opposition, funded by the MIC, big pharma and big oil is wishful thinking. It will take many, many Bernie Sanders to turn around the situation we have found ourselves in around.

[swilton]

71. Sanders has visibility

and he has moral authority. But to think that he has the power to confront the opposition funded by the MIC/big oil/AIPAC/big pharma is only wishful thinking.

[Prophet 451]

72. Sanders is "far, far left"?

Don't get me wrong, I like Sanders but he's not "far, far left". Here (Britain), he'd be a perfectly respectable Liberal Democrat (as would Kucinich).

[pj.smith]

73. we still have one hero

It's funny to think that both he and Lieberman are independents.

[Quantess]

83. I did not know that.

Welcome to DU, by the way. :hi:

[dionysus]

77. i don't consider him a far or fringe leftist. more left then his colleagues,

but not some kooky fringer. bern is a great senator.