We Don't Have To Settle For Same Old

We aren't settlers.

When it comes to choosing the next president of these un-United States, we don't have take our cue from that Direct TV commercial of the drably-dressed old west family, churning their own butter and making their own clothes.

This is 21st Century America.

We don't have to choose the same old long, hard road that always dead ends, leaving us nearly bereft of hope.

We don't have to settle for the same old establishment politicians who do the bidding of the modern day robber barons, while offering barely more than lip service to the diminishing American middle class and the increasingly desperate poor.

And we surely don't have to settle for a demagogue snake oil salesman promising "great" and "special" things, with no substance, for our next commander in chief.

In fact, the choice is so crystal clear. The path to authentic hope, to the people reclaiming their broken country from the crooked plutocrats, rests in electing as our next president long-time American working class advocate Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

America, this may be our last chance at redemption. It's time to "Feel The Bern," and "Think Big" -- and settle for nothing less by embracing the Sander's movement whether it ultimately wins or loses the race for the White House.

This is Democratic candidate Sanders' time. He's been preparing for it seemingly his entire adult life. Clearly the past 35 years as an elected representative of the people, Sanders has fought the good fight for social equality, for this opportunity to lead a people's movement for long overdue economic justice.

And this is our time. As Sanders' states emphatically, he's just the spearhead of a social revolution for desperately needed change in Washington D.C. that only begins, not ends, at the ballot box. 

Americans finally seem to be waking up to the realities of abuse among our elected representatives -- something third President of the United States, principle author of the Declaration of Independence, warned of more than 230 years ago.

"Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone," Jefferson said in 1782. "The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories."

It's been more than 50 years since President Dwight D. Eisenhower, echoing Jefferson, called for "an alert and knowledgeable citizenry" to guard against the "unwarranted influence" of the military industrial complex. The 1960's saw some of that necessary citizen vigilance through the civil rights movement and Vietnam War protests.

But, since President Richard Nixon's power grab and the Watergate scandal of 1972, we the people for the most part have failed to heed our presidential predecessors' warnings. Until now.

It's time to reclaim our broken country from the crooked plutocrats who facilitate the rich getting richer and the poor, poorer.

As Bernie Sanders has been shouting from the rooftops for so long, the rules have long been rigged against the people -- most obviously since Reagonomics trickled down and trickled out, leaving the people dry.

The one positive aspect of Donald Trump's sideshow run for president is that it has helped expose Republican Party leaders as frauds, as master manipulators beholden to big money -- Wall Street, the pharmaceutical industry, fossil fuels and corporate behemoths in general. (Democrats aren't immune to such corruption, but it predominates among Conservatives.)

We can't afford to lose any more factory jobs; we've lost millions since 2000 thanks to free trade that encourages corporations to pick up stakes from American soil and exploit what often amounts to slave labor in foreign countries.

We need a living wage for a change -- so single parents aren't forced to work two or three jobs just to survive. Something's drastically wrong when some 16 million American children are living in poverty.

And why can't the most advanced, powerful "Democratic" country in the world provide universal healthcare for its citizens without catering to the profit motives of the increasingly crooked pharmaceutical industry?

Why shouldn't college be affordable for those who make the grade? It used to be.

Will enough Americans recognize the genuine compassion, intelligence and integrity of Bernie Sanders in time to ensure a defeat of whoever the right ends up nominating or inserting as their best chance to win the White House?

The odds may be against it. But Bernie Sanders has been beating the odds all along -- and still is. He's won the last seven of eight Democratic primaries heading into next week's New York primaries against hometown favorite and former senator of that state, Hillary Clinton.

When all the platitudes are stripped away Clinton is not much different from the typical Republican candidate accepting campaign funding from Wall Street. Granted, Billionaire Trump's ego trip run for the White House is largely self funded (though he's received at least million in small contributions).

But what's incredibly impressive is Sanders raising $44 million in campaign contributions from the American people donating an average of $27. That's a true testimony to how the Vermont senator's campaign message is striking a chord with the people.

But we don't hear much about that. Much of the adversity that Bernie Sanders is facing comes from the corporate conglomerate-owned media itself. Americans need to be mindful of this. Ever since President Ronald Reagan allowed the abolishment of the "Fairness Doctrine" in 1987, balanced news coverage has been under attack.

Hence, the United States went from 50 different media owners, including TV, radio and newspapers, in 1983 to just six conglomerates owning, and controlling 90 percent of what you hear, see and read as "news" today.

So, a sensational sideshow barker like Donald Trump gets 23 times as much coverage as a man of the people like Sanders, because Trump is sensational. He sells. It's all about ratings anymore.

The simple fact that the orange hairdo's mug is on the cable news and major networks virtually 24/7 -- as bizarre as it all is -- speaks volumes about the news media priorities. By giving Trump such lopsided favorable coverage, they are  only legitimizing a completely illegitimate campaign.

Forget the knee-jerk alarmist cries of "socialism" and "pie in the sky" regurgitated   at conservative circle lunch counters and dinner tables. 

He's not interested in pooling everyone's earnings in one big pot. He just wants to embrace America's Democratic foundation by reeling in the unregulated, reckless Wall Street wheeling and dealing and corporate welfare (tax cuts and loopholes) -- major contributors to the 2008 Great Recession that so devastated and impacts the people today.

Disingenuous conservatives sound the big government alarm bell. Yet they are the most egregious offenders of government mismanagement and abuse. They target the people's social security for privatization to feed the coffers of corporate America, ultimately rigging the system to further enrich the wealthiest.

Government -- "for and by the people" -- exists to play an integral role in protecting and advancing the rights of its citizens. We already have forms of social programs at the federal, state and county level in our (government-funded) police, fire, parks and libraries.

Sanders just wants to carry it a little further.

How does he plan to pay for making college affordable? By taxing Wall Street financial transactions for starters. Isn't it about time? We may pay a little more in taxes, but we would recoup a savings through public-funded free health coverage.

Sanders' plan to address the abuses on Wall Street has merit; More 150 economists have signed a letter endorsing Sanders' proposal to address big money's abuses and return the power to the people.   

This is America. The land of hope and dreams founded on Godly principles. But our settler days are in the past. At this precarious point in our history, We can't afford to settle for anything less than what Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders is offering.