HILLARY FOR PRESIDENT

[HairOfTheDog]

I feel like Bernie is trying to manipulate Hillary into making some concessions before he'll endorse her. I don't like that so I say fuck 'em, move on and don't worry about his endorsement. For what it's worth, the polls say 75% of his supporters will vote for her.

I'm not opposed to free community college for people but how the hell are you going to pay for that? I don't know what to think about $15.00 an hour for flipping burgers. I've always viewed that as a kid's after school job, not a job to raise a family on.

To me, Bernie understands better than any other candidate what's going on with people in all parts of our country.

Decades of mismanaged globalization and capitalism, under leadership (mostly elected) who profit from that mismanagement (some of it intentional) at the expense of blue collar workers and the less educated -- that's my take on what Bernie is protesting. He wants elected politicians to be on notice and held responsible for fixing what's broken. Elected representatives are supposed to work for the good of the people, not only the most financially well-endowed individuals and special interests.

He didn't expect to be elected when he joined the race. His goal was to wake some of us regular people up with the facts and present a framework as to how to start leveling the playing field so that those who work hard, or wanna work hard, can get ahead financially instead of continuing to struggle and stay stagnant.

That's not to say that people who excel, or inherit, or work harder, or donate to politicians should be punished or are bad people. But, such fortunate people should have to pay their fair share in taxes instead of getting special breaks and benefits.

Companies that outsource or relocate for cheap labor and financial incentives from the host country should not be rewarded for it by the American government at the expense of the American working class (made up of people of all races and backgrounds who should all have equal opportunities).

He's right, in my opinion. He's also right that some aspects of a capitalistic economic system should be removed from profit motive and instead be treated and viewed as social and humanitarian issues, like education and health care. You want to pay for elite health care and higher education? No problem. That will be available and it's your choice. However, every US citizen should have adequate access to health care. Every US citizen who gets good grades in high school and is willing to work 10 hours a week should be able to go to college without accumulating tens of thousands $$ in debt.

A more informed, higher skilled, healthier society, with a better average standard of living -- and a less skewed/'rigged' political and criminal justice system -- are the goals. That's what I hear from Bernie.

His message doesn't hate on anybody and he's told the truth about higher taxes and a bump in minimum wage being required to get things moving in the right direction, knowing that would not be popular to a lot of people who currently hold power and wealth, to many older people who are resistant go change, and likely to lots of small business owners like me who will be negatively financially impacted in the short term. He didn't lie; he took the risk of being honest and of being written off. That's not what happened. It's very good for the Democratic Party and the country that Bernie Sanders wasn't intimidated by the Democratic candidate who was the party's presumptive nominee for at least a year before the primaries even got started. Good on Bernie Sanders.

I respect the man, even though I don't think the country is ready to implement the changes he's proposed, in whole, at this time and wouldn't have voted for him.

Hillary Clinton is a charter member of the establishment and leadership mindset that Bernie and his millions of supporters are protesting. That doesn't make her evil and doesn't mean she's not much better for the society as a whole than Donald Trump, of course. But she has benefiited greatly from the Bern being expressed loudly and repeatedly for the last year. Bernie gave her the opportunity to avoid finding herself in a similar state of shock that David Cameron is feeling today, in my opinion.

The tuition-free plan under Bernie's proposal would be paid for by a fraction of a percentage tax placed on high volume speculative transactions that contribute to market crashes. It's done in several other countries/markets.

In my opinion, people who believe a minimum wage job in today's America is only for burger flippers and losers are out of touch. Check your privilege! I'm mostly joking about the privilege, but young people, seniors, and people displaced from other industries who have a solid work ethic will take what's available, including minimum wage jobs or jobs that pay at minimum wage plus a certain percentage. They would rather work than sit home and collect unemployment and/or government welfare. Such people are not begrudged by me in the least. And, I think they should be to able to generate above poverty-level income and have a better standard of living from working full time or near full time than from collecting welfare.

Ps. I'm outta town. Apologies for not being able to break up this novel of a post into smaller ones. I suck at posting from my phone.