CT Blue

A rambling sort of post, but it’s the best I can do.

Sometimes you have to wonder about the memes out there. We are supposed to believe, at the moment, that Bernie is almost a sure thing because he won a caucus in a state in which, if I’m reading the charts right, around 10,000 people participated. Chris Matthews is upset, and has compared Bernie to the Nazis, and the Democratic establishment is scared to death, because only a centrist can win, like one almost did last time! I still don’t think Bernie will get the nomination, but if he does the people who are supposed to be on our side should be good little boys and girls like the Paul Ryans of 2016 and get behind him.

The bitterness from both sides is ridiculous. I’ve even had to cut down on my guilty pleasure at the Palmer Report, which is taking a never Bernie stance, just as I’ve cut back on Down with Tyranny, which pretty much takes a Bernie only position.

I’m not convinced Bernie has any sort of lock on the nomination,but if he were to get it, contrary to the thinking among the punditocracy, I think he can win, provided the Democratic Party gets behind him. Once again, recall that all the experts said Trump couldn’t win, but he did. Bernie ran strong against Hillary in exactly those states that she lost in the general by a whisker, so there are good arguments to be made that he can win the general election. Sure he’s got baggage, but they all do, and if they don’t, the Republicans will make stuff up. I disagree with Krugman, who says Bernie shouldn’t call himself a socialist. It’s a little late for that, as he hung that moniker on himself about 40 years ago. If he disavows it now, it just gives Republicans a talking point. Rather than that, were I him, I’d point out that Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment benefits, workers compensation benefits, public libraries, and public schools, to name just a few of the things we take for granted, are socialistic, as the Republicans pointed out about many of them when they were first passed.

Speaking of socialism, now that I’m on Medicare, and my wife and I have navigated the rocky waters of picking a supplemental plan, it has occurred to me to wonder why none of the candidates, including Sanders, has proposed expanding Medicare for people already getting it. Why should I have to get a supplemental plan at all? Why doesn’t Medicare cover dental? Why doesn’t it cover eye exams? Why is the prescription drug benefit so crappy? (We know the answer to that one; it was a giveaway to Big Pharma) Not only would expanding Medicare get you votes from seniors, it would make the idea of Medicare for All more attractive to younger workers, who often rightfully complain about the possibility that they’ll have to trade a better medical plan for Medicare. And of course, it would be cheaper in the long run, though the pundits can’t understand that a dollar paid in taxes is the same amount of money as a dollar paid to insurance companies. Plus, assuming we take the Senate, it’s something that could actually pass, assuming that the Senate bucks Bernie and gets rid of the filibuster.

Bernie’s not my first choice, but I think he can win provided that the Democratic Party doesn’t do to him what it did to George McGovern. Back then, Big Labor, epitomized by George Meany, took a pass on the Democratic candidate, because he was against an unnecessary war. Lots of mainstream Democrats were luke warm at best. McGovern might not have been able to win in any event, but that election marks the beginning of the decline of the union movement and the middle class, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence. This one, if we lose it, will have much more serious consequences. The constitutional order will be destroyed and we will have a dictator in all but name.