Today I had a home theater installation.
This is one of the many things I do to make ends meet.
Inevitably these jobs are in people’s homes who have a lot more money than I do.
As soon as I saw the address, I thought…
“This guy is probably some huge Republican.”
It caused me momentary hesitation as I was putting my Bernie buttons on.
Stupid, prejudiced thought, right?
A thought born from fear.
I have these a lot.
When I catch myself, I replace them with more constructive visions.
So I said out loud, what I always say when going to meet someone new…
“Let’s go make a friend.”
By this, I mean…
“Hey Mike. Center yourself. This is a fellow human being you are on your way to see. Pay attention to them. Actually listen to them. See their humanity. Make their day better.”
You know…be a decent human.
I arrived and started to install the speakers, all the while asking him what he thought of this sound and that sound.
Finally he looked at my Bernie buttons and said
“You really think Sanders has a chance?”
I replied…
“We have a plan. I believe Sanders will be the Democratic nominee. If the DNC screws him over, then there is an invitation for him to join The Green Party. Do you hate Bernie Sanders?”
As the words stumbled out, I was surprised that I said “Hate.”
I was projecting.
What I usually say is..
“What are your thoughts on Senator Sanders?”
He said “I don’t HATE him. I hate Hillary.”
Ah!! A mutual dislike of Hillary Clinton!! We had a point of agreement!!
For the next hour, we were in rapid fire mode, speaking about Haiti, Honduras, Iraq, Hillary’s plans to “obliterate Iran” and how dangerous her No Fly Zone in Syria would be.
This guy loved Trump, who I violently oppose, yet we found common ground.
Sanders and Trump supporters may disagree on EVERYTHING, but the one thing they all agree on is that Hillary Clinton is bad for America.
Once rapport was strong, I told him that I liked that Trump had taken a hammer to the corrupt Republican party, but that I couldn’t support him due to hateful comments that he had made about the handicapped, women and minorities.
I told him that I was starkly opposed to Trump’s idea of building a wall on the border of Mexico and thought that a better solution would be to have fair trade agreements to assist their economy and that people from all over the world should have the opportunity to come to America and prove that they can be an asset to our country.
“After all” I said “That is the foundation of America, a safe harbor for immigrants.”
He said that he did not take any of Trump’s bigoted comments seriously and shared with me that he had concerns with Sanders’ ability to pay for his programs.
As we tested the speakers with Don’t You Forget About Me from Simple Minds, I spoke with him about Glass-Steagall and how top economists Robert Reich and Asher Edelman endorse Bernie Sanders’ economic plan.
I also explained Velocity of Money and he said that he had never thought about it that way.
He confessed that he really liked Sanders, now that he understood his economic plan a little better.
He also told me that he knows that Trump will lose if Sanders is the nominee and that every Trump supporter he knows is hoping Clinton gets the nomination, because that is the only way that Trump can win.
He was confused about why the Democrats were trying to fix the system to run a candidate who would likely lose.
I reminded him that Clinton was the only hope they had of keeping their oligarchical billionaire’s club alive.
I reminded him that Sanders would tax them and Trump doesn’t need their money.
But I DID need HIS money.
So I got paid and left.
On my way home, a car came up beside me at a stop light, honked and motioned for me to roll down my window.
An elderly man pointed to his Bernie Sanders hat and said…
“It’s more than an election. It’s a movement!!”
This kind of thing happens to me several times per day (I live in a major city and have 19 Bernie stickers on my car).
As I continued driving I wondered about the differences between the Bernie-hat guy and the Trump-guy.
How could Donald Trump, a complete bigot and Bernie Sanders, a modern day FDR, both attract such fervent support and admiration?
How could two completely opposite candidates inspire such tremendous excitement and loyalty?
Sanders and Trump disagree on nearly everything.
But they agree on two things.
- We have to get money out of politics and
- Hillary Clinton is the epitome of the problem.
I have always been fascinated at how things that are opposite are also similar.
For example, atheists are often so assured that they know the truth, that they sometimes bear a striking similarity to the religious zealots they rail against.
(There went half my subscribers).
Just as extreme right wing American Christians often have much in common with the Islamic terrorists they are so afraid of.
(Come back atheists!! I’m an equal opportunity offender!!)
As opposites go, you cannot be more different than Sanders vs Trump.
On the surface it is a Shakespearean Good vs Evil epic tale.
Sanders stands for love, while Trump is the candidate of hate.
Sanders wants to help those in need, while Trump wants to trample them.
Trump crushed the decrepit GOP.
Sanders exposed the corrupt DNC.
They both say they can save America.
Sanders’ by taxing the rich.
Trump by deporting the poor.
But as much as I dislike Trump for all his bigotry and arrogance, I realize he is not the true enemy.
The enemy of Democracy and progress is Hillary Clinton, who excites no one and stands for nothing.
Her supporters are not passionate or informed.
They are excited by her gender, but not her policies.
They do not even know her policies.
No one does.
They change based on political winds.
While Sanders and Trump speak to overflow audiences, Clinton speaks to Goldman Sachs billionaires and empty high school gymnasiums.
Ask any of her supporters what they like about her and they will say…
- It’s her time
- She’s a woman
- I liked Bill
- She’s experienced
In other words, they know NOTHING about her.
If they did they would understand why she is better suited to a prison cell than to the oval office.
Ask them to elaborate on her experience and they cannot.
Ask them to name one thing she has accomplished and they cannot.
Mainly because she has never accomplished one thing of merit in all her years in government.
She graduated law school, which is admirable.
She ascended on her husband’s coattails into high positions in politics, but on her own has accomplished NOTHING.
Unless you consider murdering innocent foreign people an accomplishment.
If you do then Hillary has hundreds of thousands of accomplishments.
If Trump becomes President, our country will stagnate.
Republicans and Democrats will unite to fight him and NOTHING will get done.
If Clinton becomes President, the wealthy will continue to siphon all the money and store it in their offshore accounts and the middle-class will completely disappear.
What can be gained by supporting a candidate who is in bed with the very banks who destroyed our economy already?
What was in those Wall Street transcripts?
She has collected $153,000,000 for these amazing “speeches” and she promised to release them when everyone else released their Wall Street Transcripts, but no one else gave any Wall Street speeches, so why is she dragging her feet?
Then she moved to “I will release my Wall Street transcripts when Sanders releases his taxes.”
Sanders released his taxes the following day, but still no transcripts.
Then she moved to “I will release my Wall Street transcripts when Trump releases his taxes.”
What is she hiding?!?!
What kind of “leader” says “I’ll do it after they do it.”?
If you support Hillary Clinton in spite of her hiding her agenda from you, then I ask you why?
It’s YOUR right to know what she is promising these huge banks.
It is YOUR tax dollars that bailed them out when they ripped off the American people.
You have a right to know, but she lies and refuses to release this pertinent information.
How can you defend that?
How can you support that?
How can you vote for that?
She will never release the transcripts, because there ARE NO TRANSCRIPTS!!
Hillary Clinton never gave any speeches.
The outrageous speaking fees are excuses for the banks to BUY her favors.
What do you suppose the banks want in return for their hundred million dollar investment?
Wake up!!!
Think about it!!!
Hillary Clinton is lying to the American people and yet there are those who will make excuses for this.
You shouldn’t be supporting her.
You should be angry!!
If Clinton is elected, our country will fall into deeper poverty and Clinton will continue her pattern of attacking anywhere there’s a profit.
Her “experience” shows a repeated pattern of bombing people of color if there is money to be made from it.
Remember what she said about Iraq?
So
The real war that America is facing is not Trump vs Clinton.
If it comes to that, recent polling indicates that Trump will defeat Clinton.
The real war is The American People vs The Wealthy Elite.
Hillary Clinton is their representative and she must be stopped.
I am believing that the Super-delegates will realize that supporting Sanders is wiser than losing the election entirely.
But if they choose not to listen to the people, we MUST drop the hammer hard on them in November.
Some of us will vote for Jill Stein.
Some of us will write in Bernie Sanders.
And yes, some will even vote for Donald Trump, just because they know that he is the lesser of two evils when compared with Hillary Rodham Clinton.
But under NO CIRCUMSTANCES will Hillary Clinton become the leader of this great country.
We will all work together to make sure that never happens.
Independent, Democrat, Republican…
One People..
United against her fascism.
I couldn’t help reacting to, “It caused me momentary hesitation as I was putting my Bernie buttons on.”
You’re absolutely entitled to your political opinions and preferences. But you must be an independent contractor to show up at a job site wearing political buttons. Are you there to do the job, or to also bait the customer into discussing politics? Fifteen minutes into a job I fired a plumber who wouldn’t stop trying to insinuate politics into our conversation when he came to our house to fix a drain pump. I’ve got very strong political preferences too, but it’s not professional to take up work time with it.
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First off, he’s just showing support for his candidate, it’s easily ignored if desired. Second, it sounds like he wasn’t the one to bring it up in the first place. Third, the job still got done and the client was happy. Fourth, Feel The Bern!
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Fifth – You Rock!!
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Unfortunately I think the FBI indicting Clinton over her private server is our only chance at this point.
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Per the text, the customer did start the conversation. True, he may have been prompted by seeing Bernie buttons, but the first words were the customer’s.
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A long read but I couldn’t stop! I believe you didn’t leave out one piece
of information …..every person must read before they vote!
I will send this to everyone I know!
Thank you.
Bonnie Fossum
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Thank you Bonnie.
Actually I left out a TON. 🙂
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Thanks for the thoughtful article. I agree with most of it – I even wrote something similar on my own blog called “Hillary Clinton is Not as Bad as Donald Trump – She’s Worse.”
https://gadflyonthewallblog.wordpress.com/2016/05/16/hillary-clinton-is-not-as-bad-as-donald-trump-shes-worse/
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Another great article — thank you!!!!!
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