The Declaration of an Independent

Hurricane Sanders Makes Landfall 

July 3, 2015 

By Steve Gallop 

They said it couldn’t be done. And it couldn’t. So far. America, though considerably more liberal than our political profile or reputation around the world would betray, seems cripplingly unable to elect anyone even vaguely resembling what passes for Left Wing. Much of the media wants you to think that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are Radical Lefties. Yeah, and Chris “Sit Down And Shut Up” Christie is Mr. Rogers. It’s possible he ate Mr. Rogers, but it clearly had no effect on his “personality.” 

And now, just a touch of gratuitous violence…

Never forget.

The Great Left Hope 

There have been few serious attempts from the Left to enter the presidential fray. Eugene McCarthy’s surprising and powerful peace-based challenge to incumbent Lyndon Johnson in 1968 led to Bobby Kennedy entering and Lyndon Johnson to withdrawing from the race. This of course all ended with Bobby Kennedy being assassinated and Richard M. Nixon ascending to the throne for a term and a half. 

Undisclosed, decorated war hero and next Vietnam-era peace candidate George McGovern gave it a shot next. McGovern was the polar opposite of current-day chicken-hawks like Dick “Five Deferments” Cheney, who avoided fighting in Vietnam with every fiber of his being, but never missed an opportunity to send others to die in his wars. McGovern in his day volunteered, flew 35 missions over German-occupied Europe, and ultimately opposed the Vietnam War in his bid to defeat Nixon. As it turned out Nixon trounced McGovern and then the United States itself. I suppose an argument could be made for Dennis Kucinich more recently, but he hardly had a chance and fought bravely, though briefly.

Washington Post headline from August 7, 1974

New Yid In Town 

Bernie Sanders seems different, and with any luck maybe the times are too. The Confederate flag is taking a well-deserved beating, Obamacare is enshrined into law more indelibly than ever, marriage equality is now the law of the land (clearly there’s not anything wrong with that), relations between the U.S. and Cuba are thawing, gerrymandering might be on its way out, BP has to pay $18.7 billion for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 (the largest fine ever paid by any corporation), marijuana will soon be legal and upstart presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is looking like David with a brand new slingshot. And we can now boast of our first black president, right on the heels of our first special needs president.

How many Bushes does it take to screw up a nation?

Every other 2016 candidate either has or is desperately seeking super PACs, self-serving corporations and power-hungry billionaires to fund and own them. Bernie Sanders wants none of it. Nobody is raising more non-corporate money from more individual donors than Sanders. Nobody is drawing larger crowds across the country. Recently 10,000 - the largest crowd to see any candidate in 2015* - came out to see Bernie in Madison, Wisconsin. While Trump boasts being worth $9 billion and Clinton is worth a huge pile herself and J.E.B. is (though he would like you to forget this) a Bush, Sanders’ net worth is that of an actual normal person.

Sure he might be a little too Jewish and maybe just a tad or two too Socialist. But I’m telling you, this guy is also a shrewd politician. He knows how to handle questions from “journalists” without ever compromising his principals. He does not apologize for his socialism, instead choosing to explain that in fact many, if not most, Americans like their socialist programs very well thank you. Americans just don’t want to know that they are considerably more socialist than they imagine. The national media will not be able to ignore Bernie Sanders much longer. Keep your eye on this guy and punch your chads carefully. 

*Bernie did not pay people to show up as did Donald Trump, nor did he include people who were threatened with punishment for not showing up as did Ted “The Canadian Cuban” Cruz.

  

If you look at Sanders as just another never-gonna-be or a fluke that’s what he will be. Bernie Sanders is dead serious about this campaign…and we should be too.

Happy Fourth of Jewly!