The  ‘ Big Squeeze’ on Sanders

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When these hacks actually got to discussing Sanders' Medicare for All/ Single Payer plan, they once again wished to corner him on ' How can we afford it?'

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[dropcap]N[/dropcap]ow, get this straight. I am not a ' Democratic Socialist' or a supporter of the Democratic Party. Yes, I just changed my political affiliation here in Florida so I can vote for Sanders in the upcoming Florida primary. My ' short term' goal is to see this retro fascist infection that has surged with the election of Mr. Trump stopped of its momentum. What those ' Trump thumpers', many who don't have more than a pot to piss in, are allowing to happen is not only a return to the glorious days of outright white supremacist thinking, but a tragic renaissance of a Nazi mindset. Some of the pus from this wound would be wiped clean by the Democrats defeating Trump and his allies. Not entirely, but at least for the time being. That is real.

We as a nation, as a culture, have regressed so far that the meat of the Two Party/One Party system has been, shall we say, tenderized by this Military Industrial Empire. Folks, wake up and realize that most of us are simply serfs working on the feudal lands of the barons of empire.... for longer than one can imagine. The overwhelming majority of the two political parties work NOT for the 99+ % of us, rather for the less than even 1/2 % of us AKA The Super Rich. As a socialist I can say categorically that Bernie Sanders is not socialist enough. Yet, to the masses the movers and shakers of the Democratic Party and the hacks in this embedded-in-empire media have mesmerized them into thinking Sanders is one step from being a card carrying Commie! You watch the latest ( so called ) debate and see how the hack media moderators squeezed Sanders into a  corner usually reserved for rats. They thought this ( so called) new controversy of whether Sanders told his friend Elizabeth Warren that a woman cannot win the presidency was urgent and mind shattering. He denied having said it, but the stain will remain.

When these hacks actually got to discussing Sanders' Medicare for All/ Single Payer plan, they once again wished to corner him on ' How can we afford it?' For it seems the umpteenth time Sanders explained how his plan would actually cost not only American working families LESS, mountains less in costs, but that, and this is key, it would save billions from what it now costs to administer health care. One surmises that most, if not all of those on the stage, candidates and moderators, do not have to worry about THEIR healthcare costs. Either the taxpayer is picking up the tab, or the owners of the  corporate media pay for their media hacks' coverage, or the hacks make enough to not make this a crucial issue for them. Perhaps the young lady from the Des Moines Register, the one who was so intent on grilling Sanders on this, might have to worry about her health care insurance costs... who knows? Regardless of this, the others on the stage, even Warren, still dance to the empire's tune too much to allow real and viable changes in this current system. For those reading this, think about how terrible this current health care mess is. Each year the predatory insurance giants raise prices while restricting coverage. The only thing one can say in defense of what we now have in place is that ' Even a broken clock is correct twice a day' .

If one can recall from the Wiki Leaks release of the emails from the Hillary Clinton campaign in the 2016 election, Sanders was, shall we say, squeezed out by those in his own party! Many, including this writer, felt that he had a better chance to defeat Trump then. Why? Because what Sanders was focusing on was 180 degrees from what Trump was representing. Plus, Trump actually used some of Sanders' arguments about this empire and the need to pull it back in his rhetoric. Of course, Trump has shown that he never meant it... Sanders always has. Sanders is no ' Knight in shining armor' , but he is consistent about leveling the playing field when it comes to we working stiffs. Perhaps NOT as far as this writer would like to go... but The one eyed man is a better leader when the rest of us are blind. Sadly, too many of our friends and neighbors are blind to this Military Industrial Empire.

—PA Farruggio