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Donkees

(32,425 posts)
Thu Jun 21, 2018, 07:50 AM Jun 2018

Senator Sanders: A World for All of Us, Not Just the Billionaires

To fight today’s extreme inequality, we must strengthen the coalition of progressive democrats and challenge the global oligarchy.

By Bernie Sanders

TODAY 6:00 AM

Excerpts:

Quite simply, in the United States today, a handful of billionaires and the corporations they run exercise extraordinary power over our economic, political, and social life. Yet this is not just a domestic issue. It is a global issue, one that reaches across oceans and continents as oligarchy, authoritarianism, and kleptocracy spread from country to country, and democratic institutions fight for their survival.

In Russia, Vladimir Putin—who stands at the center of a tight circle of oligarchs and is believed by many to have great personal wealth—is not only undermining democracy at home but destabilizing countries abroad. In Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern monarchies, a handful of multibillionaire despots exerts enormous influence over global energy policy and, under Trump, over American foreign and military policy. In China, President Xi Jinping has steadily consolidated power around himself and his inner circle as his government clamps down on political freedom and aggressively promotes China’s version of authoritarian capitalism abroad. And Eastern Europe, which suffered horribly from the scourge of fascism, is once again seeing the rise of demagogues like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Germany’s Alexander Gauland, one of the heads of the far-right Alternative for Germany party.

Donald Trump, therefore, should not be seen in isolation. He is part of a global trend, and the oligarchic, authoritarian, kleptocratic tendency he represents should be understood as a symptom of a much broader problem: a small number of extraordinarily wealthy people, motivated by greed and power, who see the global community as their plaything.

In order to fight this trend, we need to strengthen the global coalition of progressive democrats. While authoritarians promote division and hatred, we will promote unity, inclusion, and an agenda based on economic, social, racial, and environmental justice. But the first step in winning this fight is to correctly identify the challenge. Internationally, we must have the courage to take on the global oligarchy and bring power to the many, not the few. This world belongs to all of us, not just a handful of billionaires.

https://www.thenation.com/article/world-us-not-just-billionaires/

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Senator Sanders: A World for All of Us, Not Just the Billionaires (Original Post) Donkees Jun 2018 OP
Go Bernie! kenfrequed Jun 2018 #1
This section is maintained as a group for supporters of Senator Sanders. We also post in the forums Donkees Jun 2018 #2
Have you ever read through a thread about Bernie in GD? Autumn Jun 2018 #3
Message auto-removed Name removed Oct 2018 #4

kenfrequed

(7,865 posts)
1. Go Bernie!
Fri Jun 22, 2018, 11:53 AM
Jun 2018

Good read.

A question though, why don't we post in general discussion or the news section?

Why is it all the Bernie posts seem relegated to just being in a specific designated forum?

Donkees

(32,425 posts)
2. This section is maintained as a group for supporters of Senator Sanders. We also post in the forums
Fri Jun 22, 2018, 12:14 PM
Jun 2018

I use this group as a daily journal of Senator Sanders' events. It makes it easier for me to find research. FYI, There's a Statement of Purpose pinned to the top of this group page.

Response to Autumn (Reply #3)

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