Sanders 2020
Related: About this forumHurry back to the campaign trail, Bernie Sanders. America needs your positive vision of the future
By DAHLEEN GLANTON
CHICAGO TRIBUNE |
OCT 03, 2019
Excerpts:
He forces us to consider what America, at its best, would look like. He dares us to dream ideas that are bigger than anything we have ever seen. And he challenges us not to cower in fear, thinking it could never happen, but to ask instead, why not?
At this moment in time, the thing Americans need most is encouragement. We need to know that we will overcome this dark period, where our democracy is in peril and everything we thought we knew about our government seems upside down. We need to believe in something positive, and Sanders offers it to us.
The pragmatism in us makes it easy to dismiss some of the things Sanders has proposed in his presidential platform. His ideas are too expensive, too politically polarizing and have absolutely no chance of becoming law in the foreseeable future. Even if they are pipe dreams, is it wrong to fight for them? Is it harmful to believe that things which seem too out of reach are actually closer than we might think, as long as Americans want them? Is it really a waste of time and energy to pursue a vision where everyone in our country will have free access to health care? Is it foolish to envision an America where anyone who wants to go to college gets a chance to go?
As a man whose life is mostly behind him now in terms of years, Sanders knows that none of this will happen in his lifetime. Most Americans know it too. But we can still imagine it for those who are around long after we are gone.
I am thankful that Sanders is giving us a glimpse at what a thriving and equitable society might look like in the future. By doing so, he gives us reason to hope for a better America.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/dahleen-glanton/ct-met-dahleen-glanton-bernie-sanders-campaign-trail-suspended-20191003-6ewtxjhpvfanna6msf7tb2h3by-story.html
ritapria
(1,812 posts)Bernie quoting Nelson Mandela
corbettkroehler
(1,898 posts)Fabulous opinion piece! Thanks for posting, Donkees!
Uncle Joe
(60,176 posts)Thanks for the thread Donkees.