Un-killing the 'New Deal' is exactly the change Bernie Sanders is all about, and more | poll

   Since the 1970’s and the Lewis Powell memorandum (a blue print for a corporate takeover of democracy), the GOP has had it out for the ‘New Deal’ with an agenda of limiting access and democracy for all people. We have an opportunity to halt the reactionary trend championed by the Reagan administration. An opportunity that may prove to be as transformational as it is vital and rare.

     Reagan was the front man for the affluent ownership society; selling the economic con-job that we the people must rely on the largess of the most affluent so that wealth and prosperity would magically “trickle-down” and “lift all boats”; that we should be grateful — It’s bullshit — always has been.

     We have a chance to change that, and end the con by re-taking the reins of power away from the well-heeled “ruling few”.

     Despite the many “socialist” smears coming from both rwnj’s and ‘Third’ or ‘middle way’ neo-liberals, nothing could be more ‘American’ than the goal of ending ‘top-down/supply-side’ dominance — imo — Isn’t that what the American Revolution was about (?) — rejecting the British monarchy and aristocracy

                                                                 *  *  *

     In this January 25, 2016 article, Conor Lynch posits this thought:

  I purposefully did not include Conor Lynchs’ title. That’s my fault. I can’t stand Reagan and am admittedly clumsy enough with my own words and feared saying something that would equate Bernie Sanders with Reagan in the wrong way.

  So I’ll just leave it there and hope that others will check out what the author has to say himself. He really nails it.

An excerpt: 

  Whether you love him or hate him, no one can rightly deny that Ronald Reagan was a transformative president. As President Obama put it before he was elected:

“I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that, you know, Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not.”

  The election of Reagan signaled an end to the New Deal era, which had endured for nearly half a century. After the 1980s, American politics shifted steadily to the right of the political spectrum, with Bill Clinton accelerating the Reagan revolution with his bi-partisan neoliberal reforms.

  This is why Reagan remains such a beloved figure for those on the right. Even though he would be considered a RINO today, he is worshipped by Republicans, while loathed by progressives.

[...]

   The most successful aspect of Reagan’s presidency had less to do with policy, and more to do with shifting the debate and convincing American’s that the government was the problem.

   He forced Democrat’s to abandon the New Deal philosophy, and Bill Clinton led the way in reforming his party: 

     Now it looks as though Donald Trump may become Reagan’s replacement. Despite (or perhaps because of) the GOP establishment’s choices:

   President Richard Nixon and his then National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger, discussed Reagan — then Governor of California — on the phone, saying that he was

“shallow” and of “limited mental capacity.”

But the real jewel comes in their contemplating a possible Reagan presidency:

“Can you think though, Henry, can you think, though, that Reagan, with certain forces running in the direction, could be sitting right here?”

asked the president, to which Kissinger simply replied:

“Inconceivable.”

     This country does need a change of game in a big way. Bernie is the candidate that has made that commitment absolutely believable and more than convincingly clear. Some say Bernie’s platform is too radical, but the reality is, it may not be radical enough to reverse the trend that the “conservative” movement has achieved over the past 40 some odd years.

...the average donation to the Sanders campaign is about $27. 

   Sanders believes in moral leadership, which starts with refusing to play by the current set of rules, where special interests hold politicians hostage.

   If that is not a sign of a transformative leadership, I don’t know what is. 

     Without a candidate of Bernie Sanders caliber, strength of purpose and the radical change he represents, we may miss an historic opportunity in this upcoming election cycle, both up and down ballot, to stop the disintegration of the New Deal and begin the restorative policies he is fighting for — and more — the transformation so needed