Bernie Sanders: Quixotic or Practical?

In a dream I had last night, a professor of some kind whose class I was in kept mentioning the word “quixotic” in ways that made it appear he didn’t know what the word meant.

 

Finally I couldn’t stand it any longer, and I raised my hand.

 

When he acknowledged me, I asked, “Please define quixotic.”

 

He paused, regarding me in a way that appeared irritated, frustrated or confounded; I couldn’t tell which.

 

Finally, at a loss for words, he said, “What’s your definition?”

 

I said, “Like Don Quixote of La Mancha, from which the term originates, I believe, it means something along the lines of caught up in the romance of noble deeds and the pursuit of unreachable goals; idealistic without regard to practicality.“

 

That seemed to throw him, and his previous comments, right out the window. It was readily apparent that if he accepted my definition, what he’d been saying was nonsense.

 

This morning I woke up thinking I was probably substituting the professor for Joe Biden, who seems to be gaining ground toward the nomination as the Democratic standard bearer, since I went to bed last night feeling pretty sure he’d wind up with a larger percentage of delegates after yesterday’s primaries were tallied than would Bernie.

 

But here’s the thing. Bernie Sanders is not a quixotic dreamer: everything he is championing is already a fait accompli is most other developed nations: universal health care as a right, not a privilege including dental, vision and hearing; affordable, quality childcare for working families; fair drug prices; free higher education; well-paid entry level employees (who in many countries have five weeks of paid vacation from year one so they can truly vacation, go to other countries, and enjoy life); and so much more…)

 

It’s the corporate whores in our government whose pockets are lined with lobbyist money who are keeping us from having the same rights, benefits and privileges as other developed countries.   These governmental scavengers are living their American dream on our dimes and dollars while the vast majority of people are struggling to keep a roof over their heads, meals in their bodies, and hope in their hearts that all of this is going to turn around pretty soon and start taking their needs into account. But that won’t happen as long as the powers that be remain the powers that be.

 

It’s depressing as hell. People are committing suicide; they see no other way out of their misery, given the facts of who it is that benefits from our government’s protracted largesse. Our federal government is presently in the business of giving hundreds if millions of dollars in subsidies to multi-billion and multi-trillion dollar companies that pay zero taxes while cutting the safety nets out from under our most vulnerable citizens. Trumps has said if he’s reelected he will cut Social Security and Medicare; he has already cut aid to disabled people and children in Title 1 schools.

 

When the fuck do we stand together as a nation, side by side, and proclaim, “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH?”

 

Or is it too late to do that already?

 

I don’t think Joe Biden is a bad guy. He’s made some bone-headed decisions, but so have we all, I suppose. He isn’t malicious; he just isn’t the type of guy to think one or two steps ahead of his present decision to see where it might lead… and that’s dangerous when people and the planet are on the brink of catastrophic failure.

 

I’m not sure Joe Biden will prevail in an election against Trump. I pray to every god in existence that he will, but it’s going to be a squeaker if he does. And the next POTUS will be in charge of replacing Ruth Bader Ginsberg and possibly one or two more on the Supreme Court. They will be responsible for what happens to the marginalized and desperately poor among us. They will decide how rapidly we mobilize against the climate crisis and repairing our crumbling infrastructure. And Joe Biden says if he’s elected nothing will fundamentally change in the way things have been going for decades now. What an inane, lazy, self-satisfied position that is. Rich white men will be fine; the rest of us will continue to struggle as before.

 

That is not a message that voters are going to rally around.

 

There is too fucking much at stake to get someone who’s complacent, compromised, and apparently clueless when it comes to how close we are to losing it all.

 

I hope he  wakes the hell up and names a VP running mate who “gets it” better than he does. If he doesn’t, and DEMS don’t vote, I will be looking for another country to move to sooner rather than later… because this one is going to stay pretty much the way it is right now or was under Obama, which was better than under Trump, but far from where we need to go to save the planet and our children and grandchildren from the disastrous consequences of our inaction…

 

I’m losing hope. I’m losing faith in the desire of American voters to truly sit down and think about what their voting will accelerate or retard down the road.  It isn’t looking good.

 

I want everyone to wake the hell up and start paying closer attention. Time is short and the water rises.

 

This is not an ordinary election. This one will probably decide our ultimate fate.

 

Jesus, Joseph and Mary: TAKE IT SERIOUSLY!!!