Man… I have mixed feelings about this one. I was a hardcore Bernie bro during the 2016 election cycle, and I still think he’s the greatest president we never had; but it also feels like we’re on the precipice of full-blown facism in this country, and I fear another Trump win could push us over the edge.
On principle alone, he gets my vote. I imagine his principles are precisely why he’s running again, people need the option to vote for a candidate that doesn’t enable ethnic cleansing or the continued transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top… On the other hand, the DNC will never put their weight behind him, and I don’t think the majority of people are hurting enough, or care enough, to go out of their way and choose him over Biden. This may create another schism, as it did in 2016, that could secure another Trump win. I hope I’m wrong, but fuck man… the state of this country makes me want to go play in traffic.
I am once again wishing Bernie was President.
I’m wishing he would find a young, energetic independent person to back tbh. I love Bernie and I genuinely believe he’d be a better president than our two options right now, but he’s not going to love forever and the job of POTUS is a stressful one. No 82 year old man should be given that job after a lifetime of doing so much for his country already.
For him to find a young, energetic, independent person to back, there would have to be one for him to find. AOC is probably the closest thing we have and she won’t be old enough to run for president until the next election cycle.
She may be the closest but that just shows the state we are in. Ever since the met gala shit I’ve been turned off by her.
No. Octogenarians should emphatically not be our ruling class. With some notable exceptions like Bernie, pretty much all the “good” ancient politicians and government officials have, in one form or another, been a huge part of the problem at one point or another:
- Pelosi driving Congressional campaign policies to aggressively kneecap progressives as much as possible
- Warren turning on her progressive allies in her primary campaign in 2020
- RBG refusing to retire when it was actually strategically advantageous (in the context of
- Biden’s deeply frustrating habit of waiting until the most “politically advantageous” time to attempt to enact policies that will have real and meaningful impact on millions of people’s lives (canceling student debt), ignoring that people are struggling to meet ends meet for the months or years leading up to that magical “politically advantageous” point in time. Also the handling of Gaza, which I need not explain.
- etc.
I am not trying to be a negative nancy, or ageist. I am simply pointing out that to ignore the fact that old people are by simple fact of their age and drastically different life experiences in many cases, are out of touch to one degree or another with the rest of the population. To pretend otherwise is to ignore a strategic weakness that is inherent to politicians who are that old.
Not to mention: I am not okay with living in a gerontocracy, which is kinda what massive swathes of our legislature have become.
With some notable exceptions like Bernie
My point exactly. Any who are cognizant, should stick around to help out the younger members rising up through the ranks. They’re not there to replace them, but also they should not be thrown away just because of a biological counter, wasting their decades of knowledge and wisdom.
The problem is that the ones who do stick around are almost never (again, excluding Bernie specifically - I view him as a clear outlier in this context) the ones who should stick around.
Is there another politician in their 80s (or even 70s) who you think is an outlier in the same ways that Bernie is? Because I’m struggling to think of one.
Is there another politician in their 80s (or even 70s) who you think is an outlier in the same ways that Bernie is? Because I’m struggling to think of one.
Well, I’ve been only talking about Bernie, and not others.
Having said that, any professional politician who is as cognizant as Bernie, and could do the job, should be allowed to do the job. Not arbitrarily gated.
And please, don’t take my stance as one that does not want new and ‘fresh blood’ in Congress, in fact I would really love to see many more younger people run for office.
My point is just to be fair when judging someone capable of doing their job, not arbitrarily.
Bernie can do the job, and if you believe in his politics, it would be really good for the country if he did.
Don’t get me wrong - I think Bernie is great, and I agree: if there was another very old politician that gave me Bernie vibes, I’d probably support them too.
But there’s not. And that’s my entire point.
I am once again asking you to rock the house down, Bernie.
Make sure to contact your senator for any house rocked longer than four hours.
I am once again asking you to rock the
housesenate down, Bernie.
Bernie not being our president is the literal definition of “we can’t have nice things”.
I’m glad he’s running, but does no one read the community rules before posting?
Looking at the content posted, that’s clearly a no.
I guess its not an “article” but i also dont see the point in waiting for some random outlet to transcribe the same thing. It the original source of the information which is honestly much better than many other things posted here.
I’m normally against politicians in their 80’s running again but (unlike Biden and Trump), I haven’t seen any evidence Bernie is sundowning. He obviously has less energy now than he did a decade ago — hell, I’m in early 40’s and I have less energy than a decade ago — but he still speaks as clearly and eloquently off-the-cuff as he did early in his career.
Also? He’s not an asshole.
Plus there’s only like seven people in Vermont so it’d hard to find a replacement anyway
the man is still in his prime. bernie is a timeless treasure.
