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Bernie vs. Hillary & the GOP: 50 Righteous Reasons to Support Bernie Sanders for President

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There are many vast and important differences when you compare Bernie to Hillary and the GOP. Here are 50 righteous reasons to support Bernie Sanders for President.

1. If you like the Walmart Corporation (with its union busting, racial and sexual discrimination, aggressive outsourcing, low pay, wage theft, super exploitation, destruction of small businesses, business manipulation, environmental destruction, etc.), you'll love Hillary Clinton! She was on its Board of Directors for 6 years (1986-1992), only leaving to become First Lady. She has many other big corporate friends, as well (e.g., Goldman Sachs and Wall Street, Big Pharma, Big Oil, Big Banks, Corporate Mass Media, MIC). Bernie calls Walmart out for its misdeeds, is adamantly against corporations that are too big to fail, that avoid taxes and don't pay their fair share, that rip off workers and consumers, that defraud the government, and that have too much power in Washington.

2. Hillary and most Republicans are also too close with Monsanto and uncritically support GMOs; Hillary hired Monsanto lobbyists for her campaign. Bernie supports labeling GMOs to give consumers more informed choices and to keep us safe, while also supporting more organic agriculture, family farms, and a sustainable food system and environment.

3. Hillary and most Republicans support the death penalty, with all its many problems. Bernie wants to abolish the death penalty, making the U.S. more civilized, as has been done in most other advanced countries.

4. Hillary and most Republicans supported the privacy-invading Patriot Act and the disastrous war in Iraq, which cost so many lives and so much money, spreading terrorism and giving rise to ISIS. Hillary referred to the Iraq War as "a business opportunity", recently calling her decision a "mistake"; that is not the kind of foreign policy experience and judgment we need. Courageously voting against it, Bernie refers to the disastrous Iraq War as a major foreign policy blunder that shouldn't be repeated.

5. Unlike Hillary and most Republicans, Bernie showed judgment and courage by vociferously opposing the privacy-invading Patriot Act, opposing NSA spying on Americans and supporting whistleblower Edward Snowden, and opposing both Iraq wars, as well as opposing military intervention in Libya and Syria, clearly stating that war should be the last resort and that the Iraq War was an unmitigated disaster built on lies, which resulted in many deaths and disabilities, much destruction, trillions of dollars wasted, a suppression of civil rights, the spread of Al Qaida and terrorism, and the creation of ISIS. Hillary's "experience" has not done us any favors, to say the least, while Bernie's experience has been invaluable.

6. Hillary and most Republicans support a major air and/or ground war with American ground troops against ISIS in a variety of countries. Bernie opposes the philosophy of endless war that creates many more problems than it solves. Bernie supports limited military engagement within a broad international coalition with Muslim countries playing a major role in terms of combat and finance. Bernie believes war should be a last resort, that our actions shouldn't lead to worse results, and that we shouldn't fight if we're not willing to take care of our veterans afterward. While Bernie has often been anti-war, he's always been dedicated to taking care of veterans and our homeland.

7. Hillary and most Republicans don't say much about ending racism; too often, quite the contrary. Hillary's record on race has been called "abysmal" by a leading #BlackLivesMatter activist; Republicans are even worse. Refreshingly, Bernie often speaks out about the "ugly stain of racism" as well as xenophobia, Islamophobia, immigrant-bashing, refugee refusal, voter suppression, mass incarceration, police abuse, the war on drugs, the criminal injustice system, immigration reform, unemployment, wage gaps based on race and sex, rollbacks of affirmative action, and discrimination based on race, sex, and sexuality, and Bernie has declared that we need to "end institutional racism". Bernie has a very strong record on civil rights as well as a very strong platform on racial justice. Bernie is willing to say that #BlackLivesMatter and to invoke Sandra Bland and #SayHerName.

8. Hillary and most Republicans oppose granting asylum to child refugees fleeing violence in Central America. Hillary coldly stated "they should be sent back". Bernie said "The U.S. has always been a haven for the the oppressed. Is there any group more vulnerable than children?" Bernie is the only candidate who compassionately supports asylum for refugees, supports a path to citizenship for undocumented residents, supports DACA & DAPA, supported the Senate's 2013 immigration bill, supports comprehensive immigration reform (CIR), and supports fair wages and good working conditions for all workers regardless of status. While Hillary supported a border fence/wall, Bernie opposed it.

9. Hillary and many Republicans are too close to Rupert Murdoch and #FauxNews. Murdoch supported Hillary's senatorial campaign, hosted a fundraiser for her, and said he would be fine with her as president. Bernie is his nemesis and Bernie is proud of it.

10. Hillary and most Republicans oppose the legalization of marijuana and agricultural hemp. Bernie supports it as part of criminal justice reform, saying that people shouldn't go to jail for simply smoking a joint. Bernie is sensitive to the fact that the War on Drugs has mostly been a war on the poor and people of color, costing billions of dollars and ruining people's lives, while ignoring important issues. Bernie also supports the legalization of agricultural hemp. Ending the War on Drugs would not only raise a lot of tax money, but would also save huge government spending on surveillance, arrests, trials, and mass incarceration. Bernie has also supported the legalization of medicinal marijuana and believe that marijuana should be removed from the schedule of the most dangerous drugs.

11. Hillary and the Republicans don't say much about raising the minimum wage to a living wage (wealthy Hillary suggests $12 an hour or $24,000 per year for a full-time worker is enough). Bernie marches with strikers and picketers, actively supporting unions and very clearly and repeatedly saying that he wants to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour and that no one who works full time should live in poverty. Bernie also supports making it easier to unionize, facilitating worker co-ops, and would create millions of new high-paying jobs by fixing the nation's infrastructure.

12. Hillary and most Republicans don't have plans to make public colleges and universities free for all qualified students, while Bernie believes that no one who is qualified and desirous should be denied the opportunity to pursue higher education because they can't afford it and he plans to pay for this with a small tax on Wall Street and/or a small cut in military spending.

13. Hillary and most Republicans have super-secret SuperPACs, which raise money from millionaires and billionaires. Bernie doesn't have one, doesn't want one, and and is the only candidate who opposes the billionaires buying our elections. SuperPACs undermine democracy and Bernie actively opposes the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision giving big corporations and the billionaires undue influence to pervert our system for their greedy ends.

14. Hillary and the Republicans are unwilling to make the necessary investments in maintaining, repairing, and rebuilding our nation's infrastructure, the physical backbone of the country. Bernie advocates investing $1 trillion to maintain, repair, and rebuild crumbling infrastructure all around America (e.g. our roads, highways, tunnels, bridges, levees, airports, sea ports, parks, playgrounds, picnic areas, hospitals, schools, libraries, housing, community centers, recreation areas, beaches, monuments, lighting, signage, public transportation, broadband internet, etc.), thereby strengthening it for this and future generations, while creating millions of good jobs and significantly boosting our economy.

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Dan Brook, Ph.D. is a professor of political science and sociology. His writings are available at about.me/danbrook, from where he can be contacted. To get (more) involved with the campaign, check here: (more...)
 

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