Bernie Sanders in the South Bronx March 31st 2016. Photo by Michael Vadon on Flickr
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It's imperative that Bernie Sanders define himself in the public mind before his Republican opponents define him when he's the nominee. Then there will be little undoing it. When the smearing starts in earnest, it will be too late. Acting defensively is not effective. A national TV campaign defining Bernie Sanders and his politics must be done now before he becomes the Democratic presidential nominee and to assist him to reach that goal by convincing the "super delegates" of his viability in the general election.
The right wing has been perniciously labeling Sanders "communist" for years. Before it goes main stream, a massive country wide TV 30 second campaign, repeated over and over (messages penetrate only when repeated) is mandatory to prevent Sanders' politics being cast negatively in the public mind.
The human brain is influenced by words, labels, what it is told to think of those words and labels. Trump uses the perennial propaganda technique of name calling to undermine his opponents' image and character in the public mind. No one will be able to think of Hillary Clinton without the word "crooked." Radio right winger Rush Limbaugh has been doing this for decades. Get the book Everything You Need to Know About Rush Limbaugh CONSERVATISM for the numerous public figures and ways he has denigrated good people with name calling.
Limbaugh himself defined the technique on 1/12/2005 when it was done to him: "It's an attempt to discredit people with whom you cannot win an argument by labeling them in a pejorative way."
The electorate will be propagandized by false labeling and accusations against the presidential candidate's common sense program.
It's urgent to establish that Bernie Sanders is calling only for what every other advanced country in the world has done successfully, what other democratic countries worldwide have done for a half century. The U.S. has lagged behind the rest of the advanced world resulting in US loss economically and in citizens' loss of health.
Senator Bernie Sanders is calling for what has worked worldwide, nothing radical.
1) "Medicare for all" health insurance.
2) Public college where students are not charged into debt. Of course, those who wish to can go to private colleges and pay those tuitions. This is well accepted in Europe.
What about Democratic Socialism? Within this capitalist country, for decades, the U.S. has had well received socialism that works and wouldn't be voted against now: social security, unemployment insurance, disability insurance, medicare, food stamps, Medicaid, public utilities nationwide, highways, bridges, schools, infrastructure. Even public radio and television. There's the socialism of government regulation to prevent abuses to workers and the public.
Let's not forget that the public accepts the military for "socialized" defense. The military is run with the public's taxes. And most notably--- corporate welfare is socialism. Every year over a hundred billion dollars in business grants and tax credits go to large corporations.
The annual international study by the Commonwealth Fund reports: In health, "Among the 11 nations studied--Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States--the U.S. ranks last, as it did in the 2010, 2007, 2006, and 2004 ...the U.S. fails to achieve better health outcomes than the other countries . . . is last or near last on dimensions of access, efficiency, and equity."
Those countries have some form of universal coverage. And they spend far less on health care than the U.S. What more could we want than better and less expensive healthcare?
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