{"id":519,"date":"2015-05-28T01:44:42","date_gmt":"2015-05-28T01:44:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jgar.pw\/b\/?p=519"},"modified":"2015-08-26T03:39:50","modified_gmt":"2015-08-26T03:39:50","slug":"bernie-sanders-is-he-the-real-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jgar.pw\/b\/bernie-sanders-is-he-the-real-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Bernie Sanders – Is He The Real Deal?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m extremely apathetic when it comes to politics. I see them all, Republic and Democrat, as a bunch of\u00a0phonies with very well scripted speeches going before the masses to drum up votes, while meeting\u00a0privately with the real targets: corporate sponsors, special interest groups and billionaires who are out\u00a0to control such said politicians in exchange for a \u201ccontribution\u201d to their campaign or SUPER-PACs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Case in Point: The President of the United States, the highest office in the world, earns $400,000 per\u00a0year. So, what does it take to \u201cwin\u201d that office?\u00a0Here are some staggering numbers from OpenSecrets.org<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"election_totals2-thumb-500x394-10675\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The pic is a little grainy, but it took over 2.6 BILLION dollars to win the presidency in 2012<\/a>, with total spending for that election\u00a0cycle exceeding 6 billion dollars. The loosing candidate, Mitt Romney, spent $1.2 billion, compared to the winner, current President Barack Obama, who spent just slightly under that at $1.1 billion.<\/p>\n

So, how can we make sense of those numbers? Who in their right mind would spend so much money for\u00a0a job that only pays $400,000 a year?\u00a0Maybe we can answer that question with another question: how is\u00a0it that politicians \u201cserve\u201d their terms, retire and suddenly become millionaires, that is, if they were not millionaires\u00a0already?<\/p>\n

Maybe they “learn” something while in office, like how to be genius and articulate\u00a0orators. It seems that politicians, upon leaving office,\u00a0go before a few corporate boards, give a speech here and there, and before you\u00a0know it, there are millions in their bank accounts. Are those speeches really worth millions of dollars? Or are those\u00a0fees \u201cpayback\u201d for something else?<\/p>\n

UPDATE<\/strong> <\/em>(06\/08\/2015):\u00a0Report: George W. Bush Raked In Millions Through Speaking Gigs<\/a> –\u00a0“typically pocketing $100,000 to $175,000 per appearance,” according to Politico in a post published on Sunday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It is pretty obvious where I\u2019m going with this. This country was bought and paid for a long time ago, and\u00a0our current policies attest to that. It is an infuriating and alienating truth. It really turns me off to the\u00a0whole process.<\/p>\n

2016 will surpass 2012 and be the most expensive campaign ever. It took over $2.6B in 2012 and that will\u00a0be bested easily, with the Koch Brothers<\/a> alone accounting for nearly a third\u00a0of that amount. They are\u00a0funneling almost $1B ($889m to be exact<\/a>) to a Republican candidate and have no qualms about their intent: control\u00a0public policy, move the country to the right when it comes to social issues, and further their corporate\u00a0interests at the expense of science and environmental issues, global warming and poor people be damned!<\/em><\/p>\n

Read Bernie Sander’s Senate page<\/a> for a full rundown.<\/p>\n

But, there is always a glimmer of hope. Mine rests solely with Senator Bernie Sanders<\/a>. He\u2019s raising money by\u00a0reaching out to people<\/a>, not corporations. He\u2019s publicly stating his intentions: to go after billionaires, their tax loopholes, corporations who stash money overseas so as to avoid taxes, and is a reasoned voice\u00a0when it comes to social issues and military interventionism.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"standwbernie\"<\/a>Read his site for a full breakdown of his views:\u00a0https:\/\/berniesanders.com<\/a><\/p>\n

So can he do it? The media says no<\/a>, no
\n<\/a>and no<\/a>. However, there are a few who think there is something different going on here. Read more below.<\/p>\n

Bernie Sanders can\u2019t win: Why the press loves to hate underdogs<\/a><\/p>\n

Bernie Can Win<\/a><\/p>\n

Bernie has pulling power with social media and he also has internet activism<\/a>, as it\u2019s come to be known, on his side. I hope he rides that wave to the White\u00a0House and for the first time in my life, I\u2019m actually considering donating to a campaign.<\/p>\n

UPDATE<\/strong> (06\/13\/2015<\/em>): My wife and I have both made separate contributions to Bernie’s campaign. #Bernie2016!<\/p>\n

Bernie is the one who can\u00a0make my fear come through: he manages to win, but is still powerless to stop the massive political machine\u00a0that is now indebted to corporations, special interest groups and billionaires.<\/p>\n

What will I do if that happens?\u00a0Hopefully I\u2019ll get the chance to be proven wrong. We won\u2019t know until\u00a0it happens, so support Senator Bernie\u00a0Sanders.<\/a><\/p>\n

On most issues, he\u2019s right on!<\/p>\n

Now check out his awesome 404 page:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/berniesanders.com\/test<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Dhot2OJKKZc<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m extremely apathetic when it comes to politics. I see them all, Republic and Democrat, as a bunch of\u00a0phonies with very well scripted speeches going before the masses to drum up votes, while meeting\u00a0privately with the real targets: corporate sponsors,… Continue Reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[100,102,103,104,101,99],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jgar.pw\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jgar.pw\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jgar.pw\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jgar.pw\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jgar.pw\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/jgar.pw\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":585,"href":"http:\/\/jgar.pw\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519\/revisions\/585"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jgar.pw\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jgar.pw\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jgar.pw\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jgar.pw\/b\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}