Hello and welcome to the BMR (Bernie in Madison Roundup). I will do my best to update the diary with coverage of the event but if for some reason I am unable please pick up in the comments. If anyone would like to volunteer for part 2 if necessary, just call dibs.
Link:
As he tries to build a groundswell of support for his long-shot presidential bid, Bernie Sanders has hosted rallies in states that are not key to winning the Democratic nomination but are known for quickly generating crowds of thousands.
His latest stop: the “People’s Republic of Madison.”
The Vermont senator’s presidential campaign expects 9,500 people to show up at a rally Wednesday night in this progressive college town that’s known for its obsessive bicyclists — and where it’s often easier to find a local craft beer than a Bud Light.
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 5:07 PM PT: Bernie Welcomed by GOP...:
The Republican Party of Wisconsin is offering a big welcome to ultra-liberal presidential candidate Bernie Sanders for his Badger State sojourn.
The socialist Vermont U.S. senator who is making presumptive Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton increasingly nervous takes his wealth redistribution to Madison Wednesday evening. Some 10,000 people are expected to be in attendance, according to published reports.
RPW has placed billboards around the state “welcoming” Sanders, and the party has launched a microsite highlighting the “extreme” positions that Sanders – and now Hillary Clinton – have embraced.
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 5:11 PM PT: This seems to be the official stream:
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 5:24 PM PT: Bernie takes the stage to chants of Bernie! Bernie!
'We have more people than any event for any candidate this year'.
It appears the wisconsin republican party welcomed me with a billboard indicating i was an extremist. Let me say a few words about extremism. When you deny the right of workers to come together in collective bargaining thats extremism.
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 5:25 PM PT: When you tell a woman that she cannot control her own body that is extremism.
When you think a woman is a child and cannot purchase a contraceptive that is extremism.
When you give tax breaks to billionares and refuse to raise the minimum wage thats extremism.
Our views infact represent the views of the vast majority of the American people. We believe that the time has come when people in Wisconsin and all over this country create a political movement which says to the billionare class YOU CANT HAVE IT ALL
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 5:27 PM PT: What we are saying to Walker, Koch Brothers setc, is that the government belongs to all people not just a handful of very wealthy people.
The truth of the matter is politics should not be complicated. It should be people coming together taking a hard look at the problems we face, listening to different ideas and then solving those problems. Despite what the media may think politics is not a baseball game, a soap opera, it is about people coming together and improving life for our people.
Today I want to touch on some of the major issues that are facing our people and talk to you about some ideas as to how we can addresss those problems. The first point I want to make is that this campaign is not about Bernie Sanders, HIllary Clinton... it is about you.
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 5:29 PM PT: It is a grassroots movement put together by people to make sure the government works for all of us and not a handful of campaign contributors.
And let me also tell you that in order to win this election we need a strong grassroots movement, and let me tell you also... nobody in the White House no matter how good he or she may be can address the issues facing the middle class without a working, active grassroots movement. The reason for that is not complicated. It is that the big money interests, wall street, corporate america, all of these guys have so much power that no president cant defeat them unless there is an organized grassroots movement making them an offer they cant refuse.
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 5:30 PM PT: This campaign is about creating a political revolution in America. A revolution which takes on the greed of wallstreet and corporate america. A revolution that takes on the reality that the republican party is owned by big money interests, and too many democrats are owned by big money interests.
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 5:31 PM PT: Today we live... hard to believe many people dont sense it.. we live in the wealthiest country in the history of the world but we dont feel that because all of the wealth is held in the hands of very few. America has more wealth inequality than any other country on earth, and the gap is wider in America than it has been since 1928. The issue of wealth and income inequality to my mind is the great moral issue of our time. The great economic issue of our time and it is the great political issue of our time.
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 5:33 PM PT: Let me be as clear as I can be. There is something profoundly wrong when the top ten of 1 percent own as much as the bottom 90 percent. There is something wrong when 58% of all new income is going to the top 1 percent. There is something wrong when in recent years we have seen a proliferation of millionaires and billionaires at the same exact time that workers are working for lower wages. This grotesque level of inequality is immoral, it is bad economics, it is unsubstainable and it is not what the USA is supposed to be about.
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 5:35 PM PT: this is a rigged economy and brothers and sisters we are going to change that.
cheers
This campaign is sending a message loud and clear to the billionaire class, and that is you cannot get tax breaks when children go hungry. You cannot continue to send our jobs to China when millions of Americans are looking for work. You cant hide your profits in the Cayman Islands when we have so many unmet needs in america. You are going to have to start paying.
The greed of corporate America has got to end and we are going to end it for them.
BERNIE BERNIE BERNIE
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 5:36 PM PT: The issue of our economy is not just income and wealth inequality. The issue of our economy deals with the tragic reality that for 40 years the middle class, the envy of the world, has been disappearing. In my state of Vermont we have workers not working at 1 job. Not at 2 jobs. But sometimes 3 or 4 jobs at low wages in order to cobble together an income and some healthcare. That is not an economy we will accept.
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 5:39 PM PT: When you look at the economy you have to understand the government issues an official amount of unemployment. BUt if you look at another Gov statistic which includes people who have given up looking for work or are underemployed, unemployment is close to 11 percent and that is unacceptable.
Let me touch on an issue nobody talks about. Youth unemployment has reached tragic proportions. For young people 17 to 20, kids who have graduated or dropped out. White unemployment is 33 percent. Hispanic 36 percent. African America youth unemployment is 51 percent. In my mind maybe, just maybe.. it makes sense to make sense and educational opportunities for these young people rather than more and more incarceration and more and more jails.
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 5:40 PM PT: Today in america we have more people in jail than any other country on earth. Our job infact is to create a new criminal justice system, our job is police department reform, our job is to make sure that young african americans can walked down the street without being abused or worse.
BERNIE BERNIE BERNIE
Our job is to have the best educated population in the world, not the country with the most people in jail.
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 5:44 PM PT: When we talk about the economy it is not only the unemployment, the inequality... when we talk about the economy today we must talk about the fact that tens of millions of americans are working at wages that are totally inadequate. I know that Gov Walker may disagree
boo's
but in my mind the minimum wage is a starvation wage and must be raised. The minimum wage must become a living wage which means 15 bucks an hour over the next few years.
I dont think it is radical that if someone works 40 hours a week, that person should not be living in poverty. A living wage should be fair and there is no excuse women should be making 78 cents on the dollar compared to men.
And let me congratulate Obama for making sure people working extra hours get OT and Im glad the president came through.
Some of our republican friends are deeply concerned about family values. They love families. Their idea of family values is that women should not be able to purchase the contraceptives they need. When I say these things it is hard to believe. Their view of family values is that gay people should not be able to get married. Their warped view of family values.
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 5:47 PM PT: Let me give you another view. I have 4 kids, 7 grandkids. My wife of 27 years is here. I believe and you believe in the importance of family. Because we believe in real family values we must end being the only country on earth that does not guarantee paid medical and family leave. That does not guarantee workers paid sick time and vacation time. So let me talk a little bit about family values.
Today in Wisconsin or Vermont a woman is having a baby. One of the most important or meaningful moments of her life, but because that family does not have a lot of money that women will be forced to go back to work in a week. That is not a family value. In every other major country women regardless of their incomes are able to stay home with their baby, get to know their baby in the most important moments of their life. That is a family value and that is why I will fight for 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave.
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 5:47 PM PT: Let me touch on another issue never talked about. It is of enormous consequence. It is the collapse of the middle class. People working incredibly long hours. Stressed out because they are working working.
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 5:50 PM PT: We work 260 hours more a year than the British. More than 500 a year than our good friends in France. Here is the point. When we were kids in school and we read history textbooks we saw pictures in those books of workers out on the streets demonstrating a hundred years ago. Those workers held up signs that said WE WANT A 40 HOUR WORKWEEK. What they said is we are not beasts of burden. We want time with our families. That was 100 years ago. Today 85 percent of men and 66% of women work more than 40 hours a week. 100 years have come and gone and we have lost ground. At the very least what the US must do and what I would do as president is make sure that every family gets 2 weeks off of paid vacation.
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 5:53 PM PT: When pollsters go out and ask Americans what they are worried about the answer is a 4 letter word called jobs. J O B S. Now is the time for a federal jobs program to create millions of decent paying jobs.
In virtually every state in this country our infrastructure, roads, water systems, levees and damns need enormous amounts of work. Now is the time to invest in our crumbling infrastructure. A one trillion dollar investment will create 11 million (?) jobs and that is what I would do.
Creating jobs is just one thing. We must stop disastrous trade policies that end jobs. You are looking at a senator/congressman who voted against NAFTA. Against trade relations. I will do everything I can do defeat this disastrous TPP.
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 5:54 PM PT: When we talk about rebuilding the middle class we talk about rebuilding the trade union movement. There are millions of workers who would like to join unions today but are unable to do so because of illegal actions of their employers. If 50% +1 sign a card asking for a union, they should have that union.
And when we talk about recklessness, when we talk about illegal behavior these are just another word, another phrase to describe wall street. In my view this is a hugely important issue. It is time to break up the largest financial institutions in this country.
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 5:56 PM PT: Wall Street cannot continue to be an island onto itself. Gaining trillions while expecting the public to bail it out. In my view and we have introduced legislation to deal with this if a bank is too big to fail it is too big to exist.
When we talk about issues and jobs, education, environment they are all related to another issue which undermines what is going on in America. You in Wisconsin are familiar with the sutiation so let me tell you what you already know. Because of Citizens United the American political system has been totally corrupted and the foundations of American democracy are being undermined.
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 5:57 PM PT: What the supreme court said is that the wealthiest in the country can own the US government and that is what they are trying to do right now. Let me be as clear as I can be and that is as Preside of the USA I will not nominate any justice who has not made it clear they will overturn citizens united.
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 5:59 PM PT: Longterm if we want to see a vibrant democracy with any political point of view wants to get up and run to office without having to beg rich people for money we have to move to public funding of elections. Let me give you an example of how bad the situation is today. According to media reports the Koch brothers alone, the second wealthiest family in america, a family that wants to eliminate social security, medicare medicaid, public education, all legislation that protects working families... this one family will be spending in this election cycle close to 1 billion dollars. Their job is to elect candidates that make the rich richer and everybody else. When you hvae one family spending close to a billion dollars which is more than both parties will spend this is not democracy this is oligarchy.
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 6:01 PM PT: Let me also be clear that American democracy means one person one vote. It means that we try and have the highest voter turnout in the world. It does not mean voter suppresion or gerrymandering of districts.
I think everybody knows we are living in a competitive economy and to succeed we need to have the best educated workforce in the world. In my mind it is insane, and counterproductive to our future, that we have today hundred of thousands of bright young qualified people who want to get a higher education, want to go to college but are locked out because their families dont have enough money.
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 6:05 PM PT: That is not only pulling the ladder out from under these people, it is not the way to create a growing and vibrant economy when we need doctors and scientists and well educated workers. THe problem goes beyong this. We have many students shouldering student debt for decade after decade.
I met a young woman who dreamed of being a doctor and she left school 300,000 dollars in debt. For the crime that she wanted to go and help low income people. Another woman told me she graduated dental school 400,000 dollars in debt. Young people all over this country in debt. People spending 20 percent of their income, cant get married, have kids, buy a house because of student debt. I have introduced two pieces of legislation. 1 to make public college tuition free.
cheers
(Sorry got distracted missed a bit).
We are saying to every kid in america if you study hard, do your work you will be able to get all the education you need regardless of your families income.
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 6:08 PM PT: We need to let people with student debt to refinance we need to get the government out of the business of profiting on student debt as well. When we do that we can cut student interest rates by more than half.
When we talk about the major issues facing our country and the world it is essential that we talk about our responsibilities as humans, adults, parents, and understand there is nothing more important than leaving this planet inhabitable.
The debate is over. The scientific community has spoken. Climate change is real. It is caused by human activity and it is already causing devastating problems all over the world. You have to look no further than the water situation in California or Pakistans killer heatwave. If we do not transform our energy system away from fossil fuels this planet will see the temperature rise with extraordinary consequences. More droughts, floods, freak weather. Rising sea levels. National security issues over limited natural resources. As a nation we can.. WE MUST lead the world in transferring away from fossil fuels.
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 6:10 PM PT: Today the USA is the only industrialized nation that does not guarantee healthcare as a right. We should be embarrassed. Despite the ACA 35 million continue to lack health insurance. Many more are under insured or buried under copays. We spend twice as much on healthcare as any other nation. We must make 2 decisions. 1: healthcare must be a right for all of our people. Number 2.. if we are going to provide healthcare to all of our people in a cost effective way we need to move to a medicaid for all system.
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 6:17 PM PT: All of you who are here have an understanding about how real change takes place. Historically takes place. You are aware that it takes place from the bottom on up. It is never from the top on down. The people on top are usually the last to know.
You are all aware that 100 or more years ago that workers said enough is enough and formed unions, engaged in collective bargaining. As a result we created a middle class. Workers had decent wages, benefits. Because of millions of workers coming together we passed social security.
Because people came together. All of you are aware of the tragic history of racism in America. But for a very long time African Americans and their white allies came together and stood up to injustice. Segration, lynching. Change came about. Not as much as we would want. we know we still have racism in America but we should be proud we elected an African American to president. It is no small thing. So many people stood up and fought for civil rights. Workers rights. People went to jail/died for womens rights. They said women will not be second class citizens. And that struggle continues to exist today.
And then in more recent history we have seen gay people saying we will not be discriminated against anymore. And a huge change swept the country. A counsciousness that said we will treat all of our people with respect and dignity no matter what their sexual orientation may be. Last week a very conservative supreme court made gay marriage legal in 50 states. So as a nation we have a right to be very proud of the successes we have seen because of the struggles of everyday Americans.
Wed Jul 01, 2015 at 6:24 PM PT: (stream cut out)
....
Republicans are dismantling the WIC program designed to help women and their babies. The republicans decided to give over 200 billion in tax breaks to the top 2 tenths of 1 percent. In my view when we reach out to working families, including republicans.. I believe that the Koch brothers and the republican leadership has gotten away with murder for too many years. Native born vs immigrant. Gay vs straight. Black vs white. Our job is to bring people together around a progressive agenda that works for all of us.
Go out.. please... where we need most help. not only in winning this election but in transforming America is to create a process where people stop voting against their own best interest. Ask your republican friends at work if they think it really makes sense to vote for people who will send their jobs abroad. Vote for people who will not raise their minimum wage. When they vote for their interests we will transform America.
Let me conclude by saying this. I would like to ask you to think big, not small. In Washington the debate is often about cutting education by 2 percent or 6 percent. Throw this many people off of healthcare or that many. Give this corporation this much of a tax break or this much. Our view should be that there is nothing we cannot accomplish. We can provide healthcare to every man woman and child as a right.
We can make certain that every person in this country can get the education they need regardless of income.
We can create millions of decent paying jobs.
We can have the best childcare system in the world.
In the last 30 years there has been a huge redistribution of wealth, our job is to reverse that and redistribute wealth back into the hands of working families.
Now in terms of this campaign I am more than aware that my opponents will be able to outspend us. They have superpacs, billionares. But we are going to win this election.
loud cheers
BERNIE BERNIE
We are going to win this election because if we do our job well. If we develop the grassroots movement I know we can, at the end of the day they may have the money, but we have the people. AND WHEN THE PEOPLE STAND TOGETHER WE CAN WIN!
THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
BERNIE! BERNIE BERNEI!