Bernie´s gonna get you

It is easy to forget that the will of the American Government is not the same as that of its people. All too often the system seems to disenfranchise the ordinary voter in favour of lobbyists and private interests and policy as American politics drifts further to the right. Meanwhile Democrats seem unwilling to tackle the growing gap between rich and poor in the US, and equally unwilling to take a stand on foreign policy or the restriction of freedoms. They are, no doubt, to deep in the mire themselves to see daylight. However, not all politicians are so easily bought.

On 3 January 1991, Bernie Sanders (Vermont) became first Independent member elected to Congress in forty years. Now, he is set to become the first socialist senator in US history. This is pretty impressive for politician in a nation who often confuse the terms "socialist" and "communist" and use "liberal" as a dirty word. Sanders states that his aim is "to make the government work for working people, and not just for corporations".

So watch out George, Bernie´s gonna get you!

Sanders....

• voted against both resolutions authorizing the use of force against Iraq in 1991 and 2002 and opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
• supports universal health care and opposes free trade (which he argues deprives American workers of their jobs while exploiting foreign workers in sweat-shops)
• has regularly attacked Bush for proposing cuts to social programs
• accused Greenspan of representing only "the wealthy and large corporations"
• is pro-choice on abortion
• Voted No on Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage and No to banning gay adoptions.
• Rated 93% by the ACLU, indicating a pro-civil rights voting record
• Supports rehabilitation instead of prison and is against the death penalty
• Rated 83% by the NEA, indicating pro-public education votes
• Voted Yes on implementation of Kyoto Protocol and NO on deauthorizing "critical habitat" for endangered species
• Voted Yes on $156M to IMF for 3rd-world debt reduction and YES to withdrawing from the WTO
• Voted No on continuing intelligence gathering without civil oversight.

Incidentally, his brother is Larry Sanders, the Green Party politician!

Find out more about the campaign at;
bernie.house.gov and
bernie.org

Posted 2nd November 2006

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