Because he spent his whole life trying to make America better.

Bernie equals what should be.

I'm supporting him all the way, but I fear it may be too late.

+1!

their paranoia trumps all

You may be pleasantly surprised.

The anti-government stuff is what makes us weak and it is all fear driven.

U.S. chest thumping and saber rattling begin minutes/hours after some outrage in the States or at U.S. interests overseas.

European leaders calmly comfort the victims, reinforce security perimeters, and openly encourage citizens to go about their business, thus denying the terrorists their desired outcome.

I'm astonished at some of the responses to threads I've posted about the present wave of atrocities in Europe.

Case in point, this remark in a thread about Brussels being on lockdown:

We were there during an IRA bombing. My parents never stopped me from traveling on the Underground (which I loved), and they never restricted my movements around the city in any way.

A symptom of stupid

To some, i too might be stupid but what scares me is that there are people a lot less informed who are sure they have the answer. They don't even understand they are acting out of fear. They are so brainwashed by the infotainment industry they actually think that's how the world is. That's scary

They will vote for a Trump or a Hillary, buy and carry a gun around and only associate with certain types of people because that's what they were told to do by the infotainment industry. They are out there, just look around

I kinda refuse to believe that many Americans are stupid. People want to feel good and they want easy solutions, but if that makes you stupid, then anyone that buys an iPhone is stupid, or anyone that drives an automatic transmission car is stupid, etc., etc. We all have what we care about and what we dedicate our mental space to, and we all have solutions that seem OBVIOUS to us, even if they seem ridiculous to others...

I'd rather think - that is, I choose to believe - Americans have been lied to and manipulated and don't have a lot of context with which to make informed decisions. But, like programmers say: garbage in garbage out. Feed people something better and Americans will be better, because they're no more intrinsically good or bad or smart or stupid as creatures than people in any other country.

Part of the solution is information, but part is people engaging with people that they disagree with - face to face - and talking sense.

So engage with that uncle or grandfather or co-worker or neighbour and proudly defend what you believe. If everyone did that - instead of shouting or sniping online, America would be better - to some degree - almost overnight.

In any case in the lexicon of many of my Latino co-workers and many others around with that same heritage sometimes see the word 'stupid' as being a deep pejorative or just a slight. Yet, also it's often a call to action in defense and many times a call to counter-offense.

To me, the word stupid just indicates how things look and or going. I haven't really ever considered anybody stupid. After you known anyone for while (with empathy of course). One realizes that their choices and actions are mostly driven from past experiences and logical reason from days past. Moreover the crux or kernel of the idea i was trying to get at is rooted in the incessant need to follow others. To me, that's where the problem starts

If we had more people who wanted to think about things before they acted instead of just follow the other guy, there would be a much more coherent world around us.

I have an ipod, two iphones and a ipad. I purchased them because they are dependable, work most of the time and seem best for storing and listening to music.

As for automatic transmissions, larger diesel trucks are using them as standard equipment because they are better on fuel mileage and they are also good for drivers because it frees them up to do other complex things that are required when driving a truck.

but we can get it back...

pull the plug on mobile, tablet, PC and TV for a while. I did it with my kids and it worked miracles. They are sensitive and scare easily.

I have to concur that it would seem too many are overcome with fear. I have little hope for the US and I think you all need to wake the f, sorry, up.

The context for what some guy once said: Inaugural speech of FDR

Too many of the people who are victims of this irrational fear need more information and more exposure to the world not less. The problem is the most visible and easily available information sources are corrupted by self interest.
I had done the detox of an old friend back in 2004. It wasn't just a matter of disconnecting him from the matrix of propaganda but exposure to a broader base of information. Unfortunately that short term dose of reality will not hold against the continued wave of indoctrination.

And be amazed at how much less the media sucks, and how that lowers the volume and the stress... and lessens the power of nightmares pushed by politicians and the media...

to Cruz and Trump et al is hope and acceptance...

Think how quickly the fear and anger towards gay marriage dissipated once it was clear to everyone that no one really cared... that it wasn't a big deal...

I know it sounds bonkers on the face of it, but the opposite of love isn't hate; it's indifference.

You wanna destroy ISIS? Stop caring about them. They literally can't kill as many Americans as cars do in a month... and if that's all they have then they're impotent... which is the reality...

We are going to hurt ourselves endlessly more trying to wipe them out then they could hurt us...

I don't think that Cruz's level of demagoguery approaches that of Trump.

than any terrorist could ever do. It pretty much continues unabated.

Good for ratings, you know.

here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027362762

and why I support the populist movement that will exist and thrive after the Sanders campaign. It's the ONLY way we're going to wrest out country back from the oligarchs and utterly stupid people.

Racists, hysteria and a messed up media are not America. What's weak is your surrendering the whole nation's reputation to them.

America is great because of her ability to.........EVOLVE.

I love that theme running through so many of Obama's speeches- the way he attaches even exceptionalism to the concept of continually forming a 'more perfect union', improving ourselves.

It's ironic, right? Some of us love -or should at least respect- a country that grows and changes, but not a person. tsk tsk

All our faults are found in people around the globe, exaggerated or suppressed by their cultures, but we are truly not only one people under the skin but under the skull bone as well.

Culture is real.

No other culture is like American culture ano many of its issues (eg gun violence) are uniquely American.

France just had it's 9/11 and yes it's reacting in some similar ways to how the US reacted after 9/11, but the degree of the reaction matters. France isn't going to invade another country or hand over all its civil liberties for years.

Neither is Europe as a whole.

France is also not turning it's back on Syrian refugees.

Yes, there will be consequences but culturally th French are not as weak - ie scared - of the other as Americans.

Not really since firearm homicides in the US are below the avg per country:

. .where you dug that chart up, but no other developed country have anywhere near the gun violence that America has.

OK lol. I just realised you're comparing America to places like Zimbabwe and Honduras. Lol.

What that chart ACTUALLY shows you is that the VAST majority of countries have a dramatically lower level of gun violence.

And there's NO country with a median income approaching the US's with anything close to the same level of gun violence.

Stupid chart is stupid.

Got it.
Compared to ALL countries worldwide the US is both below the median and avg for homicides:

Cherry picked indeed.

I mean compared to any vaguely similar country.

Comparing America to Zambia, Uganda and the Central African Republic, we look great... is that your point?

Compare it to any country vaguely similar and you'll see the reality you're desperate to avoid.

The US gun homicide rate is 3x that of the worst European country.

Here's the countries that are worse than the US, so we can see exactly who we're better than

Are these the countries you want to aspire to?

I find it hilarious that you'd compare the US to every African country to prove how sae it is... and yet you ignore every country to the left of America on that graph - other countries like America, because when you compare like for like you realise we're at the very bottom of the list.

This is the sort of ridiculous graph that makes people say all statistics are lies...

....in the world are worse.

"We're better than Somalia in gun violence!!!" Quite the ambitious goal to strive for. Sounds like the NRA's newest, award winning bumper-sticker.

(I completely understand your desire to discount direct correlation against the more accurately comparative liberal, industrialized west countries we've much more in common with-- as that particular reality doesn't conform to particular dogmatic biases)

Good luck!

......and less homicide then these vacation "paradises":

Costa Rica, Bahamas, Jamaica, Aruba, Maldives, Fiji, Cuba, Bermuda, Guadeloupe, Virgin Islands, Caymans, Panama, etc....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate

with some mixture of liberal, conservative, libertarian personality and are then acted on by environment, or culture.

Wherever you go on this planet, though, in general liberals are going to be the ones who enjoy meeting and chatting with you, traditional conservatives are going to be pleasant but more cautious and inclined to complain about change, social conservatives are going to give you the cold fish eye and make up something bad about you to justify giving you the wrong directions to your hotel, and libertarians will grab the opportunity to drive you the long way around and consider that people like you deserve to pay more for not checking a map, while people like them deserve to prosper.

VERY overgeneralized, very oversimplified, and we come in infinite mixtures, but you get the idea.

The people of this country are strong, just not well informed by design. Most people are easily scared and manipulated, that is not something special to America.

Seriously, I've spent a LOT of time in Europe now (I've lived outside the US for over a decade) and the fear is nothing like it is in America. The media doesn't have anything like the same grip on the population.

The weight and stress generated by the media is unlike anything else I've since experienced. And I hope to never experience it again.

Again, it is not just an American issue. YES our media is crappy and out of control, but we still have instincts that control us more than rational thought imo.

I mean people that live in America...

And that is the entire human race, it is easy to scare people.

but that's unrelated to what I'm saying...

If the entire world lived in America, then yes, everyone would be the same in this respect, but they don't.

And because they DON'T it doesn't matter what they would be if they did, but what they are.

And America is unique in this respect. As are the people that inhabit it.

than the typical person. America is a most militant nation on the planet. You are getting a lot of issue confused, but that is okay.

That's how propaganda works. (Of course, you would know that from your name.)

Sure, some numbnuts are afraid. Most Americans just don't give a shit anymore. They're too worn out from being fucked over.

on right-wing sites and you'll see the fear... better yet look at all the states trying to block refugees, or who are suddenly obsessed with "Muslims" again... it's just under the surface, this fear, and the second ANYTHING even vaguely scary happens people FREAK out. And the media goes into full hyperventilation mode.

Here's a representative poll:

"Some 54% of total respondents said they oppose taking in refugees,according to a new poll from the Washington Post and ABC News..."

http://time.com/4122938/refugees-syria-america-poll/

That's almost completely driven by fear.

They've exaggerated the terror threat to epic proportions, and got many Americans to buy into their lies without question. A sad state of affairs..

Fox is all people see in huge swaths of our country.

Not some of this weak shit we have to still deal with.