Will Dem Party Leadership Find Their Courage?

When it comes to failure to recognize change or emerging innovative ideas, the books are crammed with corporate leadership’s failure to grasp onto the coattails of impending change and make the leap forward. Management of companies like Kodak, IBM, Xerox, Sears, etc., are emblematic of failed leadership, blunders, and outright ineptness.

You may even remember some of those companies when they were powerhouse behemoths. The leadership of each made decisions that seemed logically correct to them at the time when they were on top of the heap in their respective business areas – no doubt decisions to “stay the course” selling technology, products or services that made them millions of dollars in previous years. The only problem: times changed. And, management failed to perceive that change and failed to react accordingly, to provide their companies with courageous leadership when it was required.

Lack of courageous leadership is a classic failure of management and is repeated in countless ways each day.

Lack of courage, or cowardice, can also infect political leaders.

For example, the Democratic Party leaders are clearly showing a courage deficit when it comes to Bernie Sanders as their potential candidate.

It’s sad isn’t it when leaders disregard the wishes of their own people. For instance, “Polling consistently shows that most Democrats approve of key parts of Sanders’ economic agenda, including single-payer health care, the Green New Deal, tuition-free college, student debt forgiveness, a $15 minimum wage, breaking up big banks, and paid family leave.”

“For each of those issues except single-payer health care, a more modest percentage of all Americans — but still a majority — signal their support.”

“That said, support levels among all Americans drop significantly once voters are informed about the policies’ costs.”

I, for one, am looking for an epiphany of sorts, or the proverbial “bravery pill” that the Dem leaders can swallow to help them find their spines, recognize that the nation is calling for a clear change of leadership in the White House and the U.S. Congress, get out of the way, and smooth the path for the person who will make that change happen. Additionally, it’s clearly up to the Dem leadership to find a way to secure what their people are demanding.

Source Links:

50 Examples of Corporations that Failed to Innovate, Katrina Aaslaid, valuer.ai, 22 Nov 2018.

Democratic Leaders Willing to Risk Party Damage to Stop Bernie Sanders, Lisa Lerer and Reid J. Epstein, nytimes.com, 28 Feb 2020

Trump lashes out at Fox News for new poll showing him losing to all the Democratic candidates, Aaron Rupar, vox.com, 28 Feb 2020.

Polls show most Democrats, many Americans back key Bernie Sanders' policies, Louis Jacobson, politifacts.com, 25 Feb 2020.

Dem Leader Sanders Freak-out is Not About Politics. It's About Power, Rob Kall, opednews, 2 Mar 2020.

About Life and Death

Turning Republicans out of office in November is about life and death... our life and death. "Our" meaning 99.99% of people throughout the world.

I hate politics. Little to nothing good seems to come of political parties, "debates", pontificating, and the candidate's propaganda mills.

But it was refreshing to see Mr. Moore say a few truthful words following the Democrat's latest "debate".

"I'm talking about the old hacks that run this (Democratic) party... if we let them... if they're going to drive this train, we are going to lose."

Government that Belongs to All of Us

Which is the American Delusion?

The other night Mr. Trump declared, “We are born free, and we will stay free.”

I thought, well that’s the dream isn’t it? I mean, an American dream. Or, perhaps, more accurately described as, “an American Delusion.”

Then, he went on, saying, “we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country.”

The statement is a delusion because, by nearly every measure, 99.9% of Americans are not beneficiaries of what has become, the American predatory capitalistic system. Still, many believe that they are. That is the delusion.

In his response to the State of the Union, Sen. Bernie Sanders, clearly underscored why our capitalist system is not working for Americans:

“If we are serious about transforming our country, if we are serious about rebuilding the middle class, if we are serious about reinvigorating our democracy, let us bring people together to take on and defeat a ruling class whose greed is destroying our nation. The billionaire class cannot have it all. Our government belongs to all of us, and not just the one percent.”

“Together, Let us fight for economic, social, racial and environmental justice, not unbridled greed.”

So, to Mr. Trump’s statement, “we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country,” we must ask the most important question:

Is it Democracy or Socialism, when we say: “… let us bring people together to take on and defeat a ruling class whose greed is destroying our nation. The billionaire class cannot have it all. Our government belongs to all of us, and not just the one percent.”?

Perhaps in the end it does not matter how it’s labeled. 

It only matters that we achieve a government that belongs to all of us.

*https://theredphoenixapl.org/2011/10/30/myths-about-socialism-redistribution-of-wealth/

**Full Transcript

Sen. Bernie Sanders Responds to the State of the Union

Mr. Trump, "Tear Down Your Imaginary Wall"

Abraham Lincoln, by George Peter Alexander Healy,
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

I'm guessing that Mr. Lincoln might have said something like this following Mr. Trump's TV presentation last night: "Mr. Trump, tear down your imaginary wall." And, then, "O.K. now. Let's get about the nation's business by first making sure our people have their pay checks so they can feed their children."

These observation... about Mr. Lincoln,  a man who knew a thing or two about real crises... (Thanks to my brother, Gary, for the story link.)

The Suicide of a Great Democracy, George Packer, The Atlantic, 8 Jan 2019.
"A shutdown looks like the beginning of the end that Lincoln always knew was possible."

"During the Civil War, the government never shut down—not even when the capital was threatened by Confederate troops. A shutdown would have undermined the foundation of Lincoln’s cause, which was the ability of free people to rule themselves. The paralysis and dysfunction would have told the world that the government he led was no longer fully devoted to the cause for which other Americans had given the last full measure of devotion. A shutdown would have looked like the beginning of the end that Lincoln always knew was possible."

"It makes sense that Donald Trump is indifferent to the paralysis of the government he leads, and that he welcomes a shutdown of months or even years. If shutdowns become routine, if politicians view the government in which they serve as a disposable tool, if we’re no longer capable of governing ourselves, this only reflects Trump’s contemptuous attitude toward democracy itself. Shuttered museums, federal workers who can’t pay their bills, national parks with stinking toilets: This is what Trump thinks of American republicanism. This is what the suicide of a great democracy looks like."

So, here's the real story from last night...

"Mr. President we don't need to create artificial crises. We have enough real crises. Let us end this shutdown and bring the American people together around an agenda that will improve life for all of our people." Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

The President must end his shutdown now.
Bernie Sanders Responds to Trump's Oval Office Address

TheRealNews
Published on Jan 8, 2019
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) delivers a response to President Donald Trump's address to the nation Tuesday night on the shutdown and the President's demand for funding for a wall

Visit https://therealnews.com for more stories and help support our work by donating at https://therealnews.com/donate.


Oh, about walls... imaginary or otherwise... they have never worked anyway.
Even Ronald Reagan knew that.

Here's Reagan's "Tear down this wall" speech, 1987

CBS
Published on Jun 11, 2012
From the archives of CBS News, Bill Plante reports on President Reagan's historic speech at the Berlin Wall, on June 12, 1987, where he called on Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down" the wall that divided East and West Berlin.

Know When to Hold 'em

Bernie Sanders has not folded his cards. I'm with Bernie... what he said...

Part 1
Bernie Sanders: The Democrats Have To Become A Grassroots Party
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert 
Published on Nov 15, 2016

Part 2
Bernie Sanders: Now More Than Ever, It's Our Revolution
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Published on Nov 15, 2016

And, this from my brother, Gary: 
We won't allow Trump to remove rights
BBC News

Yes, sir. We got to know when to walk away, when to run, when to hold 'em and when to count our money. (Not necessarily in that order.)

Kenny Rogers - The Gambler

Carnac Delivers!

Carnac The Magnificent, a.k.a. Johnny Carson,
30-year host of the Tonight Show.

It’s time to bring back the greatest prognosticator of all time… Carnac The Magnificent… to shed some light on the likely winner of the next presidential election.

Carnac said, “Just like Winston Churchill remarked, ‘The Americans will always do the right thing… after they’ve exhausted all the alternatives,’ we will do the right thing this November. We will elect Co-Presidents!”

Yes, Co-Presidents!

Due to Republican and Democratic party intransigence, Americans will be forced to go outside the existing two-party, sold-out system and elect a third party candidate.

For the first time in our history, we will elect the Third Party Candidate because the existing parties have so miserably failed. The good news is that rather than rebellion in the streets and outright anarchy, we will invent a better way to go.

We will elect Bernie Sanders for his humanitarianism and true-to-the-Constitution Americanism and Donald Trump for his hoped-for ability to get the “good deal” (whatever that means) for America.

Thank you, Carnac The Magnificent! I feel greatly relieved now. Don't you?