Enough of Bernie

  By Florida Bill  
                                 
                                 I had the idea that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and his "free stuff" theories would fade into the sunset. But I was dead wrong; Sanders is like crazy glue. 
                                 His bespectacled, round face and snow white mane keep popping up alongside TV pundits pushing his liberal agenda for the United States. He has few good words for America, and his real praise goes to the government of Denmark where tuition and medical care are free, citizens primarily move about on bicycles and extremely high taxes do it all.                                 
                                  In the USA, where Sanders has been on public payrolls just about his entire life, he is the always-available shill for CNN and NBC and other far left media outlets.  He rants about the fumbling USA, and he charges that billionaires on the top of the mountain are stepping upon the middle class and the poor, enriching themselves.  He denounces President Trump as a bigot, a racist and a bully.  The liberal media eats it up and heralds the 75-year-old Sanders as some sort of a savior who was sent from above.
                                    Peculiarly, the feisty senator labels himself as an "Independent," one of two in the upper house of Congress, but he ran for President as a Democrat and he shuns Republicans for conduct which he says is "immoral, wrong and bad economics." He hangs exclusively with Democrats and recently he has been on the front line of a national Democratic party effort touring the states, urging Americans to "Come Together and Fight Back."
                                   A new TV survey supposedly has determined that the socialist senator, who sees the USA as a defective and unfair republic, is the "most popular politician" in America. Was that the the product of the same pollsters who made 1,000 telephone calls and ascertained that Hillary Clinton was the nation's "most admired woman"? Great stories for the liberal anchors, but they are phony and belong in the garbage can. 
                                    Some stations are predicting that Sanders will be challenging President Trump for the presidency in 2020, so maybe that is what this is all about.  Of course, Sanders would be the first octogenarian in the oval office. 
                                    So what is Sanders now offering for Americans in his persistence to be president. Just more of the same, only with greater largess.  He loves that spotlight and probably continues to receive donations. Key in his vision is for the USA to become socialistic in the Scandinavian way or maybe even a little like Russia where he and his wife honeymooned in 1988.  Taxes would provide the free stuff---education at all levels,  complete medical care; welfare and assistance, food stamps and maybe some walking around money.  The Sanders price tag would be in the tens of trillions of dollars heaped upon a national debt now standing at about $20 trillion dollars-- a sure prescription for bankruptcy.  
                                    The senator was a conscientious objector and a pacifist during the Viet Nam war days.  He now asserts that "Climate Change" is the country's biggest threat, and his rhetoric downplays the nuclear threats from North Korea and Iran.  I do not know if he has changed much since he dodged the draft, but his views on the military have to worry a lot of Americans.  My guess is that he is anathema to men and women who have worn the uniform of their country.  
                                          He has criticized  President Trump as one of the nation's billionaires who pays too little in taxes.  In 2005, it has been reported, Trump paid $38 million in federal income taxes on  income of $158 million.  That same year Sanders and his wife paid $27,653 on combined income of $205,000.  Trump was in a 25 per cent bracket,  while Sanders enjoyed a 13 percent level, and he apparently made use of every gimmick and loophole to get there. Some critics call upon Sanders to find a way to earn more so he could contribute more, so that the free party he envisions can move forward. 
                                 In the 2016 campaign, Sanders had his moment on the big stage, and it whetted his appetite for more of the same. He won support from a select group for his wild views, and received about $80 million in donations. Other than at least one arrest for protest demonstrations against the Viet war in the 1960s, Sanders has been law abiding.  Patriotism and love of country are not part of his bag.  For the most part, Americans are patriotic and view their country as exceptional.  They have heard enough from this "independent" mouth.  

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