Speech

The Speech By Bernie Sanders Book Review By Richard E. Noble This is the historic written account of the filibuster given by Senator Bernie Sanders on December 10, 2010 on the senate floor. It exposes the bill that resulted via a backroom deal between the president of the United States and the Republican Party. This filibuster was Bernie's attempt to explain the negatives of this bill to the American people, gain support from the people and defeat the bill. That did not happen. Bernie made this gallant attempt but failed. The bill passed with all of its unfortunate consequences for the American people - particularly the middle class and the poor. I listened to most of the speech and tried my best to take notes. Unfortunately I could never become a secretary. My note taking was a failure. So I bought the book to get the information. Bernie repeated his major points over and over in the text which is fine with me. I am a big supporter of repetition. That is how I learned my ABC. The main point of the book is why are we giving tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires and international conglomerates while running huge deficits and a substantial growing National Debt. The Republicans agree with the urgency of fiscal responsibility but choose to target the middle class and the poor for the cut backs while exempting their rich supporters from paying their legitimate share. Bernie is very outspoken in defining who has been responsible for our current economic woes. He pulls no punches. His fearlessness to call a spade a spade is reminiscent of Harry Truman. I've heard no other present day politician tell it as Senator Bernie Sanders tells it. And in my opinion he is right on the mark. I find nothing in this book or Bernie's presentation that I disagree with. The book is filled with Democratic talking points. He explains why a payroll tax holiday is no holiday but a Right Wing rip-off designed by Republicans to suit the Republican historic goal to kill Social Security. He explains the "death tax" and tells us why it was instituted and why it should be continued. He deals with the off-shoring of jobs, the U.S.'s foundering industrial base, the Chamber of Commerce and its anti-American attitudes, corporate tax avoidance in offshore banks and federal loopholes, lobbyists and their overpowering impact on legislation and the legislators, our detrimental "free trade" policies, the perils of the global economy for the American worker and America, the enormous greed of the over-wealthy, the anti-American attitude of many large corporations, the corruption going on in Washington and in the corporate and business community, and Republican hypocrisy and chicanery on all fronts. The book is written in the simplest of language. The rich and the powerful have declared war against the middle class and the poor, says Bernie. This fact should be more than obvious to any objective observer. The points that Bernie makes are explained in detail and over and over again. Bernie makes everything very clear. This is an excellent book and an enlightening learning experience. I only wish more people would read it. Richard Noble - The Hobo Philosopher: "Cat Point - And Them Dang Oyster People."

As Senator Bernie Sanders states in this interesting book, during the George W. Bush presidency the richest 400 Americans saw an increase of about $400 billion in their wealth. The total is about $2,500, or $300 a year for every working person, on the basis of 150 million people in the labour force. In other words, little bits from a lot of people add up; collect 1 cent from every working person, which doesn't seem like a lot, you'd get $3.05 million. Add $2 million and you'd have the average salary of an NBA player. It doesn't mean it's right, or even legal. But it puts to rest the Republican claim that tax breaks for the wealthy encourage the rich to invest in new jobs. The economy went from full employment in 2000 to 10 percent unemployment after the Crash of 2008; perhaps if handouts to the rich were $800 billion, unemployment could have hit 20 percent. Sanders does a magnificent job in outlining the impact of the Crash, which has shattered the lives of tens of millions of Americans. The new concentration of wealth is unconscionable; but Sanders may have missed an even worse development -- what if 10 percent unemployed is becoming the new "full employment" level? It's been the case for years in parts of Europe, which is one of the reasons for the current Euro crisis. As technology changes the nature of the economy, the concept of "full employment" may also change. It gives real meaning to the "Occupy" movements across America; a substantial number of workers may face an absolutely jobless, empty and blank future. Preliminary results for the 2011 Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are being hailed as signs of economic recovery; if so, without a new or revised social contract America may be facing a new society with a permanent underclass. A consumer society is based on the ability of consumers to consume, not on the ultra-rich investing billions in automated factories run by a handful of computer geeks. This book is cogent and concise, but it may be more of a lament for a vanished past than hope for a better future. Sanders is eloquent, relevant and chilling in the details and human illustrations he presents, but the issue to be faced is whether he spoke of nostalgia or whether the future can be changed. It all depends on whether Americans decide to honour the Golden Rule, or submit to the Golden Rulers.

On December 10, 2010, Senator Bernie Sanders (I) of Vermont entered the Senator chamber and began a filibuster. What made this one unique is that it wasn't a meandering talk about cooking recipes or reading from books. It was an impassioned plea, a speech to head off a compromise between President Barack Obama and Republicans. When it was broadcast on CSPAN-2, it was an exceptional day for viewership. When I think of a speech, I think of an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. I think of someone preparing six hours for every hour of presentation. Since I doubt the senator from Vermont spent two full days preparing what to say, I am in awe of his delivery. The wisdom has always been that it's not what the person says but how he says it. With Mr. Sanders you get both, and you wonder how he managed to organize and deliver his thoughts with cadence and consistency for such a prolonged period of time. The senator is against the agreement that President Obama made with Republicans in Congress for an exchange of extended unemployment benefits. He fumes that for the past 40 years Republicans and Democrats have always extended unemployment when it exceeded 7.2 percent. For the senator, the extension should have been a given rather than a bargaining chip. You can almost hear the Vermonter's strangely New York-sounding accent as he rails against Republicans who wouldn't budge one inch to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire, the Republican determination to kill the estate tax, and the failure of even one Republican in the Senate to vote for a one-time check of $250.00 for the elderly and disabled veterans who were subsisting on $15,000 to $16,000 a year. Coupled with the bail-out of banks and Wall Street he sharpens his barbs for these multi-millionaires he asserts have received government welfare to support their greed that brought on our economic collapse. Mr. Sanders' ability to recall and marshal facts is blistering. He rattles off the state of disrepair in our infrastructure nationwide, who pays the estate tax--only the top third of the wealthiest one percent, the cuts to education that have taken Americans from first in math skills when compared to other industrialized nations in the 60's, to 24th in the past few years. He tells us that 75% of Americans who attempt to enlist are rejected for military service because of low cognitive capability, criminal records, and obesity, how the committee appointed by the president recommended that interest on student loans begin with the first loan rather than after graduation. All of these details come under the umbrella of his concern for the dissolution of the middle class, the disparity in income between the wealthy, middle class and poor, a neglected infrastructure, and the greed of Wall Street that has gone unpunished. Read the book and see why Fox "news" shows avoid this "guest" like the plague. You don't go up against someone like the independent senator from Vermont and win. You don't win against a titan. Also Recommended: Third World America: How Our Politicians Are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream Pigs at the Trough: How Corporate Greed and Political Corruption Are Undermining America The Conscience of a Liberal Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and StickYou with the Bill) Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich--and Cheat Everybody Else The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Ruined Government, Enriched Themselves, and Beggared the Nation Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America The Looting of America: How Wall Street's Game of Fantasy Finance Destroyed Our Jobs, Pensions, and Prosperity--and What We Can Do About It

Bernie Sanders is one of few congressmen standing up for the middle class and poor. He is truly independent, and speaks the truth about the corrupting influence of wall street and the rich. If every lawmaker were as uncorrupted as Bernie, the U. S. could become a great nation. The book is good reading, especially for those not already educated about the influence of corporate greed. However, it does get a little repetitive, as filibusters are by their nature.

I have seen more and more quotes from this senator being shared in Facebook. What he consistently said in those quotes came across to me as honest, practical, factual and were insights or opinion on a specific issue. No partisan bullets. No extreme political biting remarks. I know this seems like a contradiction in terms, but he comes across with rational emotion. He cares about the people of this nation, that is clear. And he obviously (and to me, uniquely) reads the bills that come up for a vote and does deep analysis of what the enactment of any bill will DO to the average citizen, the effect to the nation. When CBS interviewed him about this book, there was given a glimmer of a possibility that he might run for President. Independents are becoming a rare breed in this polarized political environment. So I wanted to know more and decided to read this book. He explains right from the start that this is the actual 8 1/2 hour filibuster speech, just as the title states. He explains that as a speech there is a lot of redundancy. Senate members are coming in and out, for one thing. The key points of his speech thus need to be repeated. Besides this is a filibuster - the point is to keep talking for a long time. So I kept that in mind as I read the script of the speech - this book. I did not skip over the repetition as I discovered that there were the occasional supporting Senators who added to his speech. They provided additional perspective and sometimes more facts. I now want to know more about this senator.

There are too few voices addressing what government is designed to do. That is to satisfy the needs of all people, within the context of the mandate the government is given, by allocating the common resources in a fair way to all the people. Sanders addresses the extreme imbalance in the share people are getting. Some are getting huge shares with no valid reason for it other than what power can bring about. Some people are getting far less than their fair share and they are suffering. Those who are getting far less represent 90% of the people. This is an outrage and Sanders nails it. He describes what is wrong and how to correct it. He gives the facts and figures in a clear unfettered way. By necessity he repeats himself in order to speak to all who could not listen continuosly to the 8 1/2 hour speech. The repetition is a good thing when reading the speach because it ramifies each point in the reader's mind. If you are in the 90% group, you need to read this book. You will come away with a clear understandinjg of why you are not getting your fair share. You will come away knowing that there are representatives in the government who care about you. Sanders is one of the few. He stands out among them because he went beyond just caring and stood up for 8 1/2 hours to let you know he cares, and to let all others in government know there is a champion for the 90% and that he intends to do all he can to get justice for them. He is a great man and deserves your support. Read his book and add your voice to the cry for economic fairness in our government.

Senator Bernie Sanders, Independent from Vermont, is gravely concerned with the relentless changes that automation and globalization are doing to the American economy. More and more Americans are being pushed into the proletariat. The U.S.A. will not return to the old ways. Sanders' speech is good, but repetitive as the reader gets to the middle. He admits that he was looking for attention. There are a few political items worth underlining. It's useful reading for populist inspiration, for people who want the American economic system somehow to yield (a facsimile of) its traditional benefits to most Americans.

... is a clear symptom of "what's wrong" with the USA today. Make no mistake and offer no excuses! Sanders would have no more chance of being nominated by either party than Dennis Kucinich on one side or Ron Paul on the other. Sanders is an "independent" because neither political party, the Demopublicans nor the Republicrats, affords an honest, perspicacious, courageous man like Sanders a comfortable working environment. "Democracy" is trying hard to fail in America at the same time that both the government and the electorate are lathering themselves with "exceptionalism" and preaching that doctrine to a skeptical world. This is the entire text of a filibuster speech. It must have been agonizing to sit and hear all of it; I'm almost certain that no one did. It's certainly not a literary delight to read. It's not an oratorical gem; no seventh-grader will ever be assigned the memorization of it. It's repetitive and parenthetical. But it's saturated with good sense and a heroic dedication to "making democracy work." In the 'early days of the Republic', would-be nominees of both parties stayed home and waited for the call before they started to campaign. There was at least an honorable pretense of waiting to be drafted. The current public spectacle of seven egomaniacs clamoring for the Republican nomination is a national humiliation. Can't we all get along, people? Let's launch a "Draft Bernie Sanders" movement!