It's extraordinary the extent to which "news" personalities are trying to bait Bernie Sanders to abandon the issues and engage in personal attacks or horse-race politics. This recent interview with Andrea Mitchell is a good example of this approach by a interviewer and Bernie Sanders' approach to bringing the discussion back to concrete issues.
Noam Chomsky has it down to four simple steps:
Here's the bottom line of a Princeton study, "Does the Government Represent the People?":
Gilens & Page found that the number of Americans for or against any idea has no impact on the likelihood that Congress will make it law.The study found that nearly every issue we face as a nation is caught in the grip of corruption. Industries given special attention are those who provide the most funding to politicians: Energy, Telecommunications, Pharmaceuticals, Defense, Agribusiness and Finance.“The preferences of the average American appear to have only a miniscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.”One thing that does have an influence? Money. While the opinions of the bottom 90% of income earners in America have a “statistically non-significant impact,” Economic elites, business interests, and people who can afford lobbyists still carry major influence.
Even though this conversation was the result of a prank, it substantiates what many of us imagine when we think of politicians talking with their rich owners, otherwise known as contributors. Here's how Scott Walker talks when he allegedly has no time to talk to anyone else, and when the caller is purportedly David Koch. I think of this kind of thing as pillow talk between a prostitute and his customer.
What is the Obama Legacy? Lee Camp explores, not letting Obama take credit for the SCOTUS gay marriage decision, and sharply pointing to Obama's promotion of the TPP, as well as Obama's war on whistle-blowers: