Hello New Hampshire,

Thank you
The honor of introducing Senator Sanders, soon hopefully to be President Sanders is the honor of a lifetime.
I’m sure you know a little over 100 years ago the Great Poet, while in New Hampshire, wrote of the Road Not Taken (I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.)
I don’t know if Robert Frost was thinking (preconceiving ) of Bernie Sanders but he sure fits the bill.

For over 40 years
Bernie Sanders has been our guide, our north star, our hope in a world that is collapsing all around us.

When I was a young man —reading Howard Zinn —considering and absorbing the epic struggle for civil rights that gave us some of the most magnificent political fighters, and thinkers, and writers of our times.
The powerful legacies of
Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Fanny Lou Hamer, Ella Baker, Dorothy Day and the catholic worker-- Eugene Debbs and the Berrigan brothers
Public intellectuals like Noam Chomsky
Who would influence everyone from Public enemy to the Clash… and so many others
Learning about the meaning and legacy of FDR and the new deal --
From my father who lived it

my father’s generation working for and waiting for –the next movement to finish what FDR started
…
these were titanic ideas and figures —
But in public life- it seemed-their time had passed
and in the early 80s it was barren out there .
then a congressman named Bernie Sanders came on the scene, and he was beautiful. His voice was singular and unrelentingly powerful in its moral clarity.
He said all the things that cannot be said— and he was absolutely fearless
This was a man with a deep & powerful connection to the truth-- a person with remarkable courage– who proclaimed the absolute need for justice equality and dignity for ALL PEOPLE.
He offered a Principled visionary critique-of american empire.
He publicly and loudly and boldly rejected the hideous lie that the unchecked greed of (Capitalism)— in all its cruelty— was good

That this greed was in fact the planets only means of survival--that we must all bow allegiance to this ruling orthodoxy of earth…Bernie kept telling us there was another better way.

And he kept telling the truth--But he told us what we needed to hear--not what we wanted to hear –
When a person respects you they tell you the truth-- Sometimes the truth is not a pleasant thing – sometimes illusions can be seductive. But he was always unrelentingly honest.

And as it is with truth tellers –
He was often speaking his truth alone – sometimes - famously- and literally —a lone man in an empty chamber house- bearing witness--for the victims of another war- built and sold on lies

This was a special man
A man with vision

a man with the holy spirit in him…

A man with the future in his eyes

and a fighter with less quit in him than anyone I’ve ever seen

and he spoke. he worked. he organized —He would not go away--making himself a most troublesome man for those in power.
He was not obedient. He did not bow down to the almighty dollar. He never took that Road more Traveled, the easier, softer way, that’s not who he is.
And over the coming 40 years—it became clear to us all —he was one of the true inheritors of the mantle of the great american voices for justice in America.

He stands shoulder to shoulder with those in history who have been the moral conscience of our times —and like Dr. King – Bernie sanders voiced the forbidden connections between Capitalism, Imperialism, Racism, sexism, ( yes even global warming ) and the era of endless wars that he saw coming
—and the war economies Eisenhower warned about

For 40 years we’ve endured class warfare from above …
For 40 years Bernie Sanders was there fighting back –
And for 4 decades— Bernie was right-- again and again and again

We’ve never ever had a candidate who will do more for working people than Bernie Sanders

We’ve never ever in our lifetimes had a true champion of social economic and climate justice this close to the white house.
He has been a profile of courage, clarity, and consistency for 40 years.

His critique of this 40 year neoliberal period- was right and true.

His prophetic warnings have come to pass

The planet is faltering in the face of relentless corporate plunder; and billionaires are tightening their stranglehold on public policy and violence & fascism, is spreading around the globe;

The 40 year neoliberal assault has been defined by these trends, and this ruling ideology oversaw the greatest upward redistribution of wealth in the history of this country. Largely – of course – on the backs of the working class and the poorest most vulnerable among us.

In the world upside down, this morally bankrupt logic -the government’s only job, it seemed, was to create optimal conditions for corporate profit, to privatize everything in sight and to sell off every inch of the commonwealth.
Maximize corporate profits at all costs
It would be a perfect system if there were no human beings.

But as Bernie told us, those free markets, well, they ain’t so free.

But corporate welfare was alive and well.

Socialize the risk privatize the profits-- A social contract based on fear, cruelty and greed,

like the gangsters in the movies-
fuck you pay me- that economy This whole deadly political circus is about greed.
Unchecked capitalism is the issue, class is the issue

And now Runaway inequality has created a world where 62 people own as much wealth as the poorest half of the world’s population

Bernie saw it all coming. He saw it all.

In the age of Twitter and two second histories -

Bernie Sanders has been saying what is until only recently has been considered fashionable for 40 years ..
but he saw it and said it from the start —for decades when it was greeted with ridicule and hostility and scorn.
That is what makes him prophetic.
He has the vision & depth to deal with the problems we face because he brings a lifetime of experience to the table. He’s literally put his body and soul and his integrity on the line for us his whole life.

Today Bernie is- by far--the most popular politician in america. And good news if you haven’t heard , but the same man – the one with the future in his eyes – filled with spirit & compassion and fierce love for human beings
Happens to be leading a revolutionary movement that is truly unprecedented in American history

Now we have to take back this meaning of the word revolution. It's not a nike commercial or a a can of soda- it’s not a brand
its a radical redistribution of economic and political power -- a real revolution, Not top down, Bottom up
And the billionaire class are getting very, very nervous. All of the corporate media is against us. And every conceivable power structure, it seems, has been trying to kill and derail our movement. But we’re still here.
We know the unchecked greed of capitalism takes and takes and takes- whatever whenever however it wants
-It will take everything. It will take our lives labor spirits our air & water and even our earth

Bernie respects us enough to tell us the hard truth--we have a 10 to 12 year window to radically transform our energy systems or climate change, predatory capitalism and the endless war economies will rob us of a right to any future at all…and as we see everyday- the house is literally on fire

But as he tells us, this is no time for despair. There is no time for anything but action.
If we stand together with him, the future is indeed still unwritten—


And there’s nothing more powerful than movement whose time has come.
We’ve never had a movement candidate this close to power with a revolutionary movement he’s led and built that’s ready to go-- all the way to change the country and help heal the world.
When people of every race, faith & gender, when we all stand together in solidarity— when all of us whose labor powers the economy — stop the profiteering and say no more --and tell the billionaires and corporate tyrannies -- its time to start treating all human beings with respect and dignity.

To name just a few examples :
Healthcare is a human right.
Medicare for all.
Public colleges and universities tuition free.
Canceling student debt.
Medical debt relief.
Guaranteeing a living wage.

And most crucially transforming the economy with the green new deal which will be by necessity and fact the biggest economic transformation of the United States since WW2.

Has the world caught up to Bernie Sanders moral vision? Its up to us. But there are encouraging signs.
don't know if you have noticed.

But Corporate media, first they ignore us – then they hated us, now they’re just really really confused.

Wall street --hates us
drug companies --hate us
insurance companies --hate us
the fossil fuel companies-- hate us
the military industrial complex --hates us
the 1%-- hates us
They don’t really hate us they FEAR us –
you know why ?
were gonna take on their greed and corruption and we are gonna win

Now let me ask you a question…
Whats 100% minus 1%.
A: 99%

I like our chances

Its my profound honor to introduce the next President of the United States
Bernard Sanders

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