Bernie Speaks About "Hugely Scary Stuff"

If you keep up with politics at all, then you know that Governor Scott Walker has held on to his job in Wisconsin. He did it because he and his rich friends spent $50 million in the state's recall election (with most of the money coming from out-of-state). This outrageous spending by rich men on behalf of a right-wing candidate is the direct result of the Supreme Court's Citizens United vs. FEC ruling, and it gives us a little taste of the huge spending on behalf of right-wingers that the rich are planning for our coming general election.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) was watching the Wisconsin recall election, and he calls this huge spending by the rich to get the outcome they wanted some "hugely scary stuff". Here are some more of his thoughts on the subject:

“There is an aggressiveness out there among the ruling class of this country, among the billionaires who are saying: ‘You know what? Ya, we got a whole lot now, but we want even more. And we don’t give a damn about the middle class. We don't care about working families. We want it all. And now we can buy it.’ ”


“I have a deep concern that what we saw in Wisconsin can happen in any state throughout this country and in the presidential election.”


“I think that people do not fully understand the disaster that Citizens United was. What that did is open the floodgates so that billionaires like the Koch brothers and others are now prepared to spend unbelievable sums of money to elect extreme right-wing candidates.”


“Right now, we are moving toward an oligarchic type of society where big money not only controls the economy—they’re going to have a very, very heavy say in who gets elected."

But Bernie is not ready to throw in the towel. He finishes by saying:

“This is not the time to [throw your hands up in despair]. This is not the time to do that. This is the time to organize for the taking on all of this money.”

I have to agree. While this massive spending by the rich to buy the government they want is scary, it must be fought. And the only way to fight back is through a grassroots movement. We must energize our fellow citizens to demand that the money be taken out of politics, even if it means passing a constitutional amendment. If we don't, our democracy will quickly degenerate into a plutocracy (rule by the rich). We're already too far down that road, and it needs to be stopped now.