Bernie!

Love, love, love Senator Bernie Sanders. He is a true progressive champion, and pulls no punches when it comes to calling out the (in the words of FDR) "malefactors of great wealth." But what I really love about him is that he doesn't just point fingers, he also offers solutions for closing the inequality gap - from real tax reform to sensible regulations on the financial industry, to strengthening civil rights protections. Now if we could only get enough other Democrats to join him.  The Republicans, to absolutely no one's surprise, would seem to be a lost cause.

Sanders had a great piece in the Huffington Post yesterday reminding us again who the big money boyz are behind the conservative movement, and why they are a danger to our republic:

Given the reality that the Koch brothers are now the most important and powerful players in American politics, it is important to know what they want and what their agenda is.

It is not widely known that David Koch was the Libertarian Party vice-presidential candidate in 1980. He believed that Ronald Reagan was much too liberal. Despite Mr. Koch putting a substantial sum of money into the campaign, his ticket only received 1 percent of the vote. Most Americans thought the Libertarian Party platform of 1980 was extremist and way out of touch with what the American people wanted and needed.

Fast-forward 34 years and the most significant reality of modern politics is how successful David Koch and like-minded billionaires have been in moving the Republican Party to the extreme right. Amazingly, much of what was considered "extremist" and "kooky" in 1980 has become part of today's mainstream Republican thinking.

These brothers, literally born of Bircherism (their father was one of the founders of the John Birch Society), have steadily moved their extreme agenda into the heart of the Republican party. The "vast rightwing conspiracy" Hillary Clinton was mocked mercilessly for calling out is paying serious dividends. Good for Senator Sanders and others in the Democratic Party for continuing to reveal the men behind the curtain.