Bernie's super ad

We are told (by Brent Budowski, no less) that this is the great political ad of our time.

Color me unpersuaded. When a candidate faces an age problem, why use music fondly remembered only by the gray of hair? This new ad is a lot like Ronald Reagan's "Morning in America" campaign: Pretty-pretty and idea-free.

Facts are facts. I am going to state the key fact again: Most people in this country think that Big Gummint is our biggest problem. In such a culture, a self-proclaimed socialist cannot win. Bernie's new ad, with its images of flags and farmers and cognate examples of all-American iconography, will only be perceived as devious Marxist trickery.

Speaking of trickery: I admire Robert Reich, but this riposte to "the Bernie skeptics" is infuriating.

“America would never elect a socialist.”

P-l-e-a-s-e. America’s most successful and beloved government programs are social insurance – Social Security and Medicare. A highway is a shared social expenditure, as is the military and public parks and schools. The problem is we now have excessive socialism for the rich...

And so on; you know where he's going with that. The fact remains: America will never elect a socialist who calls himself a socialist. America is a nutty country where people carry signs that warn the government to keep its hands off of "my Medicare."

Once again: 69% of our citizenry thinks that big government is the biggest problem facing our culture. No, I am not among that 69%. But I am realistic enough to recognize the power of propaganda. Like it or not, if it comes to a match-up between Bernie and The Donald, this nation will choose the candidate who promises to keep government limited. That candidate will be Trump. (And no-one will notice that Trump has also promised that, as president, he will force department store employees to say "Merry Christmas." Americans are good at rationalizing contradictions of that sort.)

(And yes, I am aware of polls that place Sanders ahead of Trump. Now. Those numbers will change. There has been no nationwide hate campaign against Sanders -- yet. There has been a nationwide hate campaign against Hillary.)

Back to Reich:

“He couldn’t get any of his ideas implemented because Congress would reject them.”

If both house of Congress remain in Republican hands, no Democrat will be able to get much legislation through Congress, and will have to rely instead on executive orders and regulations. But there’s a higher likelihood of kicking Republicans out if Bernie’s “political revolution” continues to surge around America, bringing with it millions of young people and other voters, and keeping them politically engaged.

"Millions of young people..." Where have I heard an argument like this before?

Ah, yes: In September of 1972, a slim, black paperback book suddenly showed up on the spinner rack of my local supermarket, titled "How McGovern Won the Presidency & Why the Polls Were Wrong." I remember it well. (I'm also old enough to recall when Simon & Garfunkel were new.) The text blathered on about millions of highly energized young people surging into the political system and changing history and installing perpetual grooviness throughout the land. Like wow. Trippy.

Wish I had purchased a copy instead of reading it in the store: That book is now an ultra-rare collector's item.

There will be no Bernie revolution; the grooviness battalions will remain un-mobilized. If he were elected -- which he won't be -- I shudder to think of the counter-revolution. Remember how the election of Obama gave rise to the Tea Party?  Obama was no socialist (propaganda to the contrary notwithstanding), yet a vast segment of our citizenry absolutely freaked out. Now imagine an even worse freak-out, spreading throughout our military...

“His single-payer healthcare proposal would cost so much it would require raising taxes on the middle class.”

This is a duplicitous argument. Studies show that a single-payer system would be far cheaper than our current system, which relies on private for-profit health insurers, because a single-payer system wouldn’t spend huge sums on advertising, marketing, executive pay, and billing...

Reich's words are both true and ridiculous. I would prefer single-payer, but we no longer live in a time when such a thing is politically do-able. (Many would say that it was never do-able.) Congress is not going to vote for such a system. Just not possible.

And even if a wave of perpetually groovy new congressfolk were to jaunt toward Capitol Hill (perhaps doing an imitation of R. Crumb's "Keep On Truckin'" poster), we would have another problem: A right-wing Supreme Court.

Preserving Obamacare suddenly matters a lot to me. If you still can't see the seriousness of the situation, may I suggest that you have a heart attack? Do not belittle the educational value of such an event.

If any Republican gets in, Obamacare goes. And I don't even want to think about what will happen to the Supreme Court.