Portland's ready for Bernie! "American, socialist and proud: meet Bernie (X-Post from Bernie Groups) [View all]

Bernie will personally be in Portland OR for the first time this Primary season, on August 9th, speaking
in the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, capacity there is 12,888, and it's already at at/over-capacity based on RSVPs.
Coliusium

American, socialist and proud: meet Bernie Sanders's supporters
‘Socialist’ is no longer a dirty word for fans of the Vermont senator who have flocked in the tens of thousands to support ‘putting the people first’ August 5, 2015 * by Jason Wilson, Portland OR * The Guardian

What does socialism mean in America? Some recent events suggest we haven’t a clue. ~snip~

What makes Sanders’s socialist candidacy so remarkable is that it’s been decades since the term has functioned as anything other than abuse. Perhaps bravely, Sanders still takes pride in that political label, and repeated in interviews last week that he is a “democratic socialist”.

Judging him by his stated policies and public positions, socialism Sanders-style has a mild, Nordic flavor: capitalism will go on on but with more stringent regulation, higher taxes will be introduced, and greater responsiveness to democratically elected governments will be sought. His 12-point plan envisions building infrastructure, ensuring equal pay for women, making it easier to create worker cooperatives, introducing a carbon tax and reducing the cost of college.


Last week, I went to the largest of the Sanders events in Portland, Oregon – just one small part of a simultaneous nationwide rally. Gatherings were held in bars, halls and backyards and altogether, the events drew over 100,000 people. When I showed up at the cavernous community center, there were over 500 people there – all drinking craft beer, talking politics and watching the live broadcast of the senator’s speech.


Granted, crunchy Portland is deep in Sanders’s heartland. Nevertheless, it was notable that no one I talked to had the least misgivings about Sanders calling himself a socialist; almost all were happy to identify with the term. Few were doctrinaire, many differed in the details of what socialism actually means, but almost all were attracted to Sanders as someone whose policies might alleviate the everyday suffering of those not part of the country’s tiny wealthy elite.

Blake and Chris attended together after a campaign donation put them on the email list. They’re not full-time activists, but they’re “engaged as citizens”. Blake agrees that the word “socialist” has become a dirty word in the public sphere. But for him, it’s just a synonym for a range of policies that are simply humane. These include “improving educational outcomes for people. Not making people so dependent on student loans. Lifting up the middle class as well as those who are not the 1%. The fact that people brand that as socialism and therefore a bad thing is ludicrous.”

Chris thinks that the word has been polluted by endless fear campaigns. To the right, he says: “Don’t make a good idea sound crazy just because your bad idea wants to marginalize so many people.”

MORE: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/05/american-socialist-proud-bernie-sanders-supporters