Bernie Sanders Tells Progressives to Stop Suppressing Free Speech on College Campuses

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Ian Miles Cheong - Heat Street


http://i.imgur.com/w8JVCYEh.jpg

Sen. Bernie Sanders has spoken out against the progressive left’s ongoing efforts to suppress free speech on campus, stating that it only contributes to rising political tensions in the United States.

Sanders’ statements come in the wake of James Hodgkinson’s mass shooting of GOP congressmen during a morning baseball practice in Alexandria, VA, which hospitalized Majority Whip Steve Scalise and wounded several others. Following the shooting, Sanders deplored Hodgkinson’s actions, describing the violence as “despicable” and “unacceptable in our society.”

“I condemn this action in the strongest possible terms. Real change can only come about through non-violent action, and anything else runs against our most deeply held American values,” said Sanders at the time.

Speaking on CBS, Sanders said that efforts to suppress free speech contributed to the rising tide of political violence.

“Look, freedom of speech, the right to dissent, the right to protest, that is what America is about,” he said, per PJ Media. “And, politically, every leader in this country, every American has got to stand up against any form of violence. That is unacceptable. And I certainly hope and pray that Representative Scalise has a full recovery from the tragedy that took place.”

The senator stated that “people have a right to speak” on campus, even if their speech is considered disagreeable or problematic. In February, leftist activists at UC Berkeley shut down a speech by conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos using violence.

“And you have a right, if you are on a college campus, not to attend. You have a right to ask hard questions about the speaker if you disagree with him or her,” Sanders said. “But what — why should we be afraid of somebody coming on a campus or anyplace else and speaking? You have a right to protest. But I don’t quite understand why anybody thinks it is a good idea to deny somebody else the right to express his or her point of view.”

“What is very clear is, we are in a contentious and difficult political moment in our country’s history,” he added. “I have very grave concerns about the Trump agenda right now.”

[Muddy]

http://i.imgur.com/SyW3o1f.png

[PorkChopSandwiches]

:lol:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

One of the 1% of things that Bernie actually gets right

[PorkChopSandwiches]

Well in his defense we could pay for everyones healthcare and college with a small percentage diversion of funds from the military....just saying

[DemonGeminiX]

But why should we pay for everyone's healthcare and college at all? Liberals like to say these things are a right, but they're not.

[Godfather]

DGX are you against it on the principal of favouring individualism over collectivism? I always get a little miffed about this debate. I'm not going to try and change your mind, I think we're all dead set on this one, but I think you're a very smart guy and, gun to your head, you could make a compelling case in favour of socialized services like health and child care.

So I'm sincerely curious, is it principal? Is it logistical (ie you don't think it's affordable without tax burden)? Or a total mix?

[DemonGeminiX]

Neither individualism nor collectivism can exist alone. One needs the other for a balanced society to exist. That's not the argument. That's a different conversation entirely. My argument goes to the soul of the USA. The United States of America is not the land of handouts. The USA is the land of opportunity. Taking advantage of opportunities to improve your station. It's the land of working hard and earning your keep, your title, your achievements, your status. It's the land of a limited small central government that stays out of people's business, except in those cases where it's absolutely necessary for intervention to maintain our values and keep our principles intact. Capitalism is a good thing, and a pure free market should be the goal. If the government is controlling business, it's not a free market. Healthcare is a business. Right now, it's a fucked up business, but it's a business that can be fixed. It can exist as an efficient free market. It has to change from what it is now, but it can be a good thing. Higher education is a business. Furthermore, it's an achievement. In the spirit of competition, it should remain that way. Not everybody is supposed to be college educated. They should earn the right to get that education beyond high school, and not everyone's going to cut the mustard. Not everybody's supposed to cut the mustard. There has to be winners and losers in a competitive society. That's how life really works. That's also where individualism comes into play. Personal achievement sought by the individual that rises up to take it through their own efforts.

What you are arguing for is for socialism. We are not a socialist country. The founding fathers of this nation argued very specifically against socialism, among other forms of government that we are not. Socialism does not belong in the USA. It gives the government way too much power and takes away the incentive for our citizens to rise up and make something of themselves. Again, we are the land of opportunity. The land of earning and keeping what's ours through blood, sweat, and tears. That's what the idea of the United States of America is all about. That's the American Dream. Coming from nothing and becoming something through our own efforts.

I'm not against helping people that are down, I'm against our government forcing us to do it by decree. That takes away our freedom of choice. We should be free to choose. The people should be able to choose to help those that are down without having to be forced to do it. Aid by decree is not altruism. It's tyranny.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Well in his defense we could pay for everyones healthcare and college with a small percentage diversion of funds from the military....just saying

Really? How do you figure? In FY 2015, the US Defense Budget was $598 billion. If you go by what Sanders came up for expenses in going to single payer healthcare, and you KNOW he is way underestimating it, his campaign said it would cost $13.8 trillion over a decade, or nearly $1.4 trillion/year (http://www.npr.org/2016/05/09/477402982/study-sanders-proposals-would-add-18-trillion-to-debt-over-10-years). You could tax the rich people 100% and still not have enough money to pay for his "free" healthcare plan in this country. That doesn't even add in "free" college for people.

And as far as giving everyone a "free" education....why? If they have no skin in the game, how will they learn to do for themselves? Everyone will just go to college for "free" and leech off the system meaning more money from every tax payers pocket. You get a free education all the way until yo are 18 in this country, that's enough. If you want to learn more, pay for it yourself.

[Griffin]

The problems in our universities today are being caused by the free loaders.
You don't see the ones that are working their way through college asking for safe spaces and bitching because they have to do their homework.

[Godfather]

Ya I'm not in favor of free university at all... although I think it should be kept in check some way or another. Uni costs here are up something like 40% the last decade while part time/summer jobs certainly aren't paying that much more. Shackling young adults to student debt from runaway tuition and text book costs doesn't seem to be in the best interest of Canada's future either.


I still disagree on the health care part simply because I think the government can do a better job of giving us affordable, accessable health care than private enterprises will with the same chunk of our money... but meh, not a debate we'll ever settle here :lol: We have some 'crown' corporations that do a shitty job managing tax dollars (transit), and some that seem to work better than privatization was working before it changed (our province's car insurance became government run in the 70's and is debate-ably cheaper than other provinces with private). It's not black and white to me nor do I think it's incompatible with capitalism on the whole, but I get what you guys are saying about it being foundational to your country.

[RBP]

Neither individualism nor collectivism can exist alone. One needs the other for a balanced society to exist. That's not the argument. That's a different conversation entirely. My argument goes to the soul of the USA. The United States of America is not the land of handouts. The USA is the land of opportunity. Taking advantage of opportunities to improve your station. It's the land of working hard and earning your keep, your title, your achievements, your status. It's the land of a limited small central government that stays out of people's business, except in those cases where it's absolutely necessary for intervention to maintain our values and keep our principles intact. Capitalism is a good thing, and a pure free market should be the goal. If the government is controlling business, it's not a free market. Healthcare is a business. Right now, it's a fucked up business, but it's a business that can be fixed. It can exist as an efficient free market. It has to change from what it is now, but it can be a good thing. Higher education is a business. Furthermore, it's an achievement. In the spirit of competition, it should remain that way. Not everybody is supposed to be college educated. They should earn the right to get that education beyond high school, and not everyone's going to cut the mustard. Not everybody's supposed to cut the mustard. There has to be winners and losers in a competitive society. That's how life really works. That's also where individualism comes into play. Personal achievement sought by the individual that rises up to take it through their own efforts.

What you are arguing for is for socialism. We are not a socialist country. The founding fathers of this nation argued very specifically against socialism, among other forms of government that we are not. Socialism does not belong in the USA. It gives the government way too much power and takes away the incentive for our citizens to rise up and make something of themselves. Again, we are the land of opportunity. The land of earning and keeping what's ours through blood, sweat, and tears. That's what the idea of the United States of America is all about. That's the American Dream. Coming from nothing and becoming something through our own efforts.

I'm not against helping people that are down, I'm against our government forcing us to do it by decree. That takes away our freedom of choice. We should be free to choose. The people should be able to choose to help those that are down without having to be forced to do it. Aid by decree is not altruism. It's tyranny.

Right on, brother.

[RBP]

Ya I'm not in favor of free university at all... although I think it should be kept in check some way or another. Uni costs here are up something like 40% the last decade while part time/summer jobs certainly aren't paying that much more. Shackling young adults to student debt from runaway tuition and text book costs doesn't seem to be in the best interest of Canada's future either.

I still disagree on the health care part simply because I think the government can do a better job of giving us affordable health care than private enterprises will with the same chunk of our money... but meh, not a debate we'll ever settle here :lol: We have some 'crown' corporations that do a shitty job managing tax dollars (transit), and some that seem to work better than privatization was working before it changed (our province's car insurance and 2-3 others are privatized and undebatably have lower rates). It's not black and white to me nor do I think it's incompatible with capitalism on the whole, but I get what you guys are saying about it being foundational to your country.

Telling everyone to go to college in the first place was both the largest government mistake and the driver of the runaway freight train.

[RBP]

I still disagree on the health care part simply because I think the government can do a better job of giving us affordable, accessable health care than private enterprises will with the same chunk of our money...

Define health care. Basic health care? Advanced diagnostics? What exactly is health care? Do you define health care as the single largest category of expense being end of life? Or is that a complete waste of money? Should everyone have the same access if that means a rapid race to the lowest common denominator? If that's the standard, then would you apply it to nutrition? To safety? To stress? To mental health? Are those factors not large drivers of "health care"? So again, what exactly is health care?

[Godfather]

Telling everyone to go to college in the first place was both the largest government mistake and the driver of the runaway freight train.

Agreed... I don't even know how you put the brakes on that one. It's to the point now where in many industries an undergrad degree is as basic as finishing high school.

[RBP]

Agreed... I don't even know how you put the brakes on that one. It's to the point now where in many industries an undergrad degree is as basic as finishing high school.

And yet there is a shortage of skilled tradesman and truck drivers. Those are solid jobs with great earning potential. It's a meaningless circle jerk.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

And yet there is a shortage of skilled tradesman and truck drivers. Those are solid jobs with great earning potential. It's a meaningless circle jerk.

Tell me about it, trying to find good, competent people to work in a machine shop, which is skilled labor, is nearly impossible anymore. And we pay well, even for a small business, but there is no one out there that either (A) has the skill to do this kind of work anymore or (B) it's "labor" and they don't want to work, they want a job where they can sit at a desk or even better, work from home and make $100K+ per year....get as much money while being as lazy as they possibly can be.

[Muddy]

Whats a good machinist make these days?

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Usually we'll start you at least at $15/hour if you are new-ish to the trade, but everyone here makes a minimum of $19/hour with several at $24/hour

[Muddy]

So $39,520-$49,920 a year for 40 hours. It's not a bad living.. Pay definitely hasn't kept up with the cost of living though..

[Teh One Who Knocks]

You can easily make another $10K in OT because we get busy enough during the year

[RBP]

http://i.imgur.com/ndDGwXA.png

$45,000 and no $100,000 bill for college. When your classmates graduate with a gender studies degree and think they know everything, you're $280,000 ahead.