Bernie Sanders: Coronavirus Reminds Us Why We Must Guarantee Health Care To All

[The Magistrate]

21. 'Calls For Nothing Short Of Altering Our National Ethos', Sir

Is another way of saying 'ain't gonna see it in my lifetime, kiddo'.

Nations do not alter their national ethos, not short of something as catastrophic as the Russian or Chinese revolutions, or the complete wreckage made of Germany and Japan in the Second World War. And even in such instances, important continuities can be observed.

One of the things required of a politician seeking change is to locate a space within the nation's ethos for that change, and to relate it to what people are accustomed to seeing as their country's ways and manners. That takes profound understanding of people, and of the particular country, and its political and social cross-currents. These are things rigid ideologues are unsuited to doing, and generally prove incapable of doing.


"He was a better man than I. But I have killed many better men than I, with a small pistol."





"From Bernie’s perspective, dropping out of a race once you have no chance of winning is peculiar behavior that can only be explained by the work of a hidden hand. For most politicians, though, it is actually standard operating procedure. Only Sanders seems to think the normal thing to do once voters have made clear they don’t want to nominate you is to continue campaigning anyway."





"When things are not called by their right names, what is said cannot make sense. When what is said does not make sense, what is planned cannot succeed. When plans do not succeed, people become uneasy. When people are uneasy, punishments do not fit crimes. When punishments do not fit crimes, people cannot know where to put hand or foot."