Subject: ICYMI: The Philadelphia Tribune Endorses Sanders
From: Michael Briggs <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 23 Apr 2016 23:37:31 +0000

The�Philadelphia Tribune: Tribune endorsements: Sanders for president; Sestak for Senate
Philadelphia Tribune Editorial
April 23, 2016

Bernie Sanders in Democratic primary

Bernie Sanders offers an inspiring message and bold vision for America without the excessive baggage of Clinton, which is why Sanders is our choice for president in the Democratic primary.

Clinton has on many occasions exercised bad judgment on critical issues including her avid support for her husband&rsquo;s draconian 1994 crime bill which led to a major increase in mass incarceration of African Americans. She may not be responsible for signing the crime bill but she strongly supported it. She has since apologized for her support including her use of the race-coded term &ldquo;super predator&rdquo; to describe Black males involved in crime. But her previous stance raises serious questions.

She also exercised bad judgment in giving highly paid speeches to Wall Street, whose reckless speculation help lead the country to the worst recession since the Great Depression. In foreign affairs, she supported the invasion of Iraq and has publicly advocated a far more aggressive approach toward Syria than President Barack Obama. Obama and Sanders opposed the war in Iraq. Sanders is also a strong advocate of Palestinian statehood, which requires considerable courage. The New York Times describes Clinton as more hawkish on military matters than Obama and most Democrats in Congress.

Since his days as a student at the University of Chicago protesting against segregation in public schools in Chicago and throughout his political career, Sanders has supported policies and programs that would be in the best interest of all Americans and African Americans, specifically. He has been a consistent fighter for a more just and equitable society.

The killing of unnamed Black men by police officers in Ferguson, New York, Baltimore and elsewhere have finally brought the important issue of police brutality and mass incarceration to the national dialogue.

Sanders takes a strong stance against police abuse and misconduct without demonizing good police officers. He has called for demilitarizing local police departments and holding police officers accountable for misconduct and abuse.

His support for free tuition at public colleges and universities would disproportionally help African Americans and would have a major positive affect of alleviating poverty.

His critics say Sanders proposals are too ambitious, costly and would never get through Congress. They are right that most of his proposals would not pass the current Republican-controlled Congress. His proposals will not happen overnight. But Social Security was also once seen as impossible.

But most of Sanders&rsquo; proposals including free tuition at public colleges and universal health care are not new and are already well established government programs in European countries with far less wealth than the United States.