446 Comments

These are all very good points he makes. Big Ag is poisoning us. Citrus and sugar and cattle industries dump waste into our waterways, here in Florida from Lake Okeechobie all the way to the ocean contributing to the massive algae blooms.

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He can't. He shouldn't. So much of "retail" campaigning consists of shoving "local" food down one's throat, and he won't be doing that. The last vegan candidate for president? Dennis Kucinich.

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I kind of want to get behind the idea that the way of the future is that more people become farmers but can't get past the Gilead vibe of that idea.

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In other words, rather than having a lot more people become farmers, we make better farming robots and create better systems for food production. And then we sit on our asses watching Netflix or whatever and let the robots do their thing.

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Yeah. We idealize a simpler past, but that simpler past involved back-breaking labor and a perpetual threat of famine. Yes I understand agrobusiness is the enemy and everything, but one thing they've been very good at is, you know, fucking feeding the world. I say it's fair to recognize the threats that come with Big Farma -- and to be sure we need to rein in their greedier impulses -- but treating them like a Frankenstein that needs to be destroyed with fire, is anti-vaxxer-grade stupid.

(And yes I'm using "Frankenstein" correctly. The monster was named "Adam" and considered himself the son of Dr. Frankenstein. Therefore his whole name was Adam Frankenstein.)

Here's another thought: one intriguing angle for dealing with climate change is genetically-modified plants that absorb increased amounts of carbon. Imagine what they could do with corn and wheat, thousands and thousands of acres of the stuff pulling carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Research is in the early stages, but this sounds like exactly the sort of mad science that Monsanto would be well-suited for. And if this pans out, it would not only slow climate change, but even reverse it.

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Sanders is the sort of guy who watched single payer fail in his own state, and then six months later was campaigning on taking single payer nationwide, without addressing any of the issues that made single payer fail.

It's 100% fair to say that Sanders doesn't give a shit about facts. He has decided who the villains are and opposes them because they are villains. Nor is it necessary to get his facts in order, because after all they are villains, so they're guilty anyway.

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I’m all for efficient science and tech. It makes sense. But only when it’s used for the benefit of the many, not just profit for the few.

Lest we forget, Marx and Engels were BIG tech fans - I call them 'technoptimists,' in fact. But, of course, they thought advanced technology would free people from wage slavery and dreary 'work.'

So, yeah, I agree that we should enjoy the benefits of technology for all.

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And, then, how will we feed the earth's billions of people? Because, you know, a lot of them cannot farm for themselves.

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I have a "chronic propensity to severe anemia." I sometimes dream about raw, red meat. As my hematologist says, "The body knows what it needs."

Even so, I do try to get as much of the right proteins as possible from other sources. More accurately, I try to get close-to-the-right proteins from other sources.

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Hasn't Warren come out with a plan? I thought she did so a while back. And, of course, her 'plans' are actually like, you know, plans.

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Man, my grasps for sarcasm are failing me.

Celtic, you're hilarious. I chuckled after reading that last line, haha.

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Potentially better than Stark Raving, in any event.

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I don't see Booker making much of a splash at all so whether he goes down on a corn dog in Iowa or eat some greens in South Carolina, I don't see it mattering much.

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Hmmm. On the one hand, low youth vote is bad, but they were very antitrump. Olds voted more, but were more pro-Trump. And there were more PUMAs in 08 than Bernie or Busters in 16.Oh, and is it possible the youth are just righteous, not self-righteous? Please show me the ways of the Senator from MBNA, that I may know His Grace, and that rolling my eyes at people trying to improve the world beats improving it myself.

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They're complex machines, but farmers are as capable of learning programming as anyone else, and have a better idea of how tools can be modified and improved. They should have the right to fix their own tools.

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Judging someone pledging not to run as a spoiler- as a spoiler- is a smart move. It encourages all the third partiers to conclude they can't get along, might as well vote Green or whatever. He's running as a Dem and successfully moved the party on Medicare for All, free college, big idea primaries and some on the GND (not his idea, but he supported it and made the big issue space it needed). That's more Democratic than any Dem since FDR. Your definition of Dem is a cheap shot, a focus on badges rather than the race that earns you the badge. I hope someday you know the difference.

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