Bernie Sanders Annihilates Mitch McConnell and Delivers a Lesson in Compassion

Last updated on February 7th, 2013 at 05:31 pm

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Sen. Bernie Sanders went on MSNBC today and completely leveled Sen. Mitch McConnell for claiming that revenue is not the issue, and explained that the government is spending money to keep people from starving.

Here is the video:

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Sanders said, “The question that we have to debate as a nation is that deficit reduction is a very important point, but we have to understand that today at 15.7% our revenue as part of GDP is the lowest that’s it has been in sixty years. So when Sen. McConnell says revenue is not the issue, he is dead wrong. Revenue is very much the issue. The American people have been very clear. They do not want to cut Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. They do want to ask the wealthy and corporations to pay more in taxes.”

Sen. Sanders explained why the government is spending so much money right now, “Do you know why we are spending a lot of money? Because we are in the midst of a terrible Wall Street caused recession. Where real unemployment is close to 15%, and if we do not expand the Food Stamp program children in America go hungry. And if you do not provide unemployment compensation, workers will be out on the street having lost everything. Historically what happens when you are in the midst of this terrible, terrible recession, and again real unemployment close to 15%, what the American society has got to do as a society, is take care of people in need. As the economy improves, as fewer people are on unemployment, those spending programs should go down. But you can’t leave fellow Americans out there on the street.”

Sen. Sanders is correct. The government has historically spent money to keep people from starving and losing everything during economic downturns. When the economy gets better, and there are fewer people in need, the government spends less on these programs. Republicans have no evidence to support their position that cutting spending on economic assistance will grow the economy, and history has proven that what Republicans are advocating will only make things worse.

Herbert Hoover tried to cut spending at the start of the Great Depression, and the result was an increase in poverty and hunger. Until the current recession, no political party has tried to cut spending during a recession since Hoover. Republicans have revived their ignorance of the lessons of Hoover, and embarked on a strategy of callous neglect of our societal obligation to people in need during economic hard times. Conservatives suggest that churches and private charities ought to be responsible for assisting those in need, but these organizations also suffer from decreased revenues during an economic downturn. They can’t handle the increased demand on their resources during hard times.

Mitch McConnell is dead wrong, and his insistence on cuts without revenue will lead to more suffering for millions already in need. Republicans has tossed aside their responsibility to our society. All they can see is their own ideology. Conservatives want spending cuts because their ideology tells them cuts will grow the economy.

This is why, in the face of an onslaught spearheaded by blind ideology, it is the responsibility of the left to speak for the voiceless and fight for those most in need during these difficult days.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association