In Conversation: Bernie Sanders | Robert Reich

[Music] but before we get there let me ask let me say to anybody who's interested I love this guy and that what Bob Roush has done which not enough academics are doing is actually try to talk about the issues that is concerned with with the whole world I mean using the media writing books that people can understand so Bob I just want to congratulate you very much well thanks I'm a big fan thank you and there are very few politicians around who do the same thing and who lead movements in fact here we are we're in my office we can be we can be frank and you're always nobody nobody was watching nobodies well there are a few dozen out there so here's the quick here's the question this is the most regressive stuff I am witnessed just in maybe the past 30 40 possibly 50 years maybe going back to Reagan what is going on I mean where is the fear is the force coming you got it and that's the right question and here's the very simple answer and you actually have seen occasionally some media reports of us what you are seeing now is Trump and his friends Ryan McConnell implementing beginning to implement the Koch brothers agenda so it doesn't you would think if you were a politician in you were a politician that if there's overwhelming opposition the polls are incredible nobody wants the CMAs more opposition to this legislation then there was to the wall street bailout all right that's how bad it is why are they pushing it because the Koch brothers have of you along with their other billionaire friends that we should basically in federal support for any and all problems they would they would just assume get rid of Social Security Medicare Medicaid get rid of it and this is the beginning in that direction you hear Paul Ryan say this is the first time we can actually roll back a federal universal health care program that is what it's about and mark my words if they are successful on this one we'll go after Social Security they will go after Medicare already happens to move to a privatization of the VA privatization of the Postal Service you name the federal agency they want to eliminate it or privatize it or make substantial cutbacks that's what this is about so you've got the Koch brothers and their friends these multi billionaires their money is polluting beyond pollution I mean basically taking over American politics despite the fact that with regard to this horrendous bill this Gramm casting bill you've got the medical establishment the the drug companies it weighs against it how do they get their power if the big corporations and in some cases I mean you look at the military expansion I understand military contractors want that but you've got a lot of people concerned about I mean the deficit cutters they're worried about it although you say excuse me I beg to differ with you that was yesterday Bob you haven't been paying attention deficit is no longer I don't you already think about it how can you have a set hawks god the good guy they got but we don't I don't get no discussion but it's you know it's all crap it's you know what they say is this is what their agenda is their agenda is to give enormous tax breaks to the people who need it the least and to create a society where people have no support in terms of programs that will protect them and that's what these guys wanna do but I was getting that was a slightly different question which is you've got in the highest reaches of corporate America and even some Wall Street firms you've gotten a realization that if we continue to go down this road you're not gonna have enough purchasing power in the country to keep the economy going you're asking for social upheaval and unrest Donald Trump is part of what you get when so many people are on a downward escalator and there are and I've talked to them CEOs corporate Republicans who say this is bad I am opposed to this why don't those voices have the same kind of power that the Cobras I've not been hearing this way they may tell you in the confines of your office or ISM as a friend I don't even talk to you about it publicly and that is one of the tragic moments because I'm not here to tell you that every Republican in Congress or every CEO is some terrible awful human being I don't think they are but I think they know where their bread is buttered and they may tell you one thing quietly and maybe they believe but certainly there has not been a willingness for them to stand up and say hey this is not good maybe good for short-term profits it's not good long-term for the economy but how much even the Democratic Party or even the Democrats mmm I don't want to put you into a difficult awkward spot but you've got a lot of Democratic senators who voted in favor of them military authorization what's going on with them I would suggest you bring Lemire and ask him that question but what I will tell you is what is astounding to me is there has been very very little public debate all right you know the world has changed since the decline of the Soviet Union right is that a safe world God knows that it is not how do we deal with international terrorism how do you deal with North Korea etc it's such a there's a really serious problems but we are no longer facing a superpower with a massive level of nuclear weapons and a large standing army the world has changed have we adopted to that change I think perhaps that well when I try to do with the 2.3 million followers we have on Facebook thank you by the way for continuing to watch what we do here is offer some upbeat assessment that is what can people out there do it looks bleak we have the worst president in certainly my memory as long as I've been a sentient human being I thought George W Bush was the worst I didn't like Ronald Reagan but this is Bloor unbelief yes and we have a administration that is doing the opposite of what you're supposed to do when you faithfully execute the law they are they every cabinet member I know of is actually repealing or trying not to execute the law what can people out there do as as just day-to-day where you want change we don't want to we don't want this country to go down the toilet all right let me begin by saying obviously I share your exact concerns about Trump and his administration but I will tell you something else which is really quite good news is that on every major issue facing this country the American people increasingly are moving in a progressive direction and that cannot be overshadowed by the disastrous Trump administration giving examples of you an idea five six years ago and I said Bob I'm gonna introduce legislation raise the minimum wage and I know as Secretary of Labor you were involved very happily tonight if I I'm gonna introduce legislation to raise the minimum wage from seven and a quarter the fifteen bucks an hour you would have said Bernie that is whoa that is really off the wall right I mean I just thought a little bit more modestly today here on the west coast all over this country more and more people understand and legislation is being passed to raise the minimum wage to 15 bucks an hour my bill in the Senate now has 31 co-sponsors how's that and that is because working people have been out on the streets people from McDonald's and Burger King and they're saying you know what we can't make it on eight nine bucks an hour what we need a living which real progress in there give you another and Medicare fraud no let's go your Medicare fraud bill I you know if and I credit you your campaign and what you've done Medicare for all was a pipe dream you know just a few years ago before you ran for the nomination everybody you know people I talked about it in Washington and people roll their eyes they said yes we have to get there but not in this generation not while you're still alive and you almost single-handedly made that a possibility and then you introduced legislation and you've got a huge number of co-sponsors extreme co-sponsors and that to me is about social change and political change that is exactly but in a few jaques that's exactly what I'm talking about you so you may want to be discouraged but the last three public polls that came out in the last week and what they said majority the American people want to move toward a Medicare for All single-payer program my point again is we are making progress at the grassroots level of moving this country in a progressive direction another area all right you know I've talked about this in the past and I know you are strongly believe that we can create a whole lot of jobs rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure right you and I talked about this a few years ago and I said well a trillion dollars is what I think we need well a lot of people in the Congress who sang outs too much maybe 400 billion right now that is the position of the Democratic Party one trillion dollars when crate over 13 million decent paying jobs criminal justice reform immigration reform we are making real progress among the American people in moving this country in the direction of saying we needed a government that represents all of us and not just the 1% so I am NOT pessimistic obviously but disaster in the White House is something that we have got to fight every single day but we cannot just fight him in his outrageous reactionary agenda we need a progressive agenda to bring people into the system working people young people a vision for where this country can go so that is the two-pronged approach we need fight him every step of the way no we're not going to throw 800,000 young people out of this country because they weren't born here no we're not going to support your idea that climate change is a hoax we're gonna fight you tooth-and-nail but on the other hand we need a progressive agenda okay which gets me to the third big question I wanted to or the topic I wanted to talk to you about you've got America who that is getting more and more progressive and accepting and actually mobilizing and energized and organizing for some of the things that we've just talked about for Medicare for all for a criminal justice system that actually works for Americans for a system that makes equal protection and equal opportunity where reality for free college education for everything but then you have simultaneously a political system that is dominated by big money more than ever before I mean in the 2016 election for every dollar that labor unions and public interest groups and everybody who we would say as the public interest at heart spent there were 64 dollars that came in from corporations and the wealthy one a dollar versus 64 dollars so even though you've got this increasing upswing in progressivism among the among the the people how do you get the change in politics how do you make America in 2018 starting in 2018 and then in 2020 and 2022 how do you get the political ball rolling when when when politics is so inundated with money what does you know what I want to ask you what's the Bernie Sanders strategy on the inside and then we can talk about what's the outside strategy well the inside strategy is to make it clear to the American people and I think they already know it and well this is one where you can be a conservative moderate or progressive and you understand that there's something a little bit crazy about Americans fighting and dying to protect American democracy and now we're seeing a handful of billionaires controlling to a large degree the political process nobody thinks that that's a good idea except the people who have the money you know so you got a vote I got a vote and the Koch brothers got a vote plus 300 million dollars a year into the political process so I mean clearly what we have to do is continue the effort which is not going to be easy with this you know Trump Supreme Court to overturn Citizens United clearly we need to move to real campaign finance reform in my view we have to move to public funding of Elections okay which says that you show a certain amount of support you're gonna get public funding I'm not going to spend you ten to one because I'm the income I'm a corporate backed politician and we're beginning to see moving around that all over the country but you put your finger on what is the major crisis that we have and that is it's a corrupt a corrupt political system as a result of this disastrous campaign finance situation and that has got to be changed and the only antidote to it outside is that people have got to understand and and na let me answer that is that your Republican efforts in voter suppression right so you have big money buying elections you have Republican governors all over the country making it harder for poor people people of color all the people to participate that's their idea of democracy big money buying elections and working people unable to vote and we need a full frontal attack on that which means that we organize people at the grassroots level one of the interesting things about what Jeremy Corbyn did in the UK a couple of months ago in their election young people voted at a slightly higher percentage for the first time than the general population he mobilized young people so right now poor people don't vote very much young people don't feel very much we gotta bring them in big time into the political process we've got to get working people involved that's what we have to do well there is the crux of the dilemma and I think we both agree to that - Anna you've got voter suppression gerrymandering voter ID big bait money and politics on the one hand you've got a lot of people who are seeing that the system is rigged and corrupt on the other this people that see that the system's rigged and corrupt the last time around they followed for president an authoritarian populist who said follow me I'm gonna shake everything up but oh by the way I'm gonna blame them and them and them and I'm gonna find scapegoats and I'm gonna make this place very hateful yes how do you avoid authoritarian populism how do you get democratic smalti' populism look.we none of this stuff is easy and and certainly this is not a uniquely American phenomenon we've seen it all look out world generally the way it works is that when you have an agenda like the Trump agenda of throwing 30 million people off of health insurance and giving tax breaks to billionaires and denying the reality of climate change and his friends wanting to cut Social Security that's not quite an agenda you're gonna campaign on right hey vote for me I want to cut your Social Security and privatize America give tax breaks to billionaires very much appreciate your support ain't gonna happen sorry human elections it's the same old stuff what you do is you divide people up you play on the fear that exists the desperation that people are feeling so what you say to working people is you know why your wages are going down it's not because of what large multinational corporations are doing sending your jobs there or that it is because some strawberry picker in California some guys make a 9 bucks an hour that's the reason and your job is to hate that person and you know why your kids are not going to college it's because of its it's because of the gay community we're supposed to hate people who have a different sexual orientation than we do and racism and sexism so what demagogues always do is pick on minorities Muslims whatever it may be to try to divide us up and what our a political approach has got to be the exact antidote of that is to bring people together and there's no speech that I have a gift which is that we've got to get stand together black and white and Latino asian-american Native American gay and straight women men we got to stand together to take on this billionaire class don't let them divide us up they divide us up we're gonna lose but a lot of people don't realize and I'm talking about the white working-class but I'm also talking about a lot of poor people who are not white working-class a lot of people don't realize that they are fighting over a smaller and smaller slice you're gonna have a pie that is actually getting bigger but most of the pie is going to a very tiny group of very powerful people who are using some of that wealth to pollute and corrupt politics so how this is not just messaging I mean you know but of people I talk with I said well they see that we said we talk we have this conversation it's not they're not Bernie Sanders but they have there's a kind of analogous conversation and then they get if they're Democrats they say well what's the message right let's have a message discussion and I say them it's not about message it's about framing the issue so people understand what's really happening it's about giving people the motivation and the hope that they can join together and an act on what they now understand what's what's I agree with you but I think also when you look at the political landscape of America today it is a little bit weird that the Democrats have kind of withdrawn almost completely from 25 states in the United States of America so the message I think is right but you got to get your hands dirty you got to go into Oklahoma and you got to go into Mississippi and you got to go into Kansas and Indiana and you got to go into those rural areas and say you know what your kid can't afford to go to college and the black kid in Cleveland can't call for it to go to college don't you think maybe we should work together to make public colleges and universities tuition-free don't let them divide us up but the Democrats to a large degree and this is really galls me have given up the dream of a 50 state party how do you have a national party when you have no presence or literal I've been around the country almost no presence in half the states in this country and you got to go back into those states you got to start from the ground on up and you got bring people together around the progressive agenda but will the Democrats do that it's not just a 50-state agenda it's also telling the truth about money and politics it's about stopping that the Democrats from doing what they've started they've done since 20 Coelho was headed with Democratic campaigns on a committee in Congress and that is drink at the same trough as the Republicans in terms of money big money hey Bob you know I've spent the last number of years fighting exactly that that is the deficient in party and I was very proud that when I ran for president we received more small donations than any candidate in American political history I didn't have a super PAC and I think the lesson of that is if you are prepared to stand for something and take on Wall Street and the drug companies the insurance companies the fossil fuel industry etc you know what people will say yeah is 50 bucks here's ten bucks I'm gonna stand with you and clearly to my mind that must be the future of the Democratic Party will it be okay I'm working it okay one last question don't let you go inside versus outside you are sort of in some way both an inside player and an outside player I am certainly an outside player I mean I used to be on the inside but I've been really on the outside he's a great Secretary of Labor but the question is what is the best strategy for people like you on the inside who are working to fundamentally change the system what's the best strategy for people like me on the outside or also working for a democratic small D progressive agenda that has got to be the uniform agenda it's the only way this country can move it's not it's not as if oh yes well the Republicans over here Democrats over here know there is all we have got to move inevitably towards single-payer we've got to move inevitably towards these smaller military budgets we've got to move inevitably toward sane environmental you know that controlling climate change we've got to move inevitably toward a racial justice and I mean you and I both know these things a lot of people who are watching right now we're preaching to the converted how do we reach out beyond the converted how can you on the inside how can I on the outside get to people who are not there yet well the answer first of all I think is to not only worry about national politics but worry about local politics in your community and in your state one of the results of my campaign and it's a beautiful thing to see a lot of people often young people you know what to do it they're running for school board they're running for City Council they're running for state legislature I know I know many of them yeah and we're picking up some great victories just the other day in Massachusetts a young man named Paul Feeny won the primary at least of the state Senate in Massachusetts and we strongly supported him as he's seeing that all over the country you know what it makes a difference to have a good school board makes a hell of a lot of difference number two I would speak now to the folks not in California or Vermont or New York State but to the people in Oklahoma and in Missouri and in traditionally or old more recently conservative states and that is stand up fight back my job is to get the Democratic Party to give you the resources that you need in Nebraska and elsewhere there are a lot of very good people in those states pop and they feel like what literally I remember I went to what Utah to speak a few months ago and people crying as why are you crying and they said nobody from watching it ever comes to Utah they've given up on Utah well I don't give up on your tie don't give up I think the message that we have can and should resonate in every state in this country every state in this country is a working class thing I mean here we're in you know Northern California and and people can't afford housing right I mean there are issues out that will resonate all over this country if we have the guts to stand with working people understand their needs and then take on big money interests so it is get involved locally it is to those people in the 25 states where the Democratic Party has disappeared reactivates stand up fight back and some of us will be there for you and in 2018 we have got to take back at least one one house of Congress is there any possibility of taking back just an absolutely I mean everything depends on how well Democrats to figure out how to fight on these issues but I would not like to be a Republican member of the House cast the vote to throw 23 million people off of health insurance and give five hundred billion dollars in tax breaks to the top two percent and large multinational corporations man that is not a position that I would like to defend well a lot of them are already on record for voting particularly on those on those bills to get 23 million people off sounds like they're there I mean that we know who they are of course we don't we though and that's virtually the entire Republican body in the house and if Democrats can beat them on that issue alone not to mention everything else out there well so I think you know I think if Democrats get their act together and mobilize people to the grassroots level to get involved in the political process increase voter turnout get young people involved yeah I think we can win at least one of the houses well I I share your optimism every time somebody comes up to me and says I don't care about the Democratic Party I care about the country I care about single-payer I care about free college education I care about all of the things that you care about and I care about but the Democratic Party I don't have anything to do I don't feel like they have anything I understand hey I'm longest serving independent in the history of the Congress oh I get that point but the other point is if you care about those issues it's not good enough to be spouting where the country is gonna go without figure out how we get there and just I just made that point literally yesterday I was at the San Francisco City College and as a result of progressive activism at the grassroots level they have made that college tuition free and you know what happened for San Francisco residents there has been a fifty-one increase in enrollment the school is now a bubbling over with excitement teachers have classes that are too large that happens because of politics right so you can't say oh I want a medicare-for-all but I'm not interested in politics unfortunately it doesn't work that way you gotta get involved at the grassroots level in politics Wayne said when you came up with the college free college education for those who needed public university free public university a lot of people said you can't do it it is pie-in-the-sky and you can't afford it for one thing now the Senate just passed an authorization increasing the military budget by 80 billion which would have paid for your entire more than before more than it would have helped reduce student debt by the way yeah but they did it I did not even I have not to this moment heard any conversation about that welcome to the world of corporate media you're right when I proposed my public colleges the universities tuition-free I think the number was about seventy billion a year oh my god every newspaper in America all my opponents how is sand is going to paper then we did have a pay for which was a tax on Wall Street speculation as a matter of fact but all kinds of discussion he's outrageous he's living pie in the sky it's Aldus eighty billion dollar increase in authorization on appropriation zero almost no discussion at all no none I know I know you have to go and you've been very very patient and and Jane Sanders who I love your partner in life who is actually the spirit and the and the and and basically the brains is that fair to say Jane I want I wanted to introduce you in a moment what do you learned okay but before I do you just said corporate media in this country right now there is a huge danger there many dangers but one of the largest dangers is we lose truth that Donald Trump and the Trump administration had a lot of right-wingers are doing everything they can to reduce the public's confidence in the truth and to substitute genuinely propaganda fake news if this the kind of stuff we saw in the buy more republic under you know young Adolf Hitler and then beyond when when we progressives when we talk about the corporate media are we playing into that that's a very good question and the answer is it I wrote a book called our revolution in the last chapter deals with video what Trump is doing is saying anybody who attacks him for any of the outrageous ideas or actions this is fake news this is a lie it's not what I'm saying there are a lot of good journalists out there a lot of good newspapers out there every single day there's you know incredibly good stuff out there but I think what can be said is that for a variety of reasons a that media is owned by fewer and fewer large multinational corporations what gets the emphasis you just raised the issue who decided that there should be no vigorous debate about an 80 billion dollar increase of authorization where did that come from finish finish Yeah right you have not seen Bob unless you've got better TV here than I have in Vermont when's the last time you've seen a program on television when sesemann how does it happen that the United States of America is the only major country on earth not the guarantee healthcare to all yet we spend twice as much per capita on health care's the Canadians or anybody else don't you think it might be an interesting subject to discuss yes do you think that has something to do with tonight on television gonna see a zillion ads from the pharmaceutical industry maybe so my critique is not that it's fake news is the emphasis that the media gives the political gossip even Medicare fraud wouldn't success the we're having more discussion of it who's supporting at why they're supported who's running for president rather than why does it make sense that's my critique Bernie Sanders you are my hero Thank You newts we'll come by at any any time for office hours live here in my office Jane I live really with our lately let's get the blame I want reduce you how you doing I just want to say this is Jane Sanders and Jane you are probably the most dynamic and you just have enough you have the depth of feeling and wit that I've never ever truly seen Oh uses and and and you've been keeping this guy going and you know for a very long time thank you I just want to thank you for that thank you and thank you for being a fellow at the Sanders Institute to being such a leader there well sale hits your it's your brainchild well yeah I mean yeah but it's based on your work and his work and so many other people trying to create a vital democracy through you know an informed electorate which is what you do every week it's amazing well thank you you are a great team you will address the greatest team and thank you for coming by take care okay thanks bye

Channel: Robert Reich

Views: 306,900

Keywords: robertreich, bernie, bernie sanders, trump, democrats, republicans, healthcare, inequality media, uc berkeley, robert reich inequality for all, democratic party, secretary of labor, robert reich, president trump, donald trump, politics, economy, progressive, democracy, bernie sanders policies, 2020 election, us news, In Conversation: Robert Reich and Bernie Sanders, robert reich bernie sanders, bernie 2020, 2020 presidential candidates

Id: rEdGnIIOdeo

Length: 31min 19sec (1879 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 01 2019