Connect with Local Berners

Here’s a great idea to help people who feel isolated and want to connect to other Bernie supporters. Even if you live in a deep red area and think you are all alone, be assured there are others like you who also feel alone.

Create a Local Bernie Sanders Group on Facebook

Linda Jones shared her idea in the Boomers for Bernie Sanders 2020 group on Facebook. It was enthusiastically received by group members.

Here’s a fun idea. Create a Bernie Sanders group for your town! Many of us are isolated in conservative areas where we don’t have a single Berner friend in real life. But I promise you, they’re out there. Take a leap. I just created a page this morning—it took 5 minutes.

With any luck, by this time next week I could be having a cup of coffee with a few new Bernie friends. Think how exciting that will be!

Getting Started

Some people wanted to do this for the community where they lived but were unsure how to set up a Facebook group. Here are several screenshots to get you started. Look around for a button that says CREATE GROUP and click on that.

It’s important to choose “group” and not “page.” Being a group gives you better interactive capability.

That will bring up a screen where you make some choices about your group. Name your group something like Smalltown for Bernie or Berners of XYZ County. Add a name or two to get started. Decide on public, closed, or private. I prefer public for a start so people can find it but maybe switch to closed later so the posts are viewed by anyone not in the group.

• Write a short description of the group’s purpose. It can be something like this: “Join this group if you support Bernie and are a full-time or part-time resident of XYZ town.”
• Add a photo of your town or of Bernie. There are lots of great memes on Facebook.

Set up a question or two for those requesting to join the group to answer. They can be simple, like “Do you live in XYZ town?” and “Tell me one thing you like about Bernie Sanders.”

Post a few good news stories about Bernie and once you have some people join, welcome them and get acquainted.

After you’ve created your group, every day you should pick your favorite post from one of the many Bernie groups, and share it with your group. If the post is already a share, click through to the original post and share that.

I can make that part easy for you. I have a Facebook group which is a newsfeed for Good News about Bernie. I belong to umpteen groups and track down articles to share. It’s not a discussion group, just a sharing of positive links.

Here are some examples of local Bernie groups to give you an idea. Don’t join a group unless you are actually a resident. The whole point is to connect with others locally.

• El Dorado, Arkansas for Bernie
• Jekyll Island for Bernie Sanders

Bouncing Back from Super Tuesday

I woke up early to stew over the losses in yesterday’s election. 

I’m composing a letter to send CNN, MSNBC, etc. They are big contributors to Trump’s rise. It’s not the voters or Hillary that I want to bash, but the mainstream media. Their focus on Trump just because it gets viewers to tune in to see what outrageous thing he will say next has boosted that buffoon to this dangerous level. Their suppression of Bernie Sanders’ campaign in some misguided allegiance to Wall Street and to their own big paychecks is a disservice to Americans who hunger for some hope for political change. To see how far Bernie has come with an almost total media blackout amazes me. They are missing the biggest story of the decade.

If they only care about ratings, they should start showing the huge crowds that line up for hours for Bernie’s giant rallies. His followers crave news of their champion. Give Bernie Sanders some features and people will tune in. The pundits need to quit being so patronizing, so negative whenever they mention Bernie.

Several million people came out to vote for Sanders in Florida, North Carolina, Missouri, Illinois, and Ohio yesterday. This is not a marginal campaign. The changes that he calls for are resonating with the electorate. The voters want an outsider, and if Hillary Clinton faces off with Donald Trump in November, I fear the worst.  

If we have a President Trump in 2017, the media can blame itself for setting up this mess. The voters are sick of politics as usual. If the media continues to suppress coverage and diminish Bernie Sanders impact, then a final ballot between Trump and Clinton sets up a disastrous win for the hate-spewing billionaire. 

It’s the morning after and I see the Facebook groups for Bernie Sanders starting to bounce back from their disappointment in yesterday’s election returns. Our belief in this incredible candidate, a once-in-a-lifetime champion of the people, runs deep and strong.

OK, everyone, it is time to go back to phone banking, to canvassing and to donating to Bernie Sanders. He lost Missouri by a mere 1,600 votes. Let’s make sure that doesn’t happen again.

Do you want to vote for the billionaire who’s admitted to trying to buy politicians, or the politician who refuses to be bought by billionaires? Meme from Facebook (Being Progressive)