[blind-democracy] Bernie Sanders & oppositional criticism

Good article, Roger. And by the way, Jill Stein declared her intent
to run for the presidency this morning on Democracy Now, with Amy
Goodman.


So let me ramble a bit on the upcoming fiasco called the Presidential
Race. In boxing we call it, "The fix is in". There is no race.
Unless you consider Tweedle Dee Dee and Tweedle Dee Dum sitting on the
fence, a race. Clinton verses Clone does not constitute a Race. It
is the left hand shaking the right hand. But both hands belong to the
same body. Both hands are controlled by the same brain. Both hands
appear to do different things, but both hands will always do what the
brain orders them to do.
That, in my humble opinion, is the American Political Monster.
So, if I am even close to being correct, we can't make this monster do
our bidding. We are under the spell of different brains than the two
hands of the Ruling Monster.
Then why even dabble in this fiasco? Why even campaign for Jill
Stein? Would we really want to place her in the pot of boiling water
called the White House? Ideally, we would better spend our time
planning how to remove the current Monster, with nonviolent means.
Remember, I strongly maintain that violent overthrow merely sets a
nation up for another violent encounter. Usually the takeover by a
Strongman.
We might better spend our time discussing what sort of world we want
for our children/grandchildren.
But the Progressive/Radical Parties are at each others throats, eager
to show the limitations of all others, and the "Rightness" of their
own. Sort of like the vast array of Christian Denominations.
Maybe the day will come when all these organizations can talk together
without taking everything personally, but we have been so conditioned
to behave in that manner that it is going to be a long time in coming.
Meanwhile, I am planning to support Bernie Sanders. Why? Because he
does have a fairly broad platform and audience. He will bring up many
domestic issues that the Right Hand would rather not consider, and the
Left Hand(Clinton) will be forced to pay lip service to. At least
this will force the Monster Brain to work overtime in devising ways to
squelch Bernie Sanders. There is some value, or perhaps simply some
fun, in helping the Monster squirm.
As long as we keep firmly in mind that no matter what happens, the
Monster Brain is going to win.
And after the Primary, I plan to turn my measly support to Jill Stein,
and the Green Party. Still remembering that even if she were to win,
she would be swallowed up by the Monster Brain.
But again, her campaign will bring out issues that would never
surface. Perhaps of all the candidates, Jill Stein would have the
greatest impact on our nightmare called, Foreign Policy. None of the
Left Hand or Right Hand candidates will touch that sacred cow. None
of them, including Bernie Sanders, will dare to take on the mighty
military, the true power center today.
The Corporate Masters are behaving like the Greedy Fools down through
history. They will grab and grab and wake up one day to discover that
the very forces they set in motion to help them maintain power, are
turning on them and taking over. The Corporate Rulers will become the
servants of the New Ruling Class. The Mighty Military.
But I digress. Bernie Sanders, and then Jill Stein. But it will only
be an exercise to fill in my idle moments.

Carl Jarvis




On 6/22/15, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@freelists.org> wrote:
> In the past when I have been asked what I think of Bernard Sanders I
> have said that at best he is a social democrat and a right-wing social
> democrat at that. I think that Sanders is causing me to revise that
> opinion himself. He does not seem to be a social democrat at all and his
> claims of socialism have about as much meaning as others' claims that
> Obama is a socialist. Sanders is showing every sign of being nothing
> more than a bourgeois liberal and not even a left-wing liberal either.
>
> http://socialistaction.org/bernie-sanders-and-oppositional-criticism/
>
>
> Bernie Sanders & oppositional criticism
>
> Published June 21, 2015. | By Socialist Action.
> July 2015 Sanders
>
> By JOE AUCIELLO
>
> "… the oppositional criticism is nothing more than a safety valve for
> mass dissatisfaction, a condition of the stability of the social
> structure." — Leon Trotsky in his preface to "The History of the Russian
> Revolution."
>
> In early June, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton told a
> conference organized by Service Employees International Union members
> that she backed the $15-an-hour national minimum wage campaign. She
> praised the union activists and supporters "for marching in the streets
> to get a living wage" and added, "I want to be your champion. I want to
> fight with you every day."
>
> She didn't really mean it, of course. Within 24 hours her campaign
> issued a clarification explaining that in general Clinton favors higher
> wages for low-income workers, but she does not specifically endorse the
> demand for a $15 hourly minimum. So, union members and activists heard
> their hoped-for message; big business and Democratic Party officials
> heard the more honest message.
>
> Clinton's cautious centrism permits her only a flirtation with leftist
> causes, thereby yielding the left-of-center space to another candidate.
> Thus, the stage is set for the entrance of Vermont Senator Bernie
> Sanders, whose campaign website boldly asks: "Ready to Start a Political
> Revolution?"
>
> Sanders certainly intends to become the voice of "oppositional
> criticism" in the 2016 election. Thus far, the efforts of this sometime
> "socialist," the independent in the Senate who typically votes with the
> Democrats, have been more successful than those of former Democratic
> governors Martin O'Malley of Maryland and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island.
>
> Sanders has been drawing increasingly large crowds in the primary states
> for his campaign events, and in those states his poll levels are sharply
> rising. Clearly, Sanders is saying something different—which energizes
> Democratic and independent voters. The promise of radical change
> resonates with many whose lives have seen little benefit during the
> tepid years of the Obama administration.
>
> At this stage in the primaries, the Sanders platform gives a public
> hearing to many progressive ideas. Most notably, the Sanders campaign
> directs a spotlight on the obscene levels of income inequality in
> America. Sanders speaks out for a national, single-payer health care
> system and pledges to pursue efforts to create sustainable energy to
> reduce global warming.
>
> He would remove tuition fees from state colleges and universities. He
> supports the $15 minimum wage, argues for breaking up the mega-banks,
> and promotes a jobs package that would put people to work by rebuilding
> the highways and bridges that are deteriorating throughout America.
> These are reforms that, if enacted, would benefit the lives of millions.
> No wonder Sanders' poll numbers have risen dramatically.
>
> Still, Bernie Sanders is hardly an unknown. Given his "socialist-light"
> political history and voting record, which is virtually
> indistinguishable from that of a typical liberal Democrat and includes
> support to funding Israel and the war in Afghanistan, it is fair to ask:
> Is Sanders really the voice of dissent? Is he really the figure who can
> galvanize the poor, the working class, women, racial minorities, and
> youth to lead the political fightback that is so sorely needed?
>
> Though audiences at rallies may be stirred by soaring speeches,
> high-flown words accomplish little. What's more, a geyser of popular
> rhetoric tends to erupt every four years around election time.
>
> A socialist writer has noted that while the Democrats proclaim
> themselves "as champions of the poor, their 'soak the rich' rhetoric is
> largely a misrepresentation. They and their Republican counterparts use
> such rhetoric only to appeal to voters. Both parties, over the last
> decade in particular, have rushed to find tax breaks for the rich and
> lower the real income of working people. Today even two-income families
> are having a difficult time paying for basic necessities."
>
> This observation was made 25 years ago. The article, written by Hayden
> Perry, was entitled: "Congress approves new budget: Higher taxes and
> fewer services," which certainly has a present-day ring to it. Though it
> was published in the November 1990 issue of Socialist Action, it could
> be reprinted today with little change.
>
> Bernie Sanders is this year's model of the token "leftist" who will make
> oppositional criticism as a safety valve for mass dissatisfaction. His
> commitment to his causes appears real enough, but it goes no further
> than the margins of the Democratic Party. Those margins cannot and have
> never sustained a popular movement that would give real meaning to
> democracy.
>
> Some fifteen years ago, Ralph Nader launched his bid as the Green Party
> candidate for the president of the United States. Although Socialist
> Action gave no support to the Green Party's electoral campaigns, which
> only proposed reforms to capitalism, Nader at least argued with a
> boldness and insight thoroughly lacking in Bernie Sanders today. In his
> 2000 announcement speech, Nader said that the foundation of his efforts
> would be "to focus on active citizenship, to create fresh political
> movements that will displace the control of the Democratic and
> Republican parties, two apparently distinct political entities that feed
> at the same corporate trough. They are in fact simply the two heads of
> one political duopoly, the DemRep Party."
>
> How did Bernie Sanders, the socialist who asks if we are ready for
> revolution, respond to the Nader campaign? In his political memoir,
> Nader explains: "Bernie had told me that while he sympathized and agreed
> with our pro-democracy agenda, he could not come out officially for us.
> The reason was that his modus vivendi with the House Democrats would be
> ruptured and he would lose much of his influence, including a possible
> subcommittee chair" ("Crashing the Party," pp. 125-126). Nader was
> discreet enough not to inquire about the actual results of Sanders'
> supposed influence.
>
> Little has changed. The fix is still in. The Democratic National
> Committee has essentially offered Sanders a simple deal in words
> approximately like these: "We'll let you speak out and give you a place
> in the six Democratic primary debates if you affirm your place as a
> Democrat. You get to say whatever you want in the state primaries as
> long as you support whoever we want in the national election."
>
> It is not a very good deal, but it is the only one on offer, and though
> Sanders will haggle, pushing for more debates, he will accept what he is
> given. It's what Bernie does. In fact, Sanders has built a career as the
> fighting socialist who takes a dive for the Democrats.
>
> Sanders does not lead and does not intend to. He follows. His vision of
> the future is restricted to what has been made popular in the recent
> past. The ideas Sanders offers, the program of his campaign, go no
> further than the demands raised by the significant social struggles of
> the last several years: the Occupy movement and the environmental
> movement, especially.
>
> The lesson for activists working for Sanders is quite clear: Do better
> work and be more effective by building social protest movements at the
> grassroots and national levels. The opportunities are many and varied.
> The Ferguson National Response Network is a good source of information
> for protest actions taking place in cities all across the United States.
> The approximately 100 organizations that attended the United National
> Antiwar Coalition conference would eagerly welcome new supporters.
>
> Whether it is 15 Now, Black Lives Matter, local campaigns against
> nuclear power plants, struggles for environmental issues, women's
> rights, and more, important causes need the time, energy, and money that
> is being poured into the Sanders for President Campaign.
>
> The biggest flaw with Bernie Sanders is not his failure to condemn
> capitalism as a system and call for its overturn. It may even be asking
> too much to expect Sanders to fight for the structural reform of
> capitalism, to demand the nationalization of basic industries, as the
> British Labor Party did after World War II, in a platform that won a
> national election. The Sanders team will say the times are not right for
> such bold measures, that it is enough if Bernie only wants to soften
> some of the system's worst excesses.
>
> But the time has come—in fact, the time is long overdue—to show a new
> generation of activists just what the Democratic Party is and why it is
> necessary to move past it. Bernie Sanders fails to take that decisive
> step. His campaign by its very nature misleads activists by asserting
> that the Democratic Party is a fit instrument for the kind of social
> change that is needed to transform America.
>
> A socialist who truly merits the term "independent" once said,
> "Capitalism rules and exploits the working people through its control of
> the government. … And capitalism controls the government through the
> medium of its class political parties. … The unconditional break away
> from capitalist politics and capitalist parties is the first act of
> socialist consciousness, and the first test of socialist seriousness and
> sincerity" (James P. Cannon, "Speeches for Socialism," pp. 339-340,
> emphasis added).
>
> Sanders has been compared to a "sheep-dog" who herds people into the
> Democratic Party. A better analogy might be drawn from the world of
> sports. In the preparation for a championship bout, boxers hire sparring
> partners to help them train and get into shape for the real match. That
> opponent is there to fight but not fight too much. Though putting on a
> lively show before losing, the sparring partner should not cause the
> real boxer any serious injury, much less draw blood.
>
> This type of dynamic is underway now in the Democratic Party primaries.
> Bernie Sanders is primarily a sparring partner for Hillary Clinton.
>
>
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