Surviving Capitalism (Not) : What Would Bernie Do? [A critique of a much celebrated liberal]

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Monday, October 27, 2014

What Would Bernie Do? [A critique of a much celebrated liberal]

Click here to access article by William Greider from The Nation.

Here we see a classic American liberal, Greider, in an article published in a prominent liberal (or capitalist left-wing) publication, asking us to follow America's celebrated Senate liberal who pretends to be a "socialist".

Senator Sanders has given us an excellent litmus test for choosing a presidential nominee in 2016 but also for imposing fundamental changes on the risk-averse Democratic party.

So, what is Sanders' great litmus test?

I intend to caucus with that party that will most likely support a major federal jobs program putting millions of Americans back to work rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, supports overturning the disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision, supports raising the minimum wage to a living wage, supports pay equity for women workers, supports a single-payer national health care program, ends our disastrous trade policies, addresses the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality, and is prepared to aggressively address the international crisis of global warming.

It is the usual Sanders' bull-shit message hitting on all the key points that liberals like to hear. His actual record shows that he is an arch Zionist who is firmly committed to the apartheid and imperial interests of Israel, the many Empire bombings and invasions of one country after another either directly or by proxy, and a firm supporter of the military-industrial complex. (See this, this, this, this, this, this, and this.)

I was pointed to this article by LUV News which emails recommendations of articles to people on the left. I was initially suckered into subscribing to this service, and recommending the service to others, by some of the articles which I felt really hit at the imperialist-fascist core of a country that has evolved into a Fourth Reich. But with this article and a few recent others, I suspect they are doing what I see as an increasing phenomenon in left media: the corralling of dissident liberals by initially supporting their views, and then gradually luring these dissidents back into the herd of ignorant followers of mainstream politics. (I have since unsubscribed.)