Carl,
I'd add Bill Clinton and W. Bush. But then, as I was reading somewhere or
other today, the Democratic Party, Al Gore in particular, lay down when they
won the 2000 election and allowed the Republican Party to walk into Florida and
just steal the Presidency, and they never fought because they didn't want
trouble and disorder. So we get Bush and the 9/11 attacks, and then as a
result, our civil liberties are gone. We go through the motions of citizenship,
pretending that we have some control. People say, "We've made progress because
medicare for all is now part of the conversation. What the hell does that mean?
The Democratic Party refuses to include it in its platform!
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2020 3:18 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Bernie Sanders keeps licking that boot
Well Miriam, I may have sounded harsher than I feel. Yasha Levine and I
probably agree on more than we disagree. As I indicated, his disappointment
with Sanders, expresses how I feel about our current economic/political/social
system. But over the years, as you know, I've been all over the map,
sometimes being rigid and other times being goosey loosey. Currently, given
the existing conditions, I'd vote for old Goosey Loosey if he/she ran for
president.
We live in a Class System that is growing more pronounced by the month.
Knowing that there is no Cavalry coming over the ridge, I am forced to back the
lessor of two bad choices.
Darn! I didn't want to be back in that position ever again. Butt politicians
being what they are, it's inevitable. If I had to pick the four top presidents
who made serious changes to our nation, they would be FDR, LBJ, Reagan and
Trump. Each has made significant, long lasting changes that have impacted the
lives of a majority of Americans.
Some might say it's too early to add Trump to the list, but he is destroying
the social fabric with amazing speed. The changes he is making will take many
years to undo.
Carl Jarvis
On 8/12/20, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Well, it's important to understand where Yasha Levine is coming from.
He's an incredibly smart guy and as such, he's also very irreverent.
His parents were Russian Jewish immigrants to the US. He came from a
country with a system that promised the workers a lot and gave them
work camps in Siberia where they were disciplined for thinking the
wrong thoughts and which had shortages of everything for the common
man while the elites had more than enough to eat and some luxuries, as
well. He came to a country that promised freedom and civil liberties
and discovered that his new country told as many lies as the one he'd
left. He wrote a book, Surveillance Valley, which is on BARD and which
I read. In it, I discovered some things I never knew, including some
rather unsavory facts about Edward Snowden. So, I think that Levine
is a disappointed and frustrated idealist. But I also do think that
his questions about Bernie Sanders are valid. Yes, Bernie has done a
great deal that is positive, in that he motivated a generation of
young people to become engaged in politics. But he also gave people
false promises. I hear young journalists on podcasts who are very
disappointed and frustrated. I don't know what Bernie's motives are,
but I can understand why so many people feel that he has sold out, or
that the Democratic Party leadership has used him to keep people in
line, to prevent them from starting a new, vigorous people's party. And I'm
sure that Chris Hedges agrees with that sentiment.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2020 11:56 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Bernie Sanders keeps licking that boot
Okay Yasha Levine, you made your point. You're damned mad at Bernie.
As for me? I'm damned mad at a political system that is owned by the
Upper Class, for the Upper Class and paid for By the Working Class.
You and Bernie and me all swim in the same pool. We are all products
of a contaminated pond. Some of us are contented to swim and accept
the tainted waters for what they offer. Some of us struggle against
the contamination, but nonetheless, we are also tainted. We are never
going to see another Jesus rise up from the water, walking on the surface,
pure and untainted.
So rather than bitching about who failed us, and who did not come up
to the mark...which none of us come up to, how about we get off
criticizing the other fellow, and roll up our sleeves and in our own
imperfect way, go forward.
Carl Jarvis
On 8/12/20, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Bernie Sanders keeps licking that boot From raising money for a
senile bully to endorsing a cop in the midst of anti-police
riots...you've come a long way, comrade!
Yasha Levine
Aug 12
Gotta say it's been quite a journey watching Bernie Sanders go from
revving up a grassroots campaign that energized young people in
America in a way that hadn't been seen in several generations.to
shilling for a drooling bully and, now, a spiteful cop.
Bernie Sanders @BernieSanders
Congratulations to @KamalaHarris, who will make history as our next
Vice President. She understands what it takes to stand up for working
people, fight for health care for all, and take down the most corrupt
administration in history. Let's get to work and win.
August 11th 2020
23,844 Retweets191,743 Likes
It was clear back in March that Bernie didn't have what it takes to
lead a real political movement in a time of massive uncertainty and
political upheaval. He wasn't flexible enough - and in the end, he
simply didn't have the fight in him. After getting stomped by a
juiced-up Joe Biden in the last Democratic debate, he sold out his
supporters at the snap of the finger - even as the pandemic was
starting to rage across America. It was depressing to watch then, and
it gets more and more depressing every time he does it.
My only comment on Bernie's total capitulation to the neoliberal
Democratic Party is this: Imagine if Gennady Zyuganov didn't just
lose to a clinically deceased Boris Yeltsin in a clearly fixed
election back in 1996, but actually went out campaigning for him.
Imagine Zyuganov telling all the starving pro-Communist Party
pensioners that had been impoverished by Yeltsin's neoliberal shock
therapy to go to the polls and vote for Yeltsin because Yeltsin can
be pushed to the left. That's Bernie. That's what Bernie's been doing.
Don't worry, grandma. Biden will get us out of this. Bernie says
Biden is leftwing!
________________________________________
To be honest, I'm not even sure why Bernie does it. No one's
threatening him or his family. Why not keep pestering the assholes?
Why not stay in the race until the very end? He's an old man, what
does he have to lose? Does that Senate seat mean so much to him?
I'm certain that history will judge Bernie harshly. But in the
meantime, we're all screwed. Our only hope for salvation, they say,
is a senile jock and a cop who loves threatening single moms with jail.
-Yasha Levine
