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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Posted in Elections. | Tagged Democratic Party, Democrats, Sanders.
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