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Break Free and Lead, or Resign: A Letter to Bernie Sanders
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/break_free_and_lead_or_resign_a_letter_t
o_bernie_sanders_20161206/
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Posted on Dec 6, 2016
By Yoav Litvin / Counterpunch
(http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/12/05/break-free-and-lead-or-resign-a-lett
er-to-bernie-sanders/)
Bernie Sanders speaking earlier this year. (Gage Skidmore / CC 2.0
(https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/19820235745/) )
Dear Bernie Sanders,
In our times of fear, growing bigotry
(http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/trump-america-is-real-muslim-woman-assaulte
d-on-subway-by-three-men-as-bystanders-watched/) and uncertainty, I feel
obligated to appeal to you. As a former campaigner of yours, I write this
letter with sadness, rage, disappointment, fatigue and fear, but also a
hopeful look toward the future.
Disillusioned with Barack Obama, I supported Jill Stein for President in
2012. However, when this election cycle came along, I, like many others,
decided to change my registration from "Independent" to "Democratic" in
order to vote for you in the primaries. Fortified by knowledge of the
dangers of a Clinton candidacy, I strongly felt you were our best hope for
meaningful change and warding off the Republicans
(http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/03/07/the-trump-beating-and-the-hope-of-th
e-sandernistas/) .
Bernie, you ran an impressive campaign that inspired millions. I remember
standing on line for hours to see and hear you speak in the Bronx, only to
be turned away due to overcrowding at the rally venue. Black, brown, yellow,
red, white, young, old, gay, straight, what have you. Everyone was there,
excited to hear you speak. People saw you as a progressive alternative to
the status quo of corruption and injustice both here in the United States
and abroad. You called out corporate tyranny, recognized many of the ills of
our society, suggested constructive solutions to some of our biggest
quagmires and even had the guts to openly declare yourself a socialist. In a
landscape of fake, propped up, sell-out, hypocritical, cowardly, Teflon
candidates- you projected integrity and strength. I felt that supporting you
was important, even though your social and economic policies did not go far
enough, and your foreign policy was a light version of the morally corrupt
neoliberal imperialist agenda.
But then you buckled, sold out
(http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/07/15/the-politicians-dilemma-did-bernie-s
anders-sell-out/) , betrayed many of your promises and obediently became the
sheepdog
(http://www.blackagendareport.com/bernie-sanders-sheepdog-4-hillary) of
Hillary Clinton and the lords of the establishment you once stood against.
Disappointed and disgusted, I and others jumped ship back to the Greens,
with the hope that you would acknowledge the gross corruption of Hillary
Clinton and the Democratic Party that unfolded via WikiLeaks and others on a
daily basis, and join us toward a revolution of American politics.
Some have argued that the nomination was stolen from you by the Democratic
National Committee with help from mainstream media. Others claim that it may
have been a collaborative effort between Republicans and Democrats to
elevate Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee,
(https://store.counterpunch.org/bob-fitrakis-episode-61/) in which case
Clinton was cast the role of useful idiot walking blindly toward her doom.
Evidence from WikiLeaks' Podesta emails
(https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/47397) indicates that there
may have been some sort of "leverage" used against you. In any case, it is
clear that you were played.
As you repeated many times during your speeches: enough is enough!
Establishment politics and economics have brought us to the precipice. We
face a form of neo-fascism that used to be dismissed as dystopic science
fiction: a "deep state" so powerful it tramples the constitution. A
collusion of money and power that creates a corporate stranglehold on
workers, black and brown communities, immigrants, LGBTQ individuals,
indigenous people and other minorities. The corporate state is only
ratcheting up its violence and discrimination; see Standing Rock. Our new
reality feels like helplessly watching impending doom in slow motion. To be
clear, Trump's modus operandi is obvious
(http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/waiting_for_the_barbarians_201611271) :
when his supporters recognize his betrayal and place him on the spot, he
will scapegoat easier, more vulnerable targets. Trump and his cronies have
been preparing the ideological groundwork for this catastrophe.
Throughout this campaign cycle you projected two dialectically opposed
personas. Doctor Jekyll was a unifier, a truly independent and courageous
thinker and statesman with a selfless mission to better our country and
world. Mister Hyde was an opportunistic and frightened tool who championed
the working class and progressive/radical causes only when they aligned with
his career objectives.
If you are the people's champion you claimed to be throughout your campaign,
it is past time to wash your hands clean of, and harshly condemn all things
related to the Democratic Party. Democrats have learned nothing
(http://www.npr.org/2016/11/30/503902535/house-democrats-re-elect-nancy-pelo
si-as-minority-leader) from their shameful failures and will create no
meaningful opposition to the right-wing white supremacist agenda that will
take hold of the United States in several weeks. Their impotence is evident,
as further conveyed by the shameful non-response of the current Democratic
administration
(https://www.justice.gov/doj/video/statement-attorney-general-lynch-dakota-a
ccess-pipeline-protests) to the legitimate protests in North Dakota. Any
hopes for their reform
(http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/12/opinion/bernie-sanders-where-the-democrat
s-go-from-here.html) are a complete waste of time we do not have.
The choice is clear, Bernie. Break free and lead, or resign. If you continue
operating as the left flank of a broken system, you are part of the problem,
not the solution.
Join or form a third party with a clear radical agenda that will truly
combat the looming neo-fascism
(https://www.democracynow.org/shows/2016/12/1) in government, on the
streets, and in sites of struggle such as North Dakota, or do everybody,
including yourself a favor and resign from political life. Whether you call
yourself a Democrat or Independent let's not kid ourselves, you are
currently serving the establishment. Your continued support of a two-party
system, a lesser-evil mentality and for the reform of a party that
humiliated you and continues to shame your core constituency legitimizes the
corruption in Washington and is highly detrimental to the causes you claim
to champion.
Bernie, it is not too late. You still have the opportunity to shape a future
and a commanding legacy of courage, struggle and solidarity. Seize it!
Yoav Litvin is a neuroscientist, photographer and award-winning author.
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