Speaking of elections, David Swanson said it right when he said,
"...I'm in favor of them! I think we should have one some day!"
We did understand that Bernie Sanders was always tolerated as a member
in fair standing in the Establishment. Didn't we?
If not, it's time to wake up and smell the gun powder. Bernie made a
strong case for what he called, "A revolution". In truth, he looked
more like a defender of the FDR reform of the 1930's. Remember, FDR
was not attempting to raise up a revolution. FDR was doing his best
to save Capitalism for the ingrates who whined and sniped
at him. And carried their hatred past his death, to continuously
snap at the heels of Eleanor Roosevelt. As Roosevelt once said,
commenting on the insane level of the attack upon him and his family,
..."they now include my
little dog, Fala".
Make no mistake. What Bernie Sanders proposed was no revolution, but
instead was a reform that, like those of FDR, would save the Corporate
Capitalistic Empire. But, like the Cancer it is, the Empire will eat
itself for the last Piece of Gold, the last breath of fresh air, the
last cup of clear water, and the last drop of the Working Classes
blood.
Certainly we owe Bernie Sanders a vote of thanks for raising the
issues that would never have surfaced otherwise. But it is time to
shake his hand and wish him well, and move past Sanders to begin
planning the real "revolution". It is actually preparing itself, but
we can join in, if we hurry.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/26/16, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
_____
From: David Swanson via WarIsACrime.org [mailto:david@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Sunday, June 26, 2016 9:14 AM
To: miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Party's Over, Quarter Billion Dollars on Bernie, Now What?
Party's Over, Quarter Billion Dollars on Bernie, Now What?
By David Swanson
http://davidswanson.org/node/5193
Well meaning people just spent a quarter billion dollars on the Bernie
Sanders campaign which continues operations while its candidate says he will
vote for Hillary Clinton for president.
Let's put that in a little perspective. Iraqis fleeing Fallujah yet again,
as wars that Hillary Clinton pushed
<http://click.actionnetwork.org/mpss/c/5gA/ni0YAA/t.1yd/aUqvEsidQCyA3zgmrgqiZA/h0/f0FIP9WI3-2F6-2BQzOLFbaI6W10sSvVmAaftYxsMlH1jOfQfVJO3T98SziUv-2BDslcDLgga3FJh8YuIJzzJgUqYNnzEnahG1d6leewUHaXSdE0HW-2FtGXzvAM3XiEbmQDhkeSUK8bApBFsT04-2Flw4xbbqcF2B-2FUglKFeKeqpaUj2rd3Mmgmc1pJCdpUZYW157FghDEa-2BgzkGg8Qb6diE8zEc-2BP5P7as-2F10OHQ1gtBlk9TK76vM6NhVLmf8UPo5xo0kjEmVHe6MMEjcwVBb2lOwH-2F0FBGqHisHUefjQ8A-2FfzRr-2BvgrXkmkVaJvBx6P64YEz9b4U3yYNXP7JPksowhNs6qXtG7u95yhYqJKT0ERIlNRxZaVEUO-2FLpXm8ITXSVs8XH3P>
for roll on, are in need, according to the United Nations, of $17.5 million
for survival.
I work for an organization opposing war, called World
<http://click.actionnetwork.org/mpss/c/5gA/ni0YAA/t.1yd/aUqvEsidQCyA3zgmrgqiZA/h2/Jb9ZUZ-2BHBLFAkQw-2FQ1kTOl3geL9PmLlAz6s04TuLxeCcGiI-2B4LuPQ4Gk5EEQAHrvYHOVjas3ojnHAl1kITa1JygdpLi1jND93Qs50K0bxSeq2udZXHiWRYjRjP5ujiN9HhFlPkYTOM4o4OKmYVUa3IkzFDm6x7cg7Vu3ajyPh4o8y3MjVnYKc5OZ1wZaDOBENUx81Zczvxc4gxnv8HIzwuiBJV-2FBZepyoy3V5OoZEmn5JLn68lVHnpxo4hGLx5m-2FZN3rvFJO2uEuH-2BoYF1G-2BjZK97JEAPVPwFSzvDcNqZLSz-2F748O15Y3UyKcrpibZHw987Mb5tVU-2BsRQr2YW-2FKWN6v8AOxPF6C9F-2B4kDoScvasPobhiVQDerhgewRM30TIw>
Beyond War, which runs on less than $50,000 a year. Many good organizations
pursuing just what this world needs run on less than that, but you could
fund 5,000 organizations at the level of World Beyond War's current funding
for what's been spent on Bernie.
Has Sanders for President been a wise investment or not?
Certainly Bernie's campaign inspired people. But I see no reason not to
expect most of them to become despondent and despairing now that it's over.
If past experience with failed and successful campaigns alike is any guide,
that's where we're headed.
Certainly Bernie's campaign educated people. But it's reasonable to assume
that establishing or expanding major new media outlets to the tune of
$250,000,000 would have educated people too, and that they might have gone
on providing the same funding next year and the year after, if their
interest were in education rather than election. (First Look Media,
publisher of The Intercept, was created with just that amount, but not to
all be spent in one year.)
Certainly Bernie should go on trying to somehow make the Democrats' Platform
(which, if the past is any guide, they will ignore anyway) slightly less
rightwing and disastrous.
It's unclear that investing in Bernie was a reasonable gamble toward winning
something more. The rigged nature of the election was clear from the start.
Bernie's commitment to promote Hillary Clinton in the end was clear from the
start. And her commitment to warmongering, environment destroying, oligarchy
enhancing policies was clear from the start.
What else could have been done or could be done now or could be done next
time? No, of course you should not vote for the fascist golfer clown. Yes,
of course you should vote for Jill Stein. But the system is as rigged
against her as it was against Sanders.
Let me ask the question a different way. Why is it that corporations will
now take a public stand for LGBTQ rights? Why will even a conscience-free
corporate hack like Hillary Clinton defend LGBTQ rights she used to oppose?
The primary answer is that activists changed the culture. The role of voting
in their work was minimal. As Emma Goldman said, if voting ever changed
anything they'd ban it. As Howard Zinn said, it matters less who's sitting
in the White House than who's doing the sit ins.
Why so down on elections? I'm in favor of them! I think we should have one
some day! That will require some of these changes that cannot be voted in
under the broken system that lacks them: public funding of elections, no
bribery, free air time for candidates, automatic voter registration, open
debates and ballots, no gerrymandering, hand-counted paper ballots,
international monitors, no electoral college, no delegates, no
superdelegates, and a three-month election season with a bit of actual
governing before the next one.
If I were drafting a party platform, it would add to those the following:
take military spending back to 2001 levels, tax corporations and
billionaires at 1960 levels, restore the minimum wage to its 1968 level, and
guarantee everyone top-quality free education preschool through college,
healthcare, job training as needed, vacation, family leave, retirement,
transportation, childcare, clean energy, public parks, sustainable
agriculture, and significant aid to the rest of the world. Yes, that's
Bernie's platform, or could have been if he'd been willing to mention
cutting military spending or investing in foreign aid. It's also
Scandinavia's reality. But a party platform is not the most important place
for these commitments.
The place for our passion and even our "unity" is not in a political party
that destroys everything we hold dear and calls our continued subservience
"unity." We have 60% of the U.S. public that simply cannot stand Hillary
Clinton or Donald Trump. That may increase as we're forced to endure more
and more of the pair of them. If all of those people, or even half of them,
backed Jill Stein she might win. But that requires imagining a fair system
of elections and of communications that does not exist.
And what if she were elected president? Or what if Bernie Sanders were
elected president? We'd still be up against a corrupt communications system,
an ill-informed public, a reactionary Congress, a medieval Supreme Court,
and the absence of a major independent movement for change. It's good to see
Congress Members staging a sit-in to demand that other Congress Members back
some ridiculously weak if not counterproductive gun control measures, but
what we need is a massive movement of independent people sitting in and
surrounding the Capitol until both parties act on the basic lessons learned
around the world: ban the guns and stop bombing people.
Does that sound dreamy and utopian? The point is not to expect it to succeed
entirely and immediately. The point is that the most strategic way to
achieve a partial, compromised solution is to build momentum for a real fix.
When your best Congress Members are openly bragging that their opening
negotiating demand is for the very least that could possibly be done, the
predictable result is less than that. When people fall in behind those
so-called public servants, failure is guaranteed.
So what should we do? Even if you believe in dumping most of your energy and
money into a broken election system, please consider saving a little for
independent activism. We should organize, educate, march, rally, protest,
sit-in, disrupt, create alternatives, create media, and find local, state,
regional, and international solutions.
Here's one example of what I'm working on. World Beyond War is planning an
event called No War 2016 that will happen in Washington, D.C., in September
and involve panels, workshops, and nonviolent civil resistance. Speakers
will include Dennis
<http://click.actionnetwork.org/mpss/c/5gA/ni0YAA/t.1yd/aUqvEsidQCyA3zgmrgqiZA/h5/Lo9YaIp3ZSj1ExWjVRcsNBmvz76DxgbUEbgodjSazrTkMPh0VSNOGGsY0ZIwixlNihPi1XZ0ATKRSawNTklXwFuwmUYnjVsbL0-2Fw-2FMURf67F6pTCvPI2u2ZeaW9ooF0W7nQ8j2b2iXBzxLpp4H8jcMN95soYkFU5PFT6f6OsILBR-2B16JmHwHWdRIpSdsjs5PBIAUT-2FG1b4RHf65AlbjwPJ3fCg-2Bw2sp7b2a3voLzDpIMcHh-2B6u06yqr-2BWvyq9yqil0Y-2BE9n6vGaWK13HzXAaPtIcU9Xh8At397ZL4M2oKb0oX8XbFmjgGspEjLBdt66-2BquQBpFhIrnXnU24QCosyg44f9VWcEiYC9jewRKkSpFWfb0nSNuSDRN6TuMTB1QRn>
Kucinich, Kathy Kelly, Miriam Pemberton, David Vine, Kozue Akibayashi,
Harvey
<http://click.actionnetwork.org/mpss/c/5gA/ni0YAA/t.1yd/aUqvEsidQCyA3zgmrgqiZA/h10/LFKPvzBsjGo6aYI4suTl8egVZN0EH6IMLN-2FJyHpQuleaaoZNcYxVbh3pGOMmDAd629Sv5zWKAB4phL6-2Fj5cVyH1OIRwyYqMNsejMQTsEJfrVAyndDg5WHIwEyXhwMAr3OCrA1U5Trfq18Ruw-2BBnON1kCiwGcgVAtBbv-2Bc4hg6XXIAcRR1IqMAgRrfvRfljY4JiMbE-2BTd-2BnOC6gJvynrM0VH45KUPtpnbcq85Nd8NkL-2BtX0ovZdvQutTmF6r0E9PE0zP3kg-2FraSAw8H52OXnSeaVsHz9YV8BPMlBydvY-2Bp4wjjsk55rIJM9lFYHO7-2BjhMto9xbaIvI9P0z2OetE61hfeWl6R62Ebwnk6QySLQnJYwcUL3iGDvUOW1HHPGqBW9>
Wasserman, Jeff Bachman, Peter Kuznick, Medea Benjamin, Maurice Carney,
David Swanson, Leah Bolger, David Hartsough, Pat Elder, John Dear, Mel
Duncan, Kimberley Phillips, Ira Helfand, Darakshan Raja, Bill
<http://click.actionnetwork.org/mpss/c/5gA/ni0YAA/t.1yd/aUqvEsidQCyA3zgmrgqiZA/h24/nR03tqdpS4cGI6tkOOnBz8sDWvu0ivxLTaj-2BLpx6eycYRKTDvrBdJ5xMu5dwmjgHxmK-2BNI-2FXnyxgkmfeF6GMbUrdT5qgYVlmB14yxElnesMT3Pu7JTYj9XaokTgb8L0gd1fmVvEplRgwJypeTpS2SisgFV8XEeRdsuq7VviDBfuZnFByJ7ujk-2Be1K36YnNv7RcH0FvJMrWJeG3BRdpvibkU7suiz5Be4jo10DH8rWmcnK7F-2FUQATYGGlQwUxlXIdM5TbbY5v-2Bn7K4ylbhe9HTl2fF5drm3SoRtv77giGrpRE4bc0tTJ2gaVSnx6lQ2DN3jwL1iC9fuMrh2htDfOJDcpatABUIH4-2BVvsGiCFEFtonQ5DpKQ18MoRsX3EfxWRO>
Fletcher Jr., Lindsey German, Maria Santelli, Mark
<http://click.actionnetwork.org/mpss/c/5gA/ni0YAA/t.1yd/aUqvEsidQCyA3zgmrgqiZA/h27/-2Bdfnsb1U4mery-2B0nZkkkzGLgvQ4PU2xk-2FetZLPAqcRB1qKOQA10PIFrFgwxxLxyf12AxOSc7mTHsLLkn5gNp9qxjB4dOLG5y6EVEkDL0Hx5AuU-2FaUCSLvT22-2BMxDqaKti3zB-2Fm-2Bg5DMg96tQttVr9OWl190hBPiZBLcilhJBOWEOh7IH3AIyDEMT1Sp1-2BBIpHHQAZEKUCDIgjLscA5MRamrATnJwnIzq25EgGuYbxKIP0GQEy8uT0dxJ7p4uFRDBrJu4yhMrBdY4AsM6ZCzgI1F-2FaWbrPpowmrmSnrsL1OeomJStD3kKJkW1TAfSj2wnVnNUGbPOM5aOVYWZG5NZL9AIX-2FLicd7mRvrrwtXG5fCnf2UJENOgBKgpR9YOG6ed>
Engler, Maja Groff, Robert Fantina, Barbara Wien, Jodie Evans, Odile Hugonot
Haber, Gar Alperovitz, Sam Husseini, Christopher Simpson, Brenna Gautam,
Kent Shifferd, Patrick Hiller, Mubarak Awad, Michelle Kwak, John Washburn,
Bruce Gagnon, David Cortright, Michael McPhearson, and Sharon Tennison (none
of whom necessarily agrees with me on anything in this essay, and some of
whom certainly disagree passionately).
We can help you plan a conference or a nonviolent action or both in your
part of the world, and you can find lots of events here. I particularly
recommend sit-ins in Congressional offices now, pointing to Congress's
willingness to use the same tactic itself, and pointing the media to your
own live video feed of your own teach-in on the floor of the plush office of
your senator or misrepresentative.
The truth is that we have far more power than we're told, we just don't have
it where we're told to look for it.
Help support DavidSwanson.org, WarIsACrime.org, and TalkNationRadio.org by
clicking here: http://davidswanson.org/donate.
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here.
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