It May be a Bitter Pill to Swallow

Somebody posted a rant that ends up supporting Bernie Sanders. It starts by talking about sweating for a living and barely being able to pay the bills. It ends:

When Bernie Sanders talks about income equality, I listen. But that’s different. Bernie Sanders is different. He walks to work. He flies coach. His largest campaign contributors are labor unions (not banks and corporations). He doesn’t run negative campaigns. He agrees with scientific consensus; doctors, nurses, climatologists, and Neil deGrasse Tyson (♡). He doesn’t take corporate contributions.

That’s a big one. He’s funded by small donations from regular people like us, $2 or $3 at a time. We can’t afford more, and he knows it. And he wants to help.

Just read about him. Watch a speech from him. Like him on Facebook and scroll through his posts. I don’t have to convince you. He will.

He’s the one we’ve been waiting for.

Unless you’re happy with the daily struggle and pleased with the government’s way of doing business, JOIN THE REVOLUTION.

Vote for Bernie in the primary election! Let’s get him the Democratic nomination!

Here’s what I’d say to that guy:

Your views are completely understandable. It was the same when Jesse Jackson ran for the Democratic nomination, I think it was in 1983-4. He attracted a lot of working class support, and look how that ended up — nowhere. Sanders might say things that you want to hear, but that’s been so for the liberal wing of the Democrats for years and years. But what can he produce? Anything he tries to do, he’ll be completely stymied by his own party – the Democrats – and he knows that. So what does that mean? It means he’s leading you down a blind alley.

And another thing: Workers in this country will not advance their own interests in isolation from the interests of workers all around the world. For starters, Bernie has zero

Bernie supported the legislation that helped set in motion the mass incarceration of black people in the US. Solidarity means solidarity with all workers!
Bernie supported the legislation that helped set in motion the mass incarceration of black people in the US. Solidarity means solidarity with all workers!

problems with the absolutely bloated military budget, so where will the money come from for the social programs that he’s advocating, such as free college education? But more than that, we have to think about workers other than ourselve– meaning white workers, who are about the only ones supporting Bernie, and for a reason. How about all the hundreds (yes, hundreds) of black people that are being killed annually by the police? Bernie has no real problem with that. And the mass incarceration of black people in this country? Bernie has helped pave the way for that. But just as important: Workers are workers no matter where they live, whether it be in Omaha, Nebraska, the ghettoes of any US city, or Yemen or Gaza. But Bernie supports the mass terrorism against those people in Gaza and Yemen. How can we support that while railing against our own oppression here at home?

Read the rest at: http://oaklandsocialist.com/2015/09/24/a-bitter-pill-to-swallow/