I support Bernie in his effort to secure the Democratic Nomination for the US presidency. I will be voting for him when the opportunity comes on March 15th.
I’ve been following Bernie’s political career for some time. He’s been doing the “Brunch with Bernie” for years and I’ve always listened and was impressed with his answers during the call-in segment of the show.
I had a Poli Sc professor tell me that there was a “socialist” in the US congress way back in like 1995, and I was like “bullshit!” That’s when I first read up on Bernie. He wasn’t actually a “socialist” but I was still surprised that a man with his political views could reach the HOR in the US, especially in Clinton’s America. That was the era when Clinton pushed the Democrats to the Right and pushed the DNC to embrace corporatism, and liberalism because a dirty word.
In fact the Republicans are so bat shit crazy right now because the Democrats totally stole their platform; welfare reform, military budget inflation, privatization of every fucking thing, pro-corporate trade deals, mass incarceration, private insurance mandates, labor union subversion, etc. The Dems under the Clintons didn’t leave the Republicans shit to run on but God, anti-gays, anti-abortion, and old school Racsim.
The Democrats, starting in the early 1990s defeated the Republicans by becoming the Republicans, and Black Democrats still ain’t hip to the flip. The Clintons did this, but to be fair, towards the end of his first term Jimmy Carter toyed with that Right-Wing Liberalism as well.
Anyway, I’ve been following Berine a while and I was actually shocked when he announced his candidacy, but I’m not surprised by his reception by the US electorate. Most people in this US are Leftist in their views and values, even most Republicans are. When you lay out Leftist policies without telling a Republican that they are Left policies, they embrace them by and large.
Bernie is a classic liberal, he’s not a socialist, and not even a progressive; but US politics has been driven so fare to the Right Wing of the political spectrum that a classical liberal looks like a Revolutionary Racial. Hell Obama is further to the Right in policy than Nixon and most Republicans of the Post-WWII era; but he’s called a liberal. SMH.
I don’t support Bernie because I think he will save Black folks, get us Reparations, dismantle the American Empire; that’s not the job of any politician, that’s the job of the People, real Revolution must be from the bottom up.
Bernie can however enforce the Clean Air Act, he can implement health care, criminal justice, and budget reforms that actually serve the interest of the citizenry instead of the multinational corporations. Bernie can set a new tone for US politics, but they will still be US politics when it’s all said and done. Its about how the State will be governed until we can get the fuck out from under the State.
I don’t get emotional about Politics and Governance, many Radicals shun politics, policy, and direct engagement with the apparatus of the State, but that just don’t make sense to me.
I don’t know of any Revolutionaries that didn’t engage the political System that they were trying to transform, take over, or topple. But that’s another discussion, you didn’t ask about all that. It’s just that every time I talk about electoral politics all these self righteous Radicals pop up bragging about how they don’t vote; talking about how it don’t matter who’s elected, or how votes don’t matter; which just is not true.
Just look at Flint, MI. Who you vote for will not determine whether or not you are liberated from White Domination, Western Imperlism, or Capitalism, but it will impact the policies governing you water quality; and until we are fully free, that kinda shit matters. So, If I can cast a vote to shore up my Grandmothers Social Security Checks at the same time I organize for Revolution int he streets, then it’s a no-brainer to me.
Bernie has the best policy platform off all the candidates, he also presents a tangible threat to some of the most precocious elements in the US economy and Government. I also think that he stands in opposition to PNAC (Project for A New America Century), which was conceived during the Reagan Administration, Bill Clinton laid the foundation, Bush II fully implemented it, and Obama has advanced PNAC even further than Bush. Hillary intends to embrace and advance PNAC as well. Bernie is the only official who is not on that program.
I think Pan-Africanist need to get real practical and calculating when it comes to US electoral politics; we are not citizens of the US Government, we are subjects of the America Empire, and that should inform how we vote, and how we engage politics in general.
Our political agenda, my Pan-Africa Agenda will be advanced no matter who get the nod; we shouldn’t despair if Trump or Hillary gets in, we shouldn’t think we can relax if Bernie gets in.
Just ask Killer Mike, he gets it.
I live in a Blue State, so I’m voting Bernie in the primary, and I’ll likely vote for Jill Stein in the General Election; but if I wasn’t in a Blue State, I’d vote Bernie in the general as well.
