Why Bernie Was Right

Written on October 24th, 2016 in politics Comments Off

Published on Jacobin, by Luke Savage, Oct 21, 2016.

Wikileaks’ latest document dump vindicates Bernie Sanders’ critique of Hillary Clinton and the Washington establishment … //

… This past April, just days before the critical New York primary, the Bernie Sanders campaign released a new ad it hoped would help overcome its rival’s home-state advantage and take the Vermont senator over the top: … //

… With the Sanders insurgency and its populist message neutralized, many no doubt assumed the issue had been safely put to bed. But in recent weeks, a near continuous stream of documents published or sent to the press by Wikileaks (and several other sources) has, at the very least, rendered that assumption premature — and put the innards of the rigged economy into a much sharper view.

The Podesta Emails: A Sketch: … //

… A Rigged Economy:

In each of these cases, Clinton’s sympathy with, and affinity for, corporate America and the interests of some of its worst actors sits in plain view. But beyond the very obvious deceit, they also give us a glimpse of just how calculated and cynical her progressive gestures truly are.

The overwhelming impression gathered is that Clinton and her machine — increasingly indistinguishable from the Democratic Party itself — have adopted the populist stances favored by their party’s base only when circumstances left them no other choice; that she has little will or desire to see any of them through; and, perhaps most importantly, that her Straussian courtship of Wall Street is firmly rooted in ideological belief rather than pragmatic consideration.

To the average Sanders supporter, the Podesta emails contain nothing particularly new or revelatory save for a few interesting and amusing details. But to Democrats and liberals who’ve argued in earnest that there’s nothing especially wrong or compromising about their party’s relationship to corporate America, the private missives should be cause for serious self-examination … //

… This attitude, representing more or less the prevailing orthodoxy among the liberal intelligentsia, media figures, and the DNC leadership, is typically packaged as the prudent embrace of reality rather than the symptom of a deeply conservative political outlook.

But the Podesta emails make the actual reality of Washington’s institutionalized shell game all too clear.

The system is rigged, and Bernie Sanders was right.

(full text).

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Links:

Homelessness: A Case for Preventative Action, on Dissident Voice, by Bruno De Oliveira, Oct 22, 2016;

The Origins and the Mechanics of the Theory of Conceptual-Commodity-Value-Management, on Dissident Voice, by Michel Luc Bellemare, Oct 21, 2016: Why and How These Theories thrive within Post-Industrial Post-Modern Bourgeois-State-Capitalism;

US: State Department releases 122 Clinton emails, on RT, 21 Oct 2016;

After Nearly a Decade, School Investments Still Way Down in Some States, on Center for Budget and Policy Priorities CBPP.org, by MICHAEL LEACHMAN KATHLEEN MASTERSON MARLANA WALLACE, Oct 20, 2016: public investment in K-12 schools — crucial for communities to thrive and the U.S. economy to offer broad opportunity — has declined dramatically in a number of states over the last decade. Worse, most of the deepest-cutting states have also cut income tax rates, weakening their main revenue source for supporting schools …;

From Palestine to Black Lives Matter: Alicia Garza & Phyllis Bennis on Issues Ignored at the Debates, on Democracy Now, by ALICIA GARZA, Oct 20, 2016;

Standing Against Barbarism, on Jacobin, by Gilbert Achcar, Oct 20, 2016: both the Syrian regime and the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen aim to bury the aspirations of the Arab Spring

What the 2016 Trustees’ Report Shows About Social Security, on on Center for Budget and Policy Priorities CBPP.org, by KATHLEEN ROMIG, July 12, 2016;

… and this – with Dr. Steven Greer:

uploaded by Sirius Disclosure:

  • Unacknowledged – an exposé, 3.33 min, July 12, 2016;
  • Film: SIRIUS – Original Full-Length Doc, 118.25 min, April 21, 2016.

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