Well Miriam, I may have sounded harsher than I feel. Yasha Levine and
I probably agree on more than we disagree. As I indicated, his
disappointment with Sanders, expresses how I feel about our current
economic/political/social system. But over the years, as you know,
I've been all over the map, sometimes being rigid and other times
being goosey loosey. Currently, given the existing conditions, I'd
vote for old Goosey Loosey if he/she ran for president.
We live in a Class System that is growing more pronounced by the
month. Knowing that there is no Cavalry coming over the ridge, I am
forced to back the lessor of two bad choices.
Darn! I didn't want to be back in that position ever again. Butt
politicians being what they are, it's inevitable. If I had to pick
the four top presidents who made serious changes to our nation, they
would be FDR, LBJ, Reagan and Trump. Each has made significant, long
lasting changes that have impacted the lives of a majority of
Americans.
Some might say it's too early to add Trump to the list, but he is
destroying the social fabric with amazing speed. The changes he is
making will take many years to undo.
Carl Jarvis
On 8/12/20, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Well, it's important to understand where Yasha Levine is coming from. He's
an incredibly smart guy and as such, he's also very irreverent. His parents
were Russian Jewish immigrants to the US. He came from a country with a
system that promised the workers a lot and gave them work camps in Siberia
where they were disciplined for thinking the wrong thoughts and which had
shortages of everything for the common man while the elites had more than
enough to eat and some luxuries, as well. He came to a country that promised
freedom and civil liberties and discovered that his new country told as many
lies as the one he'd left. He wrote a book, Surveillance Valley, which is on
BARD and which I read. In it, I discovered some things I never knew,
including some rather unsavory facts about Edward Snowden. So, I think
that Levine is a disappointed and frustrated idealist. But I also do think
that his questions about Bernie Sanders are valid. Yes, Bernie has done a
great deal that is positive, in that he motivated a generation of young
people to become engaged in politics. But he also gave people false
promises. I hear young journalists on podcasts who are very disappointed and
frustrated. I don't know what Bernie's motives are, but I can understand why
so many people feel that he has sold out, or that the Democratic Party
leadership has used him to keep people in line, to prevent them from
starting a new, vigorous people's party. And I'm sure that Chris Hedges
agrees with that sentiment.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Wednesday, August 12, 2020 11:56 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Bernie Sanders keeps licking that boot
Okay Yasha Levine, you made your point. You're damned mad at Bernie.
As for me? I'm damned mad at a political system that is owned by the Upper
Class, for the Upper Class and paid for By the Working Class.
You and Bernie and me all swim in the same pool. We are all products of a
contaminated pond. Some of us are contented to swim and accept the tainted
waters for what they offer. Some of us struggle against the contamination,
but nonetheless, we are also tainted. We are never going to see another
Jesus rise up from the water, walking on the surface, pure and untainted.
So rather than bitching about who failed us, and who did not come up to the
mark...which none of us come up to, how about we get off criticizing the
other fellow, and roll up our sleeves and in our own imperfect way, go
forward.
Carl Jarvis
On 8/12/20, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Bernie Sanders keeps licking that boot From raising money for a senile
bully to endorsing a cop in the midst of anti-police riots...you've
come a long way, comrade!
Yasha Levine
Aug 12
Gotta say it's been quite a journey watching Bernie Sanders go from
revving up a grassroots campaign that energized young people in
America in a way that hadn't been seen in several generations.to
shilling for a drooling bully and, now, a spiteful cop.
Bernie Sanders @BernieSanders
Congratulations to @KamalaHarris, who will make history as our next
Vice President. She understands what it takes to stand up for working
people, fight for health care for all, and take down the most corrupt
administration in history. Let's get to work and win.
August 11th 2020
23,844 Retweets191,743 Likes
It was clear back in March that Bernie didn't have what it takes to
lead a real political movement in a time of massive uncertainty and
political upheaval. He wasn't flexible enough - and in the end, he
simply didn't have the fight in him. After getting stomped by a
juiced-up Joe Biden in the last Democratic debate, he sold out his
supporters at the snap of the finger - even as the pandemic was
starting to rage across America. It was depressing to watch then, and
it gets more and more depressing every time he does it.
My only comment on Bernie's total capitulation to the neoliberal
Democratic Party is this: Imagine if Gennady Zyuganov didn't just lose
to a clinically deceased Boris Yeltsin in a clearly fixed election
back in 1996, but actually went out campaigning for him. Imagine
Zyuganov telling all the starving pro-Communist Party pensioners that
had been impoverished by Yeltsin's neoliberal shock therapy to go to
the polls and vote for Yeltsin because Yeltsin can be pushed to the
left. That's Bernie. That's what Bernie's been doing.
Don't worry, grandma. Biden will get us out of this. Bernie says Biden
is leftwing!
________________________________________
To be honest, I'm not even sure why Bernie does it. No one's
threatening him or his family. Why not keep pestering the assholes?
Why not stay in the race until the very end? He's an old man, what
does he have to lose? Does that Senate seat mean so much to him?
I'm certain that history will judge Bernie harshly. But in the
meantime, we're all screwed. Our only hope for salvation, they say, is
a senile jock and a cop who loves threatening single moms with jail.
-Yasha Levine