He's Back! – Bernie Sanders and the Subversion of the Progressive Movement

Bernie Sanders and the subversion of the Democratic Party

Really I'd like to believe that Bernie has reformed. After all, he did sign the indivisible pledge to support the winner of the primaries. Indeed, I've signed the indivisible general pledge. But then he made the same pledge in 2015. He also appears to me to have broken it already. That time orally. This time in writing. I want to keep this post within the boundaries of Indivisible's pledge to:

“We'll make the primary election about our hopes for the future, and a robust debate of values, vision and the contest of ideas. We’ll remain grounded in our shared values, even if we support different candidates.” [Indivisible]”

At this point I have to remind people that Bernie is not a Democrat, and that his idea of keeping the Indivisible pledge is to complain about his targets breaking it. Back in 2015:

Counterpunch, no friend to Democrats described Bernie's early performance:

“Bernie has no plans to humiliate Hillary. So far he has been an accidental agent of her anxiety and he intends to keep it that way. Bernie refuses to go negative and pledges to support the eventual nominee of the party, that is Hillary. This restraint has earned the senator the patronizing plaudits of Rachel Maddow and the Hipster Chorus at MS-DNC.”[Counterpunch]

Indeed in July 2015 I was still impressed by what Bernie did. He made a big deal about not making a big deal about Hillary's emails. But he didn't sustain it. Once things got rolling, Bernie and his army Russian and American Trolls went very negative, did everything they could to humiliate Hillary, lied about her, and the entire Democratic Party. So I have trouble believing the scorpion won't sting again. Indeed he's already at it. His followers are already sharing copies of videos and lies produced about her in 2015-2016, and making similar claims about most of his rivals this time around. By July 2016 I was despising him. By July 2017 I had seen all the evidence I needed to see to not want him in Congress, much less running for President.

Related Posts:

Post Mortem

Turning "our Revolution" into Piqueteros

Bernie Sanders and Russian Compromat

When Lefties Betray the Middle and Elect Righties

Russian Agents, Gaslighting, Spun News and Ongoing Active Measures

Campaign related Posts

Lakoff and Building a Party that Can Be All it Can Be!

Winning Doesn't Always mean Getting Elected

In Order for All Lives to Matter Black Lives Must Matter

What Really Happened With Hillary Care

Why Social Programs are Investment and not a Burden

What Bernie is Doing Right

The Stop Hilary Movement March 2016

The Trouble with Bernie Sanders II

The Trouble with Bernie Sanders Final 2016/06

The Difference between a Prophet or a Leader and a Critic

How I'd like to See Bernie's Campaign End

Greg Palast and the Busters kick the Facts in the Face

Transformation or Half Loaves

Outside Agitators and the Black Lives Movement

Why Burn it Down?

Years ago, they ran an experiment where they turned a lab chamber into a large maze and let rats run free within. They fed the rats & cleaned, took care of basic needs but little else. Rats did what rats do and soon the place was crawling with them. It started to look like Hells Kitchen. With bully rats, gang rats & little gang wars. The rats, when autopsied, had swollen adrenal glands & other signs of great stress. To the social scientists this was disturbing. Though to the rest of us it now seems like they were playing "obvious man."

This post is a follow on to Turning "Our Revolution" into Piqueteros which refers to the authoritarian impulse in both the far left and far right. I'm trying to make sense of why people would want to burn down our system. I hope this helps.

Bernie Sanders and Russian Kompromat

I still, kinda sorta, like Bernie Sanders. But he revealed himself to be no Saint Bernard during the election, and so I'm a little alarmed with some of his behavior as he's got a one tracked mind and for other reasons. Last night my suspicions about one piece of the election were confirmed. Though I don't expect him to ever admit it.

Listen to Segment near end of broadcast at Segment 8:37 Pm [ET] 7/18/2017:

http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/sanders-trumpcare-fail-is-victory-for-american-people-1002975811547

The Trouble with Bernie Sanders Part II Hanlon's Razor

Hanlon's Razor

Bernie had the opportunity to bring transformative change to the Democratic Party and he's blowing it. I was going to put all this in one book length post and then I realized it was too unwieldy. The subject is too big, and there is too much to talk about. And one cause of this failure is the paranoia and anger of his so-called movement. And what is driving that movement is Hanlon's Razor.

Hanlon's razor basically states that one should avoid ascribing to malevolence what is more likely caused by stupidity. It's a corollary to Occam's razor and this is so because in observing human affairs complex narratives usually involve elaborate conspiracies or hidden motives. But human stupidity is usually the more likely cause for failure or even conflict. People misunderstand each other.

Sanders War against the 90s

Hillary faces a Right Wing and Activist/muckraker inspired rewrite of the 1990s that the media calls a "liberal war against the 1990s."

"Hillary Clinton has long literally and figuratively stood beside Bill Clinton, fully embracing his policy moves to make the Democratic Party more centrist in the 1990s and defending him after his affair with a White House intern and subsequent impeachment." [NBC]

The distinction between a critique and destructive criticism is that a critique acknowledges the merits and context of what is being criticized. In this case, broken window theory has a legitimate critique. But we aren't seeing that are we?