2016 Postmortem

2016-05-02T17:41:41+00:00

http://ahtribune.com/us/2016-election/651-clinton-an-active-war-criminal.html They have much in common: career politicians, much similarity in foreign policy outlook (including support for the criminal Israeli state), tied to the Democratic Party, unable or unwilling to critique capitalism itself. However, there are real differences. Clinton is an active war criminal and has done a great deal of damage in the world, from being in league with her husband to end the system of aid to poor people and to greatly expand the prison population to wreaking havoc upon nations around the world. She is utterly beholden to the rich finance capitalists and their institutions and will continue to do their bidding if elected. And no wonder, they have made her and her husband extremely rich. And she will do just about anything to get elected. Sanders, on the other hand, is a man of principle, at least as far as supporting working people in the United States and steering clear of the big money interests. While he is no socialist, he supports social democratic programs that are anathema to Clinton, irrespective of the lies she tells on the campaign trail. Sander is one in a long line of populist politicians who appear on the scene from time to time in the United State. He is wildly popular among some groups, especially young people whose upward mobility has been severely and perhaps permanently blocked. He is, however, weak among black voters and only got concerned about them after his early appearances began to be disrupted by black activists. Still, while I am skeptical that he is building a political revolution, he is much better than Clinton. The problem will be in building upon what he favors and to radicalize whatever movement develops. There is a reason we say that the Democratic Party is the graveyard for nascent radical movements.... We have a society in which all major institutions that once supported community and solidarity have disappeared, destroyed by the neoliberal onslaught and by the utter failure of entities such as the labor movement to develop as independent and radical social elements. We are left with nearly all of us feeling that we had better look out for ourselves. This opens the door for the basest human instincts to flourish and those with power to play on these, manipulating us and driving us ever further apart. In such circumstances, fundamental questions about the nature of society cannot even be asked much less discussed and analyzed. In place of serious politics, we get the politics of spectacle and triviality, with even the news resembling reality television. The schooling system has become seriously debased, so that students learn almost nothing about history and the struggles of people for a better world. Make money, protect yourself from predators, dont show weaknesses, and so forth. This is a country ripe for a Donald Trump, for authoritarian rule. Adding to the problem are endless wars, which foment and popularize violence of the worst kind. No wonder black youth continue to be murdered in our streets. No wonder there is hatred for foreigners, especially Muslims. There are those who oppose all of this, and they offer hope. But barbarism is well on its way here. And though the Bernie Sanders campaign has galvanized young persons, I doubt this will be enough to combat the virulent ignorance that defines politics, media, and so many other forces at work now. Democracy has become a dead letter. So mediocrity might be too generous a word to describe debate in the presidential election.... The failure of the labor movement dates back to the post Second World War period when business began its assault on the gains made during the New Deal of the Great Depression. The Cold War attack on "Reds" and everything they stood forworkers rights, civil rights, anti-imperialismresonated in the most conservative labor unions and among opportunists in many of the new industrial unions. These forces joined the anti-communist crusade, ruthlessly purging their radical members and leaders. Then they made deals with employers, initiated a long period of "labor-management cooperation". In order to make this work, they had to destroy rank-and-file movements in their own unions, to get rid of troublemakers. In short order, they began to mimic in their structures the very corporations that had once been their bitter enemies. And they became very junior members of the Democratic Party, thrown a few bones by liberal politicians. All of this alienated many members, who began to defect politically. Then when the "deal" struck with businesses no longer suited the corporate bosses, when growing global competition threatened profits, employers scrapped the "deal" and went on the attack. Bereft of principles and looking to save their own comfortable positions, labor leaders were unable and unwilling to fight back. The rest is history, so to speak. A gutted labor movement, with little power and a class enemy hungry for more concessions, more union defeats, and an end to working class resistance. Even the Bernie Sanders campaign will be unable to turn this state of affairs around. I am afraid that real class struggle is a long way off in the United States. Who even talks about it now? Sanders speaks of "revolution", but he has debased the meaning of this hallowed word. As he has also offered up a "socialism" that would have Marx and Engels spinning in their graves.... No, it cannot. The Democratic is but the second party of capital. It sometimes offers a more humane face than does the Republican Party. But it is just as beholden to capital, especially the Finance Sector as is the Republican Party. And its policies hardly differ much from its supposed rival party. Both parties are aggressively pro-capitalist, nationalist, and imperialist, a trinity inimical to radical change. Bernie Sanders is running as a Democrat, despite his claim that he is a democratic socialist. No doubt he is doing this because this gives his ideas greater exposure than if he were running on a third party ticket. However, once he did this and once he said he would support the wretched Hillary Clinton if she gets the nomination, he showed that he doesnt plan to break from the Democrats. I hope he eventually does, but if he does he loses his standing in the U.S. Senate. But in any event, the Democratic Party is immune to a radical transformation. It always has been and always will be. You can see what Sanders de facto position as a Democratic Party senator has done to his overall politics. He has become a lot less radical, and is now what we might call a decent social democrat. This is what the two-party monopoly on politics in the United States does to people within it. Endless compromises with your principles.

Post removed Mon May 2, 2016, 01:41 PM May 2016

Post removed

15 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Post removed (Original Post) Post removed May 2016 OP

That is sooooo false. FarPoint May 2016 #1

Whom she enabled... Yurovsky May 2016 #2

Of course you pass up addressing the real war criminals. FarPoint May 2016 #5

Let me change one thing. IMHO it should be Cheney/Bush. NWCorona May 2016 #7

Are you okay with anti-Israel hate sites like the one cited in the OP? pnwmom May 2016 #13

Well, this is the OP equivalent of molotov'ing a hornet's nest. nt VulgarPoet May 2016 #3

Snarf! KamaAina May 2016 #6

What color is the sky in that dude's universe? Blue_Tires May 2016 #4

Red? grossproffit May 2016 #9

Just go away jehop61 May 2016 #8

SMH DemocratSinceBirth May 2016 #10

If Clinton is a war criminal then Buzz cook May 2016 #11

Didn't you get a clue that this is an anti-Jewish hate site from the words "criminal Israeli state" pnwmom May 2016 #12

Thanks for the heads up leftynyc May 2016 #14

It's beginning to look like leftynyc May 2016 #15

FarPoint

(12,481 posts)

1. That is sooooo false.

Reply to Post removed (Original post)

Mon May 2, 2016, 01:43 PM

May 2016

Bush/ Cheney... Now there you can find war criminals.

Yurovsky

(2,064 posts)

2. Whom she enabled...

Reply to FarPoint (Reply #1)

Mon May 2, 2016, 01:45 PM

May 2016

That blood is on her hands too. Support her if you're ok with that. I'll pass.

FarPoint

(12,481 posts)

5. Of course you pass up addressing the real war criminals.

Reply to Yurovsky (Reply #2)

Mon May 2, 2016, 01:48 PM

May 2016

Bush/ Cheney almost destroyed this country.

NWCorona

(8,541 posts)

7. Let me change one thing. IMHO it should be Cheney/Bush.

Reply to FarPoint (Reply #5)

Mon May 2, 2016, 01:54 PM

May 2016

Yes. You are right but Hillary's involvement can't be overlooked.

That said I'm not on the war criminal bandwagon.

pnwmom

(109,024 posts)

13. Are you okay with anti-Israel hate sites like the one cited in the OP?

Reply to Yurovsky (Reply #2)

Mon May 2, 2016, 02:18 PM

May 2016

And it's brother hate-site, the Salem News, both owned by Tim King?

Tim King created the American Herald Tribune web site last August.

http://whois.domaintools.com/ahtribune.com

He also owns this:

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/january282014/jewish-apology-ga.php

It wasn’t easy for me to admit in my latest book that Jewish suffering is actually embedded in Jewish culture. In other words, Jews are actually destined to bring disasters on themselves. Jewish politics and culture, unfortunately, is obnoxious, abusive, as well as racist, and supremacist to the bone. Jewish culture is set to infuriate the Goyim just because Jews are defined by negation – that chilling sensation of being hated.

VulgarPoet

(2,872 posts)

3. Well, this is the OP equivalent of molotov'ing a hornet's nest. nt

Reply to Post removed (Original post)

Mon May 2, 2016, 01:45 PM

May 2016

KamaAina

(78,249 posts)

6. Snarf!

Reply to VulgarPoet (Reply #3)

Mon May 2, 2016, 01:49 PM

May 2016

Blue_Tires

(55,445 posts)

4. What color is the sky in that dude's universe?

Reply to Post removed (Original post)

Mon May 2, 2016, 01:45 PM

May 2016

grossproffit

(5,591 posts)

9. Red?

Reply to Blue_Tires (Reply #4)

Mon May 2, 2016, 01:55 PM

May 2016

jehop61

(1,735 posts)

8. Just go away

Reply to Post removed (Original post)

Mon May 2, 2016, 01:55 PM

May 2016

And take your bull ticky with you

DemocratSinceBirth

(99,719 posts)

10. SMH

Reply to Post removed (Original post)

Mon May 2, 2016, 01:56 PM

May 2016

Buzz cook

(2,474 posts)

11. If Clinton is a war criminal then

Reply to Post removed (Original post)

Mon May 2, 2016, 01:59 PM

May 2016

So is Obama and with better reason. And sadly so is Sanders, because every vote to "support the troops" was a vote to fund war crimes.

pnwmom

(109,024 posts)

12. Didn't you get a clue that this is an anti-Jewish hate site from the words "criminal Israeli state"

Reply to Post removed (Original post)

Mon May 2, 2016, 02:15 PM

May 2016

in the first sentence?

American Herald Tribune is owned by Tim King, who also owns the Salem-News, and has produced screeds like this:

http://whois.domaintools.com/ahtribune.com

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/january282014/jewish-apology-ga.php

It wasn’t easy for me to admit in my latest book that Jewish suffering is actually embedded in Jewish culture. In other words, Jews are actually destined to bring disasters on themselves. Jewish politics and culture, unfortunately, is obnoxious, abusive, as well as racist, and supremacist to the bone. Jewish culture is set to infuriate the Goyim just because Jews are defined by negation – that chilling sensation of being hated.

leftynyc

(26,060 posts)

14. Thanks for the heads up

Reply to pnwmom (Reply #12)

Mon May 2, 2016, 02:25 PM

May 2016

You just saved me a lot of time reading this crap. They either didn't know or, even worse, didn't care. Either way it tells me all I need to know.

leftynyc

(26,060 posts)

15. It's beginning to look like

Reply to Post removed (Original post)

Mon May 2, 2016, 02:27 PM

May 2016

you simply don't give a shit where you get your anti-Hillary crap. Even repulsive anti semites (cloaked in Anti-Israel rhetoric) don't slow you down. That's pretty pathetic given the candidate you support..