Bernie Sanders can't get no respect! Chris Hedges dishes it out in his

[KingCharlemagne]

latest op-ed for TruthDig:

The voices of those who matter will not be heard in these elections. The marginalized and poor in our internal colonies, the 2.3 million people in our prisons and their families, the Muslims we persecute here and in the Middle East, and the suffering of the working poor are airbrushed out of the discussion. In this Potemkin America there is only a middle class. Our liberties, including our right to privacy, along with the consent of the governed—all of which have been taken from us—are held up in this electioneering farce as sacred and inviolate. We are assured that we live in a functioning democracy. We are promised that our voice will count. And even Sanders will tell you no different. If he stepped forward and spoke the truth, especially about the Democratic Party, he would be banned from the debates, vilified and crushed by the Democratic establishment, stripped of his Senate committee chairmanships and tossed into the political wilderness to which Ralph Nader has been exiled. Sanders, unfortunately, lacks Nader’s moral fortitude. He will, when it is all done, push his followers into the vampire-like embrace of Hillary Clinton. He is a Pied Piper leading a line of children or rats—take your pick—into political oblivion.

Political theater works because many in America have been systematically indoctrinated and severed from reality. Our corporate masters have built a mass culture centered on the cult of the self, unchecked hedonism and spectacle. Neoliberal ideology infects every institution and belief system. Those who suffer deserve to suffer. Victims are responsible for their victimhood. We can all achieve wealth and prosperity with hard work. This mantra permits us to be cruel and heartless to the weak and the vulnerable, especially the poor as well as women and children, whom we discard as human refuse. Our warped neoliberal vision is defined as progress.

America celebrates itself as virtuous and good while it inflicts terrible human suffering at home and abroad on those it deems unworthy of life. The particular and self-centered definition of good that defines the primacy of American imperial and corporate power is presented as a universal good. There are Americans, especially those beset by falling incomes and a dismal future, who find in state power an expression of personal power. They see in the mythical virtue of the nation a personal virtue. Attack systems of power and this American “virtue” and they feel attacked and disempowered. And the state can count on those who cling to this myth to turn with fury against all of us who seek to exist in a reality-based universe. The state will stoke hatred among these “patriots” to incite violence against all who dissent. Standing up to the corporate state, refusing to play by its rules, will be difficult and dangerous.

~snip

http://www.truthdig.com/report/page2/the_electoral_farce_20150616 (Emphasis added)

One may disagree with Hedges about Sanders' bona fides (I do), but few can dispute the passion with which he reminds us of all those whom bourgeois America conveniently forgets or ignores.

Full piece highly recommended. I'd love to see Sanders respond to this personally and he just might! That's the refreshing thing about Senator Sanders, in my opinion.

[DCBob]

1. Sanders "is a Pied Piper leading a line of children or rats—take your pick—into political oblivion."

Oh my.

[zazen]

2. wasn't Hedges recently accused of plagiarism by highly credible former colleagues?

I always loved his work but I found the essays (and evidence) pretty damning.

I've taken his jeremiads a little less seriously since then.

I also think it's laughably hypocritical of him to be a purist about not voting Democratic even with a socialist Democratic candidate and then sell his books on Amazon.

[TheNutcracker]

3. Indeed, and he should be taken with only a grain of shit.

[PotatoChip]

11. No one but The New Republic would publish that hit piece.

Furthermore, none of the authors he was accused of plagiarizing spoke to the veracity of that BS article.

[geek tragedy]

4. Chris Hedges is a sad irrelevant hack who has written the same damn "Revolution!" column

for years now, from behind a keyboard while doing absolutely nothing to change the world in any way whatsoever.

Armchair revolutionary.

Bernie actually gets shit done that helps people. Bernie matters.

Hedges and Nader are vanity pundits.

[moondust]

5. Hedges is a Naderite.

Wrote speeches for Nader in 2008. Calls him a "socialist."

http://www.progressive.org/chris_hedges_interview.html

[bigtree]

6. Hedges takes no responsibility for the issues he says he cares about

...by pretending there's some separate, realistic, viable political process we can turn to after we've held our primaries when our favorite choices fail to garner enough support for our party's nomination. Our party is a coalition which is designed to give our disparate, but allied interests the elevation in our political system to help advance our ideals into action or law. Hedges offers little but dissent; which, in and of itself, isn't sufficient to complete the political path to the enactment of the issues he advocates. Our political system requires coalitions of support. Hedges offers a splinter.

[cali]

7. I've said it a hundred times or more here (do a search) Hedges is full of shit

can't stand the miserable little fuck, despite thinking highly of his book on war. I don't know how or when he went so spectacularly off the rails, and I don't really care, but I would not like to see Bernie dignify this dog shit with any kind of a response.

And furthermore, I don't believe Hedges gives a rat's ass for the poor and down trodden. I've read enough of his crap to conclude that. He doesn't care what the results of the type of revolution he advocates for would do to the most vulnerable.

My sentiments about Hedges has jack to do with my support for Bernie. I've been calling him out as a batshit crazy and ugly piece of work for 10 years.

[randome]

8. Hedges needs more roughage in his diet.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]A 90% chance of rain means the same as a 10% chance:
It might rain and it might not.[/center][/font][hr]

[PotatoChip]

9. This is one of the few times I've ever disagreed with Hedges.

His words regarding Sanders are a bit harsh here, and I as a Sanders supporter am saddened to see it.

That said, I understand his POV on this matter, despite disagreeing with it. In short, his bottom line gripe is Sander's decision to run for the Presidency as a Democrat rather than an Independent. Hedges stated this recently during a Q&A at one of his book tour talks. He said that "he and others" had tried unsuccessfully to get Sanders to run as an Independent candidate.

That, in a nutshell is all that this boils down to. Not a disagreement over Sanders' political ideology, but rather Sanders' strategy as to how to go about accomplishing the goals of that ideology... to put it into action. This is where I part ways w/Hedges, because sometimes the end really does justify the means.

I still admire Hedges immensely, but feel he is wrong on this one issue.

[Baclava]

10. No respect

[lame54]

15. and we know how that story turned out

[damnedifIknow]

12. We need Sanders badly

The same-o same-o hasn't and will not work.

[frylock]

13. Progressives are just gullible rats..

the collective shitting-of-pants as regards Sanders' campaign leads me to believe that they KNOW he is going to win.

[lame54]

14. Who the fuck are these Kreskins who know so damn much?...

If they know-it-all why bother having an election - since they've already broken down all the variables and are sure of the outcome

[Jefferson23]

16. This is an interesting yet mean spirited, cynical manner to defend how Nader failed in his

political approach. I am surprised he felt it necessary to lower the discussion down to this level:

**He will, when it is all done, push his followers into the vampire-like embrace of Hillary Clinton. He is a Pied Piper leading a line of children or rats—take your pick—into political oblivion.

Nader had his achievements long ago and hard earned, but his approach did not grow enough against
a two party system. Why is it this OP smacks much more of defending failed approaches of the
past and does not acknowledge how tough it is and how Sanders has worked so hard for
years and has accomplished tangible goods? That he is currently going for broke and trying to penetrate
that wall in his own way deserves no support?

Is it fair to say Hedges will not be trying to help us reach our goals? I think so.

[joeybee12]

17. I think this is hilarious...

I mean, he's full of shit and it's hilarious in its absurdity. Good thing Hedges knows squat.