Why It Matters That Refugees Aren't Feeling the Bern

[MrWendel]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-kushner/refugees-arent-feeling-the-bern_b_9273656.html

By Daniel Kushner



Refugee policy is foreign policy. But listening to the Democratic debates, it is easy to get the impression from Bernie Sanders that "foreign policy" means going to war -- or voting against war. Actually, foreign policy often involves removing civilians from the path of war, or resettling civilians whose lives have been devastated by war. It's not about approving wars, but working with allies to react to those devastated by them before entire regions or the world itself is destabilized.

We see this today. It wasn't too long ago that Syria was a country of roughly 22 million people living under more or less stable conditions. In the roughly five years that the Syrian Civil War has been devastating the country, the best estimates are that close to half a million people have been killed, and more than half of the total population have been forced to leave their homes.

By any standard, this is a humanitarian catastrophe. But the enormous number of people who have had to run for their lives have brought with them serious issues for neighboring countries that the whole world has to grapple with. Of the roughly 12 million displaced people, at least 7 million are still within the borders of Syria, but more than 4 million refugees have left the country and gone elsewhere, often to countries which are already facing serious problems.

(More in link)

[Cha]

1. Yes, they know who to trust on this vital issue. Gracias, MrWendel~

[jmowreader]

2. Oh, there's a lot more to foreign policy than that

Preventing wars, foreign trade, border disputes, maritime disputes...

Bernie's foreign policy problem is he doesn't care about foreign policy! Bernie Sanders cares about exactly one thing: income inequality. EVERYTHING ties into that - healthcare, college, minimum wage, family leave, all of it. It's like the old protest song "I'd Love to Change the World," which you can hear at

Anything else is going to be a distraction, including defense and foreign policy. The only two things he might do for either one are find someone else to handle it, or ignore it entirely.

[jsmirman]

3. Well, he sort of does care, but not in the way of us taking any active role

in the world:

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/the-foreign-minister-of-burlington-vt-120839

(*very* worth a read)

much more philosophical and not in a way I think is good for the general. Things may have changed but they haven't changed THAT much.

[jmowreader]

4. Oh. Fuck.

How, exactly, are we going to counter the obvious accusation the Republicans are going to level at him?

[Thinkingabout]

5. Yep, and a lot more.

[jsmirman]

7. The country doesn't care anymore! They're just words!

Haven't you heard?

Don't you know that this is true because it's stuff we all tell each other repeatedly and so it must be true!

But, but, two wildly unrepresentative electorates didn't seem to mind (forget that his opponent can't spell out the charges)!

No, really, a slice of the Democratic electorate embraces socialism (A: this is just a slice of the Democratic electorate and believe me, there are bedrock Democratic communities that *hate* socialism, B: the electorate hasn't had "socialism" defined for them by a fully oppositional candidate).

The ridiculous things they tell each other.

Can you imagine his campaign against, say, Trump, when the contrast is between "Make America Great Again" and "this guy hates America and all it stands for"???

The arguments I've had with people on social media - they're out of their damn minds. Hard to be a representative of those of us who live in the real world these days.

[Thinkingabout]

6. His revolution, I don't need his revolution.