Bernie Revolutionaries, Give Your Love to Jill Stein
Given the Democratic Party's hostility to Sanders' progressive agenda, it's time for the senator's supporters to transfer their votes and enthusiasm to someone at least as deserving: Green Party candidate Jill Stein. 1 2 3
Not only did Sanders’ call for revolution seem spot-on, but it was refreshing to hear a mainstream politician honestly confessing his limitations, speaking primarily of our needs and insisting on the importance of our role. He spoke, in short, neither as a self-important demagogue (Trump) nor as a shady oligarch tolerating our presence just long enough to extort our votes (Clinton). Rather, he was a serious adult speaking to other serious adults, someone who liked us enough to show concern for our needs but respected us enough to warn us that change would not be easy. The result was a politician better known for prickly gruffness and unruly hair than for polished charm and who inspired actual love in his supporters.
But given how unlovable — and given how downright hostile to Sanders’ progressive agenda the Democratic Party is, it’s time for his supporters (above all, his revolutionary ones) to face reality and transfer a major portion of that love to someone at least as deserving: Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Does doing so imply that we must renounce our affection — and lasting sense of gratitude — for Bernie Sanders? Of course not. Nor does it even mean we must disagree with his decision to run for president as a Democrat. Seeing the immense obstacles that Democrats and Republicans both undemocratically place in the way of third parties, one of the authors of this piece (Patrick Walker) strongly believes in the “Sanders paradox”: that Bernie absolutely needed to run in the antiprogressive Democratic Party to convey a progressive message to as wide an audience as possible.
But a progressive message and the political revolution needed to transform that message into policy are two very different animals. Here, both authors totally share Jill Stein’s evidence-based common sense: that it’s impossible to carry out a political revolution in a counterrevolutionary party. Or, perhaps to put a finer point on Stein’s political wisdom, it’s equally impossible to carry out an anti-Clinton revolution in a “Clintocrat” party. Perhaps the worst of Sanders’ “Faustian bargain” in running as a Democrat was the need he felt to mute his criticisms of Clinton. For example, he refused to touch the scandal emerging out of what he called Clinton’s “damn emails.”
Those “damn emails” were, in fact, damning emails, and it is at least conceivable — given the scathing statements of both the State Department inspector general and FBI director James Comey — that Sanders might now be the nominee had he taken up the issue in the right way.
Now, seeing that it was probably the secret wish of most Sanders supporters to see Clinton indicted — to spare us her horrible presidency — Jill Stein probably succeeded in gaining many Berniacs’ love simply by writing an article arguing that Clinton should have been prosecuted. But beyond Stein’s endorsement of Sanders supporters’ fondest secret hope, her thoughtful article gives Berniacs a deeper reason to show her some love. Transcending the superficial, partisan Republican criticism of Clinton’s email server (an approach Sanders rightly steered clear of), Stein comes very close to the principled way in which Sanders could have and should have framed Clinton’s real email scandal: as a money-in-politics and political corruption issue.
No reasonable person takes the irresponsible risks Clinton took with highly sensitive national security secrets for “convenience”; Clinton is decidedly not some air-headed Sarah Palin. No, the risks Clinton took with her email were quite reasonable considering:
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- her urgent need to hide her lackey service of the 1 percent (both through and outside the Clinton Foundation) while at the State Department;
- and her firm assurance that “very important” members and servants of the 1 percent like her are above the law that applies to others.
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