In the excellent comments thread on Chris Hedges's excellent article at TruthDig (which I must add to my sidebar) some troll keeps whining "but, but, Bernie will institute Open Borders which will destroy America").
So, what exactly is Bernie Sander's position on immigration and immigrants? It's so excellent, I wish I had known enough to write it myself (and I was sketching something very much like this).
First, just throw aside the notion the "Open Borders" claim has any merit. Bernie is not breaking any new ground, except in pulling all the best ideas together. The main idea, eliminating criminal penalties was been proposed by Beto O'Rourke and followed by many Democrats. It's a long story. The section of US law that makes illegal entry criminal dates from 1920, but was rarely enforced until George W. Bush. Criminal or not, US law authorizes the deportation of unauthorized immigrants, that's not the issue here actually. The criminal penalties are in addtion to to deportation, or not. The criminal penalties may have you locked up for 6 months and then deported. There has to be a trail, pre-trial holding, and so on, making for great strains on the criminal justice system. And in the end of a process so byzantine that it has resulted in a number of children's deaths, only tiny fines if any are extracted, and the deportation is done.
This monstrosity is made possible by blind faith, blind faith in the anti-immigrant movement that toughness is goodness.
So there you have it. Bernie is great and wonderful. But he is not off the charts. He knows what he is doing. He is pulling together all the best ideas, ideas which do actually have enthusiastic majority support, and which are within the known-possible political spectrum. They are not crazy ideas, but they are pushing the envelope ideas that do break out of existing stalemates but will require some political will to achieve.
Some take that as a defect but I see that the wise course.
Of course, opponents will paint them as crazy, country-destroying, and so on.
They are simply wrong in their imaginations, from endless right wing propaganda.
The realization of Bernie's ideas will make everyone better off than the catastrophic course we are on. It will not be the fascist socialism some imagine, though the cries may continue.
BTW, Bernie does call for an end to all foreign wars which is an excellent starting point for de-imperialism. I differ with him on some US regime change operations such in Venezuela. Those are apparently off the table for now.
(In my version of the Immigration Policy...I eliminated deportations too...)
As I keep saying, Bernie is a serious candidate. That's the way our system works. He has been vetted. He's a US Senator! So there is no need to buy into the Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD) constantly being pushed by his opponents.
We have to say with a clear voice to our betters about what we want, and not be fooled again to accepting a nothing negotiating point straight away, like Buttigieg.
Bernie has the best ideas, and if we don't stand behind him, we are giving them away at the start.
The US President should be a populist figure, fighting against entrenchedaristocracy oligarchy of the rest of the deep state.
Trump was correct in trying to look like that. Of course he is and always was the insiders insider, and that's always the kind of fake populist the establishment is trying to sell.
Many have the answer of 3rd party. The answer is that it may be possible to break through and replace one of the two parties, but the gravity of the system pretty much maintains two parties and if the people are stupid, as they often are, they become two anti-populist parties, with endless additional points of contention, the prevent the most important items to the establishment from ever being considered.
So, if Democrats as Chris Hedges describes the establishment party apparatus cheat Sanders out of victory once again, what to do???
Given that I consider myself, a nearly-always-democratic voter and sometime party official, also to be a Democrat it makes sense to me, I concede, to fall in line. I will certainly not throw away for voting for a write-in candidated who if counted at all, you'd have to contact the Secretary of State to find out. I am going to be voting anyway, so it's no extra effort for me. And my family and some friends will be upset. I might not be following in line with the Communist Party either, who since 1988 has called for electing the Democrat.
However, this does not mean I will be happy. I may in fact be very angry. I may be disinclined to provide any financial support (IIRC I did give Hillary $25, after having given hundreds to Bernie). I may be disinclined to do anything else. AND I WONT SHUT UP. (Of course, that applies the other way too, so no difference.)
If as some say, the possibility of a winning replacement ticket appears after WE THE DEMOCRATIC VOTERS have been seriously cheated, I might consider it.
If there were a serious possibility of rising up and overthrowing the system, as Hedges elsewhere encourages us, I might consider that too. This might be what we ought to do, in some way, as in saving our souls from certain damnation otherwise. But even as things are, I get out to demonstrations in the US, and they aren't even close to that scale or continuousness or determinedness.
And unlike the color revolutions we gift other nations with, there's no savior to help shepherd in the new government, international recognition, trade, money, things like that.
So, to me, it makes sense to vote Democratic even if I hate, even strongly hate the actions of the party apparatus and even loath the candidate, though presuming I loath them ever so slightly less, ignoring the impact on the party itself, for which my small input makes little difference.
But I won't put much else into it, and feel free to criticize every aspect of the candidates, fairly, and in context, regardless.
Probably more than I would if I actually liked the Candidate, their Ideas, their top people, their followers, etc.
BTW, it occurs to me also that you'd better vote for the candidate with the best Ideas as you are certain not to get them otherwise.
The media is always trying to make this about looks, which of course, they can doctor in their studios. The corporate parties are always trying to make this about identities, as they nurture they for this purpose. The shills are always deploying FUD.
Do not be fooled.
So, what exactly is Bernie Sander's position on immigration and immigrants? It's so excellent, I wish I had known enough to write it myself (and I was sketching something very much like this).
First, just throw aside the notion the "Open Borders" claim has any merit. Bernie is not breaking any new ground, except in pulling all the best ideas together. The main idea, eliminating criminal penalties was been proposed by Beto O'Rourke and followed by many Democrats. It's a long story. The section of US law that makes illegal entry criminal dates from 1920, but was rarely enforced until George W. Bush. Criminal or not, US law authorizes the deportation of unauthorized immigrants, that's not the issue here actually. The criminal penalties are in addtion to to deportation, or not. The criminal penalties may have you locked up for 6 months and then deported. There has to be a trail, pre-trial holding, and so on, making for great strains on the criminal justice system. And in the end of a process so byzantine that it has resulted in a number of children's deaths, only tiny fines if any are extracted, and the deportation is done.
This monstrosity is made possible by blind faith, blind faith in the anti-immigrant movement that toughness is goodness.
So there you have it. Bernie is great and wonderful. But he is not off the charts. He knows what he is doing. He is pulling together all the best ideas, ideas which do actually have enthusiastic majority support, and which are within the known-possible political spectrum. They are not crazy ideas, but they are pushing the envelope ideas that do break out of existing stalemates but will require some political will to achieve.
Some take that as a defect but I see that the wise course.
Of course, opponents will paint them as crazy, country-destroying, and so on.
They are simply wrong in their imaginations, from endless right wing propaganda.
The realization of Bernie's ideas will make everyone better off than the catastrophic course we are on. It will not be the fascist socialism some imagine, though the cries may continue.
BTW, Bernie does call for an end to all foreign wars which is an excellent starting point for de-imperialism. I differ with him on some US regime change operations such in Venezuela. Those are apparently off the table for now.
(In my version of the Immigration Policy...I eliminated deportations too...)
As I keep saying, Bernie is a serious candidate. That's the way our system works. He has been vetted. He's a US Senator! So there is no need to buy into the Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD) constantly being pushed by his opponents.
We have to say with a clear voice to our betters about what we want, and not be fooled again to accepting a nothing negotiating point straight away, like Buttigieg.
Bernie has the best ideas, and if we don't stand behind him, we are giving them away at the start.
The US President should be a populist figure, fighting against entrenched
Trump was correct in trying to look like that. Of course he is and always was the insiders insider, and that's always the kind of fake populist the establishment is trying to sell.
Many have the answer of 3rd party. The answer is that it may be possible to break through and replace one of the two parties, but the gravity of the system pretty much maintains two parties and if the people are stupid, as they often are, they become two anti-populist parties, with endless additional points of contention, the prevent the most important items to the establishment from ever being considered.
So, if Democrats as Chris Hedges describes the establishment party apparatus cheat Sanders out of victory once again, what to do???
Given that I consider myself, a nearly-always-democratic voter and sometime party official, also to be a Democrat it makes sense to me, I concede, to fall in line. I will certainly not throw away for voting for a write-in candidated who if counted at all, you'd have to contact the Secretary of State to find out. I am going to be voting anyway, so it's no extra effort for me. And my family and some friends will be upset. I might not be following in line with the Communist Party either, who since 1988 has called for electing the Democrat.
However, this does not mean I will be happy. I may in fact be very angry. I may be disinclined to provide any financial support (IIRC I did give Hillary $25, after having given hundreds to Bernie). I may be disinclined to do anything else. AND I WONT SHUT UP. (Of course, that applies the other way too, so no difference.)
If as some say, the possibility of a winning replacement ticket appears after WE THE DEMOCRATIC VOTERS have been seriously cheated, I might consider it.
If there were a serious possibility of rising up and overthrowing the system, as Hedges elsewhere encourages us, I might consider that too. This might be what we ought to do, in some way, as in saving our souls from certain damnation otherwise. But even as things are, I get out to demonstrations in the US, and they aren't even close to that scale or continuousness or determinedness.
And unlike the color revolutions we gift other nations with, there's no savior to help shepherd in the new government, international recognition, trade, money, things like that.
So, to me, it makes sense to vote Democratic even if I hate, even strongly hate the actions of the party apparatus and even loath the candidate, though presuming I loath them ever so slightly less, ignoring the impact on the party itself, for which my small input makes little difference.
But I won't put much else into it, and feel free to criticize every aspect of the candidates, fairly, and in context, regardless.
Probably more than I would if I actually liked the Candidate, their Ideas, their top people, their followers, etc.
BTW, it occurs to me also that you'd better vote for the candidate with the best Ideas as you are certain not to get them otherwise.
The media is always trying to make this about looks, which of course, they can doctor in their studios. The corporate parties are always trying to make this about identities, as they nurture they for this purpose. The shills are always deploying FUD.
Do not be fooled.
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