From ... in Alternative News — Feb 8, 2016

6 Responses To Bernie Sanders Skeptics

Politics, especially in the Western world, has been taken over by corporate and financial agendas to the point where many people have lost trust in the voting process altogether.

For many of us, it certainly doesn’t feel like we are living in a democracy; voting seems to be a practice that provides us with the illusion that we live in a democracy rather than one which actually imbues us with the power to influence the world around us. It disguises the fact that we live in what could be more accurately described as a ‘corporatocracy.’ This is hardly a secret anymore, but it has never really been brought up by any presidential canditate in the way that Bernie Sanders did a few weeks ago during a debate with fellow presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. “Let me tell you something that no other candidate for president will tell you, and that is, no matter who is elected to be president, that person will not be able to address the enormous problems facing the working families of our country.

They will not be able to succeed because the power of corporate America, the power of Wall Street, the power of campaign donors is so great that no president alone can stand up to them. That is the truth. People may be uncomfortable about hearing it, but that is the reality.” Another thing to ponder as Bernie gathers more support is the notion of a rigged system. Many people have begun to question whether the US elections are rigged. After all, it was Theodore Roosevelt, among many other politicians and presidents, who told us that presidents are selected, not elected. He also told us that “behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.” (source) I often point to a popular quote by an unknown author to illustrate my point, which holds that “Democrats and Republicans are two wings of the same bird, and the flight path doesn’t change.” This bird is comprised of corporations and financial institutions, and it has gained control over multiple governments over the years. It took a lot of courage for Bernie to call attention to this frustrating reality. We recently wrote about another interesting incident involving Bernie Sanders as well, describing how, when Hillary Clinton beat him in the Iowa Democratic Caucus by an extremely thin margin, he made it public that he was thinking about requesting a recount. This scrutiny is the result of Sanders’ team having been directly told that the Iowa Democratic Caucus was determined, even though results from 90 other precincts were still missing.

The margin between their votes, .4 percent, is minuscule. According to RT news, Sanders “spoke of an unfolding controversy at certain Iowa precincts which did not have enough Democratic party volunteers to report delegate totals.” He went on to state that “I honestly don’t know what happened. I know there are some precincts that have still not reported. I can only hope and expect that the count will be honest. Did we win the popular vote? I don’t know, but as much information as possible should be made available.” (source) The results were so close that there are also six moments when a coin was tossed to determine the winner in Iowa, and Clinton won every single one of them. You can read more about that here. We often hold judgements about particular people or groups of people which prevent us from hearing the message behind their words. We would be quick to accept some wisdom given to us from Mother Teresa or Ghandi, but would also be dismayed to later learn that they were actually spoken by Hitler.

The message hasn’t changed in this situation, but our receptivity to it has. Similarly, it was really refreshing to hear a presidential canditate bring up the corporate/financial control of politics in America, and regardless of what you think of his stance on other issues, his message is worth paying attention to and sharing. Below is a video of Robert Reich, an American political economist and professor who served in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, talking about the deal. He was also Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997. He clearly knows a thing or two about politics, and it is important to keep in mind that the actions of the few do not speak for the actions of the many. Not everyone working within politics, finance, or the Department of Defense has a malevolent or selfish agenda, and Robert is a great example of this, having left the political realm to voice his concerns about the corporate and financial takeover of politics. In the video below, he presents 6 responses to Bernie Sanders skeptics. What are your thoughts on the United States elections? As Bernie himself asked, does the president really have any power to change anything? Something to think about... It seems this takeover began long ago: A power has risen up in the government greater than the people themselves, consisting of many, and various, and powerful interests, combined into one mass, and held together by the cohesive power of the vast surplus in the banks. – John C. Calhoun, 7th Vice President of The United States (source) .

Read the full article at the original website

References:

Search Results

Bookmarks

6 Responses To Bernie Sanders Skeptics

Search Results

Bookmarks

Subscribe to The Article Feed