A Question I have for Bernie Sanders

[JackFrost]

40. I think my point on voting with the two posts I made in this thread is pretty clear no ?

Again...this is not hard to grasp and yes I subscribe to the sentiment put forth by Sanders below.

"Not to use electoral politics in this country as a means to educate people is absolutely stupid. On the other hand, if someone says, “I believe in electoral politics, but I don’t believe in building a mass movement and a grassroots movement to deal with the basic social conflicts that exist in this country, well, you gotta be crazy not to understand the importance of that.” You move in every direction you can move in."

--Bernie Sanders

Voting as the be all and end all vehicle for social change is not the answer. Voting in a system that is controlled from top to bottom by big Capital and the owners can only get so far. This even with the best of intentioned program that advances the cause of the working class. What's much more important is which side one is on rather than who one votes for. We have two basic classes in this country. A ruling class and a working class. One can't be advancing and defending the causes of one and claim to be for the other. Which side one is on in that equation is pretty easy to decipher in short order.

As far as your commentary on the military. Many on the left are anti-war and don't subscribe to your view of the military as a staunch advocate in the defense of rights. Let me make it clear...

https://fas.org/man/smedley.htm

(Snip)

I spent thirty- three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.

I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service.

I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.

During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents."

-- Major General Smedley Butler, USMC.