Folks, the message was always more important than the messenger. The last American politician with any stage presence whatsoever who even tried to spread a halfway decent message was Jesse Jackson, ffs.
No, Sanders didn't stand up for veganism or organic farming. No, he did not make a courageous stand against the bullshit "Global War on Terror" or Pax Americana. No, he didn't make voting rights, voting fairness or voting machines a major issue, which ensured that he and his erstwhile supporters would be defrauded of their time, money, and effort. But he benefited from caucuses almost as much as he was hurt by voting fraud, so I understand his reticence.
Yes, the fix was almost certainly in from the beginning. And Sanders was probably just as aware of this as most of here were.
However, I believe something positive did come of Sanders' campaign, and that is a few million young people finally heard a politician make some sense, perhaps for the first time in their lives. Perhaps some seeds were planted? Hope springs eternal.
Entertainer Al Lewis (Grandpa Munster) fought for the 99% his entire life. He came from nothing and always did his best to fight for the oppressed. Several years before his death, he had some words of wisdom for all "the Johnny-Come-Latelies" who might try to follow in his footsteps. In my darkest political hours, I find both profound wisdom and a shred of comfort in his words.
http://www.the-reelgillman.com/munsters ... grand.html ...
SHADOW: So these demonstrations for Tom Mooney, and labor demonstrations...
LEWIS: Warren K. Billings, organizing the CIO, and District 65, and the UE, and NMU. All that was going on and the police were there to see that you didn't do it. And if they could get away with it, they'd beat the shit out of you.
SHADOW: And people would resist?
LEWIS: Well, obviously. And unions were created. We used to have a saying: "If you don't get the asses of the masses out in the street, forget it." And you get enough of them out there, the ruling class gets scared. That's the only thing they're afraid of, is numbers. Numbers! See, one thing you have to understand. ... The ruling class is smarter than you, and they're more creative. And if you forget that lesson, you go down the drain. Because if they weren't, they wouldn't be around as long as they have been and as strong as they have been. It's not an accident. Not an accident. ... Lord Acton said: "Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely." I say that power works 24 hours to remain in power. Throughout history. Go back to kings, feudal times. The same thing. ... Their fucking machine works 24 hours a day, man. It grinds; it grinds. Otherwise they don't stay in power; they topple.
SHADOW: So what do you think people can do in response to that power? What do you think we have to do?
LEWIS: First of all, (laughs) you have to agree that these people shouldn't have the power. ... You see, the thing is, ... Everybody in this society wants the quick fix, like the junkie that we just talked about. So do the radicals, whatever you want to call them, a bumper sticker. Put it on your car. "I'm a radical," "I'm a lefty," "I'm a progressive," "I'm left of center." It's all bullshit. I learned a long time ago -- I've been in the struggle over seventy years -- it doesn't bother me I may not win.
SHADOW: So what keeps you going?
LEWIS:What keeps me going? My belief! (Laughs) You see, what happens with you "Johnny-Come-Latelies" -- and I'm not personalizing -- is like you take people of the Sixties. After five or ten years, they didn't get the victory, "Oh, fuck it, man, I'll take this job down on Wall Street and make the fuckin' money. I didn't get the immediate fix." ... "We didn't win!" America only knows the "win."
SHADOW: Maybe we're being naive, but maybe we serve some purpose...
LEWIS: There's nothing wrong with being naive. But, after doing x amount of time or years, don't throw your hands up in the air, because, you see, everybody wants the "the win," they want it today. It doesn't happen. The struggle goes on. The victory is in the struggle, for me. And I accepted that a long time ago. ...
You have to understand, the power structure and the errand boys, the guys who carry the bedpans for the power structure, the politicians, councilmen, congressmen, senators, whatever, they only understand one thing: numbers. It's numbers of voters. You get fifty people out, "Fuck 'em. Get the local precinct, hit 'em on the fucking head." Get ten thousand people out? God, that's four hundred cameras, it's all over European television. Scary. Numbers are scary. Your problem is to get ten thousand people out on the street the first time they go to bulldoze that garden. And you won't. But that's not a defeat. Because all you can do, all I can do, is, I do a show; I influence those people. Hopefully, they'll carry that message forward. That's all I can do. ... I don't feel bad about that. I understand the limitations. I fight against them; I stretch 'em out. I'm not out to save the world.
by 82_28 » Tue Jul 12, 2016 2:10 pm 
