this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2024

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Bernie Sanders: Is there a path to remove big money from politics? Goddamn right there is! (youtu.be)

submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

17 comments fedilink hide all child comments

One of the biggest obstacles facing workers issues in the US is the disproportionate representation that corporate interests recieve, due to funding campaigns indirectly through citizens united. Bernie highlights the end of citizens' united, and public funding for political campaigns as key pathways to fix the outsized political impact of corporate interests

As long as corporate interests bankroll political campaigns, the people we can vote for will be elected partially at the behest of companies, and will have a conflict of interest in representing American workers

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 weeks ago

Well, to get rid of Citizens United, you need a path to that. How are you going to get enough judges into the supreme court that will overturn that decision and which conditions will have to exist to even make it legally possible to make such a decision?

For me, the realistic path forward to change is major events e.g Biden assassinates/imprisons the entire supreme court as his last act in office (the Supreme Court basically gave him the right to do so), Kamala wins and isn't yet another democratic pussy that does more for the rich (she pardons all student debt, she fights to amend the constitution to get rid of First Past The Post, expands social security, make education free, plays dirty against Republicans, and so on), Trump wins and it galvanises the country to get politically involved, China does something dumb like invade Taiwan, the EU calls out the US for undemocratic behavior and starts a trade war or something similar, etc.

Why? Because most people don't give a shit about politics beyond it being some kind of entertainment like American football where they get to pick sides depending on how they feel. For change to happen, USAmericans would have to educate themselves politically, show up at all elections (not just presidential ones), and decide to vote for the good of people they don't even know instead of voting for their own, egoistic goals. And that doesn't change quickly (or seemingly quickly) unless major events happen.

[+] [email protected] -64 points 3 weeks ago (8 children)

[removed by mod]

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago

do you have a source to back up this outlandish claim?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago

Bernie was a bit slow to get going, but he's also one of the most vocal US senators against Israel.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 weeks ago

That doesn't seem right "Sanders on Ending Unfettered Military Aid to Israel and Restoring UNRWA Funding"

WASHINGTON, April 23 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today spoke on the floor of the U.S Senate regarding his strong opposition to the provision of $8.9 billion in unfettered offensive military aid to the Israeli extremist government, led by Prime Minister Netanyahu, to continue his unprecedented assault on the Palestinian people.

May I see your source on Sanders wanting to cleanse Palestine?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 weeks ago

Tf are you talking about

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 weeks ago

You are not helping your cause with bullshit. Unless your goal is to disrupt things.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

Honest question, is his record on palestine mixed? He's made a lot of pro palestine comments but if there's nuance to whether he's supported them, or where he's drawn the line I'd be interested to know about it

[–] [email protected] 38 points 3 weeks ago

Also Bernie Sanders:

"Cruel and illegal war on Gaza must end, we must block arms sales to Israel"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Wow

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

For the sake of being clear, Bernie has criticized Israel very explicitly and has condemned their violence more than the vast majority of US politicians, please don't just take what that random guy said at face value.

Its entirely possible Bernie has a mixed record on Palestine or isn't a perfect representative (I'd need to go look at primary sources and ideally voting records), but the person who left that comment is likely just expressing their anger at feeling like there's not more they can do to help, knowing that innocent lives are being lost

Hopelessness that has turned into bitterness is understandable in the current global political landscape but isn't a good source of credible information

Edit: not gonna go check voting records cause I would have to learn how and barely have the emotional energy to feed myself right now, but here's a quote from sanders' website

“What is happening right now in Gaza is horrendous, it is inhumane, and it is a gross violation of American and international law,”

Here is the page the quote is from, which at a glance explains that as a Jewish American, Bernie is in a unique position to criticize the actions of the Israeli government https://www.sanders.senate.gov/in-the-news/sen-bernie-sanders-has-become-a-leading-critic-of-israels-war-in-gaza/

[+] [email protected] -26 points 3 weeks ago (5 children)

Lmfao, what a joke..

He should know better. He should know that as long as both exist, capital and state (and especially, but not exclusively in the US, organised religion) are inseparably intertwined, by motherfucking design, and the only way to separate them, is to abolish both and start from scratch and without the influence of either (while Sanders, like all other politicians, has a deeply vested interest in maintaining at least half of the equation - the state and its existing form of government, and its, and his own, influence).

I'm seriously getting sick of this feeble bullshit being what people think leftism is.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 3 weeks ago

Your purity makes you ineffective and useless.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago

People like you should trial: living in abject poverty, living in a "communist" state, or even in a community that implements their own demands. Y'all just see a problem with the system and think the only solution is to start afresh with some half-baked, idealistic system that always somehow fails to consider that humans are shitty animals from the get go.

Y'all run your mouths about anarchy (which will fail as soon as people start murdering each other) or marxism or communism (without even understand what those are or looking at how things went historically) and can't even fathom why they haven't worked out or were replaced.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago

no matter how extreme you are there are those who are more extreme. Some would claim that humans are flawed and will always try to abuse any system you come up with so all humanity must be wiped if we want to get rid of this.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 weeks ago

It kinda feels like you're advocating the viewpoint that anything less than total revolution is useless. While I understand feeling like the system is working as intended, I don't think that means we can't improve things short of overthrowing the government and enforcing a more just society through violence. And I think that the argument that short of a complete rewrite there's nothing we can do really just makes people feel more defeated and apathetic. If you wanna win the war, morale is kinda important.

I find it very easy to let perfect be the enemy of good, and I think that policy change that moves the country in the right direction, like putting more power (proportionally) in the hands of the American public is a good thing worth fighting for, regardless of whether you'd like a future that's further from our current reality.

(Also, your comment comes across as pretty angry and that's perfectly understandable given the state of the world, but please know I'm not disagreeing with you trying to start an argument or flame war about whose political opinion is correct, I don't really think that's productive and don't really want to be the target of someone's anger)

[–] [email protected] 37 points 3 weeks ago

the only way to separate them, is to abolish both and start from scratch

Ok, well, for those of us who don't think a state of civil war following total collapse of the United States government is a good idea I'm glad there's people like him trying to work out another path forward.

[–] [email protected] 43 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

If you're not already familiar with how the Citizens United decision works, it's worth learning about!

This 4 minute long video So You Want to Bribe a Politician is a fantastic and accessible explainer :)