Bernie Sanders in one word

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25. It's not a question of all or nothing...

the question is --to what actual result ? The pressing question of working class people and the poor at this moment is history is again -- to what actual result ? To what actual result - throughout the history of capitalist relations (political, social, and economic) - have the proposed "reformers and regulators" of the capitalist power structure benefited the working class and the people AS A WHOLE ? Why is this question avoided ?

What you are asking for is not possible as long as capital dominates every economic, social, and political relation. Capitalism moves in the exact opposite direction of what you are hoping for. No "fairness" for the whole is possible under capitalist social relations. For years we've witnessed the divide between leftist political views that focus on class struggle and capitalism as the problem and liberalism and it's want for reform as the only solution and starting point. It would seem that those that continue to identify with liberal reforms - as the be all and end all starting point of political action - haven't got any of the reform they're fighting for. So for liberals to continue to brush off, marginalize, and attack leftist politics and views doesn't seem to be the answer. Liberals/Progressives get very angry when they are labeled "purists" by the "New Democrats" and then turn around and do the same to leftists (anti-capitalists). Such hypocrisy is very telling.

I don't dislike Bernie. He's saying some things that are good but Bernie's rhetoric is that of a reformer of capitalism. While his rhetoric contains some things that appeal to workers struggles it could go much further. Well fed wage-slaves is not the answer or the end-game. Maybe it's yours and the liberals, but it is not for many of us who are paying a lot more attention than you can possibly imagine. Capitalism is redistribution and expropriation of the workers. Redistribution and expropriation of all wealth created by the working class into the hands of the owners and a parasitic ruling class. There is nothing in Bernie's platform that changes that fundamental theft and expropriation from the working class.

Bernie Sanders is not a leftist or a socialist in any way, shape, or form. He's a liberal with a rough edge and his platform doesn't even come close to addressing the fundamental theft, redistribution, and expropriation of the working class that capitalism is. He is also on board with American Exceptionalism, Nationalism, and Imperialist Empire. I've kept my mouth shut until now out of respect for Sanders supporters but it is what it is.

As another leftist put it and it couldn't be clearer. (No this is not directed at you personally but at the reformist movement in general)

You know you are a Philistine

You know you are a Philistine when you insist on attaching an adjective to the word "Capitalism", as in "Crony Capitalism", "Financial Capitalism", "Disaster Capitalism", "Shock Capitalism", "Unregulated Capitalism", Private-Equity Capitalism, or that old standby, "Greedy Capitalism". It is Capitalism, pure and simple, and there can be no confusion. What we see is what it is.

Perhaps there was slightly more justification for this jive two decades ago. Today, there is no possibility of a debate. The End of Ideology has itself ended. Instead of bringing "stability" to the world, capitalism has brought depression and fragmentation. Instead of bringing democracy and prosperity to the world, it has wrecked local societies where they hung on by a fingernail. No extended criticism is needed because criticism itself - social, political, and economic - has become a criticism of capitalism.

It has been this way for a long time. In the 19th century, capitalism was that which ripped small holders from the land, chained children to machinery, and pushed entire populations, on threat of extinction, across the surface of the earth. In the first part of the 20th century, Capitalism was synonymous with War and Fascism. Imperialism? Colonialism? Famine? Genocide? All the faces of Capitalism...

They told you that Capitalism changed? They lied.

If you hang your hat on reforming Capitalism, believe that your "freedoms" depend on the continuation of Capitalism, or think that Capitalism is "still preferable to everything else", all it means is that your turn hasn't come yet...