Can the Democratic Party be used for good? [View all]

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[font color=330099]Note: This article is from socialistworker.org. I am posting this article for discussion even though I do not agree with all of the information within the article (e.g., calling Sanders supporters radicals or the characterization of the Democratic Party as a criminal enterprise). In addition, I have made any declaration as to which candidate I intend to support in the Democratic primary. If any of the hosts of this group believes that the article violates the SOP of this forum please contact me so that we can discuss whether the article should be deleted.
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Danny Katch, author of the e-book America's Got Democracy! The Making of the World's Longest-Running Reality Show, has some questions for radicals who are supporting Bernie Sanders' campaign for the Democratic Party presidential nomination.

THE PRESIDENTIAL run of Bernie Sanders poses an important question for socialists.

On the one hand, the Vermont senator's progressive populism could inspire millions of voters disenchanted with Wall Street domination and might give thousands of mostly young people their first taste of political activism--even if it's the limited electoral activism of passing out brochures and praising their candidate. The fact that Sanders calls himself a socialist and famously has a portrait of socialist leader Eugene V. Debs in his office is cool, too.

On the other hand, while Sanders is nominally a political independent, he is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, and he has long acted as a de facto member of the Democratic Party, one of the most criminal enterprises the modern world has ever known--with a rap sheet that includes, chronologically: slavery; the Trail of Tears; stealing half of Mexico; the Confederacy; Jim Crow; Hiroshima and Nagasaki; the Korean and Vietnam Wars; NAFTA; mass incarceration; mass deportations; and massively escalated drone and cyber warfare.

Yes, the Democrats also can claim credit for good things like Social Security, as well as Medicaid and Medicare--though we socialists insist the real credit belongs to the mass movements that put the "party of the people" under such pressure that it had to act. Even setting that aside, remember this: The Mafia has also been known to provide services to the neighborhood to reduce opposition to its nefarious activities.

Read more: http://socialistworker.org/2015/05/21/can-the-democratic-party-be-used-for-good