A Beautiful Dream or a Nightmare

Published in Rebelión
(Spain) on 20 May 2016
by Rodolfo Good (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Jenny Westwell. Edited by Elizabeth Cosgriff.

 

 

It rather looks as if the old adage might come true: The best way to destroy a country is to let it choose its own government. It could happen in the United States if the choice in November is reduced to a misogynous magnate (Donald Trump) or the lady with the devil's smile (Hillary Clinton). Trump aims to demonstrate that money can buy anything, even the presidency of the most powerful empire in history; Clinton, that her election is predetermined by the fact that she represents the interests of big banking, the military-industrial complex, the mainstream press and the security agencies, and because she is backed by the tremendous stupidity of a mass consciousness that allows itself to be won over with false promises.

Should either be elected, the people of the world will pay dearly for the American people's defeat, which they will share, because they, too, will be massacred when they protest and serve as cannon fodder in future military interventions. In a nutshell, they will suffer hugely when they wake up to the harsh reality.

Bernie Sanders is the candidate who would avert this catastrophe by representing the interests of the American people and, in doing so, those of the whole world, instead of those of Wall Street, the military-industrial complex and Israeli pressure groups.

Behind his candidacy are workers disillusioned at having to work ever more hours each day for ever-decreasing wages, those who have lost their homes as a result of the crisis, students with ever-increasing college debts and no jobs when they graduate, the jobless obliged to beg for their daily bread, African-Americans shot down like dogs, women struggling on unequal pay, war veterans lacking proper care despite having been maimed in the defense of the spurious interests of the great multinationals, and migrants without any kind of security. In other words, the exploited, the poor and the dispossessed who are not content to see 99 percent of the profits generated in their country end up in the pockets of the richest 1 percent. This huge disproportion is debilitating and harmful to Americans’ spiritual sensibilities. According to Sanders, "We cannot continue to have a country that has the highest childhood poverty rate of any major country on earth at the same time as a proliferation of millionaires and multimillionaires. … That type of economy is not only immoral and wrong, it is unsustainable."* Therefore, he concludes, "It is imperative that the Democratic leadership, at national and state level, understands that the political world is changing and that millions of Americans are indignant at the dirty politics and the establishment's economic policies."*

Sanders ought to win the presidential election because he is the best candidate and plays no part in what he calls "casino capitalism, under which so few have so much and the vast majority have so little." He is also the only candidate who can give his country a last chance at the kind of political change, in foreign as well as domestic policy, that could prevent America from turning into a failed democracy and allowing the huge contradictions at its heart to lead its society along a path to disintegration as a nation.

*Editor’s note: The original quotation, accurately translated, could not be verified.


Un bello sueño o una pesadilla


Parecería que va a cumplirse la ley de la infamia: La mejor manera de destruir un país es dejarlo escoger a sus gobernantes. Esto podría pasar con EE.UU. si en noviembre les toca elegir entre un magnate misógino, Trump, o la dama de la sonrisa diabólica, Clinton. El primero intentaría demostrar que con dinero se puede comprar todo, incluso la presidencia del imperio más poderoso de la historia; la segunda, que ella está coronada de antemano por ser la representante de los intereses de la gran banca, del complejo militar industrial, de la gran prensa, de los órganos de seguridad y por estar respaldada por la enorme estupidez de una masa sin consciencia, que puede ser engatusada con falsas promesas.

De darse esta variante, los pueblos del orbe van a pagar con creces la derrota del pueblo americano, que también va a ser la de ellos, porque los van a masacrar cuando protesten, porque van a servir de carne de cañón en las intervenciones militares del futuro, en fin, porque van a sufrir mucho cuando despierten a la dura realidad.

Sanders es el candidato que evitaría esta catástrofe por no representar los intereses de Wall Street ni del complejo militar ni de los grupos de presión israelí sino los del pueblo estadounidense y, por cierto, los del mundo entero.

Con su candidatura están los obreros desilusionados de tener que trabajar más cada día por salarios cada vez más bajos, de desamparados que han perdido sus hogares como consecuencia de la crisis, de estudiantes cuyos gastos en educación son cada vez más alto y no encuentran trabajo al concluir sus estudios, de desempleados que día a día deben mendigar su sustento, de afroamericanos que son masacrados como si fuesen perros con rabia, de mujeres que sufren la falta de equidad en sus labores, de soldados que no son atendidos debidamente pese a haber sido mutilados por defender en el extranjero intereses espurios de las multinacionales, de migrantes sin garantías de ningún tipo, en fin, de todos los explotados, pobres y desposeídos que están descontentos de que el 99% de los ingresos generados en ese país vayan a parar a los bolsillos del 1% más rico. Esta enorme desproporción les enerva y les lastima su sensibilidad espiritual. Según Sanders, “No podemos seguir teniendo un país que tenga al mismo tiempo la tasa más alta de pobreza infantil de todos los grandes países del planeta, y una proliferación de millonarios y multimillonarios”, pues “Este tipo de economía no sólo es inmoral y malo sino que es insostenible”. Por lo que “Es imperativo que el liderazgo demócrata, tanto nacional como en los estados, entienda que el mundo político está cambiando y que millones de estadounidenses están indignados ante el politiqueo y las políticas económicas del establishment”.

Sanders debería ganar la elección presidencial no sólo por ser el mejor candidato y no formar parte, según sus palabras, de ese “Capitalismo de casino por el cual tan pocos tienen mucho y la inmensa mayoría tiene tan poco” sino por ser el único que puede dar a EE.UU. la última oportunidad de cambiar políticamente tanto en lo interno como en lo externo, y evitar así que ese país se convierta en una democracia fallida, en la que las grandes contradicciones existentes en su seno conduzcan a su sociedad por el sendero de la desintegración como Estado.
This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

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1 COMMENT

  1. Excellent opinion piece. And I am speaking as registered Democrat- like Bernie Sanders also a ” democratic socialist “- in the state of Rhode Island. In the April Democratic Primary here Bernie stunned the political establishment here by winning big over hawkish, ” Wall St. Hillary ” .
    If trends and momentum matter, Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign is a sinking ship. And recent polls have the hugely important California Democratic primary too close to predict the winner.
    The nervous or hysterical Democratic Party establishment is now smearing Bernie Sanders’ followers as having ” a propensity for violence “. Would Dr. Freud call that ” projection ” ?
    The Zeitgeist has made 2016 the Year of the Anti-Establishment Voter. And Hillary Clinton is the Queen of the Status Quo.
    I voted for ” socialist ” Democrat Bernie Sanders in the Rhode Island primary. I will not vote for Hillary Clinton as the ” lesser evil “. I will be very disappointed in Bernie Sanders if he should finally endorse ” Wall St. Hillary “.
    There is also Jill Stein, the presidential candidate of the Green Party. And only year ago I discovered the Socialist Equality Party and their outstanding World Socialist Web Site.
    Just on a tangent. Their movie review of ” The Money Monster ” has convinced me to see the movie at the local Warwick Cinema.
    [ http://radicalrons.blogspot.com ]