Bernie the Bomber’s Bad Week
1999
by Will Miller
In late April I was among the 25 Vermonters who occupied Congressman
Bernie Sanders’ Burlington office to protest his support of the NATO
bombing of Yugoslavia and the ongoing war against Iraq. Calling ourselves
the “Instant Antiwar Action Group,” we decided to bring our outrage at
Bernie’s escalating hypocrisy directly to his office, an action that resulted
in 15 of us being arrested for trespass.
Many of us worked on Bernie’s campaigns through
1980’s, the years he was–as the local press repeatedly put it–
the “avowed socialist” Mayor of Burlington, Vermont. His descent
into de facto membership the Democratic party has been a major setback
for the task of building a real electoral alternative to the
two factions of the corporate property that monopolize what passes
for political choice in the United States. Bernie’s selling out
says clearly to working people and those unable to find work
that even leftists become mainstream politicians, when and if
they win office.
Sanders presented himself to the left outside of Vermont
as the leader of the third party movement, vanquishing the two major
parties in every Mayoral election from 1981-88.
When he first got elected Mayor of Burlington he was
the only elected U.S. official to attend the anniversary of the Sandinista
Revolution in Managua. The Gannett owned Burlington Free Press
said he had to be removed from office “by any means necessary.”
Now that same Burlington Free Press endorses his Congressional
candidacy.
Bernie became an imperialist to get elected in 1990.
In August, 1990–after the Bush administration enticed Iraq into
invading Kuwait–Sanders said he wasn’t “going to let some damn
war cost him the election,” according to a staff member who was
present at the time. So Sanders backed the buildup in the Persian Gulf
and dumped on the left anti-imperialist peace movement, singling
out his former allies like Dave Dellinger for public criticism.
------snip------
Since 1991 the Democrats have given Bernie membership
in their Congressional Caucus. Reciprocally, Bernie has become an
ardent imperialist. Sanders endorsed Clinton in 1992 and 1996. In
1992 he described Clinton as the “lesser of evils,” (a justification
he used to denounce when he was what the local press called an
“avowed socialist”). By 1996 he gave Clinton an unqualified
endorsement. He has been a consistent “Friend of Bill’s” from
since 1992. One student I know worked on the Clinton Campaign
in 1996 and all across Vermont, Bernie was on the stage with
the rest of the Vermont Democratic Party Leadership, while the
unauthorized Democratic candidate for his Congressional seat was
kept out in the audience.
Sanders continues to support sanctions even though the
Iraqi body count has now passed 1.5 million. Just as he has supported
every bombing of Iraq since 1992. When Clinton sent military
units to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in October, 1994 because Iraq
moved troops inside Iraq closer to the Kuwait border (apparently
about 100 miles away), Bernie supported this because “we cannot
tolerate aggression.”
As a Congressman in Vermont he has allied himself the
MIA/POW crowd, the American Legion and the VFW, the very groups that
red baited him as Mayor. At the same time he and his staff “forget”
to invite the Green Mountain Veteran’s for Peace–the only anti-
imperialist veterans group in the state–to his sponsored Veterans
events. He sends out mailings to veterans that supports the US
having “the strongest military in the world,” while praising
our sacrifices as veterans “for the freedom of Americans.”
Bernie regularly rides out with the rest of the Vermont
Congressional delegation defending the military contracts in Vermont
against cuts by the Pentagon, while arguing that some moderation in
military spending is possible on the grounds “that the threat of communism
is over” (WCAX interview, 10/94).
Incidentally, Sanders now has a stronger record voting
on the Democratic side in the Congress than either Bonier or Gephardt
–the Congressional Leadership of the Democratic Party. It is
tempting to situate Sanders within the framework of the Congress
as a whole. By that standard he doesn’t look so bad–though that’s
a very low standard to use. But remember, unlike Maxine Waters
or Ron Dellums who moved continuously to their left during their
Congressional careers, Bernie got where he is now by a lurch
to the right. He promises working people, the aged, the poor,
and the “vanishing middle class” that he will defend them while
he repeatedly blocks the building of the anti-capitalist political
movement and party that might actual make such promises legitimate.
Indeed, when challenged publicly about his failure to help build
a left alternative to the major capitalist parties, Sanders claims
he is now too busy with his work in Congress to be
bothered.
Continue reading at http://www.libertyunionparty.org/?page_id=363
This is pretty sizable article about the cunning war loving Bernie Sander. It talks about how this so called independent senator from Vermont votes with the democrats more than most democrats and continues to support the MIC, the wars by funding them to the max when they are started. I know not very many people in here believes the hype about him. But this idea that somehow, he is really anti war needs to be quashed.
He just like campaigning Obama are not anti war, they claim anti cred to get votes and when they get in, they continue to fund and fight the wars that supports the MIC.
Also, this was written from the perspective of a progressive, so try to ignore areas talking about how his office is not diverse enough etc etc.
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