THIS IS the essence of the con game at the heart of the "pragmatic politics"

[Ichingcarpenter]

The "don't vote for what you want" campaign




Snip............ well worth the read that documents this action and ends with this



THIS IS the essence of the con game at the heart of the "pragmatic politics" long practiced by the liberal wing of American oligarchy. They tell supporters that radical change is unrealistic because the people will never go for it--while they do everything in their powers to prevent radical change from ever being a legitimate option for people to choose.


It's the very opposite of the combative and independent politics promoted by the Socialist Party leader and five-time presidential candidate Eugene Debs, who used to say that he'd rather "vote for something I want and not get it than vote for something I don't want and get it."

Sanders' success up to this point is poking a big hole in the national myth that the U.S. is a conservative country at heart. But how far Sanders can take his campaign is limited by the fact that he's running for the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party--a party that is showing it will undermine him every step of the way.

Sanders himself and many of his supporters believe that the limits of the two-party system make working inside the Democrats the only realistic path for progressive politics. And it's true that Sanders is probably getting far more attention than he would as an independent, third-party candidate--since those figures are outright shunned by the media and political establishment.

But it's also true--whether or not Sanders is willing to face it--that the Democratic Party will never allow itself to be taken over by its left wing. So by staying within the Democratic Party, Sanders is dooming some of his "pragmatic critics" to be correct.

Sanders' insistence on talking about health care is a breadth of fresh air .............more


http://socialistworker.org/2016/01/2...-want-campaign

[99th_Monkey]

1. K&R - Good one! nt

[cantbeserious]

2. When We Stand Together - No Citizen Need Settle For The Lesser Of Two Corporate Evils - Go Bernie Go

eom

[daleanime]

3. K&R....

and bookmarked

[w4rma]

4. You want pragmatic politics, vote for Sanders and do *not* vote for Clinton in the primaries.

Sanders is a great campaigner who is in tune with the voters. Clinton is *still* a poor campaigner who is beholden to her billionaire donors.

• Pragmatism is voting for the guy who is polling better against Trump than Clinton is.
  
  
• Pragmatism is voting for the guy who isn't going to be protecting corrupt sychophants like Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Rahm Emmanuel and other corrupt pro-Wall Street appointees.
  
  
• Pragmatism is voting for the guy who plans to USE his grassroots, once in the presidency, instead of disbanding it, as soon as he takes office.
  
  
• Pragmatism is voting for the guy who has a plan to work towards progressive Democratic majorities, rather than insisting that we are going to have a Republican Congress to work against/with for the entirety of the next Presidency.
  

[Ichingcarpenter]

5. He shows leadership and the people know that

The House and Senate Democratic leadership repeatedly could not defend the country from the worst Republican Party in history, whose dozens of anti-human, pro-big business votes should have toppled many GOP candidates. Instead, Nancy Pelosi has led the House Democrats to three straight calamitous losses (2010, 2012, 2014) to the Republicans, for whom public cruelties toward the powerless is a matter of principle.

Pelosi threw her own poisoned darts at Sanders, debunking his far more life-saving, efficient, and comprehensive, full Medicare-for-all plan with free choice of doctor and hospital with the knowingly misleading comment “We’re not running on any platform of raising taxes.” Presumably that includes continuing the Democratic Party’s practice of letting Wall Street, the global companies and the super-wealthy continue to get away with their profitable tax escapes.

Few people know that he receives the highest Senatorial approval rating and the lowest disapproval rating from his Vermonters than any Senator receives from his or her constituents.

Pelosi doesn’t expect the Democrats to make gains in the House of Representatives in 2016. But she has managed to hold on to her post long enough to help elect Hillary Clinton—no matter what Clinton’s record as a committed corporatist toady and a disastrous militarist (e.g., Iraq and the War on Libya) has been over the years.

[GoneFishin]

6. Yep. President O. treated progressives like hitchhikers who gathered to push his car out of a ditch.

Once he got what he wanted from them he just sped away, spraying a rooster tail of mud.

[newfie11]

9. Agree!

[guillaumeb]

12. You really should consider posting this as a stand alone.

An excellent refutation of the "pragmatic" argument of voting for the "most electable".

[kristopher]

7. "...will never allow.."?

Yes, well, Democracy can be a real pain in the ass sometimes. They might want to start learning to live with disappointment, because - "Fuck This Shit".

[tech3149]

10. As an old fart, I've played this game too long

Seriously this is the year of "fuck this shit" Even if Sanders is the candidate we should all be out there biting at the heels of everyone who isn't fighting for us.

[Jenny_92808]

8. Please everyone

VOTE

[LiberalElite]

11. I just learned that Eugene Debs

and I have a lot in common. I am fed up with voting for something I don't want and getting it. Why do THEY get to vote for what they want and the rest of us have to just be grateful we get anything at all? Now that Sanders is running it's all so obvious. It wasn't before.