How far will they let Sanders go?

I enthusiastically support Bernie Sanders in his bid for the White House and I’m thrilled that his campaign is picking up traction across the country. I’m also fearful.

We live in very troubling times where internal threats to the American hegemony from whistleblowers, investigative reporters and overly vocal citizens are met with the utmost legal force the government can muster, and in some cases, illegal force as well. As ridiculous as it is to say, Bernie Sanders, unlike Hillary Clinton, represents a threat to the Dark Government that really runs things. This is not something entirely new (think JFK, RFK, Martin Luther King), but the reach and power of the surveillance state has grown considerably in the past forty years, and exposing the truth is more dangerous than ever.

As Sanders’ star ascends while Hillary’s campaign is mired in controversy and attacks from the Right, it begs the question: How far will the Shadow Government allow the Vermont socialist to go? He stands for everything they despise: Higher taxes on the elites, drastically reducing income inequality, stronger social programs to help the poor and low income workers, strengthening social security and Medicare, a reduction in military spending, more support for unions, and finally, dismantling the surveillance state currently in charge of this country.

With views so utterly at odds with the ruling elites, would they ever allow him to become President of the United State? This is a question that was once reserved for third world countries where assassinations and coups have historically been common occurrences, but the United States of America? Sadly, I don’t think it’s an unreasonable concern anymore.

Bernie Sanders takes on America’s corporate media

In his Salon article today, “The media’s sickening Sander’s double standard: How the socialist brings out their true colors,” Simon Maloy analyzes how the media reacts to Bernie Sanders' positions as opposed to his Tea Party counterparts in the Republican party. On the subject of income inequality, one of Sanders’ top priorities, he has suggested we return to the Eisenhower-era tax structure when the marginal tax rate for the wealthiest Americans was around 90 percent. The interviewer was taken aback.

“When you think about something like 90 percent, you don’t think that’s obviously too high?” he asked.

“No,” Bernie shot back.

As Maloy points out, we have been so brainwashed over the past thirty years by the corporate media that the idea of taxing the wealthiest Americans to this extent seems like a crazy idea, although the American economy has historically prospered when taxes on the rich were high and floundered when they were low, as they are now.

Conservatives are given a very long leash by the mainstream media when it comes to calling their craziness to account, but when a progressive utters anything even remotely “leftist” it is met with incredulity and eye-rolling. Sander’s has a large mountain to scale in his run for the presidency, not so much from Hillary, but from the internal biases of America’s corporate media.

Hillary Clinton: The Stop-Gap President

Hillary Clinton announced today she’s running for President. I have mixed feelings about it, but they’re mostly negative. Yes, it would be a giant step forward in many ways for this country to have a woman in charge, and I am looking forward to that day. Beyond the fact that Hillary is a woman, however, there is little to cheer about.

Mrs. Clinton is the establishment Democrat. She voted with conservatives to start the Iraq war and has been a consistent hawk on military issues her entire political career. She has deep roots in both Washington and Wall Street and is a veteran of backroom negotiating. The biggest issue I have with Hillary is that I don’t see her halting or overhauling any of the Bush/Obama policies such as mass surveillance, the perpetual war on terror, the use of drones or our insanely large expenditure on national defense.

One thing I know for certain is how Clinton will campaign. As the primaries draw closer, Hillary will start courting the Left with much talk about helping the middle class, taking on the financial elites and fixing our broken economy, all hot button issues for liberals and progressives. Once she has the nomination, the rhetoric will shift to the right, to appeal to the broader group of voters resting in the middle of the political spectrum. Should she win the election, we would see her surround herself with Washington insiders and Wall Street veterans and she would move back to the middle/right where she naturally resides.

With no fresh ideas or bold initiatives, Bush’s corrosive policies will live on in a Clinton administration and America will continue its gradual slide into oblivion. Isn’t Hillary better than a Ted Cruz or Rand Paul? That depends. If you’re anxious to get the nightmare over with quickly and have a President who will put America out of its misery quickly, go Republican. Want some extra time? Vote for Hillary.