A principled critique of Bernie Sanders.

After all, if one campaigns to sheepdog people to vote for the Democratic Party, what else can one do but call it out?

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/10/22/sand-o22.html

At one point in his speech, Sanders spoke about the significance of his upset presidential primary victory in Michigan in 2016: “That victory, and in 21 other states, told the entire world we are not satisfied with status quo politics. Many ideas which I talked about were considered radical, but you know what’s happened in the past three years? Those ideas are now supported by millions!”

Sanders neglected to remind his audience that he immediately threw his support behind the epitome of “status quo politics,” the militarist and right-wing candidate Hillary Clinton, within a month after winning Michigan. Nor did he mention that he has now become a leading figure in this right-wing political party, which has shifted even further to the right since 2016.

The other revealing aspect of the evening was the marked decline in enthusiasm. In February 2016, just ten miles down the road, Sanders drew an overflow crowd of 10,000 people to his rally at Eastern Michigan University. In contrast, the 1,000-person capacity auditorium on Friday was about 90 percent full. The audience was dominated by professionals and party-connected young people, with very few workers.

Also notable was what did not come up even once all night: any opposition to or even mention of the unending wars being waged by US imperialism around the world. After over a dozen speeches from leading Democrats in the state and Sanders, one would have no idea that over 80 percent of the most recent federal budget bill was earmarked for military spending, or that the US is threatening was against Russia and China, with incalculable consequences.