By Kathryn
Being a democratic socialist, there can be no doubt that Bernie Sanders would be the best thing (since sliced bread) for the USA which has long been regarded as a rigid profit-obsessed and elitist nightmare of stone cold capitalistic neo-liberalism. Let’s face it, the leading countries (and economies) in the world are all managed by democratic socialist governments (that operate independently from their monarchy, eg Sweden and Denmark).
There can be no doubt that capitalism only benefits the obscenely rich and powerful at the expense of the vulnerable and is inherently incompatible with the values of freedom and equality. Democratic socialism is the best form of socialism which is based on egalitarianism, shared wealth for the benefit of all, generous taxpayer-subsidised health services (like Medicare in Australia), subsidised education to benefit all children no matter the socio-economic background of their parents and government control over vital services such as transport, utilities, the supply of water, health care, aged care and education. When democratic socialist governments control society’s basic and essential functions, it can make better use of resources, reduce the undeniable rising costs and inefficiency of foreign-owned privatisation and protect its citizens jobs in those services. Good democratic socialist governments foster good relations with unions (who work for the benefit of vulnerable employees); they reduce the appalling disparity in wealth, not only in different areas, but also in all societal ranks and classes.
There is good reason why right-wing-extremism’s (even fascism’s) lack of transparency and widespread corruption is rampant in conservative governments (especially within the Trump and Morrison regimes in the USA and Australia), quite simply they don’t give a rat’s behind about society – they only care about themselves and their billionaire donors in the relentlessly rapacious Top 1%.
Why are Americans so terrified of democratic socialism? Because they have been brainwashed for decades that democratic socialism equates to communism which is one of the worst, most politically skewed lies ever perpetrated by heartless capitalistic regimes to attain and maintain power and inequality over their citizens. Are they really that selfish that they are not prepared to pay a little bit more tax to benefit everyone? Just about every civilised country on earth has a government-subsidised health care system to benefit the most vulnerable and poorest people in their midst: the UK, Ireland, Australia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany – even Cuba has a far better and more equitable health care system than America. Bernie Sanders has promised to introduce this highly desirable facet of democratic socialism which can only benefit citizens of the USA.
The fact that staggering right wing neo-liberal capitalists always refer to socialists as “lefties” or “communists” and mention that they, right wing plutocrats, are the only ones who champion the rights of the individuals (provided they are not socialists, communists, Muslims, blacks, Jews, female or gay – have I missed anyone?) just proves that they have not got a shred of credibility nor an ounce of insight as to what a socialist really is!
SOCIALISM is not communism … as much as the LNP tries to draw parallels with communism.
A SOCIALIST is defined by its very description, ie someone who cares about society, who cares about the rights, independence and egalitarianism of others.
A SOCIALIST has empathy for the poor, the unemployed, the mentally ill, the homeless, the disabled and the vulnerable.
A SOCIALIST cares about the future education and employment prospects of our children and grandchildren;
A SOCIALIST really cares about the environment and the type of world we leave to our children – as opposed to the rampant, unending greed of capitalists and cold-blooded fascists who know the cost of everything but the value of nothing;
To be an ardent SOCIALIST usually means that one is more predisposed to be kind, generous and compassionate.
To be a SOCIALIST is to be intelligent, progressive and in tune with our environment and quality of life;
To be a SOCIALIST is to have a great respect for democratic process, freedom of speech and the equality of ALL people no matter their race, colour, religion or ideology;
To be a SOCIALIST is to understand that civil, decent societies are judged by the way they treat their poorest citizens and their children (the callously inhumane Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison regime fails on all accounts);
To be SOCIALIST is a good thing, an honourable thing. SOCIALISTS despise war mongering neo-liberal fascism; they abhor despicable liars and condemn racists who hide behind insidious flag-waving nationalism and false patriotism which the ultra-conservative right-wing use to divide communities and spread their hatred and vile ideologies.
When I have a good look at the disgraceful psychopaths in the Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison regime, I am even more proud of being a socialist and very proud of the likeminded, empathetic people who support the socialist cause!
What do ALL the people named below have in common?
Jesus Christ, George Orwell, Helen Keller, Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell, Pablo Picasso, Martin Luther King Jnr, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, and Australia’s best PM, Gough Whitlam?
Answer: They were all high-achieving, compassionate SOCIALISTS!
I would like to challenge right wing neo-liberals to name one single person (alive or dead) who was an ultra-right wing oligarchical neo-liberal Republican, Tory or member of the fascist LNP, to name one single thing they did to benefit mankind. Name one neo-liberal who achieved anything that could, in any way, be construed as altruistic or philanthropic! The names that pop up on this side of the political fence care nothing about democracy, free speech or the rights of others. They are notorious war criminals, cruel self-entitled capitalists and/or horrendous authoritarian dictators who couldn’t care two hoots about ordinary citizens. They were/are callously inhumane without a shred of compassion – often hiding their unspeakable cruelty behind a facade of sanctimonious, bible-thumping hypocrisy (like George W Bush, Donald Trump, John Howard, Peter Dutton, Scott Morrison, Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull, Eric Abetz, Cory Bernardi, Pauline Hanson).
When you look back through the ignominious history of the Republican movement and the LNP, there isn’t a single right-wing MP worth a dime. Every commitment made to a vile, nasty offshore war (such as Korea, Vietnam and the horrendous genocidal Iraqi war) has been under a Republican/LNP government who consistently use war, terror, hatred and fear to divide nations. When things look bleak in the polls, the war-mongering right-wing are always prepared to stoop to using war as the last resort to cling onto power with bloodstained fingers – ready and willing to sacrifice millions of lives and spend billions to distract focus from their horrendous policies and/or use hatred and division for their own political agenda. It is always a hate-filled, xenophobic right-wing government that drags us into war and it always takes a left-wing, socialist government to get us out of it!
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Sanders will not be allowed to be elected. He is not owned by anybody and therefore cannot be trusted.
The fact that POTUS was bought and sold was first evident to me with the election of Reagan. A classic empty vessel; union leader used by MCarthy to betray his union members, a man whose main asset was his ability to learn lines. Stood gir nothing believed in nothing, did exactly as he was told. He was lucky that the disintegration of the USSR coincided with his terms – the US pretends that Reagan precipitated it, despite the fact that throughout his second term he was deep in Alzheimer’s (they can apparently recite and sing familiar lines.
No – THEY will not allow a Sanders presidency.
As a brief aside, and not wishing to detract from the seriousness of the content of the article, who remembers George W Bush’s declaration “I’m proud to be a merkin”?
Heh!
I remember it well and actually used on a Guardian commentary recently.
Trumpetty, of course, uses one – unwashed and foul – on his head, in place of the underpants usually associated with creatures of his contorted mindset.
GG, that one escapes me but I do remember his “nucular weapons” and that he’d “learnt to use the Google”. His best one was that “humans and fish could coexist peacefully together” (may not be in those exact words, a search on YouTube would clear it up).
The saddest thing though, is that Trump makes GWB look like the president of the local Mensa club).
And people vote for them against their own best interests, I dont get it at all.
GG
I remember it well.
I thought he was covering something up..,
Hey Grumpy, what’s “a merkin”?
Ohh, of course: “an American”!
Trouble with that is that there’s a lot more countries – nation states, to be pedantic – than just the US of A on the American double continent. I have heard repeatedly that good many “Americans” from anywhere between the Aleut Islands and Terra del Fuego take exception to State-side folks monopolizing the demonym “American”.
Something to bear in mind, perhaps?
Maybe “Murkin” has its place, afterall?
Anybody who does not know what a merkin is should look it up.
Merkins cover up what some of us think ‘murkins’ are…
Hi Kathryn,
“SOCIALISM is not communism”
Yeahr … !
Already Karl Marx distinguished variations of socialism – utopian, feudal, bourgeois, petit-bourgeous … He reserved his greatest contempt for “German” or “True Socialism”. Having grown up in W. Germany myself, I kind of get why. Certainly the former East Germany under Ulbricht and Honecker appeared unbearably cloying and pedantic, even (and perhaps especially) to a libertarian Marxist like myself.
Of course, socialism is not communism! But then again, whilst transmogrifying (neo)-liberal democracy into social-democracy, and subsequent democratic socialism, if done well, will enable us to address many of the most pressing problems of capitalism, it will not enable us to eliminate all of those problems. Plus, socialism will generate a few major problems of it own.
Addressing both residual and newly created problems will necessitate further progress – towards some kind or other of communism … – and beyond.
Just sayin’.
Thanks for the prompt, Jack!
The yanks have been so thoroughly brainwashed and indoctrinated that they shudder whenever the word socialism is mentioned. Thanks of course to the media, popular Hollywood movies and less than intelligent actors who spouted those warm cosy homespun witticisms that enthralled generations of movie goers. Reagan was made for the movies and the presidency, did nothing himself, delegated everything to his underlings who took their instructions from big business and the right wing ratbags. Remember the trickle down economic rubbish ?
Bernie Sanders has recognized this but will he be able to defeat it ???
But he is a worthy foil to the orange headed cretin who occupies the WH because Bernie won’t be easy to intimidate in any debate. I am looking forward to that.
@Ferkin Warhead: Uhm ….. The election of Reagan was first predicted as a strategic move by interested corporate “Insiders” in Carroll Quigley (1968?), “Tragedy and Hope a History of the United States” (1300 pp). In 1968 Reagan was a natural for the job because he could read a script with authority, had some public profile as a minor Hollywood actor, and was sympathetic to Republican politics. Thus his nomination and successful accession to the presidency was almost guaranteed.
Quigley was a Professor at the Foreign Service School, Georgetown University USA who for 20 years had studied the corporate network “working to create world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole”.
Gary Allen (1971) “None Dare Call it Conspiracy”, Concord Press California USA (and now available with five other similar titles on the Internet) in over 5.5 million hardcopies from three printings) expanded the theory out for popular understanding.
This is a story of interlinked corporate activity ignoring international political borders while working on adaptable 5, 10, 20, 50 year corporate planning schedules, exploiting every change in world historic events to their own advantage.
This website is not the place to describe my observations of these events since 1975, but suffice to say that the events of the past 45 years follow the plan outlined by Allen, including both the assassination attempt on Reagan and the Iran Iraq War where the US NE military industrial complex provided weapons to both sides of the war; an economic coup!!
A principal mouthpiece for this group is the US Council of Foreign Relations, a right wing think tank that has provided most of the key figures creating history for the USA.
History is never accidental, it is always the result of one or more persons working for their own or corporate or national advantage. So, Trumpery is no accidental President!!
Just to clear up a few facts ,Harry s Truman a democrat president in charge during Korean war.
President John F Kennedy another democrat that first send troops to Vietnam .
lyndon Baines Johnson also a democratic president then escalated the Vietnam war after Kennedy’ s death. interesting fact more wars under a democratic USA government than a republican one . if Hilary Clinton a war mongering democrat who takes advice from war criminal Henry Kissenger had of won the last US election , would the world now be a safer place .
Jack Sprat
And don’t forget St Obama.
Nobody with any interest in history generally, or knowledge of US history in particular, could possibly equate the Democratic Party with the left side of politics. They even have the wrong colour (color) although the colour of the Republican Party (Red) is like some sort of snide joke. Both parties are stashed full
of deeply unpleasant people.
There is NO left side of politics in the USA, only the occasional independent who can’t be bought or whom nobody wants to buy.
Did everyone see the comments from Concetta Fierravanti-Wells who is offended to be called “right-wing” as it is often associated with “right-wing extremism”
It’s OK to name call if it only goes in one direction.
Kerri…… Cranky Connie was a nickname bestowed on her by one very imaginative poster on the Guardian website.
So apt !!!! Always moaning and groaning about any and everything.
Kathryn
You are aware that, despite the lying rat little johnny’s 3 way “referendum” in 1999, there is still a Republican movement in Australia, and (hopefully in my lifetime) we will achieve it, escape the clutches of “the firm”, and get ourselves a real flag which doesn’t show Australia as being subservient to anyone.
Please don’t mix the Australian Republican Movement with the septic republicans.
It just makes me cross.
They are two totally different things.
An opinion, kathryn, not shared by the electorate. Queenslanders, in particular, were definitely not enamoured with socialism or their understanding of the word. Especially those with a tenuous hold on a job, or two jobs or three jobs and those who are not dole bludgers. These succumbed to the slogan induced fear and voted against shorten.
The nt newspaper’s words on a byelection had many anti-labor articles byteir journalists and ceo’s of real estate and chamber of commerce adding to the rupert bias including a plea to young people not to vote for the socialists or we will end up like cuba. wtf is going on in the darwin clp that provokes a reference to cuba.
After the win the labor chief got a double page spread and an editorial for his ‘arrogant’ celebration. with views from from the preferred candidates and from the clp candidate for the chief minister’s seat.
Proving our editor is worse that your southern specimens.
ps
David it takes fear of the alternative to choose “against their own best interests,”. The alternative for queenslanders in townsville was exemplified by the loonie caravan.
pps
Yes kerri did you see dutton desperately avoiding repeating his ‘muslim terrorists are left wing”.
ppps
drakeN you, and what’s his name, missed a culture lesson on qanda last night. shame!!
Back to Ferkin Warhead’s comment at the start:
“Sander will not be allowed to be elected”.
I would add that this is not because he constitutes any great threat to global capitalism, but they cannot stand the notion of ANY money leaked to be used for the benefit of ordinary people.
It’s interesting that Norway ranks number 1 for press freedom in the world, and there is no Murdoch press.
But they have a conservative/right/anti-immigration government, and an electorate that appears particularly jaded by “democratic socialism”
Throughout the Scandinavian countries there is a strong reaction against their longstanding economic and social structures. It isn’t necessarily (these days) a model that those that experience it, wish to follow
wow – that was some diatribe! And I can’t pick any holes in it. Really just letting it all go – damn the torpedoes and tell it like it is.
I’d add that the version of Capitalism that the hard-conservatives want – i.e. unconstrained, unregulated capitalism, is indistinguishable from… Anarchy!! …by definition.