Why I am Voting for Bernie Sanders Today

Hola mi Gente,

I don’t vote. Period. I have my reasons. For one, I refuse to indulge a process that has been rigged for almost as long as elections have been going on. I also believe both parties are like to two dogs shackled to the same stake -- the stake being capitalism.

But today I am making an exception and casting a vote for Bernie Sanders and here’s why…

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La Bandera at a South Bronx Sanders Rally

Why I am Voting for Bernie Sanders

I’m not voting against someone, I’m choosing to vote for someone.

 -- Rosario Dawson, actor and activist

There are two incidents that sand out for me when I think of casting my vote today in the democratic primary of New York. One was when Black Lives Matter (BLM) activists at a Sanders rally bum-rushed the stage and took the microphone from Sanders in order to air their grievances. Many white Sanders supporters at the time were visibly upset and many more took to social media to parade their racism. But what really got my attention was Sanders’ willingness to engage the BLM movement and how he not only incorporated the movement’s platform into his own, but also hired some BLM activists to work on his campaign.

The second incident was when, during a debate in Brooklyn, Sanders refused to back down from his criticism of Israeli apartheid in Palestine. Right then, I turned to my friend and said, “Bernie just blew New York.” No other politician in my memory has ever had the cojones to stand up and speak truth to power when it comes to the Israel/ Palestine quagmire and live to tell the story.

Both these incidents highlight for me what I believe is Sanders greatest asset: his honesty. Sanders is a politician who actually believes what he preaches and has been a consistent voice for the past 35 years. Unlike his opponent, Hillary Clinton, Sanders has been on the right side of history from his time doing civil rights work to voting against the Iraq War, to his opposition to rule by the financial elites -- the 1%.

I am voting for Bernie Sanders today because I am not a super-predator, nor are the children from my community. Sanders may have voted for the Clinton crime bill, but it’s a lot more complicated than that. Sanders voted for the crime bill, largely because it included some provisions that he strongly approved of, such as the Violence Against Women Act and a 10-year assault weapons ban. 

I am voting for Bernie Sanders because he is the only candidate that has a coherent and well thought-ot economic plan to help Puerto Rico out of its financial crisis. 

But in other instances, Sanders voted against tough-on-crime measures. He voted against the 1991 crime bill. He voted against banning Pell grants (for college) for people who are incarcerated. He voted to amend the 1994 crime law to ban the federal death penalty. And he voted against the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, which stripped defendants and incarcerated persons of their ability to contest court rulings -- even when the rulings may be unconstitutional.

Historically his opponent, Hillary Clinton, has been much tougher and more punitive on crime. Clinton also talked up the 1994 crime law before it passed and it wasn't until last year that she acknowledged that the 1994 crime law went too far. As recently as 2008, Clinton's campaign aides played the “soft on crime” card against then–presidential candidate Barack Obama by saying he's too liberal and out of touch for opposing mandatory minimum sentences. She also, until very recently, continued to receive funding from the private prison industry.

I am voting for Bernie Sanders today because the evidence for the efficacy of single payer health has been proven again and again. That establishment pundits and politicians have tried to discredit Sanders’ health plan, the consensus of experts in the field say otherwise. Sanders’ single payer plan will save billions and, more importantly, countless lives.

I am voting for Bernie Sanders today because my personal experiences and research has shown me that quality education is the very practice of freedom. Sanders has a plan that shifts economic priorities from eternal war to building up our society. The fact is that the math is clear: free 4-year college for every American would only cost taxpayers 70 cents a day.

I could go on and on: Sanders’ economic plan, vetted by none other than distinguished economist who’s a Clinton Supporter, showed that Sander’s Keynesian approach would result in economic growth that hasn’t been seen in over 50 years. Of course, this economist was attacked, but no credible economist has run the numbers and published a finding that was contrary to Sanders’ claims. This who have, have either fudged the numbers or omitted crucial parts of his economic plan.

But what bothers me the most is this notion that we progressives must relinquish our principles. The Clintons and their supporters consistently demonstrate contempt for people who would build a movement. The Clinton campaign is basically a “No we can’t!” campaign. We can’t demand fairness or healthcare as a universal right. We can’t demand an economy that works for all of us rather than the richest 1%. We can’t. We can’t. We can’t. 

Well, I’m saying that not only can we, we must demand fairness and equality or we will be doomed. As it is, people who study such things are saying the US is no longer a democracy but an oligarchy. I refuse to submit to that form of nihilism. How long will we continue to be content for voting for the evil of two lessers?

I say we stop now and that’s why I am voting for Sanders today.

My name is Eddie and I’m in recovery from civilization…

UPDATE: Occupy Wall St. [Day 13]

¡Hola! Everybody…
I know you think I spend all my time on Facebook and blogging, but that’s just your perception. For example, today, on top of all my FB updates, shenanigans, blog post and all the other insanity, I facilitated two women’s workshops, attended a steering committee meeting for a campaign against racial profiling and police brutality, and stopped by Occupy Wall St. for an hour or so before heading home.

Yeah… fuck you. LOL!

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Update: Occupy Wall St., Day 13

Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it.
-- Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth

I want to do a more far-ranging, in-depth “participant/ observer” report on Occupy Wall St., but things are moving so quickly, and this movement is gaining so much traction just as rapidly, that I can’t afford to wait and write the longer, more in-depth piece I have in mind. So here goes…

As most of you know, on the tenth day of the Occupy Wall St. action, I decided to join in. Some of my activist friends have been there since the beginning with one getting arrested. To be honest, I thought the action wouldn’t last because it wasn’t well thought-out, there was no coherent message, no goals.

Just goes to show you how much I fuckin’ know. What I didn’t foresee is that the mostly young people occupying Wall St. have two principles necessary for impactful, meaningful action: commitment and courage.

It’s now Day Thirteen and it seems that the movement instead of dying out is instead defying all odds and growing.

Breaking News

Today, the Transport Workers Union (TWU) has voted to officially support Occupy Wall St. (here) TWU local 100 has 33,000 members in New York and 200,000 members nationally. There’s talk at the Occupy Wall St. site that the United Auto Workers (UAW) will also come on board. Critical Mass will join with a protest starting at Union Square and moving down to Liberty Park to join with the people at Occupy Wall St.

This is only natural, as I had run into and spoken with many union members at Occupy Wall St. One union member even pointed out to me the fact that members of one of the most powerful city unions, the police, were there to suppress protest. Hmmmmm…

On October 5, there will be a huge gathering of all these stakeholders staging a mass protest. This will be a huge shot in the arm and will guarantee that Occupy Wall St. won’t be going away.

Media Coverage

For the most part, the mainstream media outlets (MSM), after initially ignoring the protests, are now reporting on it, but only from a corporate-friendly, misinformed perspective. In fact, if it weren’t for the blatant police brutality, I doubt they would have covered it at all. Of course, if it had been four or five dumb-fuck teabaggers, the corporate press would’ve outnumbered the protestors.

I’ll have more to say on that later, but I want to illustrate my perspective through the use of a New York Times article. To put it simply the MSM is so out of the loop, so clueless, about the social dynamics undergirding Occupy Wall St because it is a repudiation -- a reconceptualization -- of the status quo. The New York Times, in an attempt to connect the protests to other uprisings around the globe, makes a subtle (and misleading) point that there’s something anti-democratic about popular protest. Check it out:

“… But from South Asia to the heartland of Europe and now even to Wall Street, these protesters share something else: wariness, even contempt, toward traditional politicians and the democratic political process they preside over.

They are taking to the streets, in part, because they have little faith in the ballot box.

“Our parents are grateful because they’re voting,” said Marta Solanas, 27, referring to older Spaniards’ decades spent under the Franco dictatorship. “We’re the first generation to say that voting is worthless.”

Even in an attempt to connect the dots, they get it wrong.

Whether or not you believe that voting is worthless -- and only an idiot would deny money has supplanted free speech and free elections -- protests and demonstrations are part of the history of the United States and the world. They’re as much a part of one’s civic participation, and has been much more effective than, heading to the ballot box.

More Actions/ Future Posts

I have more on my talks with various activists and my conversations with Cornell West and Amy Goodman, but that will have to wait.

I had to work today, so I was at Occupy Wall St. briefly in the evening. But I will be there tomorrow. A fellow activist who works with me in a campaign against police brutality and racial profiling (it’s called PROP here), has called for a demonstration tomorrow (Friday at 5 PM) to protest the way the NYPD has treated the Occupy Wall St. activists (here).

I’ll be there and I’ll also be marching in Saturday’s SlutWalk (here).

My name is Eddie and I’m in recovery from civilization…