Those of us who are hoping that Bernie Sander’s political revolution will succeed are realists believe it or not. We are also very pragmatic. Our differences with the political establishment and the system it embodies has to do with world views and some very basic philosophy.
Philosophy has focused on politics for a long time yet its influence remains well hidden. You can see it clearly when you look at the very different approaches the two rival presidential candidates have.
One’s policies and programs depend on one’s view of the system. A failure to grasp the essence of the system leads to failed and/or useless policies and programs.
Let’s take the health care issue as an example. The way health care is dispensed and managed in a country is a matter of choice. People can choose to have a universal system of high quality and they can implement it. Taxes and other government income can pay for what the people choose.
Right now we have health care of a very different kind because of the way our system works. People did not choose it nor did they have much say in formulating what little choice they had. In spite of that it is better than it was before. This is mainly a perspective on how bad it was before. Why is this so? It is because the present system has evolved to this point under the influence of many forces none of which has much to do with the will of the people.
Does it make sense to evaluate a proposal to have a health care delivery system designed to operate in an entirely different system using arguments that focus on the failures of the present system and how they would impede it? I think not.
So we have a lack of clarity in the discourse as long as two groups are speaking from two very different systems models yet the appearance is that they are not.
This extends to all the other issues being talked about piecemeal with no acknowledgement of the systems problem. As you read comments and discussions try to use this to see what is really going on. It will make things much clearer. You will be able to see that some of us are operating with a systems model that will come about only after there is a political revolution. To attack us on the grounds that such things could never exist in the present system is exactly to miss the point entirely and to basically argue nonsense.
Bernie Sanders has a goal. His achieving his goal depends on the people behaving as enlightened citizens in a democracy. That clearly is not true in the present system. That is why a political revolution is necessary. That’s why the election itself is merely a vehicle to transform people from the prisoners of the old system to being citizens in a democracy.
If you understand this and oppose Bernie I have but one question for you. Why do you want people to behave in the old way and not as citizens in a democracy?