From a Left point of view I cannot have a positive attitude toward
Republican Donald Trump as a presidential candidate. But this is clearly
the year of the anti-establishment voter. Are " ignorant " working
people creating the enthusiasm for Trump on the right and Bernie
Sanders on the left ?
Both Trump and Sanders say that the American Dream is dead. Sanders wants to " share the wealth " in the democratic socialist tradition. Trump wants to " make America great again " with a toxic brand of nationalism.
As repugnant as Trump is to " progressive " voters he still has been the victim of an hysterical and hypocritical smear campaign branding him as a KKK type bigot. Where in his past has he ever been singled out for unacceptable racism for a celebrity entertainer ?
As if the GOP establishment had suddenly been struck by stalwart political correctness ! ( Even with Islamophobia ?)
The Hillary camp is also playing identity politics with rival Bernie Sanders. He has been attacked as at least insensitive to racism and sexism. But for any democratic socialist class is a more socially and economically determining factor than race or gender.
Bernie rises above Hillary Clinton's stale - and often self-defeating - identity politics. Not for nothing black astrophysicist Neil De Grasse Tyson endorsed Bernie Sanders. So did black movie director Spike Lee ( who directed " X " ).
In the last year of his life ( 1965 ) Malcolm X made a connection between racism and capitalism, between racism and U.S. imperialism. Has Hillary ever made that connection ? Not as Secretary of State.
I think Bernie Sanders- who just won the Main caucus - will also win the Democratic Primary in Rhode Island. I give him critical support, seeing him as really a refreshing revival of the New Deal liberalism of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Both Trump and Sanders say that the American Dream is dead. Sanders wants to " share the wealth " in the democratic socialist tradition. Trump wants to " make America great again " with a toxic brand of nationalism.
As repugnant as Trump is to " progressive " voters he still has been the victim of an hysterical and hypocritical smear campaign branding him as a KKK type bigot. Where in his past has he ever been singled out for unacceptable racism for a celebrity entertainer ?
As if the GOP establishment had suddenly been struck by stalwart political correctness ! ( Even with Islamophobia ?)
The Hillary camp is also playing identity politics with rival Bernie Sanders. He has been attacked as at least insensitive to racism and sexism. But for any democratic socialist class is a more socially and economically determining factor than race or gender.
Bernie rises above Hillary Clinton's stale - and often self-defeating - identity politics. Not for nothing black astrophysicist Neil De Grasse Tyson endorsed Bernie Sanders. So did black movie director Spike Lee ( who directed " X " ).
In the last year of his life ( 1965 ) Malcolm X made a connection between racism and capitalism, between racism and U.S. imperialism. Has Hillary ever made that connection ? Not as Secretary of State.
I think Bernie Sanders- who just won the Main caucus - will also win the Democratic Primary in Rhode Island. I give him critical support, seeing him as really a refreshing revival of the New Deal liberalism of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
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| State Representative Daniel P. Reilly ( R, Portsmouth ) |
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Ron