Bernie Sanders Just Gave the Progressive Foreign-Policy Speech We've Been Waiting For
The senator powerfully linked domestic and foreign policy in the context of massive global inequality.
By Stephen Miles TODAY 2:16 PM
Excerpt:
At the heart of his speech was the argument that the divide between domestic and foreign policy is not only artificial but also counterproductive. An expansive view of foreign policynot merely as the idea of what happens over there, but also as part of who we are here at homechallenges us to enlarge our own thinking. Foreign policy, in Sanderss argument, is not just about whether we go to war or not. It is about our democracy at home; it is about climate change; it is about global oligarchy; and it is about how American leadership can come together and solve the challenges we face through diplomacy.
Sanders rightly connects the dots between an exploding Pentagon budget and Republican attempts to take health care away from tens of millions of Americans in the name of fiscal responsibility. He makes clear that a progressive foreign policy also means that We cannot convincingly promote democracy abroad if we do not live it vigorously here at home. And in the way he does so well, Sanders reminds us that no progressive view of the world can tolerate the massive wealth inequality both here and around the world.
After reframing the issue, Sanders dives into the meat of the matter in a way that should ring true for every progressive. He reminds us that hundreds of millions live in poverty, dying of preventable diseases, while arms makers rake in trillions from weapons of war. He reminds us that Americas history of interventionsfrom Iran to Chile to right now in Yemenhave a habit of having devastating results. And he reminds us that there is a path between endless war and isolationism, that Americas greatest successes came when it helped support not just our allies but also our former enemies, as we did with the Marshall Plan.
To bring this all home, Sanders points to two diametrically opposed visions of American foreign policy that played out in recent years. In reminding us of the horrors of the Iraq War and juxtaposing it with the unbridled success of the Iran nuclear deal, Bernie helps make clear that this is not some esoteric debate. These are debates happening right now, here in Washington, about just what path our nation should choose to confront the challenges we face abroad.
https://www.thenation.com/article/bernie-sanders-just-gave-the-progressive-foreign-policy-speech-weve-been-waiting-for/
comradebillyboy
(10,191 posts)DNC database?
OxQQme
(2,550 posts)comradebillyboy
(10,191 posts)The Nation since I saw their byline on the story.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)Last edited Fri Sep 22, 2017, 08:07 AM - Edit history (1)
who Bernie was speaking to, or where...
Nice words, but the BLUF is Bernie as a senator will have very little influence on FP as long as the Trump Junta is running things...
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)whathehell
(29,111 posts)is left uncriticized by some here.
As for "influence", Bernie will have no more or less than any other non-repuke senator in Trump's regime.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)not before...
whathehell
(29,111 posts)I myself would like to see him join the Party. That being said, I'm more appreciative of his values and ideas than I am concerned with his formal identification with the party.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)or if he's just in this for himself...
whathehell
(29,111 posts)but the fact that anyone could conclude that Bernie might 'just in it for himself" baffles me and tells me that person knows nothing about the man His lifelong embrace of the common good over personal gain is a matter of record, not opinion. As one example, he's been, for the vast majority of his time in the Senate, the POOREST person in it, so he's clearly not in it for the money..
This being the case, I'm curious as to what -- for himself -- you think he's "just in it for"?
ehrnst
(32,640 posts)There is no moral or economic justification for the six wealthiest people in the world having as much wealth as the bottom half of the worlds population, 3.7 billion people.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), remarks during a speech at Westminster College, Sept. 21, 2017
.............................................................
We cut Sanders some slack earlier when he made an inequality comparison within the United States. But wealth is a fundamentally misleading measure if youre comparing countries across the globe. Its one thing to look at inequality inside a country, but international comparisons are in another realm and fraught with even more problems.
Without considering how debt is measured and held, what kinds of assets each group owns, or how the currencies are converted, its hard to make heads or tails of what wealth actually means, with respect to peoples daily lives around the globe. Moreover, negative wealth which includes people with high standards of living really drags down the bottom 50 percent. Sanderss statistic, while provocative, is basically meaningless. He earns Three Pinocchios.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/10/02/bernie-sanders-claim-that-the-worlds-six-wealthiest-people-have-as-much-wealth-as-half-the-worlds-population/