An Answer To Cornel West – A “Peoples Party” Won’t be Imposed From Above

by Bruce Dixon, BAR

We agree with our good friend Dr. Cornel West that the Democratic party is the craven servant of privatizers, gentrifiers and Wall Street at home and of vicious empire abroad, which explains why it’s pretty much useless to those who seek justice and peace. But we are deeply skeptical of Brother West’s latest project, something called the Peoples party, not incorporated or on the ballot anywhere, still a gleam in the eye of some folks who used to work for Bernie Sanders, one of whom was interviewed with West on Democracy Now this week.

Their big insight was that local Democratic politicians run local and state parties. But if their new Peoples Party can steal away some of those Democratic politicians, provided they can find some local Democrats not already bought by telecoms, privatizers or charter school sugar daddies, then the Peoples Party will get millions of Democratic voters, and they’ll become big players. And they want to start by recruiting Bernie Sanders.

In the manner of outfits that don’t have local roots anywhere they hung a petition on the internet hoping for millions of signers, maybe the beginning of a list they can use.

This is wrong-headed on multiple levels.

First, Bernie has decided what he is, and that’s a Democrat, often a pro-war Democrat. Those who believe otherwise delude themselves or others. Bernie will be 77 when the next grueling yearlong presidential campaign begins, not when it ends..

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