Let鈥檚 talk about Bernie, ‘socialists’ and our military
Bernie’s not a socialist. He’s not calling for things like workers or the government owning the means of production or the abolition of private property. Bernie’s a run of the mill social democrat.
“Socialists” don’t want your guns, nor should they. Gun control won’t stem the rise of mass shootings. It’s bad policy that doesn’t address the core problems, and it won’t happen. I support our status as a second amendment sanctuary, and really only wish that all those other amendments in the Bill of Rights would get the same treatment. I wonder why not? No doubt our other rights are being trampled.
Remind me, which president was it who banned bump stocks? Trump. Obama never signed a gun control bill, and in fact lifted Reagan’s ban on carrying guns in national parks, and Bush’s ban on guns in checked baggage on Amtrak. But Obama was a “socialist” too. He was going to take everybody’s guns too, remember? To quote Reagan: “Perhaps we need some outside universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world.” It sounds like a message of interconnectedness, but it’s really a message of fear. It shows how fear is abused to unite people, because if they can’t use fear, then they actually have to… work, and lead. The second amendment is a favorite target because guns are tangible objects. Will you be fooled again by the alien threat? The gun-grabbing boogeyman?
I don’t have an -ism, I’m not an -ist, and I’m sure as hell not a college student. I support Bernie for the same reasons he leads all 2020 presidential candidates, including Trump, in contributions from active duty military:
A lot of people enlist today because of systemic issues, like income inequality. They enlist because they’re looking for a way out, to build a better life, and benefits are dangled in front of them. When they see the planks of Bernie’s platform like universal health care, housing, a college education, and food security, they realize that the reason the rest of the U.S. doesn’t have them, perhaps, is that if they did, DOD would lose a powerful recruitment tool. Maybe they don’t believe that everybody should have to sign up to risk death just to get health care.
Bernie’s actually honest about our foreign policy, including our coups d’etat in countries like Chile, Nicaragua, and Iran, which is the whole reason the 1979 revolution even happened and Iran’s Ayatollah was installed. Also, coincidentally, the fallout from our decades of overthrowing foreign leaders in literally all but 6 of the 19 countries in Central and South America (7 counting French Guiana; part of France.) has been the biggest driver behind refugees crossing our borders. The best way to keep refugees in their own countries is to not give them reason to flee to ours. The best way to support the troops is to not send them into regime change wars over oil and drugs at the behest of large corporations. But once we’re in, we must act responsibly and maintain our alliances.
Mr. Trump inherited three major military campaigns, and while some were a mess, none were in such dire straits that the situation was untenable. They were situations we could eventually walk away from without embarrassment or undermining our position.
In Syria, things were more or less stable and our presence was mostly restricted to maintaining our allies and running a few forward operating bases, until he handed the keys to Turkey and let it spiral out of control. He left our Kurdish allies, one of the most powerful non-state actors in the Middle East, twisting in the wind, while strengthening Russia’s position, resulting in a giant black eye for the U.S.
Iraq had progressed, and was pretty much complete. All that was left was to maintain a small force there as a deterrent against radical elements while the national government solidified and established itself. Had he simply stayed the course, Iraq would have eventually become a stabilizing force in the region, like Germany or Japan. But Trump chose to launch an operation in their territory without their consent against Soleimani, who was helping them, and turned the entire nation against us.
And the “wonderful,” “historic” peace deal in Afghanistan? The terms of the deal require the Taliban to reduce violence a little bit, or at least say they did, and in exchange for that, we’ll not only withdraw, but release 4,000 captured opposition fighters from the custody of the Afghan national government. Not only does this leave our allies to fend for themselves, it obligates them to reinforce their opposition before we do. Meanwhile, Trump has lifted the ban on land mines, which, while still being unable to discriminate between the footfalls of combat boots and barefoot children, are battery powered and will be repurposed into IEDs by the enemy once those batteries die. Trump has handed the enemy the tools they need to harm civilians and U.S. forces, and the Taliban will likely retake Afghanistan.
Trump is on track to lose three wars in less than a full term in office and has made every life lost in these two decades of conflicts a life lost in vain. He doesn’t deserve your vote.
Justin Sims is a resident of Uniontown.聽