Bernie Sanders, "democratic socialist" voting record

Submitted by Waken in Politics

Had Burlington peace activists arrested for protesting a weapons manufacturing plant

Lobbied for Lockheed Martin to station 19 F-35s in Burlington

Voted in favor of the Iraq Liberation Act

Voted in favor of a resolution supporting the overthrow of Saddam Hussein

Voted for sanctions that killed 500,000 Iraqi children

Voted for the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act

Voted in favor of extraditing Assata Shakur

Voted in favor of bombing Kosovo and had peace activists occupying his office in protest arrested

Voted in favor of Bush’s H.R. Res. 64 Authorization for Use of Military Force

Voted in favor of every military budget from 2002, 2004-2010, 2013

Voted in favor of providing military hardware to Israel

Voted in favor of Israeli military actions against Lebanon and Gaza

Refuses to support BDS

Supported sanctions against Russia

Supported providing a billion dollars to the far right Ukrainian government

Supported arming Saudi Arabia

Supported the drone program

Legitimized Trump’s narrative on Venezuela and supported Trump’s actions in Venezuela

Advocated using “military power” to “support democracy and human rights.”

Voted to recognize the Israeli capital as Jersusalem

Signed a letter criticizing the UN’s “mistreatment” of Israel and condemning BDS

Supports curtailing due process of mentally ill people & Muslims with regards to purchasing a gun

Opposes open borders because poor people will come “from all over the world”

Defended Ann Coulter’s “right to speak”

Voted for sanctions on Nicaragua

Voted for indefinite detention of undocumented immigrants

Voted to protect the far-right anti-immigrant Minutemen Project militia from federal prosecution

Voted in favor of sanctioning Palestine in 2006

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Comments

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celebratedrecluse wrote

I'd like to see citations on the Iraq war stuff, I am surprised to read this

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ziq wrote (edited )

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/04/12/no-bernies-not-anti-war/

In 1998 Sanders voted in favor of the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, which said: ‘It should be the policy of the United States to support efforts to remove the regime headed by Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq and to promote the emergence of a democratic government to replace that regime.’

“Later that same year, Sanders also backed a resolution that stated: ‘Congress reaffirms that it should be the policy of the United States to support efforts to remove the regime headed by Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq and to promote the emergence of a democratic government to replace that regime.’ These measures gave congressional backing for the CIA’s covert plan to overthrow the Hussein regime in Baghdad, as well as the tightening of an economic sanctions regime that may have killed as many as 500,000 Iraqi children.

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Waken OP wrote

He actually lies frequently about his voting record in his campaign materials.

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ziq wrote (edited )

The people who support him won't even care about any of this stuff if we're being honest. So long as they get promised free stuff, they'll ignore the blood on his hands. It's the USAmerican way.

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ziq wrote

And no, he won't actually give them the promised free stuff. He'd be stonewalled every step of the way.

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vagina wrote

This is good to keep in mind but it's largely irrelevant to the bigger picture. Bernie Sanders is a movement backed candidate and will be, as Chomsky called FDR, a sympathetic president. Our job is to organize within and around the movement and help build a truly mass movement that will not only force Bernie's hand but all politicians and move through reform and beyond into legitimate class struggle. We can do this but we need to be involved with this movement. It's as real as it gets.

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Occular wrote

Here’s how I look at it: He will be far better to unions than any other candidate, a step in the right direction. Socialism that doesn’t start with a revolution is really just capitalism with more welfare, I get that, but I’m not convinced that a few programs just to take the boot off workers necks a tiny bit isn’t a net positive. Even if he accomplishes none of the things he calls for he’s brought class consciousness to millions of people who were completely in the dark before. Voting for Sanders doesn’t take the place of real leftest action but if just a few people start reading political theory because he introduces them to some of the lingo I won’t feel like I wasted the 10 minutes it will take me to cast a vote. I understand lots of people think of him as infallible and yes that’s a problem but a Sanders cult of personality is preferable to the Trump version while we work towards a real revolution.

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Gloam wrote

if just a few people start reading political theory because he introduces them to some of the lingo

I wanna just say that this describes me. It happens, folks.

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lori wrote

I just know that if Right to Work is abolished, I'll have an easier time organizing with the IWW. If M4A is passed, I'll actually be able to see a doctor. If student debt is wiped out, I'll actually be able to go to college. It's unlikely most of this will pass, but if any of it does I'll be better off. Never mind abroad he's less harmful, e.g. opposing the Bolivian coup at least, which is better than the other presidential options. (He supports other coups, naturally. An imperialist as any other.)

He's a shithead in most ways, but I'm in an area where doing anything as radical as feeding the homeless is illegal - is there anything else I can really do but vote for my own self-interest?

That's a legitimate question. If you have any proposals someone on minimum wage in an area where most leftist activities are illegal, and even the act of being an anarchist is technically illegal, please let loose.

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ziq wrote

There's nothing wrong with voting for him, the thing I take issue with is anarchists who try to shame other anarchists into voting while turning anarchist spaces into campaign rallies for a year while he's running for office.

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lori wrote (edited )

Oh, yeah. I despise that. I've entirely stopped using Reddit b/c all my usual spaces became /r/SandersForPresident and I'm seeing folk get -20 for saying they won't vote.

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vagina wrote

That's probably because saying you won't vote is attacking the working class.

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