tpaine posted:

not as huge as the xbox

WRONG RAM

le_nelson_mandela_face posted:

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/01/democratic-socialism-government-bernie-sanders-primary-president/

this starts out simplistic and useless and then progresses as you might expect from there. good job again jacobin

"Most of us remember the campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq under George W. Bush. Public opinion turned against those wars, and the election of Barack Obama seemed to signal a turn away from militarism in our foreign policy. But who has escalated drone warfare in the Middle East? Whose administration spearheaded the NATO intervention in Libya, a country whose standard of living has dropped from the highest in Africa under Gaddafi to one of the lowest in the continent? That would be Barack Obama, somehow considered a leftist in the mainstream.

The truth is, this kind of meddling in international affairs is necessary for the continued growth of the American economy. The person behind the Resolute desk making the calls is less than consequential when the destabilization and overthrow of sovereign governments is what keeps capital flowing to this country, both in the form of material resources looted from zones of military occupation — $1 trillion worth in Afghanistan, and counting — and favorable trade deals with the governments established when the dust has settled. Sometimes we send in troops, sometimes we train and fund others to do the dirty work for us, as is the case in Syria. But the end result is the same: more resources flowing into our economy, and an enormous chunk of that wealth going straight to the top of the totem pole. All part of the plan.

I grant you, there are differences between the candidates on issues of domestic policy. But, because nothing operates in a vacuum, those positions and our foreign policy are permanently fused. Sanders can't make free public university tuition or single-payer health care happen if the economy isn't growing, and the economy can't grow in its present state without imperialist action abroad. His disagreements with Clinton — and with the entire Republican field — come down to how he wants to distribute the spoils of Forever War. The same goes for Donald Trump, for Ted Cruz, even for the ostensibly anti-interventionist Rand Paul. The real question is what flavor of hegemony you prefer