On power

hipsterkittypostingteenybopper:

I don’t think Obama was a bad president overall. I think he did okay. Not great, but okay. But he, like any major candidate from either party, had – as an unstated plank of his platform – the imperialist interests of America at heart. Don’t be deceived that Clinton or Trump were (or are) ever going to behave any differently in that regard. No major party candidate is going to behave any differently. They will use drones and America’s considerable sway to get what they want from the rest of the world, usually by walking over bodies. They will both deport people. The Obama administration deported millions, a marked increase from the Bush administration and a national record. You know how often I hear that brought up by liberals? Practically never. I see a lot of Biden memes, though.

That isn’t to say there’s no difference between the parties – the Democrats tend to manage better domestic policy, they have better economic ideas, and they do a better job of being inclusive, but overall, their ideology is still pro-America, pro-intervention (read here as ‘bombing the shit out of people to protect our interests’) and implicitly pro-white supremacy. Do you see the more established, moderate Democrats taking steps to condemn American fascism? Even Bernie Sanders was (and is) downplaying the role racism, sexism, and bigotry played in this election. This has been a consistent issue with him – he’s rock solid on class issues, but when it comes to race, he’s had a blind spot. It hurt him in the primaries, and I think it’s hurting him now.

Don’t get me wrong. I was for Clinton in this last election. I believe that Clinton would have been a lot better than the president-elect we’ve got now. She is not the sheer, unmitigated evil that her political opponents painted her as, though she is certainly culpable for a lot of the Obama administration’s imperialist excesses. I believe her domestic policy ideas were solid and that she would have capably handled the rather expansive imperialist apparatus that America’s been developing since its inception. But don’t forget that it’s still imperialist apparatus, and we really shouldn’t be okay with our government having that much power, whether abroad or at home. Our government shouldn’t be spying on us. Our government shouldn’t be throwing people out of this country who immigrated here. Our government shouldn’t be silent on Standing Rock, it should be defending Native rights and Native claims to land. We shouldn’t be bombing people or bombing hospitals halfway across the world. None of this is okay and it shouldn’t be considered okay.

Just some thoughts, going forward.