Timothy Gatto

I've been trying to stay away from politics but it's hard. I've been hearing from so many idealists claiming that Bernie Sanders is just another corporate whore that supports the apartheid state of Israel. Unfortunately that's true. He has also voted the wrong way (in my humble opinion) on many other issues.

Here is the question I would like to throw back at my good friend David Swanson who believes that supporting Sanders is a no-win situation; How David, do we get a majority of self-centered, brainwashed Americans who by and large are disgusted with their government to actually take the time to become activists? The truth is that it's not going to happen anytime soon.

Don't get me wrong, the tipping point is coming, and maybe sooner than later. I have always said that discontent is cumulative and I mean that. Something will happen and it will be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back and that straw might just be around the corner. In the meantime, until a mass movement like Occupy re-emerges, Bernie Sanders is our best bet to change the current unsustainable noxious paradigm we have in Washington with this criminal two-party system that has raped the middle class of America and is determined to level us to serfdom.

We are within a hair-trigger of another World War that will destroy mankind. We have demonized Russia and reignited the Cold War. We have pushed the Chinese into an alliance (military and economic) with Russia. We have outsourced our manufacturing and killed American jobs. We spend trillions on war and bitch about Social Security (that we paid into). We pass laws in many cities making it a crime to feed the homeless.

We neglect our poorest citizens and give billions to other nations. The World is afraid of this new America and frankly, I don't have much hope that it will change in my lifetime. We are becoming a pariah state in the eyes of other nations. That is not conjecture, it is a fact. We have a government that spies on its citizens and then lies about it. We kill people with impunity and that includes the CIA, the military, the police and all the other intelligence agencies that we pour billions into.

We jail people that expose the truth. We are no better than any other totalitarian regime. All of this is now on the record and people understand it but have no idea of what to do about it. Everybody in this nation has some idea of what is happening and trust me when I say they don't like it. The truth is that people are afraid of the government and they have good reason to be afraid.

I relish the idea of debates between Sanders and the war-loving, bellicose, corporate-sponsored Hillary Clinton. I want him to bring up the fact that we consistently put our soldiers in harm's way and when they get maimed and develop mental problems from the horrors of war fought for resources and corporate greed and then that same government cuts their benefits and pensions and throws them into a dysfunctional VA medical system that lets them die or commit suicide.

I want him to ask her why we spend over half our budget on the military. I want him to ask her why we have one of the highest homelessness rates of any industrialized nation. I want him to ask her why our campaigns are run by super-pacs financed by corporate interests. I want him to ask her who finances her campaign.

I don't believe Sanders will back down, he never has. Will I vote for Sanders if he wins the Democratic primary? In a heartbeat. Something has to change and soon. Maybe there won't be an election in 2016. Maybe we will all be dead from this war that the government is consistently pursuing. Maybe people will revolt tomorrow and remove these noxious criminals from Washington.

Still, for now, Sanders is our best bet.

-###-

By Timothy V. Gatto, a retired Army Sergeant and former Chairman of The Liberal Party of America. He can be reached at: timgatto@hotmail.com Read Tim's Book "Complicity to Contempt" and his Novel "Kimchee Days or Stoned Cold Warriors From Oliver Arts and Open Press and available on Amazon and all other online bookstores.