Bernie’s blind spot (2016)

First published on March 15, 2016 at my old website; republished in Socialist Worker.

Addendum [March 2020]: I stand by my words here on Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign and why the left needs to challenge economic nationalism and imperialism. And yet, I am now open to dialogue on a whole host of questions and debates. What, if anything, has changed in Sanders’ 2020 campaign? What about all of the anti-racists and anti-imperialists who agree with this sort of critique and are campaigning for Bernie? Why are so many immigrant communities supporting the campaign? These questions go along with the spirit of the article — for leftists to engage with, and not dismiss, the Bernie campaign and, on the flip side, to remain critical of the Democrats. I am deeply skeptical of the Democratic Party as a whole. But now, nearly four years later, after the onslaughts of Trump, the excitement around Bernie, and the clear limits of far-left organizing in the US , I do not claim to have “the right perspective” on the Bernie campaign as it has evolved since 2016.

Here are two recent pieces of mine on the 2020 Elections and the left, one building off comments by Boots Riley, and one reflecting on Howard Zinn and elections. While I continue to think that “electoralism” is a real problem on the US left — putting so much faith in elections that we stop organizing efforts on the ground — I no longer regard abstention from elections as a core left principle.

I ATTENDED the Bernie Sanders rally in my hometown, Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday March…