An Open Letter to Bernie Sanders - PART TWO | United States |Axisoflogic.com

Editor's Commentary:
Jonathan Nack sent us a copy of his open letter to the Democratic candidate for his party's leadership and, ultimately, his bid for the White House. Jonathan tells us he regularly reads Axis of Logic and thought we would be interested. We were.

But I wrote back to Jonathan to wonder out loud if, perhaps, the Sanders fund-raising email in question (it's included below) might have been a victim of poor editing. That is, did Sanders actually refer to Hugo Chávez as a "dead communist dictator", or was he repeating a slur leveled against him by the Clinton campaign?

Jonathan agreed that was possible, but also pointed out that a candidate for President should be a little more careful about the words he chooses. Jonathan is right. If this was just poor editing, it seems Sanders should have made clear this was an accusation against him, and not his own views.

So Jonathan took it upon himself to write again to the Sanders campaign for clarification (message included below). As of this printing, he has not received ANY response to either email.

If you are a Sanders supporter - or if you are not - why don't you press the campaign to answer Jonathan's questions? If Sanders was merely sloppy, you'd be giving him a chance to make amends. But if he really meant what he said, you might want to question his understanding of international politics.

- prh, ed.

UPDATE:
After Jonathan sent his original open letter and a second letter to the campaign office, he also took the step of writing to the Huffington Post reporters who wrote the original story about the offending remarks by/from/attributed to Mr Sanders. He got no response as of last evening, September 25.

As well Gabrielle Hetland of Jacobin Magazine wrote a September 20 article condemning Sanders for the "dead communist dictator" remarks. She, too, has heard nothing from the candidate or his support team.

I think at this point it is fair to assume that Jonathan and Gabrielle were correct - the candidate is either unable to explain the gaff, supports what he appears to have said, or is too illiterate on international issues to be even entitled to an opinion. Regardless, many supporters should feel a sense of loss here.

prh,ed.

Jonathan's first email:

An open letter to Bernie Sanders
Sent via U.S. mail and email

Dear Senator Bernie Sanders,
I am shocked and I denounce your description of the late President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, as a "dead communist dictator." I expect better from you, but perhaps I need to re-evaluate such expectations.

I'm a longtime supporter going back to the days when you were running for re-election as Mayor of Burlington, even though I live in Oakland, California. I've made a modest financial contribution to your current campaign and expressed support for your call to build a grassroots movement to take on the power of the Billionaires and their corporations - what you've referred to as a "political revolution". You've said that this is what your campaign is about. It was precisely such a stance that got Hugo Chavez elected and re-elected President of Venezuela.

Pres. Chavez was neither a communist nor a dictator. If you don't know that, you should.

Your use of the term "communist dictator" is code designed to pander to those who favor and justify U.S. intervention in Latin America and the Caribbean, and around the world. U.S. intervention in the politics of other countries , including bloody military interventions, is an absolute disgrace. It has resulted in the needless suffering and death of millions. It resulted in the imposition and maintenance of real military dictatorships throughout Latin Americas and much of the world. Most of these military dictatorships have only been overcome by democratic movements in the last twenty-five years.

It is the shameful history of U.S. intervention and how it is driven by the interests of Billionaires and their corporations that you need to address, not denunciations of those whom rise to leadership in their countries because of their opposition to it.

I'm not going to get into a detailed defense of Pres. Chavez. It is sufficient to say that it is a fact that Hugo Chavez was elected and re-elected President of Venezuela in what international observers, including former President Jimmy Carter, have described as basically free and fair elections. No dictator holds such elections. It is sufficient to say that Pres. Chavez identified himself as a socialist and specifically said that he was not a communist.

I do not rise to defend Pres. Chavez against all criticism. All politicians and political leaders deserve to be criticized for the bad things they say and do, as well as praise for the good, including you.

I am a socialist and a supporter of the Green Party. I stand for social justice, the protection of our environment, and for real democracy. My donation to your campaign and the good things I've said and written about you are expressions of my support. This open letter is an expression of my criticisms.

I have defended you against charges that you are not really a socialist, pointing out the fact that there are many types of socialists. Even though I am a more radical socialist than you, I think you have a right to label your politics and that right should be respected, as long as it is within reason. The legacy of Pres. Chavez also deserves that respect.

In general, I think you have failed to articulate foreign policy positions that distinguish you from those of Hillary Clinton, President Barack Obama, or the leadership of the Democratic Party, all of whom are true advocates and instruments of the foreign policies driven by the interests of the Billionaires and their corporations, in other words, U.S. imperialism.

How is it that you attack the Billionaire's control of domestic policies, but not the interventionist and militarist foreign policies which they also control? How is it that you oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but not other imperialist policies?

My parents taught me to be a critical thinker. Specifically, they taught me to pay attention to what politicians say, but also be aware that they often make promises that they have no intention or ability to keep. They also taught me to never expect that politicians will do better than what they say they'll do. With those lessons in mind, I will continue to praise and respond to your call to build a grassroots political movement to take power away from the Billionaires and their corporations, but I have to denounce your support of U.S. imperialism, its wars, both overt and covert, the military industrial complex, the so called "Homeland Security" apparatus, and all interventions in the political affairs of other countries. These foreign policies are driven by the interests of the Billionaires and their corporations, not the interests of our people, nor the people of the world.
Sincerely yours,

Jonathan Nack
Oakland, CA

The text of Bernie Sanders' fund-raising email follows:

I don’t have a Super PAC, Jonathan. I am not going to travel around the country begging millionaires and billionaires for money. That’s just not going to happen.

But the success of our campaign certainly has the billionaires' attention.

Yesterday, one of Hillary Clinton’s most prominent Super PACs attacked our campaign pretty viciously. They suggested I’d be friendly with Middle East terrorist organizations, and even tried to link me to a dead communist dictator.

It was the kind of onslaught I expected to see from the Koch Brothers or Sheldon Adelson, and it’s the second time a billionaire Super PAC has tried to stop the momentum of the political revolution we’re building together.

They’ll keep trying … unless we make them pay a price for their attacks.

Make the Super PACs pay for attacking us by making a $100 contribution to our campaign today. Let’s send a powerful message that we have had ENOUGH of the billionaire class buying elections.

If we stand together to fight back against these ugly attacks, we can ensure this election is about who has the best ideas, and not who has the biggest donors.

They should not underestimate us.

Bernie Sanders
Paid for by Bernie 2016
PO Box 905 - Burlington VT 05402 United States - (855) 4-BERNIE

This email was sent to xxxxxx [Jonathan]. If you need to update or change your information or email address, click here to update your info. Email is one of the most important tools we have to reach supporters like you, but you can let us know if you'd like to receive fewer emails. We'd hate to see you go, but if you need to do so, click here to unsubscribe. Stand against the powerful special interests who are systematically buying our Congress and have their sights set on the presidency by contributing to Bernie here.

Jonathan's second email, seeking clarification, follows:

Dear Sanders campaign,

I write to seek clarification regarding an allusion to the late Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, in Bernie's recent email. I have contributed to the campaign and have been a supporter of Bernie's since the mid-1980s, when I met him and participated in hours of an extended small group discussion with him at a fundraiser held for him in Berkeley.

I'm seeking clarification of the words, "dead communist dictator" in Bernie's email. News reports on the pro-Clinton super PAC's mass mailer and/or email (there are conflicting reports on what it was) make it clear that the super PAC's message referred to Pres. Chavez. I have not seen the super PAC's letter and relied on reports about it from multiple credible news sources. None of these reports stated that the super PAC's letter included the words, "dead communist dictator."

Was Bernie simply referring to the charges made by the super PAC? That is not how Bernie's email reads. It reads as Bernie's characterization of Pres. Chavez. If Bernie had meant to refer only to the charges made against him, the phrase should have been put within quotation marks, as I have done. Without the quotation marks, the way Bernie's email reads that Bernie is describing the late Venezuelan President as a "dead communist dictator."

Bernie's email set me off and I decided to write an open letter to Bernie about it. My letter included the complete text of Bernie's email. I sent my letter out by email, (as well as U.S. mail to Bernie). I also sent it to Bernie via email through his U.S. Senate page. I also the sent my email to my contacts and posted it on Facebook.

I've received a numerous responses to my open letter, all positive, congratulating me on what I expressed - I'm a leftist and that's the circles I travel in. Until today, nobody responded that I had misread Bernie's email.

Then this morning I received an email from someone who said he thought that Bernie's email may read the way it does due to an editing error. That Bernie's intention may have been to simply describe the charges made against him, not to express that he considers Pres. Chavez to be a "dead communist dictator." This person said that such a characterization of Pres. Chavez was at odds with what Bernie has said in the past. I had no knowledge of any past statements by Bernie on the subject.

So, I write for clarification of what Bernie meant to communicate.

If Bernie didn't mean that he considers Pres. Chavez to be a "dead communist dictator", I will send a clarification out to everyone I sent my letter to and post it on Facebook. I will include the complete text of the clarification sent to me.

Below, I reprint my open letter to Bernie [it was included] and the complete text of Bernie's email which my letter responded to.

I thank you for clarifying this for me.

Sincerely yours,

Jonathan Nack
Oakland, CA