Author Archives: Michael Hasty

Overturning inverted totalitarianism

Perhaps the most important result so far of the Bernie Sanders insurgency is how starkly it has exposed the truly totalitarian nature of the 21st century American state. Continue reading

Weimar America 2016

Here in the waning days of American empire, we can now watch the left and right engage in actual physical clashes on TV—a phenomenon unseen in the US in decades, at least in presidential contests. The alarming resemblance of current events in the US to the last days of the Weimar Republic in Germany—just before Adolph Hitler rose to power, when brown-shirt fascists fought leftist activists in the streets—is disturbingly evident. Continue reading

The revolutionary path

The broad appeal of Bernie Sanders’ message of wealth inequality and corresponding corruption of the US political system can be seen in the fact that Hillary Clinton plagiarizes him so regularly. At this point, it would hardly be surprising if her next announcement is that she’s converting to Judaism. But Hillary, unlike Bernie, is no revolutionary. And that’s a problem for everyone. Continue reading

Bernie the realist

Throughout the 2016 presidential race, Bernie Sanders has displayed a cunning ability to shape the narrative—whether on the issues, where Hillary Clinton has tried to become his X-chromosome clone; or in some of the “artful smears” that have come from Hillary and her surrogates—which he has been able to neutralize or, in some cases, use to his advantage. He can do this because he is, in his very nature, a realist. Continue reading