Bern or Burn

As expected, the old war horse Bernie Sanders has jumped into the fray, lifting the spirits of the left with a promise of big change. There is also a sigh of relief, because a "political revolution" against "the billionaire class" is a lot less frightening than a social revolution against Capital and the State. Nothing too risky involved here; just debate and fundraising and canvassing etc..election campaigning made to sound radical but pretty standard fare. Yes, the rhetoric will be heated, a good thing. The issues brought up and positions taken will no doubt cause some controversy and a lot of young people will be mobilized. The question is: to what end?

Bernie is labeled a socialist and so he can either try to diffuse the meaning or expound on it. His primary opponents will take all kinds of "progressive" positions to separate themselves from "the radical fringe" and a rare, actual choice will be presented. Especially when it comes to climate policy, there will be an opportunity to spell out the REAL difference between democratic, just and sustainable solutions backed by science or solutions designed to appease investors and The Market. And conservatives will be forced into accepting science as a discipline or rejecting it.

Glen Corp., the global mega mining firm, is reading tea leaves and making a predictable move by capping its coal production at 150 million metric tons per year. This brings accolades from environmentalists and higher profits in the kind of win-win we will be seeing much more of as things "heat up". As everybody sends Bernie 27 dollars, they tend to forget the Fossil Capital is also strategizing and they have trillions of dollars and a huge megaphone to work with.

Let's imagine Bernie wins and the Dems also gain a majority in the Senate; what now? If the left pushes too hard, Capital will threaten to go on strike. The stock market will slump, the US credit rating will drop, unemployment could start to rise... You think we have "polarization" now? So what happens to all that rage in the streets? Under what slogans are people mobilized? What other events are creating their own narratives, for instance extreme weather, Brexit and the global economy, oil markets, mass migration, terrorism, who knows what kind of crazy shit is headed our way? We can count on hurricanes and fires, mass civil disobedience and right-wing reaction, scandal and corruption, high crimes and misdemeanors.

But to get the ball rolling, Bernie has to make one crucial decision: green capitalism or big time State intervention. Carbon taxes or bans on production. Public utilities or private. GDP growth or carbon budget?