I’m currently reading Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States. In recounting the 1896 election, stop me when this sounds familiar:

“Even the hint of Populism in the Democratic Party, it seemed, could not be tolerated, and the big guns of the Establishment pulled out all of their ammunition, to make sure.”

Republican winner of that election William McKinley then “in a rare rhetorical connection between money and flag” said:

“...the people of this country mean to maintain the financial honor of the country as sacredly as they maintain the honor of the flag.”

This even more chilling when put in it’s context. He had just won an election in the aftermath of two decades of extreme class violence and labor strikes, and had defeated the party who aligned themselves with the labor and populist organizations.

Reading about the radical and courageous labor movements of the 1870s-1890s and the violence and vehemence with which the establishment suppressed them is a really chilling part of American history to read about in this stage of Capitalist America.

I tacked on a message of support for Bernie and posted this thread on Faceboook... The first two comments were boomers reminding me to vote for Biden

Then one of them implied that the reason she thought I (and others) were supporting him was because of his stammer... Do you think I'm stupid?