Could Bernie Save the Nation-state?

~ Clarissa

Suppose that Sanders won, which is pretty unlikely in a system of bought elections. He would be alone: he doesn’t have congressional representatives, he doesn’t have governors, he doesn’t have support in the bureaucracy, he doesn’t have state legislators; and standing alone in this system, he couldn’t do very much.

None of this would matter if the people, the voters, the citizens felt like keeping the nation-state from collapse. The problem is, they don’t.

Among a million other signs that everybody  (except a few cantankerous creatures like me) is ready to let it go, this very comment demonstrates that nobody wants to fight for the nation-state. “Let an almighty wizard come and make things pretty for me” does not work as basis for the nation-state.

The lazy “I wonder if Bernie can make everything right” is light years away from a shared future – oriented project everybody is actively advancing that is a foundation of a nation-state.

No, Bernie won’t be able to make everything right. The fellow you are looking for isn’t called Bernie. His name is Santa Claus.

P.S. For people with short attention span: this post is not a criticism of Bernie.

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Published by Clarissa

11 thoughts on “Could Bernie Save the Nation-state?”

  2. Sanders is definitely no Santa Claus. The fat man in the red suit gives FREE gifts — and Sanders’ plans (free college education for everybody, etc., etc.) would bankrupt the country.

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    1. Free college education should become THE priority of every politician because it’s the only way out of creating an enormous underclass of unhireables.

      Simply put, it’s free college education today or guaranteed unearned income to >60% of population tomorrow. What’s cheaper, in your opinion?

      That’s the only real alternative. Everything else is a fantasy.

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      1. Half the people graduating from college today aren’t any better prepared to enter the work force than high-school graduates who get jobs at 18 because they have bills to pay. How do majors like “Advanced Women’s Studies in the History of Misogyny” and “The Hidden Meaning of the Harry Potter Stories” prepare anybody for anything?

        You MIGHT be able to make a case for taxpayer funded higher education for degrees in essential occupations like medicine and the sciences — but government-funded college for the masses? Forget it!

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        1. In a million ways. Such as, for instance, using a computer, formatting a text file, greeting a person when you come into a room, learning where different continents are located, learning to speak in public, learning to participate in adult conversations, learning the difference between its and it’s, learning to read and summarize information, learning to speak a foreign language. . . I could continue this list until tomorrow.

          I see these young people every day. We open the world to them. Without this education they are doomed to be stuck in the parents’ basement with a video game and a packet of chips. What jobs can these high school graduates get? Nobody wants even a receptionist without a degree today because she won’t be able to do the job.

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          1. “In a million ways. Such as, for instance, using a computer, formatting a text file, greeting a person when you come into a room, learning where different continents are located, learning to speak in public, learning to participate in adult conversations, learning the difference between its and it’s, learning to read…”

            Come on, you don’t need a free ticket to college to learn basic computer skills (most 10-year-olds have them today), or to learn how to deal with people like an adult. And as for the difference between “its” and it’s,” do you think ninety percent of Americans give a damn?

            When I volunteered to join the military as a medical officer at age 31, I noticed a big difference between 22-year-old sergeants and 22-year-old lieutenants. The 22-year-old enlisted people had been working since age 18, taking care of families and being breadwinners, and the 22-year-old junior officers had just graduated college. Guess which group already had adult skills?

            I got exactly two practical things out of four years of a liberal arts education: fluency in speaking German (a big help when I was stationed in Europe), and a ticket to medical school. Yes, I looked at some weird paintings in Art Appreciation class, and read some excellent stories by Dante and Voltaire and Goerthe in World Literature that actually made me think a little. But were the U.S. taxpayers obligated to pay my way on their dime? No way.

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            1. As I said, I see these young people every day. What they should have learned at 10 or whenever is beyond the point. The reality is that the words “please attach the file to your email” means nothing today. This is the reality of today, while the reality you are talking about – I’m guessing – is a lot less recent.

              Things have changed, the world has changed, we can’t keep doing what worked 20 years ago and hope it will still work.

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              1. Perhaps you’re right. Today’s world is no longer my problem, and I will gladly pass it on to people who have to face its (did I use that pronoun correctly?) consequences.

                Good luck with tomorrow, and I mean that sincerely. The ball’s now in your court.

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    1. Bobbitt ‘ s book is absolutely brilliant. The term “market state” is unfortunate, I believe. I use post-nation state instead. And there are many competing terms (networked society, liquid society, etc). Terminology is less important, though, that the general consensus that the nation-state is dying.

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