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Louis Proyect
wrote<https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/bernie-gets-more-cash-from-war-inc-than-any-2020-candidate/>
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/bernie-gets-more-cash-from-war-inc-than-any-2020-candidate/
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I hold no special brief for Bernie, but I do think this article has to
be read critically, especially since it suggests things in its heading
that it suggests only with significant qualifications in its content. It
is on the whole a biased and unfair heading, as well as being in its
totality a biased article. It is written by a defense analyst who has
worked for both the Democrats and the Republicans. Writing this as he
does for the American Conservative, why do I suspect he's not a Sandernista?
The headline attributes those contributions to "the defense industry."
That's carelessly or intentionally misleading. The article seems to
accurately report the findings of the survey, and it is probably
credible to the extent that it suggests that Bernie is protective of the
economic benefits to constituents' employment prospects that result from
keeping production of the ridiculously expensive and impracticable, “too
big to fail” F-35 aircraft in his jurisdiction.
One comment appended to the article states "I went to the open secrets
page and he's getting less than 1%**of his donations in 2020 from
individual donors who work in the defense industry."
And "According to Washington Post: When not counting transfers, 77
percent of Sanders’s fundraising this year came from donations of $200
or less. That’s the highest share of small-dollar donations relative to
total fundraising among all major candidates.*"*
The article acknowledges that the contributions that the headline
implies come from industry employees and not from the defense industry
contractors themselves. The article acknowledges that "Defense industry
PACs, and the corrupting influence they have over compliant politicians,
are not the source of this money...and most seem to be from engineers,
technicians, and other non-management types." So not from owners or
managers, but from workers, more particularly then from mid-level
workers it would appear. It is plain enough to me that, in terms of
total individual contributions to Bernie's campaign which presently
exceed those made to any of the other candidates, the proportionate
number of contributions from employees of the defense industry is at
least as much as or more in keeping with his support from the working
class generally, as it is a reflection of defense industry support.
Politicians, moreover, know the difference. He cannot reasonably take
his acceptance of that support from workers as obligating him, in the
way contributions from corporate industry create obligations to the
politician, to support the defense industry and all it entails tout court.
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