Howie Hawkins tells Chomskyites to STFU

Likely Green Party (and already SPUSA) nominee Howie Hawkins tells Noam Chomsky, Barbara Ehrenreich and other DemFirsters to STFU about their call for a safe states strategery. (It's a long read, but worth it.) And they DESERVE to be told to STFU. Chomsky, after all, pitched his tent in Hillaryland in 2016, then after the election called out everybody who attacked him for openly supporting lesser-evilism.  The Chomskyites responded in part to a Counterpunch piece by Howie late last year, entitled "The Green Party is not the Democrats Problem." A real disappointment on that letter is Norman Solomon. He's long called out Democrats for writing blank checks to Zionism. Sanders isn't writing totally blank checks this year, but the amount on them is no more than ... $27. And Solomon knows this.

Update, March 28: Ehrenreich, as I didn't know, is founding co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America. Per this interview, she's a self-proclaimed Maoist. What she's doing inside the Democratic Party, I have no idea. At least, in the interview, she admits that until recently, the DSA was just like other Dems on Israel and Palestine. And that of course includes Sanders.

Gang Green environmentalist Bill McKibben also wants Howie to drop out, and also offers nothing in return, as Howie notes. Bill, you too can STFU.

And, so, they all need to hear what Hawkins says.

But, if you don't have time for the whole of Hawkins' long response, I'm going to pull out a few bits, at least.

First, Michael Albert, one of the signers, has been peddling this since pre-2004. I opposed David Keith Cobb as an AccommoGreen running a safe states strategy way back then. Jill Stein's flirtations with Bernie in 2016 came close to the same in some ways, and her open endorsement of him in the California Democratic primary plus hints she would stand aside for him were worse.

Second, Hawkins says that Albert and Bill Fletcher have ... misinterpreted, at least, some of his December 2019 words, Stein 2016 words and more.

Third, he claims "special pleading" by their claiming Trump is a "special danger" and notes we've heard that before. Like Bush 2004, and Cobb was dumb enough to go along with that.

Fourth, with the majority of Dem Congresscritters supporting Trump's defense bill, along with similar from Shrub Bush and Dem President Obama, yeah, national Democrats can't be trusted on this issue. Even Bernie, though voting against Trump's bills, has long been a "military Keynesian" on F-35s. I and others called him on this in 2016. Actually, I first called him out in 2015!

Fifth, what states are "safe" or not? Good point there. Look at 2016. Give these DemFirsters an inch and they'll claim 30 states, not 10, are "unsafe."

Sixth, at the state level, when Dems have had unitary control, they've bailed on things like state-level single-payer. Look at California. Perfect reason not to trust Dems. Neoliberal gov in Gavin Newsom, a state Lege that  undercut a referendum push for real online privacy, Betty Crocker as the senior senator and more.

Seventh and going beyond Hawkins, none of the letter signers offered any quid pro quo. Hawkins noted that presidential campaigns by Greens are used to try to leverage ballot access for state and local races. None of the letter signers offered to put their names behind easing Green (or general third party) ballot access.

Fuck em.