It would be even better if those same people stated that they would accept responsibility for supporting a pro-war candidate, namely that they would do everything in their power to stop a Sanders presidency from engaging in any war.
But those people won't be honest - many of them won't even admit that Sanders is a supporter of so many U.S. military ventures, even when faced with the facts - nor will they accept responsibility, simply because they are not truly opposed to war. If they were, there would be absolutely no circumstance in which they would support a presidential candidate who believes in dropping bombs on another country.
Imagine if Sanders said he believes that every now and then it was necessary to molest a child, or there were certain instances in which it was acceptable to racially discriminate.
(In fairness, there are liberals who support Sanders simply because he aligns with their social values, not because of what he could do for their pocketbook, which is relatively refreshing. But those people are giving domestic social issues more weight than Sanders' pro-war positions. The rationalization being that all candidates are pro-war, and at least Sanders is better than the others on social issues.)
Use a different gold standard
It's true that Bernie is probably better than George W. Bush, Barack Obama or any current presidential candidate on issues of foreign policy, but that's not saying much. Will liberals ever demand a new gold standard from their candidates?
Many Sanders supporters point out that Hillary Clinton is more rah-rah military than Sanders, primarily because Sanders didn't support the Iraq war. But Donald Trump didn't support the Iraq war either, and Trump's position on U.S. military action in Syria is better than Sanders' position.
And it should be noted that even though Sanders opposed the Iraq war, he repeatedly voted to fund it. And even though he voted against the Gulf War, he instead called for sanctions on Iraq - the death toll attributed to those sanctions has been estimated at about 500,000 children under the age of five between 1990-2000. (Sanders' website labels such sanctions as "diplomatic means".)
Does Sanders have supporters in Yemen, Syria and Afghanistan?
Do you think people in Yemen, Syria and Afghanistan are comfortable with Sanders' positions? Could a Sanders supporter look a 14 year-old from Afghanistan (who has lived under U.S. bombs every day of his or her life) in the eye and explain why they support Sanders - a man who voted to use force in Afghanistan?
Isn't it time to look beyond our personal needs and wants and focus on others who are suffering and dying in the name of the American Empire?
'We have to choose one, and Bernie is the best choice'
This way of thinking is one reason we have such narrow choices in each election. If voters in 2004 would have demanded more from John Kerry (who was, and still is, pro-war) when he was running against George W. Bush, the Democratic Party might have realized that unless they put an anti-war candidate on the ballot, their party couldn't win an election. But the party doesn't need to do that because so-called anti-war voters continue to vote for the "lesser of two evils." And where has that gotten us?
Numerous people did the same thing in 2008 for the first Barack Obama election. Even though it was clear Obama was not an anti-war candidate ("I'm not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars," Obama said in 2002), people believed he was better than John McCain. And even though Obama was a warmonger during his first term, many liberals voted for him again in 2012 because they were so afraid of what a Mitt Romney presidency would look live.
As it turns out, Obama has bombed more countries (7) than Bush bombed (4), so from a purely anti-war perspective, it might be better if a Republican becomes president again. And maybe with a Republican president many liberals would become "anti-war" again.
(It should be noted that there are some people who voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012 who are still active in the anti-war community. These people understand the importance of everyday actions relative to voting, and have accepted responsibility for their vote.)
What am I supposed to do?
Instead of unconditionally giving Sanders their support, people who claim to be opposed to U.S. foreign interventions should make it clear that they will not support Sanders unless he changes his foreign policy positions.
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