My Disappointment with Ron Sider and His Blog

It is always disappointing when a person you’ve long admired for their counter-cultural, Christian thinking reveals the decay of a conventional adherence to the status quo.

Thus my growing disappointment in Ron Sider’s blog. A blog, I suspect, that is read by a good many evangelical Christians.

I was a young man when I got my hands on Dr. Sider’s classic book, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger.  I have deeply admired him and followed his work ever since. He was kind enough to write a promotional paragraph for my last book, I Pledge Allegiance: I Believer’s Guide to Kingdom Citizenship in 21st-Century America.

Unfortunately, his most recent blog post, entitled “Why Are the Russians Promoting Bernie Sanders,” continues the surprising (at least, to me) revelation that Dr. Sider’s ability at cultural criticism has eroded, his posts merely repeating the predictable canards of our corporate news outlets and the Democratic establishment.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

I won’t repeat my deep skepticism of the world-weary “Russian hacking/collusion” conspiracy started by Hillary Clinton as a malicious fig- leaf used to distract from her terrible presidential campaign.

I will only point my readers to the numerous — and consistently vindicated — reports (both in print and online) from real investigative journalists like Glenn Greenwald (here, here at The Intercept), Matt Taibbi (here, here at the Rolling Stone), Max Blumenthal (here, here, and Aaron Mate (here, here, here, here, and here  both at the Greyzone Project and The Nation magazine).

Each of these men exposed the Russia-gate (I hate that term) narrative as a complete lie, perpetuated by the Dems as a useful tool to attack Donald Trump.

The new “intelligence reports” of ongoing election interference, on behalf of both Trump and Sanders, is even more dubious. Notice that we are never given any evidence to support the charges.

We are just supposed to take the intelligence community’s word for it.  Excuse me, but does anyone remember when Iraq’s WMDs were a “slam dunk” according to our CIA director?

Or, more recently, remember the Congressional intelligence briefing (regarding the assassination of Iranian general, Soleimani) where Congress-people left the meeting complaining about the complete lack of evidence presented to them. One Congressman called it “a farce” another “a disaster.”

We discover much wiser counsel from Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who urges all citizens to “condemn” the malicious, anti-democratic “election interference by US intelligence agencies“! Please read what she says as a sitting member on the House Armed Services Committee.

In her article, Gabbard vehemently — and quite rightly — condemns such in-house intelligence tactics as the new McCarthyism. And she is absolutely right.

Not only am I deeply chagrined to see Sider uncritically repeating the establishment mantra about Russia, but he is also mimicking the DNC talking points against Bernie Sanders’ unelectability.

I won’t indulge in long counter-arguments here. I will only say, “Phewey on all that malarkey!”

Instead, I will give you a few short informative video clips to watch below.

Check out:

Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor, debunks the 6 common criticisms made against Sanders with data and evidence, not Democratic establishment talking points. Spoiler alert: numerous polls predict Sanders would beat Trump in a general election.

Jeremy Scahill, at The Intercept, talks about Sanders’ life-long opposition to America’s vicious  wars of imperialism here, and how red-baiting is a long-standing tactic for fear-mongering and the deflection of public attention away from the virtues of an anti-establishment candidate like Sen. Sanders.

Finally, watch this ad from the organization Jews for Bernie explaining why they support Sen. Sanders, as do I.

So, I will probably continue to read Dr. Sider’s blog, but I stopped anticipating helpful political insights.

They are not to be found.