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Should Progressives Abandon The Democrats?

On today’s episode of Fault Lines, hosts Shane Stranahan and Jamarl Thomas talked about the news of the day and topics ranging from the institutional support of Black Lives Matter to what options progressives have for voting to China policy.
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GUESTS 

Mark Sleboda - International Relations & Security Analyst | China Policy 

Jacqueline Luqman - Political Analyst | Media Coverage of Black Lives Matter

Dr. Bill Honigman - Emergency Room Physician, Progressive Healthcare Activist and National Outreach Director at Progressive Democrats of America.org | Single Payer and Democratic Platform

In the first hour, Jamal's monologue dealt with rejecting the Democrats for what he sees as an inevitable capitulation to Republicans on their COVID-19 stimulus bill. Then Shane and Jamarl were joined by geopolitical analyst Mark Sleboda, who discussed China and pointed out that the United States and other foreign nations’ investments helped set up China's economic success for decades by using cheap labor in China. They also discussed the conflict in the South China Sea and pointed out that the United States wants to be able to deploy land-based ballistic missiles to prepare for a Naval conflict, which is pushing the United States to withdraw from the short-term ballistic treaties. Mark said that there is censorship in American media that does not present anything but the establishment foreign policy views on China, Russia, Iran, and other counties.

In the second hour, Shane and Jamarl were joined by Jacqueline Luqman, who expressed her view that media coverage of the Black Lives Matter movement is inaccurate, and she said that in a country where most of the media is controlled by six corporations tied to political parties, it is not a surprise that the media coverage is biased. She also pointed out what she sees as the hypocrisy of people calling the Black Lives Matter movement illegitimate for violence when other protest movements have done things that she believes are equivalent but have not been delegitimized, using the examples of the anti-mask protests and anti-quarantine protesters in Michigan. She also discussed what she sees as the impossibility of discussing race without discussing class.

In the third hour, they were joined by Dr. Bill Honigman and discussed a recent move by Bernie Sanders delegates to withhold support for the Democratic platform unless it supports single-payer healthcare or what they call Medicare for All. Bill said that Americans would be healthier and better able to handle crises such as COVID-19 with Medicare for All, but both the Democratic party and the Biden campaign are resisting what he sees as inevitable change. They also discussed whether progressives should always support the Democratic Party.

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