A maxim that the present-day Democratic Party would do well to take to heart. As Bernie Sanders pointed out on June 16th, under its current leadership, Democrats have lost 900 legislative seats to Republicans since 2009. This erosion of power and influence threatens the very existence of our planet, and something must be done to stop the bleeding.
The Republicans are sneering at us, and salivating in anticipation of Obama's departure. The ill-conceived Democratic 'sit-in' on the floor of The House on June 22nd is a case in point:
Apparently intended to show that the House Democrats are 'down' with this 'Political Revolution' stuff (and cleverly 'led' by John Lewis, making it above reproach by the Sanders campaign), the protest backfired, and left them looking weak and ineffectual. Ignored by the soul-less Paul Ryan, they had little choice but to go home with their respective tails between their legs after he closed the session without even acknowledging them.
This kind of Republican hubris comes as the direct result of the aforementioned decline in the number of Democrats in Congress. The blatant disrespect of a figure like Lewis goes unanswered, and only serves to bolster Ryan's reputation with his right-wing Tea Party base (keep in mind that not a single Republican showed up at the 2013 ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s March on Washington). They are admittedly and quite obviously racist, and yet nobody seems to care.
On June 23rd, a referendum in the UK was held on whether or not to leave the European Union, commonly known as #Brexit. The results took most people by surprise:
Parliament never thought it could happen, and under-estimated the power of the 'Leave' movement's resonance with the working class... a class with which they have very little contact with, after all. It was a shock to most people on this side of the pond as well, with one notable exception:
Yes, Donald Trump and his followers are right there with their British counterparts and their isolationist, 'return to the Glory Days' rhetoric that they mistake for patriotism. The outcome of the #Brexit vote must serve as a wake-up call to all Americans - Donald Trump could actually win.
Ryan and the Republicans have already figured that out, and are happy to endorse him, regardless of his policies (or lack thereof). They have witnessed the enormous crowds attending Trump rallies, and are in it to win it, at any cost.
The Democrats, on the other hand, are blinded by their sense of entitlement (just as the 'Stay' movement was in the UK), and hand-cuffed by decades of political favors owed to the Clinton Machine. I've already spoken about some of the under-handed games that have been played to coronate their 'presumptive' nominee, even though (as I've maintained all along) she is a flawed candidate with enough baggage to render her un-electable. If she is nominated, Trump will win.
Period.
If only there was some way to avoid that...
Oh wait, there is. The Democrats may not like Bernie Sanders, in fact they may despise him, but the fact remains that he has an even greater grass-roots following than Trump, and would beat him hands-down, by a landslide, guaranteed:
The Republicans don't like Trump, either, but they are willing to back him because they want to win. What could be more important to the Democratic Party at this point than an assured victory in November?
Listen, the convention isn't 'contested' because Bernie Sanders says it is, it is contested because neither candidate reached the magic number of 2383 delegates in the primary. Think long and hard, my fellow Democrats; "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing."
 |
| New York Times, 6/29/16 |
Nominate Bernie Sanders.
- red kelly
No comments:
Post a Comment