TruthDig/Common Dreams can turd-polish all they want on Bernie Sanders' endgame.
They can't hide that he is really just calling for greater numbers of slightly more liberal "good Democrats" like him to run for office or otherwise get involved within Democratic Party politics, while kicking third parties to the curb by ignoring them. And 'liberals' like Naomi Klein play along.
Bernie wants more 'open' primaries. Will that draw more in the way of caucus-based Greens, free to vote Dem, in will it draw more in the way of right-of-center independents (the Democratic Party is centrist, so indys between it and the GOP are by definition center-right), with some further Overton Window shifts, or in the case of Bernie's win in West Virginia and near-win in Kentucky, will it attract registered Republican spoilers?
At a minimum, real voting reform that benefitted voters, not the DemocraticParty, would include:
1. Easier creation of fusion slates (and constitutionally overturning bans on them in some states, on freedom of assembly grounds;
2. Easier third-party ballot access (Texas is notorious);
3. Public financing of Congressional and state office campaigns.
I'm not a Democrat, I'm an American. I want a fundamental transformation of elections.
As for the idea of more 'open' primaries, let alone the 'jungle' primary in non-presidential contests? Meh.
As a supporter of parliamentary democracy, I'd rather see parties forced to defend issues and coalesce. As for transforming the Democratic Party, I'd rather do it with the cudgel of outside pressure otherwise?
Bernie, to at least a few of us non-Sandernista non-kiddos, now that your value as a cudgel inside that party is fading away, you;re becoming more and more like a 3-day-old fish.
2 comments:
I have been a lifelong Democrat who has never voted third party in a national election. Like many Democrats, I desperately wanted Elizabeth Warren to run, not Bernie. At this late date in the election, I consider every one of the national Democratic politicians a traitor to my constituency, the 99%. The exception is still Alan Grayson, who President Chickennuts is trying his best to keep out of Congress.
I have strongly supported Sanders since Day One, but just as he publicly promised long ago, he has now become just another traitor to the 99% who so vehemently supported him. I now have my own little tragicomic image of Bernie. He is shot in the back by one of Santa Ana's soldiers as he runs from the Alamo like a coward. If he truly had any balls, he would hand over his valuable mailing list to Jill Stein, begin a run immediately on the Green ticket, and give the bird to the stinking Democratic Party. This would lead to my first national vote for a third party. Regardless of whatever happens from this point forward, I shall never vote for a Democrat again!
Mr. Floyd, I'm afraid I'll have to agree. Though I love what Bernie stands for, watching him basically ignore voter suppression and election fraud in this country has made me question his true intentions. Though, I won't quit on him before the democratic convention. I think he has a plan! We'll see.
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