The Sanders movement does not end here

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From day one the Democratic Party establishment has been trying to count Bernie Sanders out of the presidential nomination race, using every trick in the book. The party leaders have been readily assisted in this by a tame mainstream media.

On Tuesday (NZ time) the US media was telling voters in California and five other states that a vote next day for Bernie Sanders was meaningless because Hillary Clinton already had the numbers.   TVNZ, to its shame, followed the American media pack with a headline: “Hillary Clinton secures the delegates for Democratic nomination.”

Bernie Sanders disputed the Associated Press and NBC News tallies pointing out they were “lumping pledged delegates, i.e. real delegates, with superdelegates, who may or may not change their mind, but who do not vote until July 25th.”

With such a media barrage that Clinton had already won its surprising that Sanders did as well as he did in the six primaries the following day. He won in North Dakota and Montana, was only two percentage points behind in South Dakota and New Mexico, and managed 43% in California.

Sanders is right to campaign right through to the final Washington DC primary and get every Convention delegate possible.   By doing so he keeps his movement together to fight at the Convention for a more radical Democrat policy platform, and a democratization of party rules, particularly around the running of primaries.

Sanders responds to “Bernie” chants at his rallies by pointing out that it’s not about him but about the mass movement he leads – against the billionaire class that rules America. How can he simply concede to Clinton when much of his campaign has been directed at her accommodation to the super-rich.

Being part of the corporate establishment also make it more difficult for Hillary Clinton to beat Donald Trump. Bernie Sanders has pointed out that “according to every national poll that I have seen and according to virtually every state poll that I have seen, Bernie Sanders is a much stronger candidate against Donald Trump than is Hillary Clinton.”  Technically, the 741 yet-to-vote Democrat superdelegates could recognise this and gift the nomination to Sanders. But this won’t happen. Partly there is a good reason: that the result of the primaries should determine the outcome. But there’s also a bad reason: that most superdelegates have been overly focused on defeating Bernie Sanders even though this helps Donald Trump.”

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Robert Reich (once Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Labor and now a Bernie supporters) has eloquently summed up the continuing importance of the Sanders movement. In an Open Letter to Bernie he says that “regardless of what you decide to do now, you have ignited a movement to fight onward. We will fight to put more progressives into the House and the Senate. We will fight at the state level. We will organize for the 2020 presidential election.”

Reich wrote that “your message– about the necessity of single-payer healthcare, free tuition at public universities, a $15 minimum wage, busting up the biggest Wall Street banks, taxing the financial speculation, expanding Social Security, imposing a tax on carbon, and getting big money out of politics – will shape the progressive agenda from here on.”

11 COMMENTS

  1. “Sanders responds to “Bernie” chants at his rallies by pointing out that it’s not about him but about the mass movement he leads – against the billionaire class that rules America. How can he simply concede to Clinton when much of his campaign has been directed at her accommodation to the super-rich.”

    The movement started by Bernie Sanders is very impressive, from what I can see and read. He has managed to organise a campaign that does not depend on the traditional big, mostly business, and rich individual donors.

    This is exactly where things need to go, also in new Zealand, Labour and Greens are already appealing for donations, and people that want change must damned well sit down and take this serious enough. If every person on a low wage or even benefit donates just a dollar a week, a lot of money would come together that could fund an excellent, powerful campaign.

    The challenge is that many people just tend to rely on others, to pay for things and do things, which is exactly the environment that favours the traditionally right leaning parties, in the US, here and elsewhere. There are always enough rich and business interests happy to make donations for those guys and parties that will run a government that will pay them back multi-fold with great profits and tax benefits and so.

    Hilary Clinton has apparently already started a website appealing to Republican voters to support her rather than Trump. That means she is already taking her “victory” for granted, and is now moving away from policies that Sanders pushed for. She will move to the right, if Sanders gives up too soon, she will do this anyway, once she has the votes to run for president.

    What some may not consider yet is, that perhaps the Republicans will shoe in a separate candidate, to sideline Trump, who is becoming a true liability for too many now.

    And what would happen, if Sanders runs as an independent?

    That would shake up the whole situation. Although unlikely to happen, this could be possible, I think, and after all it could then be Bernie that will become president, after beating the other contenders.

    People out there need to be shaken up, to make them realise, if they continue to just sit back, let things move on as they are, they will only end up as the slaves and servants in a corporate and rich elite run world, which we more or less already have to a large part now. The only way to reclaim democracy is by taking a stand, by supporting people like Bernie, and by ignoring all the warnings and soundings of an increasingly compromised if not complicit corporate media.

    If this does not happen, prepare for major social crisis and collapse at some time not too distant in the future, and it will be the law of the jungle, full blown.

  2. On the radio this morning, Hilary Clinton’s supporters are alleging dirty tricks from their Bernie Sanders opponents.
    And then there is Donald Trump yesterday calling for Bernie Sanders supporters to vote for him instead of Clinton.
    It is very hard to make sense of American politics.

  3. The US election might be an entertaining puppet show for those who have too much time in their hands or an emotional roller-coaster for those who grimly hang on to hope, but we have known from the start who will be the next POTUS: a member of the Bilderberg club.

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-06-08/bilderberg-2016-agenda-trump-brexit-migrants-riots

    ‘What is really discussed is how to take the existing trends in the world, some favorable, some undesired, and mold them in such a way as to create even more wealth for the world’s 0.01%, while perpetuating the existing system, one which even the IMF agrees is no longer working.’

    .

  4. Thanks Keith, you’re the most reliable source of Bernie information around – and easily the best source in New Zealand

  5. Lee Camp on Redacted Tonight (you can youtube it), show number 96, lists and explains seven ways in which the New York primary was stolen from Bernie Sanders. Not the only election theft, just the one with the most kinds of theft, making our process seem relatively clean. Formal complaints by voters and legal action are ongoing.

    Such open voting fraud helps to remind Bernie supporters why they support him and what they want to get rid of. And why his campaign is just beginning.

  6. Trump Plans ‘Major Speech’ to Spill Dirt on Clintons

    Donald Trump is planning a major address next week in which he says he’ll reveal how Bill and Hillary Clinton have underhandedly used politics to rake in “hundreds of millions of dollars” for themselves.

    The speech, which the billionaire real-estate tycoon and presumptive GOP presidential candidate says he’ll likely deliver on Monday, will be Trump’s first sweeping assault on the Clintons since Hillary won the crucial California primary on Tuesday.

    Lies, Deception, and Outright Fraud: It’s Game-Over for Hillary

    “We can’t solve our problems by counting on the politicians who created our problems,” Trump told supporters Tuesday at his 140-acre Trump National Golf Club in Briarcliff Manor, New York.

    “The Clintons have turned the politics of personal enrichment into an art form for themselves. They’ve made hundreds of millions of dollars selling access, selling favors, selling government contracts. And I mean hundreds of millions of dollars.

    “I am going to give a major speech on probably Monday of next week. And we are going to be discussing all of the things that have taken place with the Clintons. I think you’re going to find it very informative and very, very interesting.”

    Trump did not provide further details about what he plans to reveal.

    He added: “Recent polls have shown that I’m beating Hillary Clinton. And with her many problems, and tremendous mistakes that she’s made — and she has made tremendous mistakes — we expect our lead to grow, and grow substantially.”

    Flanked by his wife Melania and daughter Ivanka, Trump then fired a shot at the media, with which he has had an increasingly combative relationship.

    “I wonder if the press will want to attend? Who knows?” Trump asked.

  7. As Trump prepares for his moment of truth, it’s disturbing, in hindsight, how much Trump resembles another wealthy businessman who tried to insert himself into the election circus here in NZ as a populist outsider…

  8. It is rather marvellous, is it not, how a “socialist” 74 year old with the mien of a grumpy Jewish uncle (which he essentially is) can have such an effective and extraordinary influence, especially on those of his grandchildren’s age, even though he won’t (in likelihood) ever be POTUS. He has moved debate across towards his direction, and at a bedrock level, and unlikely to be reversed. His legacy will be immense, and perhaps not just in his own country, as feelingthebern spreads beyond the US.
    Btw, check out his Wiki page, v interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Sanders

  9. Hopefully New Zealand voters will get behind Winston and NZF this coming 2017 Election he understands New Zealand and the NZ Economy, we need to tidy up the mess that is NZ and make it the country it once was, it is currently being used as an experiment in social engineering.

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