This piece was written in response to the speech Nina Turner made on Martin Luther King day.
While you’re at it, stow the bullshit on Bernie Sanders’ and Tulsi Gabbard’s progressivism. Three strikes and you’re out. None of them are true “progressives.” They just cribbed the moniker for political purposes. There are no progressives — none, zero, nada, zilch, zippo, goose eggs — in the Democratic Party. There is no room for them there, and the parties run the entire show from top to bottom. There is no such thing as ‘voting the person, not the party.’ There never was.
Sanders, Turner, and Gabbard being labeled “progressives” while laboring in a corporate-owned party is ridiculous. It’s like somebody saying “Yeah, I’m in the Third Reich, but I’m not like them. I think differently. I’m really a people person. Trust me.” Know what? I was apprehensive when Sanders ran as a Democrat during the last cycle, but I let it go. (In fact, a few things ‘bothered’ me about him then that are quite unacceptable now, but that’s a different post for a different day.) Now? I’ve been completely radicalized. There is certainly enough proof for me that the Democratic Party is as heinous as its GOP counterpart. Its inhabitants are owned, operated and made to dance by the same entities that control the GOP. It’s all about greed, money, and power. That is the dominant theme of American politics and has lead to the death of democracy.
You know, I could say let’s talk about the “red flags” in the Democratic Party’s behavior, but we’ve gone way beyond red flags. Let’s start with the DNC fraud lawsuit. Here is the defense mounted by DNC attorney Bruce Spiva:
- There is essentially no such thing as a Democrat. The DNC just encourages people to vote for the Democratic Party.
- People do not have the right to the expectation of a fair election. It is within their rights if the DNC chooses to “select” a candidate versus running a free and fair election process.
- There should be no expectation that the money you donated to Bernie Sanders was going to be used to assist him in winning the primaries. Essentially, the DNC doesn’t have to follow its own internal policies with regard to elections.
- Discussions of, and disputes with, the DNC do not belong in a public venue or in a transparent process such as a court of law. The DNC is a private organization which should not have to be expected to participate in a discovery process. Likewise, the DNC should not have to reveal its own inner workings or strategies should it decide to select a candidate rather than allowing a free and fair election.
In essence, the Democratic Party told you that your vote didn’t mean a damned thing to them. It will count only when they choose to make it count, and they don’t have to reveal to you publicly what they’re up to. Does this sound like a political party deserving of anybody’s allegiance, particularly since the primaries are taxpayer funded?
Yet, this is the party that Bernie Sanders, Tulsi Gabbard, Nina Turner and now, Chelsea Manning, are pledging their allegiance to. In the case of Chelsea Manning, I’m totally mystified by that decision.
Being a Democrat and a Progressive are indeed mutually exclusive
Period. End of story. There are things that ‘progressives’ do not participate in by definition. There is no way that you can simultaneously be an inhabitant of the Democratic Party and a progressive. Progressives do not operate within parties that take literally millions (close to a billion) of dollars from Wall Street, the banks, Hollywood, and the Elites to influence an election. Progressives do not work in a party where corporate America writes the legislation. We all know that the insurance industry had a big hand in the writing of the Affordable Care Act. Any notion that you can have an industry write its own obituary is ridiculous on its face.
And no, it doesn’t matter that Bernie Sanders didn’t take any corporate money. He was working within and running under the mantle of, a party that feeds off corporate America and Wall Street. This is the very crux of the problem, an unfettered capitalist system where greedy globalists are allowed to flourish at the expense of the masses. Jeff Bezos may be able to boast a net worth of $106 billion, but you’ll never hear anybody boast about his ill-treated employees who are forced onto food stamps.
Corporate blood money holds command of our legislation and our legislators (on both sides of the aisle), and no amount of voting will ever override what they demand. To state that we can “fix” this system by working within this irretrievably corrupt system is talking gibberish. I use the fractured Democratic Party as an example because they still have a number of people fooled. Its ridiculous organization keeps people hanging on to false hope that it will change, much like women who hang around waiting for their abusive spouses to ‘change.’
It has the Sanders wing in “Our Revolution,” which is actually nobody’s revolution because it is impossible to overthrow the system from within the system. Then, there’s the Justice Democrats, and I haven’t even figured them out yet, but I know they are just as delusional thinking they can “fix” the party from within. They are being allowed to play in the sandbox for a while. They will have no real impact. While we’re here, let’s talk about that name, “Justice” Democrats. Just what the hell does that mean? How do you have “justice” within a party that usurped the Democratic process? It’s a joke on we the people.
Then right smack in the middle, you have your dyed-in-the-wool, establishment Democrats, like Tom Perez, Nancy Pelosi, Chuckie Schumer, Cory “Crooker” Booker, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand, Maxine Waters, and Dianne Feinstein. These are the power brokers. They are going nowhere. In fact, one of your 2020 Democratic presidential candidates will come from the establishment category. There will be no “think outside the corporate box” nominee. Neither will there be any kind of revolution from within the Democratic Party.
Let’s do some critical thinking, shall we?
In 2018, there are a total of 468 seats up for grabs; 33 in the Senate and 435 in the House of Representatives. What do you think the chances are that we’ll find progressives to vote into those slots? Which party will run those progressives? I love the small-thinking American public that tells me we do not need a revolution. It’s si We’ll just vote in a bunch of progressive women and people of color. Will they all be available for a 2018 or a 2020 run? Do you really and truly believe that the Democrats will embrace and support “progressive” candidates in all of those seats? Know what my answer is? When. Pigs. Fly. They are already lining up behind the familiar establishment candidates.
I am disappointed that Chelsea Manning is running as a Democrat. I will not support anybody running as a Democrat or running within the Democratic Party. I also know one other thing: There’s a fat chance in hell that the Democratic Party will help Chelsea Manning win anything anywhere at any time. In fact, the smears have already begun.
Let’s add to all this that there has been absolutely no election reform of any kind. We haven’t pushed for getting money out of politics, the biggest elephant in the room of the lot. The Democrats alone, with Hillary Clinton as the candidate, took in almost a billion dollars during the last cycle. Until the corporate state is destroyed, there’s no opportunity for progressive politics of any kind. We do not have term limits, and it’s apparently not on anybody’s radar. That’s why Dianne Feinstein has served since 1992 and will run for re-election to a sixth term in 2018 at the age of 85.
Given all this, how long do you think it will take us to vote in a whole new, progressive Congress? I propose it’s impossible under these conditions, regardless of what Brand New Congress tells you. First and foremost, actual progressives have to be running. Yet, even that is a moot point. There is no way to vote ourselves out of this mess. We have been voting this way for decades to no avail, and the American voter is ready to try, try again.
Even if it were possible, it would never be achieved before we crash and burn as a nation. We are not that far away now.
Categories: 2018 Midterms, Corporate Personhood, Democrats, Duopoly, Elections, fascism, The 1%, The 99%, Uncategorized
Revolutionary Radar 
I respectfully disagree with your premise that there are no Progressives in the Democratic Party. Your definition of Progressive is the heart of your argument, so you cannot define your opponent any more than he should be labelling you. Let’s agree that all this political bickering is stifling progress for America. If the DNC had not stolen the nomination from Bernie Sanders, it would have a very interesting Presidential election. The election is over. Donald Trump is my President. As a life long Democrat, I hope that the DNC cleans up it’s corruption. I will respect my country, honor my flag and respect my President. But then, I’m just a Kennedy democrat, veteran, white senior citizen, who embraces civil rights, but not privilege, legal immigration, single payer universal health insurance and free education.
I respectfully disagree with your comment. There will be no “cleaning up” of any acts in the duopoly. It is immune from cleaning itself up. It would take decades to vote out enough scum to make real change. As for Turner, Sanders et al., they aren’t conducting any kind of “revolution” in the party. As a Political Science major, Sanders knows that. He’s a fraud and a protector of the status quo. There has never been any real revolution that has taken place from inside an establishment entity while you’re taking orders from that entity. That’s a ridiculous premise. It has never happened in history, and it will not now. And yes, there is a litmus test for “progressives.”
Exactly. Medicare for all, courtesy of the insurance industry.
The majority of the American voters are not progressives, so the battle that never was is lost.