Today, eating lunch in a Japanese restaurant here in Seattle, my table was next to two older Caucasian men who were exercising their First Amendment rights loud enough for me to hear. They seemed well-informed and likely democrats. One said that Bernie Sanders could be president if he can overcome the “S” word, meaning socialist. He said that Sanders needs to come up with a clever approach and go head-on after his critics like Carl Rove did against John Kerry’s war record.
As I thought about those comments, I realized that those two fellows are well behind the curve, but no less so than the media and both political parties. They don’t realize that calling Sanders a socialist or Trump a fascist means nothing to the segment of the People (perhaps the majority) that thinks either Sanders or Trump is the answer.
Those two fellows, the media, and the political parties don’t realize that the People have left them behind and moved on, and that they are only relevant to themselves. I would say it happened about two years into President Obama’s first term. Obama was trying to do the things he campaigned on, and the republicans were having none of it. About that time, the Supreme Court decided Citizens United and gave unlimited power to the powerful. The People realized that government wasn’t working, and that the problem was the candidates, chosen by the parties (not the People), and those they appointed after getting elected. Then in Obama’s second term, he appointed Wall Street to his cabinet. It looked like the one-percent was in charge and would remain in charge forever.
Do you remember that scene in “Jurasic Park” in which the Jeff Goldblum character, commenting on the scientists’ efforts to keep the dinosaurs from multiplying by genetically engineering them to be all girls says, “life will find a way”? In the movie, life did find a way and ate most of the cast in the sequel.
I think we are seeing democracy finding a way. The People know that Hillary Clinton and the republican field take money from Wall Street, corporate America, and the rich—Bernie and Donald do not. That’s all the People need to know. The People also know that the mainstream media is owned by the very same powerful forces that give money to the candidates.
The People know that the powerful give money to candidates to buy influence, and that it doesn’t matter how loudly a candidate protests his or her independence, the money givers keep on giving, so they must think their “donations” are having an affect.
The 2016 presidential campaign shows that there has been a paradigm shift. The People are taking back our country. The People will pick our leaders from candidates who are not beholden to the money givers. Calling Bernie or Donald socialist or fascist is fruitless. We know that by any name they are not beholden to the money givers. That doesn’t mean they are perfect, but perfect or not, it is from that candidate pool the People will choose a president. Then the People will come looking for the congress, and then state and local governments. In the near future, taking money from the money givers will be a career ending decision.
The People will take back our country. Just watch. That’s democracy finding a way, and the People, united, will never be defeated.
Jack Sheridan
2/10/16
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