It’s been a dark week—marred by cynicism and maligned by the self-serving greed of a party that claims to be for the people. The Democratic Primaries are tightening, with Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and O’Rourke all dropping out of the race just ahead of the crucial ‘Super Tuesday’—when 14 states cast their votes in the primary race.
Not only did this move clear the field, but also saw each of them endorse candidate Joe Biden, former Obama VP, and a veritable bag of bones who makes beige seem compelling. The choice is most often defended as an electability claim, which seems surprising in regards to a candidate with a pathetically dismal turnout prior to Tuesday—especially given his association with one of the most popular political figures of this generation in President Obama.
Endorsements mean more than they should though—that is to say, more than nothing—and Biden won big on Super Tuesday, landing him in the top spot, with 627 delegates to second place Sanders’ 551 at the time of this writing. The next closest competitor, Warren, held only 64 before dropping out on the 5th of March.
Following Super Tuesday, Scrooge McDuck imitator Bloomberg called it quits on his self-financed bid to buy the coveted spot as leader of the USA, also taking the opportunity to throw his support behind Biden.
This Biden love and the endless claims of electability may seem surprising, given that after the first three primary contests—prior to these endorsements—Biden held a measly 15 delegates to Sanders’ 45.
In truth, arguments that Sanders is not sufficiently ‘electable’ come down to one thing—the old Red scare. Fear of the second half of Sanders bandied ‘Democratic Socialism’ still has many below the Mason-Dixon line soiling their overalls; there’s no denying this fact. But Democratic Socialism is a far stretch from the Communism of old, as we have explored in past articles ‘On Bernie Sanders and Changing Economic Systems’, and ‘What is Democratic Socialism?’.
Still, Sanders and his solutions have become increasingly palatable to the citizens of America since 2016—and even then may have been the far superior choice over Clinton, as explored in the article, ‘Has Bernie Sanders Been Casting Pearls Before Swine?’.
No, it’s a fool who thinks this sudden surge of Biden love from the DNC is motivated by concerns of electability. They’d have learned that lesson last election. Biden is every bit the war-hawk, establishment crony that Clinton was, with less personality than tofu, and an obviously declining mental acuity. He’s a lame-duck candidate who’s already lost two presidential bids. He’s Hillary-light, and lacks even the potential marketability of ovaries. If he gets the nod and does even half as well as she did, it will give credence to nothing beyond the claims that Hillary’s failure to defeat Trump was due largely to America’s discomfort with having a woman at the helm. Either option is a dismal prospect.
No, these endorsements are about something else. No one in the arguably accomplished position of these 4 would be dense enough to tempt fate a second time with a weaker candidate. Trump is many things, and few of them have any proximity to even the most moderately positive traits. But he does have charisma, and he does inspire passion in his fanbase. If he faced Biden on the debate stage, he would devour the old fool—publicly masticating him to the slathering cheers of his ardent supporters.
It would be a god damn massacre.
So why take such a foolish gambit? Clearly, this is an age of extremes. An age of passionate adherence to alternatives, when both left and right seek to sunder themselves from the status quo of the establishment and take back control of their democracy. Trump has given the right that to a tee, and the fervent joy he’s inspired in his loyalists renders them blind to the turmoil he leaves in his wake.
Bernie is the only answer remaining to the left. He is a radical, and he has answers to counter any point of Trumps. Bernie has a plan, he has passion, he has charisma, and he puts people before self-interest. With full acknowledgement of this writer’s bias and personal political leanings, Bernie stands as the best option to help America move into a more progressive and egalitarian future than they’ve ever seen.
Sadly, these endorsements aren’t about any of that. Electability be damned. People, progressives, and democracy itself be damned. These are not progressives, and they barely befit the term democrat, save for the sad reality that the past decade has revealed this to be the very core of the DNC—to protect their own wealth. To live the status quo or die in its defense. That’s just what they are willing to do. For the DNC to repeat the mistakes of 2016 would be the nail in the coffin of their own slow suicide. It would almost certainly mean another 4 years of Trump, which to them would perhaps be the preferable choice over paying slightly more taxes so their constituents could live the ‘high-life’ of accessing the luxuries of health-care and affordable education.
So, the road ahead is a dreary affair, but not hopeless. One of the most interesting factors remaining to be seen is who former candidate Elizabeth Warren will endorse. Will she stick with her progressive aspirations, and join Sanders to create a potentially formidable alliance, or will she go the way of apathetic self-service as the rest have done?
The flow of time is the inevitability of progress. To deny the tides is to be washed away beneath them, and left like the statue of Ozymandias for history to forget.
The people will have their day. The old ways have died, and progress will not be halted forever. In these treacherous times, change is only going one of two ways: Bernie’s, or Trump’s.
The days of the establishment’s status quo are gone. In the past week, they have shown this more than any election ever could.
-Brad OH Inc.
Brad OH Inc. 