Our democracy is in danger.
A racist, sexist, rude, intentionally inflammatory, dishonest, inexperienced, out of touch Republican will likely be the next President of the United States.
Should this happen,the Democratic National Committee and those who have enabled and overlooked the corruption that has taken place within the Democratic party should share in the blame; particularly those Clinton supporters who have remained silent on the issue since it benefits their candidate of choice.
Look, it goes without saying that the hateful and unapologetically divisive platform that Donald Trump and Ted Cruz benefit from are the political result of years of Republican obstructionism fueled by their choice to prey upon the fears of white America. Trump, Cruz and the GOP are very much to blame.
The sexual harassment, spitting, punching, kicking and verbal abuse committed by Trump supporters at his rallies is the crescendo of ignorance orchestrated by Republican intolerance.
But a Republican elected president wouldn’t solely be result of Republican calculation it would also be the product of Democrats manipulating the process in a way that threatens to alienate many Democratic and Independent voters.
To a certain degree, we’ve been trained to expect politicians, Democrats or Republicans to not be compromised by some conflicting interest.
It’s expected.
As our political system becomes more and more corrupted by big money and favors, the possibility of electing a candidate of honesty, political temerity and moral courage who was not bought or influenced by big money or special interests seemed to be a pipe dream. Those of us who wanted to take financial corruption out of elections seemed to make peace with the notion that perhaps our desires were just apart of some utopian fantasy.
But along came Bernie.
Honest. Consistent. Uncorrupted by corporate interests.
He has a chance to become our president and to build a consensus on progressive ideals of health care for all, free & and affordable education, worker’s rights, criminal justice reform & and Wall Street regulation.
Yippeeeee!! Hooray!!!! Now’s our chance! Now our party leaders can get behind an un-bought candidate who champions all of our beliefs right? No more excuses right?
Wrong.
The Democratic party has done everything it can in order to derail and discredit Bernie Sanders’ campaign; their fellow democrat.
For the longest time, Democratic voters like myself have justifiably condemned the Republicans for their unashamed usage of gerrymandering, intentional voter mis-information and financially compromised media outlets as a means to maintain their political control. However, what has become increasingly apparent in this election cycle is that the Democratic party is just as actively engaged in the corrupting of our voting process as their opponents on the other side of the aisle are.
The Curtain has been pulled back. The Wizard of our American-OZ
is both red AND blue. It is evident that the Democratic Party as an organization is less interested in defending the ideals of their constituents and more concerned with maintaining control over their status quo.
No longer can we Democrats wag their finger at Republicans in scorn as the standard bearers of fair & and responsible leadership. Dems have been just as corrupted by control as the Republicans have been.
Not as racist. Not as sexist. Not as evil. Not as politically unreasonable.
But when it comes to obstructionism; in this election cycle the Dems have been the G.O.P.’s equal.
Now there are many out there who do in fact support Hillary Clinton and simply aren’t aware of her many conflicts of political interest that make her unlikely to champion many of the progressive ideals that we hold dear. That’s ok. It happens. There are also others who simply feel that Mrs. Clinton will be a stronger leader than Bernie. Cool. That’s your prerogative. I obviously have my feelings to the contrary, but I have no beef with that.
I don’t fault those people out there who support Hilary Clinton simply for supporting her.
But to those of you who support Sen. Clinton and are well enough engaged in the process to know about Mrs. Clinton and the DNC’s corrupting and in some cases, rigging of the process, but choose to remain silent?
You should really be ashamed of yourselves.
You are also doing a disservice to the future of the democratic process at a time when we can begin to set new precedent on how campaigns should be run.
You’ve read instances of DNC Chair, Debbie Wassermann Schultz’s actions that swing the election in favor of her former boss , Sen. Hillary Clinton.
You’ve seen the evidence of her political connections within the media that present obvious conflicts of journalistic balance
Even just a couple days ago in Arizona, we saw the reports of wait times of 4 hours long due to an intentional decrease in the number of polling places from 200 to 60. An act that officials in both parties knew about but did next to nothing to contest.
But while all of this political manipulation takes place, I’ve heard virtual silence from Hillary Clinton supporters – my fellow Democratcs.
Scarce few of them, if any at all seem to be interested in addressing these issues or holding the Democratic party accountable.
What’s worse is that I’ve watched as many beat their chests in defiance, almost celebrating the fact that the wheels are greased in Mrs. Clinton’s favor.
What happened to us?
Democrats are supposed to be the party against injustice.
Democrats are supposed to be the defender of the little guy;
The David to the Republican’s Goliath
Democrats are supposed to be opposed to political malpractice.
But it turns out that rampant evidence of voter suppression isn’t really a problem just as long as it benefits our favorite candidate.
Corrupt monies controlling the interests of our politicians doesn’t seem to matter one iota if Hillary Clinton just so happens to benefit from it.
If Hillary Clinton does emerge as the Democratic nominee for president while being the beneficiary of such shameful and disheartening political collusion, it would be unfortunate because her Republican opponents are sooo unqualified and soooo undeserving of our nation’s highest office.
Now. There may be many Bernie Sanders supporters who in an act of political defiance, will refrain from voting at all if Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee.
It’s sad that our process has come to this BUT
this should not be written off as some immature, political temper tantrum.
Most voters understand that their candidates don’t always win. That’s not a new concept. What discourages citizens from taking part in the process is the crippling feeling that your vote doesn’t count and that those in power work against your expression through voting more often defending it.
Instead of encouraging a fair and transparent process,
the Democratic Committee and many Hillary supporters have been presenting a false choice to Bernie supporters.
One that says that if we don’t vote for Hillary, whose politics and integrity are the antithesis of our moral convictions, then Donald Trump, the unflushed fecal backwash of the Satan’s toilet bowl will be our new leader.
This logic not only overlooks the polls that show Donald Trump as being more likely to beat Hillary than Bernie in a general election but it also attempts to force Bernie supporters into a frustrating lose-lose scenario.
Should they choose to not to vote at all this November, it will be because of the understandable refusal to be treated like a pawn to maintain the political status quo.
“These Politicians Ain’t Loyal”
When it comes to loyalty, I was always taught a simple truth by my old school Grandmama and Grandpapa and by my midwestern by way of the south Aunties & Uncles.
“IF THEY’LL DO IT WITH YOU, THEY’LL DO IT TO YOU”.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with this particular adage, allow me to translate. If someone is going to steal with you, don’t be surprised if you wake up one day and they’ve stolen from you.
If you’re going to be unfaithful to your spouse and have an affair,
don’t all of a sudden catch feelings and be surprised when your co-conspirator betrays you in some way. You should have seen it coming.
Remember when George Bush snuck his way into the Whitehouse? He did so with the support of the same manipulation and smoke & and mirror tactics that are being used to Hillary Clinton’s advantage. By embracing this corruption when it benefits our own political agenda we mustn’t dare complain when
it occurs to our detriment.
If Mrs. Clinton does indeed defeat Bernie Sanders in the primary, I hope that my fellow Democrats realize just how petty and short lived a victory it will.
I know many think it’s empowering and validating that she will be nominated despite the protest of critics like myself.
But just remember the words of one of my heroes, Dr. King-
” injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
If we don’t work together as a collective to disavow corruption, regardless of party or candidate, then we are helping to further corrode our electoral process and running the risk of hearing the sound of a gold plated “Air Trump One” flying over our heads.
the conscience cloud 