Strange Doings in the Democratic Party

W.J. Astore

Taking Democracy Out of America

Amazingly, the presidential election of 2024 isn’t that far away, and already the Democratic Party is doing its best to remove democracy from the process.  Once again, the DNC is uniting behind Joe Biden who, if reelected, would be 86 if he finished his second term of office.  Already South Carolina has been awarded the first primary in place of New Hampshire, since Biden performed much better in SC than in NH in 2020. Already the DNC has announced it wants no primary debates even though Biden faces at least one challenger of substance, Marianne Williamson.  Already Democrats are being told you shouldn’t want a younger, more dynamic, more progressive candidate, that more candidates and more choice is bad, that no possible mainstream candidate is better than Biden, and anyway Democrats can’t be distracted by choice when the Republican candidate is likely to be Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis.

At the same time, Kamala Harris remains Biden’s heir-apparent, even though Harris is both politically unpopular and ham-fisted.  As Krystal Ball, who can’t be accused of being anti-women, explained, Harris lacks political talent, full stop.  Like most VPs, she has accomplished little, but when she has taken center stage, she hasn’t inspired confidence.  Nevertheless, she’s important to the image of the party and its alleged commitment to diversity.  Old white guy Joe needs to be balanced by a younger woman of color irrespective of her lack of political acumen and her lackluster record in office.

Sadly, we’re at a place where to critique Joe Biden is to be accused of ageism; to critique Kamala Harris is to be accused of both racism and misogyny.  To ask for more candidates, more competition, more democracy is to be accused of being an operative for Trump.  So it’s likely Biden/Harris again for 2024, like it or lump it.

Well, at least they’re happy

The last true liberal/progressive Democratic nominee who tried to bring real hope and change to America was George McGovern in 1972.  Nixon trounced him, of course, and Democrats at the top abandoned “leftist” notions for a pro-business, pro-banking, pro-military, and pro-money agenda, as implemented by Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.  Both were two-term presidents, both were good at posing as champions of regular folk while implementing agendas that were old-school Republican.  Meanwhile, the real Republicans drifted ever further to the right.

America today is stuck with two rightist parties, a uniparty of sorts, where the agenda favors the richest few versus the poorest many, the powerful versus the powerless.  Sure, the Democrats profess they are more “woke” and are willing to talk about systemic racism, sexism, LGBTQ issues, and so on, while the Republicans, incredibly, are both more populist and more willing to question massive spending on weapons and war.  Yet both parties remain bought and paid for, serving the interests of the big-money owners and donors.  In short, 2024 promises a rigged deal, not a new one, no matter which major party candidate wins.

And that’s a shame, because America needs a New Deal for the poor, the powerless, the workers, the regular folk, but they’re not even allowed to have a candidate, let alone a choice.  At this moment, the most likely “choice” is between Biden/Harris and Trump/DeSantis, and if you think either ticket will support meaningful change…

Establishment America is bereft of new ideas and new possibilities; thus, the dynamism of our nation is dying, smothered by greed and cynicism.  It’s “no change” Biden versus “very unstable grifter” Trump, or possibly “younger grifter” DeSantis.  What a choice!

So, who would I vote for if the election were held today?  Marianne Williamson.  She’s not perfect (there is no perfect candidate), but she’s articulate, empathetic, and open-minded.  Better yet, she’s not bought and paid for.  If I were a Democrat (I’m not), I’d vote for her just because the establishment dismisses her as an unserious crystal/aura lady.  Imagine: she dares talk about love and compassion and pursuing peace.  We can’t have that in America!

I hope Williamson gains traction within the party, enough so that the DNC can’t suppress debates, because real debates would reveal what many have already noted: that Biden has slipped too much to be entrusted with the presidency for another four years.  Yet, unless he collapses on stage, or even if he does, the DNC will continue to prop him up as vigorous and able to serve.

That ongoing sham reveals a harsh reality: who is president doesn’t really matter in America when the candidates and their staff are pre-selected by the real power centers like Wall Street and the National Security State.

11 thoughts on “Strange Doings in the Democratic Party”

  6. Meanwhile in other News: Now that the International Criminal Court has charged Russia’s President with war crimes in Ukraine, one can only wonder when it will charge American Presidents Biden, Trump, Obama, and Bush II with war crimes in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and so forth.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. ‘US threatens to arrest ICC judges if they pursue Americans for Afghan war crimes’
      https://www.france24.com/en/20180910-usa-trump-threatens-arrest-icc-judges-american-soldiers-afghan-war-crimes

      Charging Putin with WAR Crimes is entirely Politically motivated. Like Russia, the US and Israel have not ratified the Rome Statute creating the ICC.
      There is a WAR going on and the Russian speaking Civilians in the East have been bombarded by Ukraine forces since 2014 when they rejected the US/CIA Coup/regime change of the elected Russian friendly government they VOTED for and it’s only increased since the WAR began.
      This was done to protect those Russian speaking children from Ukraine shelling.

      ‘The International Criminal Court’s hypocrisy on Putin’
      The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Karim Khan has injected himself into the Ukraine-Russia conflict in a very public way. He has wanted to be seen as rolling up his sleeves and quickly moving to indict those he alleges are responsible for crimes against the Rome Statute, the law that the ICC enforces. On Friday he claimed his biggest scalp with the Court issuing an arrest warrant for Russia’s President Putin. But Mr Khan and the ICC’s conduct in this conflict, characterised by unusual alacrity for an international legal institution, is in stark contrast to the feet dragging on alleged war crimes by Israel against the Palestinians in 2014………………………………………
      https://johnmenadue.com/icc-putin-and-hypocrisy/

      Remember when Trump was hosting Chinese President Xi at Mar-a-Lago serving him beautiful chocolate cake? While that was happening, the US launched mover $100 MILLION in cruise missiles at Syria for the alleged chemical weapons attack.

      No proof was needed, but the OPCW, like the ICC in NATO territory, falsely backed up the US version even though OPCW Inspectors on the ground said it was a FALSE FLAG done by the US proxy terrorists to effect the regime change of the Assad government brought out within weeks of 9/11 with US WAR PLANS to change the regimes of Iraq, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, and at THE END, Iran.

      Some of those principled Inspectors resigned from the OPCW in protest.
      ‘OPCW investigator testifies at UN that no chemical attack took place in Douma, Syria’
      https://mronline.org/2020/01/24/opcw-investigator-testifies-at-un-that-no-chemical-attack-took-place-in-douma-syria/

      Liked by 1 person

  7. Thanks for the very important heads up – that the DNC is once again screwing up our faltering democracy by not allowing presidential primaries! Who knew it had gone this far? I’m forwarding this to friends and family in hopes they’ll write letters. I’m not voting for Biden again. “Fool me once ….” We were told we had to in order not to get Trump. Well, it’s hard to figure out who is the worst. When it comes to war like behavior I figure Biden is worse, along with the fact that he has broken all his major campaign promises. I’m voting for the green party candidate whoever that might be, or Bernie if he decides to run on the Socialist-democrat ticket, I don’t care how old he is he’s better than any of the alternatives so far. (I like Maryann but she’s not gonna get far)

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  8. Does it really matter which party is in control of either end of Pennsylvania Avenue when we have the Federal Reserve System? Ron Paul’s March 20 piece asks “Are Bank Failures A Sign Of More Trouble Ahead?”…:

    The failure of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) on March 10 was the second largest bank failure in us history. Just two days following SVB’s collapse, Signature Bank joined the record books as the third largest bank failure in US history. First Republic Bank also seemed on the edge of collapse until Bank of America, Citigroup, and other big banks agreed to jointly fund a bailout for it.

    Major Swiss bank Credit Suisse was also teetering on the brink when it received a 54 billion dollars line of credit from the Swiss UBS Group last week. Now, UBS is in the process of buying Credit Suisse. Politicians, regulators, and financial “experts” all rushed to assure us these problems were all caused by factors unique to the individual banks and were not a sign of a systemic weakness in the banking system.

    The bank failures and near failures caused nervous banks to borrow a combined 164.8 billion dollars in one week from the Federal Reserve’s discount window and the Bank Term Funding Program, a new program created by the Fed to make loans to troubled banks. The Fed created this program even though supposedly there is no systemic problem in the banking industry.

    While SVB didn’t receive a bailout, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) guaranteed the full amount of all deposits even though Congress set a standard FDIC guarantee on deposits of up to 250,000 dollars. By covering all SVB deposits, the FDIC has created an expectation among depositors at major financial institutions (as well as the institutions themselves) that the government will cover 100 percent of deposits. This will cause both depositors and banks to make investment decisions they typically would not make, thus guaranteeing larger bank failures followed by more bailouts for wealthy depositors.

    Some have blamed the current bank failures, along with other signs that the economy is on the verge of a major downturn, on the Federal Reserve’s interest rate increases. It is true the Fed bears responsibility. However, the rate increases are not the problem. The problem is the “easy money” and low or zero interest rate policies the Fed pushed since the 2008 market meltdown, which was caused by the bursting of the Fed-created housing bubble. Federal Reserve manipulation of the money supply distorts interest rates, which are the price of money. This distorts the signals sent to market actors regarding the true value of investing in particular industries. The result is malinvestments in those industries creating a bubble. The bubble will inevitably burst.

    The economic downturn that follows the bursting of a bubble is necessary to cleanse the economy of the malinvestments. The correction will not last long and the economy will emerge stronger if Congress, the Treasury Department, and the Federal Reserve refrain from “stimulating” the economy with federal spending and artificially low interest rates. Government interference, however, can create yet another bubble, setting the stage for another crash.

    THE NEW WAVE OF BANK FAILURES IS AN INDICATION THAT THE US ECONOMY IS EITHER IN OR ON THE VERGE OF ANOTHER SERIOUS FED-CAUSED RECESSION. WITH NATIONS SEEKING TO END THE DOLLAR’S STATUS AS THE WORLD’S RESERVE CURRENCY, THE END OF AMERICA’S DISASTROUS EXPERIMENT WITH FIAT MONEY, AND WITH IT THE WELFARE-WARFARE STATE, COULD BE ON THE HORIZON.

    THE COLLAPSE CAN BE ACCOMPANIED BY CIVIL UNREST AND GREATER RESTRICTIONS ON LIBERTY. HOWEVER, THE SPREADING AUTHORITARIANISM CAN ALSO SPUR A GROWTH IN THE MOVEMENT FOR INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY, A FREE MARKET, AND LIMITED GOVERNMENT THAT COULD MAKE THE DARK NIGHT OF AUTHORITARIANISM A PRELUDE TO A NEW DAWN OF LIBERTY.

    http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2023/march/20/are-bank-failures-a-sign-of-more-trouble-ahead/ EMPHASIS added.

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