By Yoav Litvin
March 08, 2016 "Information Clearing House" - "Counterpunch" - We can hear the drums beating past the horizon, pulsating as the sun sets and darkness envelopes our homes, accelerating, deafening, throbbing, terrorizing. It seems like a nightmare but we’re all wide awake.
Drum Drum Druuuum(pf)
Drum Drum Druuuum(pf)
Drum Drum TRUUUUUUUUUUMP!
The fascists are rearing their heads. They cannot be ignored or underestimated. They are rounded up with promises of easy fixes and finger wagging at the all too predictable scapegoats. They channel people’s disenfranchisement and misfortune into unabashed and vile hate of the other. Blaming the red, black, brown, yellow, the weak, the female, the foreign, the different. These bullies and racist thugs want to punish us all for their inadequacies.
Currently, Donald Trump is their alpha male; like an orchestra conductor he effectively sets the tone, emboldening the wretch and justifying humanity’s most deplorable behaviors.
The Republican party stands by dumbfounded and mesmerized, angry, hysterical, barreling into the abyss like a train wreck. In futile attempts to derail this catastrophe, their “best and brightest” scorn Trump, while others gang up in counterproductive attempts to undermine him. But they all fail miserably; the time for pulling the emergency brake has passed.
These establishment dinosaurs fail at their Trump-beating because he has exposed them as phonies. Sitting in their boys’ club they look at him with an eerie cocktail of disgust, envy and awe. They have played the game like obedient lapdogs groveling to their corporate masters, but all for naught. Trump is everything they believe in, everything they want to be, everything they really are under their expensive suits, stylized comb overs, subtle winks and secretive nods. In the circus that is the Republican party, a clown has masterfully executed a coup d’état and overtaken the ringmaster, animal trainers, acrobats, freaks, magicians and tricksters. At the main event they all unite to challenge his rigor and manhood, only to be collectively ridiculed with outright claims of phallic largess. A wannabe has even broken ranks in a cringe worthy and transparent display of opportunism of the worst kind. It is evident why these buffoons are consciously promoting the rise of the oceans, for they and their ilk are true bottom dwellers.
Meanwhile back at the other corporate farm spectators cheer from their nosebleed seats as two Democrat gladiators duel it out for the heavyweight championship in a rigged fight. Hillary Clinton’s campaign enterprise has the money, the connections, the media, a seemingly endless arsenal of political guns and ammo, and a will to use them. She lacks the populist charm of a reality show celebrity, but she has been a member of the all-American royal family for years. Her ties to Wall street and her extensive record as a neocon and war mongering imperialist are enough to make any Republican green with envy. Clinton’s unconditional and wholehearted support of Benjamin Netanyahu (currently holding the following positions: Prime Minister, Minister Of Economy, Minister of Communications, Minister Of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Regional Cooperation) and his extremist Israeli government with its draconian apartheid policies clearly presents the fallacy of any progressive agenda she claims to have.
At the other side of the arena, Clinton’s challenger, at 74 years old and a mere around 160 pounds, awkwardly yet proudly stands Bernie Sanders.
“Brooklyn represent!” A random Sandernista cries.
A seemingly grouchy, disheveled, Jewish white Senator from Vermont, Sanders preaches socialism, revolution, health care for all, a $15 minimum wage, breaking up the big banks, free public education, criminal justice reform and a tax on Wall Street. But what is Sanders’ definition of “revolution”? Can his working within the two party duopoly lead to real change, let alone a progressive insurgency? His record and the current political landscape raise major questions regarding the true weight of his rhetoric.
As the battle commences the loyal Sandernistas encourage their unlikely candidate with a religious zeal. Clinton delivers a left hook, a jab to the chin, an uppercut right. In response Sanders uses evasive measures, dancing around, rarely hitting back.
The amused crowd eggs him on:
“Why are you giving credence to a corrupt, imperialist party?!”
“Are you in complete denial of the implicit rules of American politics?!”
“Can’t you see your efforts are futile? Don’t you understand it’s been tried before?!”
“You need to form a third party that will challenge the two-party dictatorship!”
“Jill Stein is a worthier candidate!”
“How can we take you seriously after you promised to endorse Clinton if she wins?!”
“Either hit her back or take the fall already!”
But the hardcore Sandernistas plow ahead sticking to their strategy. They pray for their man’s continued endurance while hoping for a miracle; for Hillary’s big arsenal of guns to jam. This could come in the form of an FBI investigation or some other unknown corruption, which would lead to the implosion of her entire campaign. Then, in this absolute long shot scenario, maybe just maybe, Sanders will rise untarnished and triumphant from a rigged fight.
However, if things go according to the grand plan, Sanders will lose. In this case, he would have served Clinton’s interests by effectively rounding up all the left-leaning Democrats (i.e. the “sheepdog”, as coined by Bruce Dixon of Black Agenda Report) for an all-too-familiar lesser of two evils general election of Clinton versus Trump.
Are the Sandernistas maintaining a form of collective delusion, denying and even serving the inevitable Clinton nomination? Are they perpetuating a reality of corporate tyranny, environmental catastrophe and imperialist hubris that will continue to claim innocent lives? Or is Sanders’ strategy the only one available within a seemingly rigged fight? Can he prevail as a savior within this surreal spectacle of train wrecks, circus clowns, bottom dwellers, corporate slaves and gladiators?
Sanders still presents the best possible hope for America. It is not much, but it is not delusional to carefully invest in that hope by embracing Sanders’ strategy within a seemingly rigged Democratic party. However, if Clinton prevails it is clear that the energy Sanders’ candidacy has created must be harnessed towards either a progressive take over of the Democratic party and/or the fortification of alternatives to the corrupt two party system.
