Checkmate!

Blame the Founding Fathers.

Had the 2016 Democratic primary and convention been merely a debacle, it would have been a great improvement.

Bernie Sanders started the most important movement in a very long time, probably the most important since around 1776. He is also one of the most respected and influential leaders America has seen.

Bernie’s populist movement made record-breaking progress. It looked like he would make it to the White House, a new beginning for America. That didn’t happen. Bernie conceded to and endorsed Hillary Clinton. Many of his followers, members of his political revolution feel betrayed and angry. Many feel that Bernie Sanders is a fraud and/or a political opportunist. He is neither. Anyone who takes the time to listen carefully hears two messages from him:

• We must not allow Donald Trump to be president. To that end, we must elect Hillary Clinton.
• We must continue our political revolution. change must work its way from the bottom up, not the top down.

It was a dream; Bernie Sanders is president, implementing all of the policies that excited and motivated us. It was a dream that didn’t come true, but even if it had, reality might not have looked like the dream. Had Bernie Sanders been elected president, the outcome would probably have been four years of political stalemate.

The president is one third of the process that develops and implements policy. The president is outnumbered by 535 members of congress. The policy positions of the president and congress may be overridden by the supreme court. That means that actually, the president is 0.18% of the government. The president can suggest, propose, and demand, but if a majority of congress does not agree, nothing will happen. On the other hand, congress can pass all of the legislation it wants, but the president can veto to prevent it from becoming law…unless there is sufficient support in congress to override the president’s veto.

But why would he concede so easily, without complaint? In a way, you can blame the Founding Fathers.

When the constitution was written, the authors did not anticipate  political parties because they didn’t desire political parties. Many of them felt that political parties would become powerful factions that would not represent the people as well as they would represent their own interests. They were right.

Unfortunately, political parties developed, largely founded by some of the folks who thought that they were undesirable and dangerous.

Our two political parties are effectively private clubs that have complete control over the government. They set the rules for choosing presidential candidates, they set the rules for presidential elections, and they set the rules for how congress conducts its business. Whichever party is in the majority runs the show.

Yes, there was apparent election fraud in several state primaries. Regardless of the private club nature of the parties, fixing elections is a crime. However, in order to substantiate accusations, regardless of the definite appearance of fraud and collusion, it must be pursued through the court system. That takes time.

A popular political strategy in the US is gratuitous accusations. A party, a candidate, or a public figure makes an accusation, true or not, and the guilt of the accused party is implied by the media and assumed in public opinion. If the accusation is later proven to be false, it makes no difference. The damage has already been done merely through accusation.

Bernie Sanders approached his entire campaign with integrity, which is what drew millions to follow him. At no point did he make any accusations that were not substantiated. The election fraud, although patently obvious, was not substantiated by the courts. Bernie made no accusations, but his movement is pursuing the matter in court. That is the correct way to pursue the matter. Unfortunately, court procedures take time – a lot of it.

Then there’s the treatment of his movement at the Democratic convention. The Bernie Sanders delegates and staff were maligned and mistreated to an extreme. The entire convention was merely a show for the installation of Hillary Clinton as the presidential nominee. Bernie Sanders never said a word of objection.

That’s probably because it was not for him to object. The Democratic Party is a private club. They set the rules. They do what they want. Paraphrasing Lesley Gore, The convention is their party and they can do what they want to.

Having obviously lost and anticipating return to the senate as an independent, he needs to have the cooperation of the Democrats in congress in order to be effective at all. He will do none of us any good as one lone voice, alienated from the rest of congress.

Why did he run as a Democrat in the first place and why not run for president as an independent or join Jill Stein in the Green Party? As our system is currently structured, there is very little, actually almost no, chance for success for an independent or a third party. The process of the electoral college choosing the president is virtually impossible for a third party or an independent to circumvent.

There is no almost and there is no aggregate of the popular vote. In each state, the candidate with the most popular votes wins all of the votes for that state. Elections have been apparently won in the nationwide popular vote and lost in the electoral vote. To run as an independent or Green would have unintended negative consequences.

The Founding Fathers didn’t anticipate or want political parties, but they exist. The Founding Fathers couldn’t have even dreamed of instant communication, let alone the effect of instant communication on politics. The telegraph wouldn’t come along for another 40 years. The concept of  a little box that allowed instant access to audio and animated pictures was not present in even the wildest dreams.

Our political system was developed in 1787 for the conditions of 1787. It has served well, but its obsolescence is showing.

Bernie’s political revolution requires five important steps in order to advance:

• Obtain a sufficient number of congressional seats to allow progressive legislation to be formulated and passed.
• Elect a progressive president to sign progressive legislation into law.
• Eliminate money as the deciding factor in elections.
• Limit the power of the political parties. Don’t allow them to set the rules for choosing presidential candidates.
• Change the method of electing the president from the arcane electoral college to elections based on aggregate popular vote.

There is plenty for Bernie Sanders supporters to do. They all need to choose the part they can and want to act upon, and implement the changes that we all want and need.

Anger, complaints, and/or return to apathy will do nothing for any of us.

HW