Neoliberal cabal that seized Democratic Party won't cede power

By Daniel Patrick Welch

I think this statement by Trump (that the Democratic Party is rigging the primary against Bernie Sanders) is just part of Trump's elusive charm, if you want to call it that [chuckle]. He and the stopped clock are right twice a day.

Nobody wants to admit that. But you know, whether he's a blowhard and a jerk doesn't conceal the fact that he was right about this. He was right about plenty of things. He was right about Afghanistan, withdrawal of troops. He's right about backing away from escalation on the Korean peninsula. He was right, about how NAFTA decimated the Heartland.

It's just that he is wrong about many other things and he represents interests that are inimical to the working class and enemies of US imperialism. But as for Sanders, yeah, they don't even make any attempt to conceal it. They're completely upfront with this, this idea that they are in charge and it's their God-given right to stop Sanders.

And aside from pointing out that it's an oligarchy and not a democracy, once you dispense with that, then you can engage in a kind of literary assessment of The Play and what how it's being played out before us. And this is a titanic clash between the usurpers of the party that spawned the civil rights legislation, and the New Deal, etc.

And that was represented by Clinton and back before him in the late 70s, when the neoliberals took over the party to such an extent that you have people like Warren, who were dyed in the wool Reaganites who joined the party once it had been eviscerated in 1996 after the Crime Bill after Clinton. And so they, they think that they own the party, but of course, it's not theirs to own. So in a sense Joy Reid was right when she says that it's a frontal assault or—what did she call it?—A hostile takeover. Well, it damn well is.

And Chris Matthews was right when he said that the Democratic establishment would be better off if Trump were in power for another four years, because the thing is, that neoliberal order is dead. Those people are skeletons and they have to go—If one of the major parties is going to represent anything close to the people. But I don't have a hope of that happening. What I see with this power move on the eve of Super Tuesday is that somebody's got to them--either by hook or by crook--to Buttigieg and Klobuchar to drop out so that it will make Biden, who is basically a walking corpse, a viable candidate in the people's mind.

And then they want Liz Warren to stay in to splinter the progressive vote. It's a very transparent strategy and this is a plan that they'll keep the vote fractured, so that nobody has 51% of the delegates going in to the Milwaukee convention in July. Then the next thing after the first ballot, is that everyone is released from their obligation to vote for who they're supposed to represent. The super delegates, which is the backbone of the power structure in the Democratic Party, will be able to vote and it will coalesce behind Biden, if he's alive by then. Maybe he'll be in a mental institution, I don't know.

But then they will have something spectacular like Warren will actually place his name and nomination on the second ballot, and will suggest that it be accepted by acclamation instead of by vote, by voice vote, so there's no actual record of voting and there'll be enormous political pressure to make that happen. That's what I think is the most likely scenario at this point. And that will be, they think, like throwing a bone to progressive voters.

The trouble is, which for me, which is part of the reason that it's still worth being involved in even peripherally, is that this is a moment where nothing is going right for them. They tried before the Nevada caucus to paint Sanders as a Russian agent, the day before in fact, and here the day before this big primary deal today they have this idea of... the two moderates dropping out and pushing Biden. So nothing has been working.

They tried to get Latinos and culinary workers in Nevada by pressing the union, the union was pushing and people defied it. Now, we're going to see today huge swathes of the Latino vote in California and Texas fueling victories by Sanders. And the problem is it's a twofold thing. I think when people see that people on the left are given conditional support to the Sanders campaign that we're somehow selling out or somehow not aware that this is a fight.

And in one sense, it's true that it's a bit of a Pied Piper thing--we know that it's going to blow up in people's faces. And we were used to it. It's happened to us time and again, and what we hope will do is break the back of this plantation control that the Democratic Party has on the young black vote, on the on the youth vote, the future of any voting. If there is a future for voting, it will not be within the Democratic Party as it stands, that will be something new. And to stay involved, we have to see how far we can push, push, push those internal contradictions of capitalism with American characteristics until it shatters. And people know that they're getting screwed.

They don't exactly know what to do about it, but it's a mass moment. And it will.  At this point, I don't think there's any chance of a candidate like Sanders getting the nomination without getting enough delegates beforehand to clinch it, and they're making damn sure that that is near impossible. You know, Bloomberg spending half a billion dollars already before a single vote is cast for him. All of this stuff goes to the establishment’s strength and brutality in preventing anything like the voice of the people from being heard.

So if people are disillusioned and even further alienated from the institutions that hold up this false democracy in what you know, to reverse the Trump's quote on him that is a shithole country like the US voting system, then so much the better. I mean, it would be better to win. But if it teaches people a hard-fought lesson, then we can only hope that that will be a good thing for the long run. I know that john Maynard Keynes said 'in the long run, we're all dead,' but I think most of us who are committed to this fight are committed to it over the long haul, not in our lifetime. So we'll just keep on chugging and see how it goes.

Daniel Patrick Welch is a writer of political commentary and analysis. Also a singer and songwriter, he lives and writes in Salem, Salem, Massachusetts with his wife. Together they run The Greenhouse School. He has traveled widely, speaks five languages and studied Russian History and Literature at Harvard University.

Welch has also appeared as a guest on several TV and radio channels to speak on topics of foreign affairs and political analysis--around his day job. He can be available for interview requests as time and scheduling permit.

Despite the price of being outspoken against US foreign policy and military adventurism -- which can be steep in today's circumstances -- he believes firmly as did Rosa Luxemburg that "It will always be the most revolutionary act to tell the truth out loud."

Welch recorded this article for Press TV website.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk