I have said many times that we will never change the system through the electoral process. Now Bernie sanders seems to be contradicting me. But is he?
Let's pretend that Bernie wins the Presidency. Now the oligarchy will admit defeat and back down, right? If you believe that I have bridge to sell you.
The contradiction here seems total. The only reason the oligarchy tolerates elections is because they believe they can get most of what they want with the least uncovering of the man behind the curtain. If it were to become possible for the electoral process to give them a serious challenge I'm sure they would destroy it. In fact they are covering that option as well as they can without it becoming their stated goal right now.
If this seems puzzling to you please read on below.
If you could see what they must be thinking now it might help unravel this complex knot. First of all, they are sure he can not win as many here are. Second, the media they own is already talking about "the left" having a candidate. What could be better proof that the left is wrong than the defeat of their candidate? In other words they are probably having an extra martini to celebrate how clever they are.
Meanwhile the election seems like a set up in other ways since there is almost no one on the side of the oligarchs who would be on the street if our mental health care system had not been destroyed by their agents. What can this mean? It means what we all know it means. Hillary belongs to them and is still another way the electoral system can be made to serve them even better than before.
If and when Bernies campaign begins to look like more than a protest, I suspect we will learn a lot about how this system will react to a serious threat to its stability.
We tend to not think about systems as complete whole things. We break them down and look at parts thinking we can learn about the whole even after we have ignored the complex interactions that make them what they are.
The election in 2016 will take place after a lot of very important actions by people who are becoming more committed to resisting the oligarchy every day. People are striking, protesting, doing alternative energy, doing sustainable agriculture, etc. These are not isolated things they are part of the system. Meanwhile the global climate and ecology are reflecting the results of the bankrupt greed of the oligarchy. It all is happening at once and no one thing is happening in isolation.
There are many questions I wish I had answers to. I was enthused about the system undergoing change in the 60s and 70s and then it all faded. My explanation for how that could happen was that various Democrats convinced people the change could come if we won elections so energy and resources were funneled into the electoral process. The oligarchs split their sides laughing at how easy it was to stop the momentum that was threatening them.
Once before a Democrat, namely FDR, rescued the system for the oligarchs. They have bad mouthed him since but I wonder what they really think?
Ok i'll say it. Is the system strong enough to turn Bernies candidacy into something that makes the oligarchy stronger? Of course it is. If I understand what Bernie is telling us he is not going to bring about system change. If he succeeds the people will.
Think about the contrast in this situation with the election of 2008. I enthusiastically supported and worked for Obama. My knowledge of how the system works qas just crystallizing bout then. I had the lingering fear that if he won the system would accommodate to him very well and it it sure has.
Bernie has been an elected official many times before. He has also become a part of the system when he did. So why should it be different now? One big difference now is that he is not running as an independent. He is running as a candidate for one of the major parties.
I know that there are people in this party being made very uncomfortable by that. It is clear to me that the existing Democratic Party is as much a part of the oligarchy as the Republican Party and that together they help stabilize it. Were Bernie to win the nomination the Party would have to be something other than what it is now. How it will happen and what it will become is beyond me at this point in time.
It is too early to see what will unfold but we are living in "interesting times" ala the old Chinese curse. I hope I live to see the outcome of all this for I am still a student at heart and there is so much to learn from all this.