I’m not interested in Elizabeth Warren’s unlikely run for President. Why? She has said she won’t, and that if she does, it will be on a Clinton/Warren ticket.
“Elizabeth Warren isn’t actually that progressive.” -Photo by Tim Pierce, https://www.flickr.com/photos/qwrrty/8152000438/.
Elizabeth Warren isn’t actually that progressive. Striking Wal*Mart workers recently confronted her to let her know that her bid to raise the minimum wage doesn’t go far enough. And she’s solidly on the wrong side of history when it comes to the occupation of Palestinian land and subjugation of it’s people. The Democrats consistently open negotiations with the GOP offering half-loaf solutions that don’t excite their base, that don’t go far enough to fixing real problems, and then pat themselves on the back for not being Republicans.
But there’s more reasons than policy not to get swept up in the fervor of a potential Warren run for the presidency.
Let’s assume that Warren actually IS the progressive champion that people seem to think that she is. Both Warren and Hillary are both part of a power structure owned by Wall Street.
Even if Warren were to win support of publicly elected delegates, the DNC has this little thing they use to thwart democracy called the super delegate system.
What is the super-delegate system? Each normal delegate is elected by delegates from the various states, each of which are apportioned determined by the number of votes cast by Democratic Membership, either in primaries, or caucuses. So regular delegates to the DNC are representing tens of thousands of people.
Super-Delegates just represent themselves, but have equal weight on the floor. They are major donors to the DNC, and the politicians beholden to them. There’s about a thousand of them. Each of their votes counts for around 10,000 normal people votes. Not only that, but there are enough super delegates to potentially coronate whomever they want on the DNC floor. (Like war-hawk, pro-wall street, right-wing enemy of working people, Hillary Clinton).
But before it even gets to that, the process is controlled. The debates are totally controlled by the same corporate interests that hold sway over the DNC with their donations. Debates hosted on MSNBC, ABC, CNN, et. al., are all tightly controlled dog and pony shows that highlight corporate America’s favorite two or three picks repeatedly, and shuts out the others, giving them fewer questions and fewer opportunities to speak. When they speak out of turn (as real progressives like Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel had to do in 2007, in order to be heard at all) they simply don’t invite you to the next one. The entire process is controlled from start to finish, and the thing they control most is the public’s access to the candidates and other information necessary to make an informed decision.
Wall Street knows exactly what they are doing. The DNC is a place to waste your time spinning your wheels, in a power structure that does not care what you think and does not want you in it.
Perhaps I should remind you that Obama’s former Chief of Staff, Rahm Emmanuel said that progressives are “fucking retarded,” and that Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that the “left needs to be drug tested.” All because we advocated for ending the wars and putting single payer healthcare back on the table during the healthcare reform debates. They don’t want progressive policy to happen. These people are not our allies.
Stop making demands on a power structure that is incapable of delivering them. Join the Green Party, run for office, and take power away from those who want it for themselves, and help build a truly democratic society where power is shared by the people.
The DNC is a lost cause, corrupt to the core, owned by Wall Street, with an immune system in place to prevent anything progressive from happening. If you are a progressive, they may want your vote, but they don’t want your voice. It’s time to just walk away and help build something worth saving.
Asher Platts
Asher Platts is the outgoing chair of the Maine Green Independent Party. He ran for State Senate as an open socialist, and finished second in three-way races in both 2012 and 2014.
@PunkPatriot (twitter)
punkpatriot411@gmail.com
If Elizabeth Warren Runs, So What? – Asher Platts, Guest Commentator
I’m not interested in Elizabeth Warren’s unlikely run for President. Why? She has said she won’t, and that if she does, it will be on a Clinton/Warren ticket.
“Elizabeth Warren isn’t actually that progressive.” -Photo by Tim Pierce, https://www.flickr.com/photos/qwrrty/8152000438/.
Elizabeth Warren isn’t actually that progressive. Striking Wal*Mart workers recently confronted her to let her know that her bid to raise the minimum wage doesn’t go far enough. And she’s solidly on the wrong side of history when it comes to the occupation of Palestinian land and subjugation of it’s people. The Democrats consistently open negotiations with the GOP offering half-loaf solutions that don’t excite their base, that don’t go far enough to fixing real problems, and then pat themselves on the back for not being Republicans.
But there’s more reasons than policy not to get swept up in the fervor of a potential Warren run for the presidency.
Let’s assume that Warren actually IS the progressive champion that people seem to think that she is. Both Warren and Hillary are both part of a power structure owned by Wall Street.
Even if Warren were to win support of publicly elected delegates, the DNC has this little thing they use to thwart democracy called the super delegate system.
What is the super-delegate system? Each normal delegate is elected by delegates from the various states, each of which are apportioned determined by the number of votes cast by Democratic Membership, either in primaries, or caucuses. So regular delegates to the DNC are representing tens of thousands of people.
Super-Delegates just represent themselves, but have equal weight on the floor. They are major donors to the DNC, and the politicians beholden to them. There’s about a thousand of them. Each of their votes counts for around 10,000 normal people votes. Not only that, but there are enough super delegates to potentially coronate whomever they want on the DNC floor. (Like war-hawk, pro-wall street, right-wing enemy of working people, Hillary Clinton).
But before it even gets to that, the process is controlled. The debates are totally controlled by the same corporate interests that hold sway over the DNC with their donations. Debates hosted on MSNBC, ABC, CNN, et. al., are all tightly controlled dog and pony shows that highlight corporate America’s favorite two or three picks repeatedly, and shuts out the others, giving them fewer questions and fewer opportunities to speak. When they speak out of turn (as real progressives like Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel had to do in 2007, in order to be heard at all) they simply don’t invite you to the next one. The entire process is controlled from start to finish, and the thing they control most is the public’s access to the candidates and other information necessary to make an informed decision.
Wall Street knows exactly what they are doing. The DNC is a place to waste your time spinning your wheels, in a power structure that does not care what you think and does not want you in it.
Perhaps I should remind you that Obama’s former Chief of Staff, Rahm Emmanuel said that progressives are “fucking retarded,” and that Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that the “left needs to be drug tested.” All because we advocated for ending the wars and putting single payer healthcare back on the table during the healthcare reform debates. They don’t want progressive policy to happen. These people are not our allies.
Stop making demands on a power structure that is incapable of delivering them. Join the Green Party, run for office, and take power away from those who want it for themselves, and help build a truly democratic society where power is shared by the people.
The DNC is a lost cause, corrupt to the core, owned by Wall Street, with an immune system in place to prevent anything progressive from happening. If you are a progressive, they may want your vote, but they don’t want your voice. It’s time to just walk away and help build something worth saving.
Asher Platts
Asher Platts is the outgoing chair of the Maine Green Independent Party. He ran for State Senate as an open socialist, and finished second in three-way races in both 2012 and 2014.
@PunkPatriot (twitter)
punkpatriot411@gmail.com