The system is showing great stability
The system I speak about is the composite of political, economic and other facets of our world. We have seen it from a political perspective and this is myopic at best.
The latest threat to its stability was the disturbance caused by Bernie Sanders. The threat was not that he might become elected but that his words would really change people. Yes they did change people but not many in a way that really matters.
The use of elections to absorb potential threats to the system's stability is very effective. Bernie was able to expose many of the system's faults yet most who heard his words and thought they were changing are now doing exactly what they were before they heard the words.
This is a great victory for the system and a great loss for humanity. Bernie's words, in one form or another, have been spoken for decades and have always been channeled in a context that makes them impotent. This time seems to be no exception.
The phony two party system has now become one party for all to see. Power is being consolidated and the people's voice is nonexistent.
The consolidation happened very fast and that may be due to the threat Bernie posed. I suspect that the ease with which Bernie's threat was crushed has emboldened the oligarchs and they have no fear.
I don't make predictions, but my gut feeling is that the game is basically over for a long while. In order for anyone to change that they will have to be better at having the message bring about changes in individual behavior rather than abstract loyalty to a political movement.
The situation we are in has a reality that is seen by almost no one. Our plight is immense and people behave as if it is all ok. As the situation worsens, and it will with greater speed than ever before, the ability of even the most knowledgable among us to face it will diminish. Sanity requires that.
Like never before we do not need a weatherman to tell which way the wind is blowing. Yet most will ask: "What wind?"
Comments
I dont fear t rump or hrc
half as much as what you have just posted but I'm afraid you are correct.
Pat Lang has coined a term
for this new organization of consolidated power: He calls it "The Borg".
native
Um, Pat Lang who? Coined what?
The Borg Collective is from Star Trek TNG. I assume you've never seen it?
Sorry if I took your comment too literally. After seeing people say, "I don't know who Paul McCartney is, but Kanye is going to give this man a career w/ this new song!!" I can believe just about anything.
"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained." - Mark Twain
Ah, I see.
Col. Patrick Lang is a retired DIA operative and analyst. An early opponent of the Iraq invasion. He must have borrowed the term from Star Trek then. It does have a nice evil ring to it though.
native
It has always been that way.
I thought that it was just a joke - "Wow, Paul MxCartney was in a band before Wings!" - then I really heard a 13 year old say that - in 1974.
TNG's last episode was in 1994; for anyone under 30 Star Trek is a couple of J.J. Abrams movies. (well, DS9 ran for a little longer, so maybe it's 25. Voyager and Enterprise were just for completists)
On to Biden since 1973
I thought everyone born circa 1960
had one or more parents who played their Beatle album(s) at least once in a while.
But, I get it. Many message board posters post as though the progression of Presidents was Washington, Lincoln, FDR (then Nixon or Carter, maybe even Reagan, depending on the age of the poster).
Their victory contains the seeds of their defeat
Demographics are destiny and the problems facing the u30s, the problems that brought them to Sanders, are not going away. And every year their number grows.
All of the "moderate" or "nice" Republicans are flocking to Clinton. As well as the oligarchs. When Clinton appoints another Goldman Sachs cabinet, embraces TPP and tries to "secure social security" a "third" party will be the only alternative.
Easter 1916 ended in total defeat. And that defeat led inexorably to independence in 1922.
That viewpoint has always been my consolation
I say to myself and my wife, "Look at it this way. If I'm right about how corrupt things are then things are only going to get worse and the pressure for change will continue to grow and that will inevitably cause more people to wake up. And if I'm wrong, then hallelujah!"
A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard
In the 50s the gale was in our faces
but now it's at our back.
Clinton barely eeked out a victory over Sanders.
I expect her to be seriously, if not successfully challenged for the nomination in four years.
The economy will probably tank in the next four years
Whoever gets to be president this time around is going to be a one term wonder (or is that blunder?).
Been overdue for at least a year
surprised it didn't happen with Brexit and China issues this summer.
Maybe, but the Democratic Party backs only incumbents.
Judging by the endorsements of office holder super delegates, local, state and federal, the Democratic Party is as Stepford as we always at least imagined the Democratic Party to be. However, once Mrs. Clinton achieves her goal of becoming the first female President, she may decide not to run in 2020. If she runs, however, I believe the same thing will happen in 2020 as happened in 2016, right down to DNC corruption, which I believe is institutional.
Agreed but Carter/Kennedy '79
If it weren't for Chappaquiddick you don't have Reagan.
We don't have Ted Kennedy, but we have three years. There's Feingold, Markley, Turner, Gabbard as potential progressive alternatives.
Eire Not A Good Example
I believe that one could make the case that this struggle continues, simmering under the surface much like the Korean Stalemate. The IRA and UDF might be sitting idle right now, but if things heated up again (as they threaten to do all too often), then the war resumes.
Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.
The defeat of the Rising, the manner of the defeat
catalyzed the change that led to independence in 1922.
That Ireland was partitioned, six counties left to apartheid for 50 years resulted in civil war is hardly surprising.
But threatening to erupt again? Apart from the handful of gobshites you always have? No, it's really not. We just had the most peaceful marching season since in living memory. And re-unification is just a border poll away (thanks Brexit!)
May You Be Correct
Seriously
Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.
If you hope and you push, long enough and hard enough, you win
Every single revolution, peaceful or violent, began with a small group of people.
It always does.
I disagree. Many people are tracking
Collapse both financial , resource, and climate wise. Limits to growth has been out for decades
I would argue that
43% of the popular vote in challenging HRC is more than a few people changed. That 43% still out there, still pissed off. Who they vote for is going to be interesting, but it's a safe bet nearly half of that 43% Will Not vote for HRC. Will it make a difference? Will it change anything? We won't know until 2018, but, yeah, I think Bernie made one helluva difference this cycle. Without his candidacy many of that 43% would have simply stayed home, sat out another one.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
No Choice But To Vote Green
For me, that is. You vote as you see fit.
I cannot vote for either Hillary or Trump. I won't vote for Gary Johnson, because he's not that different from corporatist Republicans. I will vote for Jill Stein to help qualify for Federal funds in the next election.
No other alternative party (and there are many) has any notice from the corporate media, or I might consider voting for one of them.
Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.
The net effect of Sanders run was negative for the left.
I don't think Bernie intended that, but his intent is not my concern. He ran. People's hopes rose yet again, as they did in 2008. I don't know how many more disappointments people can take and still give a crap.
His run further splintered the left. Unconditional Democratic party loyalists would have held their respective noses and voted for Hillary, no matter what. However, now some who are not unconditional party loyalists, but are unconditional Sanders' loyalists will do as Bernie asks and vote for Hillary as well. Some, who are more disappointed than ever, will join the ranks of those who don't vote at all, or vote only down ticket. Some await "Bernie's revolution,: whether or not he attempts to work within the Democratic Party. And some will vote vote for one of the newer parties, be it Green or Justice or another. I believe the left was already too splintered, and, post-Bernie, is more splintered than ever.
I don't think it was his intent, but I think his run, followed by his full throated support of Hillary, resulted, net, in a serious blow to the left. I can't bear to give up, though.
Individual actions are part of the system dynamics
They are effects rather than causes. We fail to see this too often.
An idea is not responsible for who happens to be carrying it at the time. It stands or it falls on its own merits.
Ideas and Idealism
have always been powerful motivating forces. The difficulty is sustaining idealism in the face of defeat. That takes fortitude.
There is no choice.
It's either fight or submit to corporate slavery. "Some of (us) are going to die. Martyrs, of course, to the freedom I will provide." You'll find me on the front lines.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
we need action not idealism
idealism has become a substitute for action and that is part of the problem
An idea is not responsible for who happens to be carrying it at the time. It stands or it falls on its own merits.
"The phony 2 party system has now become 1 party for all to see"
The growing list of prominent corporatists claiming to be elephants who have declared fealty to that corporatist ass Hillary is all the proof a thinking person heeds to understand the truth of this observation.
Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.
Politics is professional wrestling at this point.
Our hero in a white suit has arrived to chants of USA! USA! and will save us from the designated villain wrestler, Trump! (Suspend your disbelief during the match, we know the Clintons and the Trumps are all friends in real life.)
Not only friends IRL, but Trump claimed
that Bill Clinton urged him (Trump) to run for President. The former President denied that. However, neither of those two men is credible. To decide which to believe, we may as well flip a coin.
change
it always amazes me people just thought we would win an election and all would be rosy. Assasinations. wars. manipulations. some people have woken up and banded together. So let keep on . give this one a chance before we start splintering into groups weaken our group
Bernie now has a web site for his movement. It is my opinion we keep at this.
I suspect that the ease with
Certainly the election fraud was more obvious for lots of voters to see than ever before, and getting away with that can only have further emboldened the oligarchs. So, until we have integrity in our voting, the game (change through elections) will stay over for a long while.