politics for the 99%

Published on Dissident Voice, by Gary Leupp, June 9, 2016.

As the wizard Gandalf declared during the darkest hour: “There never was much hope… Just a fool’s hope.”

The narrow thread of hope now rests on the Justice Department investigation into Hillary Clinton’s illegal concealment of her emails from the State Department she headed from 2009 to 2012. If she’s hit by a true scandal between now and the Philadelphia convention in July, all bets could be off.

The email server matter is, of course, an internal ruling class issue that doesn’t much concern the masses on a moral level. But it just might — just by chance (what Hegel called “the cunning of history”) — produce an unexpected, positive result. It would be awesome to wake up to the headline: CLINTON INDICTED.

Or imagine in your dreams the headline: CLINTON WALL STREET SPEECH TRANSCRIPT LEAKED: TELLS GOLDMAN SACHS “I’M YOUR GAL.”

I wouldn’t count on it, though. It’s not like there’s a God out there who’s going to intervene with a miracle and save us from this preordained presidency … //

… (1) U.S. “democracy” is, in general, a farce: … //
… (2) The Democratic Party’s primary system and super-delegates are specifically designed to prevent change: … //
… (3) There are unusual aspects to this particular farce, revealing a system in deep, deep doo-doo: … //
… (4) The system wants to suck you in, and make you think it’s somehow “yours”: … //
… (5) The successes of the Sanders campaign, such as they are, show that another world is, in fact, possible: … //

… By voting in a primary, you didn’t say: I’m so happy to be involved in this process; thank you, Bernie, for politicizing me!

Many of you, at least, said something different. You said: Fuck this system. Bernie means change. And this made sense at the time. But if Bernie at some point urges you to get behind the Democratic candidate, it would be best to maintain some moral integrity and say Thanks for the ride, Uncle Bernie. I’m sorry you have to do what you think you have to do. But sorry. No way!

And prepare to spend some time out on the streets with your new friends and other good people in the next few years, as will be necessary to resist whichever horrible candidate wins. You were supporting Bernie Sanders, not Bernie Madoff. If you say, Okay, well, I guess I’ll have to go for her, I can hear her Wall Street backers chortle in delight at your humiliation. It will sound exactly like this.

(full text).

(Gary Leupp is a Professor of History at Tufts University, and author of numerous works on Japanese history. He can be reached here. Read other articles by Gary).

US Presidential Race Related Links (Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump):

Bernie Sanders holds rally in Washington, DC ahead of primary, on RT, June 9, 2016 [PHOTOS, 3 VIDEOS];

The Climate and a Very Hot Election Year, on Dissident Voice, by Robert Hunziker, June 3, 2016;

uploaded by Trumplican:
Hillary Clinton Might be Forced Out Of The Presidential Race [5/26/16], 40.08 min, May 27, 2016 … Full Hannity;
Donald Trump On The O’Reilly Factor – Foreign Policy & WAR [5/23/16], 9.12 min, May 23, 2016;

Other Links:

The Power of the NYC Teachers Union’s Rank-and-File Caucus MORE Is Growing, on Portside.org, by Kevin Prosen, June 2, 2016: Movement of Rank-and-File Educators MORE earns an important foothold for an emerging rank-and-file * + ** challenger at New York City’s United Federation of Teachers UFT;
Rank and file movement …
* =  a blanket term for informal, left-leaning, militant groups among British trade unionists, generally strenuously opposed to the union hierarchies and by them, and often facing expulsion;
** = Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers/Rank and File Movement.