"Politics as Usual"

A couple of days ago New Hampshire had their primary election.  In the Democratic race, Bernie Sanders cleaned Hillary Clinton’s plow, every spec of dirt from it.  Or, at first glance, it appeared that way.  Sanders received 60% of the Democrats’ votes to Clinton’s 38%.  As you know, a primary election is held to determine committed delegates to the party’s convention from each state.  The results mentioned above gave Sanders 15 delegates and Clinton 9.  Ah, but New Hampshire has another 8 “Super Delegates” that have the same voting power as the people’s delegates, but have no responsibility to vote as the people voted.  So far, 6 of the 8 “Super Delegates” have cast their votes for Clinton, bringing the present results of the election to a tie.  The other two Supers haven’t committed yet, but probably soon will vote for Clinton, giving her the surprise win in New Hampshire.  These two Supers will quietly cast their votes after the results are in for South Carolina.  You won’t notice them.  It is the Democratic Party in action.  Clinton will be the Democrat’s nomination for the Presidency in 2016 and she will have the dirtiest plow you have ever seen.  The Party will not allow Bernie to be the gentleman that he is and clean it for her.

I go to votesmart.org for my information on political candidates.  They seem not to editorialize the information they present on subjects like: voting records, education, background and donations received.  It gives a very clear picture of the candidate.  Most of the data is fascinating.  For instance, the site showed Clinton’s top contributor as Goldman Sachs, several weeks ago.  Some of the criticism of her, by the press and the Sanders’ campaign, was her closeness to G-S and Wall Street in general.  If you look at Vote Smart today, Goldman Sachs doesn’t appear as a Clinton donor, but there is an unspecified lender debt of nearly a million dollars.  Could there be a connection?  The dark money, Pac Money, will really begin to flow very soon.   Thanks to Citizens United, there is a 74 million dollar basket with Clinton money in it.  Clinton’s campaign has about 38 million today and Sanders has about 28 million.  He has no giant corporate donors.  All that Bernie has is voters.  When the 74 million is handed to the Clinton campaign, the race is run.  So the 2016 race will be Clinton vs. Trump.

The Republican powers that be, seem to treat Trump better than the Democratic powers treat Sanders.  Trump gets the delegates equal to his primary votes.  Trump can still run an independent campaign that will hand the election to the Democrats.  The Republican Fathers will not mess with Donald, but if Trump is the Republican candidate, Clinton wins.  The independents are presently the largest voting block and even though they won’t vote as a block, I don’t see the independents voting largely for Trump.  Hell, a lot of Republicans won’t vote for Trump.  By the time the contest in the Republican primaries is down to two candidates, Trump and Bush (the candidate of the powerful), the Trump train will have the momentum to win the nomination and for probably the first time ever, the Party will not get to run their choice.  I see this as a good thing.  Political Parties, both of them, have outlived their usefulness.  The first small step in this direction is the removal of “Super Delegates” from the election system.  “Power to the people.”  “There is only time to iron your cape … then back to the sky.”

Cheers, Old Buz

"The Koch's Nation"

We are indeed a nation of Kochs.  We live in a country that is controlled by large dollar interests.  Over ninety-three percent of our elected representatives outspent the opposing candidate in their win.  Are you one of the three million who sent a campaign contribution to Sanders of twenty-seven dollars, or so?  What did you spend on groceries, gasoline and utilities last month?  That money went to the Koch Brothers and their ilk, who legally put a small percentage of the big dollars into the election, but enough to bury your donations.  So you give a token donation to who you would like to see in office and a much larger donation to the candidate who the corporations feel will benefit their interests.  The corporate donations, to political campaigns, benefit them hundredfold, but they are rarely for your benefit.   Do you think that the Kochs like the candidates that they back?  No … they own them.

Let’s look at the bright side.  We of the Koch Nation respect wealth and success.  We aspire towards it.  We will even borrow beyond our ability to repay, to display it.  We are the nation of conspicuous consumption.  Does anyone need over 3000 square feet of home for a single family?  No … the five million dollar plus homes are bought to impress friends and acquaintances.  Often they are bought to impress total strangers.  This need is shown with the purchase of an automobile at a price of over thirty thousand dollars.  We all do that, if we can.  This is the value system that we have been raised in.  We have Faith in our values.  The people we most respect are actors and athletes.  The great ones are showered with unimaginable wealth and notoriety by our society.  They are our heroes.  Corporate leaders often do their best work in the dark.  Do you know who the CEO of General Electric, Raytheon or The American Tobacco Company is?  Even the much publicized corporate leaders, like Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, do not have the name recognition of a Michael Jordan or a Meryl Streep.

Is there a light at the end of the tunnel, which is not an oncoming train?  Well, the head of the most financially powerful church in the world, “The Church”, rides around in a Fiat and preaches that you are your brother’s keeper, not his killer or his judge.  How is that for a welcome change?  The millions of elderly members of my organization, “Curmudgeons Anonymous”, would primarily respond that the exception proves the rule.  An exception never proves a rule.  The exception proves the rule not to be universal.  An opinion has not yet been confirmed by Radicalized Agnostics.  There is hope.  The growth of the independent voter may lead to open primaries, meaningful campaign reform and an end to legal lobbyists.  Perhaps someday there may be an end to the source of legal bribery in our government … political parties.  The Koch brothers are not the problem.  They are the visible winners of our political/economic system.  They will soon die of old age, but the system will continue.  There will always be Kochs to take their place.  You have to change the political system.

Cheers, Old Buz