Skip to main content

Bernie and the 50-state Solution

 


Not so fast Bernie: Hillary watchers take note. The big wins for Bernie in Caucus states, Hawaii, Washington State and Alaska, seemed to account for around 60,000 or so voters (Alaska had a whopping 500 people caucusing for Dems!). True, Bernie won big, but as for raw vote tabulation, the numbers don’t add up. Hillary still has an insurmountable lead in vote totals where large populations live.

In the long run, Hillary leads “bigly” as Trump would say, in New York and California, which make up the bulk of the remaining vote count that will put her over the top to become the nominee. It’s slightly disingenuous, which Bernie’s folks love to say about Hillary, to claim that the momentum from these wins will lead to the nomination. Sanders would have to pull off some amazing sleight of hand to win the nomination of the Democratic Party. That’s without the Super-Delegates.
 
The Super-Delegates seem to be the coolant that the GOP lacks. Republicans may start considering the end game and perhaps using their own Super-Delegates to stop the rush to nomination of an undesirable, in this case, one Donald J. Trump.

As for the Democratic Party, they should not be so smug. The Dems have been under-achiever’s for a while now in regard to winning state and local government races. The Governor’s houses and other important Senate and House elections have proven to be elusive for most Democratic leaning candidates. Aside from the obvious, gerrymandering of districts, the Democratic Party needs to return to the 50-state solution first proposed by Howard Dean and now being touted by one Bernie Sanders.
 
If and when Bernie does return to his day job in the Senate, he could do a great service, even perhaps more powerful than winning the Presidency, by continuing to promote and engage young people and disaffected Democratic Voters to become involved in the process in off-year elections. That is the long-term remedy for some of the ills that Bernie has spoken so eloquently about in this election cycle.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Are we even asking the right questions?

    What is this about really? Are we somehow conflating this withdrawal with the idea of America as a superpower?  Is it about American Exceptionalism and the idea that we have lost our innocence? Is this something that we will use to justify what we are doing in the world; where we are going, and what we want to be known for in the world? Just asking what we want to stand would be a good start in terms of questions going forward. This may be a conversation that needs to be had in the coming years. All of the talk,   and the hopes and aspirations were discussed and mapped out before being put into the small 21st Century online political group that was created in 2017. The thoughts & ideas came from a hopeful take on the dark reflections seen in the election of Trump in 2016. Are we a country and a people that are even capable of building a better tomorrow?   We need to be able to have this serious talk with Allies and others of good will;   T...
Post a Comment
Read more

Top 5 Under the Radar Stories

  Here's another installment of our popular Under the Radar series. Check out the new "Under the Radar" online magazine to read even more stories that may have been under-reported.   1)       Surging Foreign Arm Sales:   Sales surged 36% in 2015 and are set to remain strong in the coming years. ISIS has fueled demand among our allies for US missile defense equipment, helicopters and munitions. 10 years ago, the focus was on fighter jets. Europe, the Pacific and even Centcom have provided the demands. The total value of sales in the works is around 500 billion dollars.The Pentagon vets all requests, including those from countries with weak human rights records.   2)       139 Countries get power from Renewables :   There is a blueprint released within the last few years giving details of how all 50 US States may run on renewables by the year 2050.   The plans include wind turbines, solar...
Post a Comment
Read more

One problem in American Democracy: The Media

In school, there was a class called P.A.D. It stood for Problems in American Democracy,   and this was supposed to be a newer version of the old Civics classes given to high school students. There are several problems to be sure in our 21st century version of democracy. One major problem is the media. The problem lies with the role of the media in elections and also in the role of the free press in questioning our leaders and elected officials. With history as a guide, we see the problems that arose in the lead-up to the Iraq war. History has been repeating itself with this 2016 election. If you recall the excitement after 9/11, when the media couldn't hide their delight in becoming"embeds" in the military invasion of Iraq, this was problematic at the time. I remember watching the BBC to get some type of rational coverage and perhaps some questioning over why we were invading this country. But if the networks see a ratings boom, they don't question the whys or ...
Post a Comment
Read more