Ford writes: "A Democratic Party disaster is coming, whether Sander's folks
roll over or not. The Republican crack-up will immediately destabilize the
Rich Man's Party duopoly as it has existed since 1968."
Donald Trump and Ted Cruz at GOP debate. (photo: CNN)
ALSO SEE: Vocal Trump Critics in GOP
Open to Supporting Clinton
A Republican Meltdown Won't Make the Democrats Better
By Glen Ford, Black Agenda Report
24 March 16
The impending breakup of the Republican Party will not create more favorable
conditions for Black and progressive electoral politics. Instead, it will
compel the Democrats to build a "big tent" party, after the convention this
summer. The strategy will "push Blacks and progressives back to the margins,
smothering them with newly categorized 'moderates' who, before Donald
Trump's intervention, were Republicans."
Bernie Sanders' surprise victory in Michigan - and his best showing yet
among Black voters, at 30 percent - increases the odds that Hillary Clinton
will at some point in this primary season lose discipline and allow her
inner witch to emerge, cackling insults at the Sandernistas and driving
substantial numbers of them out of the Democratic Party.
The pollsters made their biggest miscalculations in decades in Michigan,
where they had predicted Clinton would swamp Sanders by as much as 20
percentage points. Instead, the Vermont senator won 50 to 48 percent.
However, most numbers-crunchers project that Sanders will himself need to
pile up winning margins of 20 percent in a bunch of large states, plus win
in Florida, to stand a chance of beating Clinton in pledged delegates - not
to mention the overwhelmingly pro-Clinton "superdelegates." Sanders cannot
capture the nomination, but the longer he stays in the fight, the more his
supporters will think of themselves as a movement that cannot coexist in the
same party as Wall Street.
There is only a possibility of an outright split in the Democratic Party in
Philadelphia, in July, but a Republican apocalypse in Cleveland seems all
but inevitable. Donald Trump's wins in Michigan, Mississippi and Hawaii make
it unlikely that he can be stopped at a "brokered" convention. But, whether
he wins the nomination or has it stolen from him, the Republican Party is in
terminal meltdown. By choosing Trump as their champion, the GOP's core white
supremacist constituency is showing that it never gave much of a damn about
the Republicans' corporate trade and tax agenda, and that their main
interest in foreign policy is in keeping foreigners out of the USA. Their
"conservatism" is almost entirely defined by their racism - including white
"evangelicals." They feel betrayed, because Republican leadership clearly
cares more about capital gains taxes than the perceived collapse in white
group privilege and prestige. They want a real White Man's Party - as was
promised to them by Barry Goldwater in 1964 and Richard Nixon in 1968 - not
a Wall Street Party, especially since many of the white racist rank and file
associate Wall Street with Jews.
The ruling class and all its "complexes" - military, industrial, national
security, financial - is in panic at the prospect of losing control of a
huge part of its white mass electoral base, which supports Trump despite
(or, to some degree, because of) his protectionism and foreign policy
pronouncements that are to the left of Democrats Clinton and Sanders. Trump
says he would not have attacked and overthrown Saddam Hussein and Muammar
Gaddafi, because "they fought terrorism," and would similarly call off the
proxy war against Bashar al-Assad in Syria. He would violate the
"bipartisan" taboo - cherished as dearly by Obama and Clinton as by McCain
and Romney - against anything that impedes the free flow of capital across
borders, dragging jobs and tax bases with it.
These titans of capital and their establishment Republican servants cannot
coexist with Trumpism, no matter how crudely defined, and are preparing to
abandon or scuttle the ship, in search of a more dependable electoral yacht.
Trump's white legions will do the same if he is cheated of the nomination.
Nothing can save the GOP from debacle, resulting in either two right-wing
tickets or one vastly weakened presidential campaign that might drag down
congressional, state and local Republicans.
Unfortunately, the Democrats are likely to escape such an implosion, unless
Hillary's inner witch makes it impossible for the Sandernistas to quietly
acquiesce to her coronation. But a Democratic Party disaster is coming,
whether Sander's folks roll over or not. The Republican crack-up will
immediately destabilize the Rich Man's Party duopoly as it has existed since
1968. No matter what Hillary Clinton says at the convention to mollify
Sanders supporters; no matter the lies she mouths about her commitment to
the fight against economic injustice and corporate lawlessness; not matter
how loudly she proclaims that Black lives matter, she and the rest of
Democratic Party leadership will instantly mobilize to embrace the
"moderate" Republicans that have been cast adrift by Trump's GOP revolt.
"Moderate" will be defined as any Republican that, for whatever reason,
cannot stomach The Donald or abide the overt racism of his hordes.
The dissolution of the Republican Party as we have known it compels its
duopoly partner, the Democrats, to move quickly to scoop up the spillage:
the tens of millions of disoriented Republican-leaning whites that will
instantaneously be categorized as "moderates," to be ushered into the
Democratic ranks. Clinton and the DNC cannot help but lunge rightward with
arms outstretched to grab a huge chunk of 2012 Romney voters. They are
already savoring the prospect of gaining majority white support in a
national election for the first time since 1964. Nothing will stop them from
shaping a "big tent" strategy to build a "super-party" on the detritus of
the GOP collapse. And not just for the 2016 campaign. The "big tent" they
envision will no longer be 20 to 25 percent Black, with a similar proportion
of progressive whites. Instead, corporate Democrats will launch an appeal to
everyone to the left of the Aryan Nations. The campaign will become a kind
of "One America" crusade, appealing to all "decent" citizens to "unite"
against "bigotry" - but nothing substantive that might repel the newly
available former Republican voters that will now be in play. Black lives
will only matter rhetorically. Those elements of the Sandernista agenda that
might be included in the Democratic Party platform adopted in Philadelphia
will find no place in building a "centrist" superparty.
What we are describing goes way beyond the rightward shift that occurs after
every Democratic convention. Duopoly electoral systems are like binary
stars; they orbit around each other. The destabilization of one star/party's
orbit has an immediate and dramatic effect on the orbit/behavior of the
other; their place in the universe is defined by each other. Democratic
strategists are now scheming to pull whole districts of previously
Republican voters into the party in November, and to keep them there. Black
Democrats believe their overwhelming support for Clinton has made them
indispensable to the party. They will welcome Hillary's "big tent" national
unity campaign as evidence of Black strength in the party, when in fact its
aim will be to push Blacks and progressives back to the margins, to smother
them with newly categorized "moderates" who, before Donald Trump's
intervention, were Republicans.
What's needed is a complete breakup of the duopoly, not just the Republican
half, which would only make the Democratic half more amorphously "centrist"
and useless.
Given that the Democratic Party is hegemonic in Black America, its
fracturing would wreak havoc in virtually every African American civic and
political structure - a very good thing, since the dead weight of the
Democratic Party has calcified and corrupted those structures over the past
two generations. Any weakening of the Democrats opens space for a more
radical Black politics consistent with the historical Black consensus on
peace and social justice. However, Black leftists cannot rely on white
progressives, like the Sandernistas, to set Black politics free by bringing
down the Democrats. It will require a grueling and painful internal Black
struggle, such as we at Black Agenda Report - and previously, at The Black
Commentator - have been advocating for 16 years.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Donald Trump and Ted Cruz at GOP debate. (photo: CNN)
http://www.blackagendareport.com/republican_meltdown_and_demshttp://www.blac
kagendareport.com/republican_meltdown_and_dems
ALSO SEE: Vocal Trump Critics in GOP
Open to Supporting Clinton
A Republican Meltdown Won't Make the Democrats Better
By Glen Ford, Black Agenda Report
24 March 16
he impending breakup of the Republican Party will not create more favorable
conditions for Black and progressive electoral politics. Instead, it will
compel the Democrats to build a "big tent" party, after the convention this
summer. The strategy will "push Blacks and progressives back to the margins,
smothering them with newly categorized 'moderates' who, before Donald
Trump's intervention, were Republicans."
Bernie Sanders' surprise victory in Michigan - and his best showing yet
among Black voters, at 30 percent - increases the odds that Hillary Clinton
will at some point in this primary season lose discipline and allow her
inner witch to emerge, cackling insults at the Sandernistas and driving
substantial numbers of them out of the Democratic Party.
The pollsters made their biggest miscalculations in decades in Michigan,
where they had predicted Clinton would swamp Sanders by as much as 20
percentage points. Instead, the Vermont senator won 50 to 48 percent.
However, most numbers-crunchers project that Sanders will himself need to
pile up winning margins of 20 percent in a bunch of large states, plus win
in Florida, to stand a chance of beating Clinton in pledged delegates - not
to mention the overwhelmingly pro-Clinton "superdelegates." Sanders cannot
capture the nomination, but the longer he stays in the fight, the more his
supporters will think of themselves as a movement that cannot coexist in the
same party as Wall Street.
There is only a possibility of an outright split in the Democratic Party in
Philadelphia, in July, but a Republican apocalypse in Cleveland seems all
but inevitable. Donald Trump's wins in Michigan, Mississippi and Hawaii make
it unlikely that he can be stopped at a "brokered" convention. But, whether
he wins the nomination or has it stolen from him, the Republican Party is in
terminal meltdown. By choosing Trump as their champion, the GOP's core white
supremacist constituency is showing that it never gave much of a damn about
the Republicans' corporate trade and tax agenda, and that their main
interest in foreign policy is in keeping foreigners out of the USA. Their
"conservatism" is almost entirely defined by their racism - including white
"evangelicals." They feel betrayed, because Republican leadership clearly
cares more about capital gains taxes than the perceived collapse in white
group privilege and prestige. They want a real White Man's Party - as was
promised to them by Barry Goldwater in 1964 and Richard Nixon in 1968 - not
a Wall Street Party, especially since many of the white racist rank and file
associate Wall Street with Jews.
The ruling class and all its "complexes" - military, industrial, national
security, financial - is in panic at the prospect of losing control of a
huge part of its white mass electoral base, which supports Trump despite
(or, to some degree, because of) his protectionism and foreign policy
pronouncements that are to the left of Democrats Clinton and Sanders. Trump
says he would not have attacked and overthrown Saddam Hussein and Muammar
Gaddafi, because "they fought terrorism," and would similarly call off the
proxy war against Bashar al-Assad in Syria. He would violate the
"bipartisan" taboo - cherished as dearly by Obama and Clinton as by McCain
and Romney - against anything that impedes the free flow of capital across
borders, dragging jobs and tax bases with it.
These titans of capital and their establishment Republican servants cannot
coexist with Trumpism, no matter how crudely defined, and are preparing to
abandon or scuttle the ship, in search of a more dependable electoral yacht.
Trump's white legions will do the same if he is cheated of the nomination.
Nothing can save the GOP from debacle, resulting in either two right-wing
tickets or one vastly weakened presidential campaign that might drag down
congressional, state and local Republicans.
Unfortunately, the Democrats are likely to escape such an implosion, unless
Hillary's inner witch makes it impossible for the Sandernistas to quietly
acquiesce to her coronation. But a Democratic Party disaster is coming,
whether Sander's folks roll over or not. The Republican crack-up will
immediately destabilize the Rich Man's Party duopoly as it has existed since
1968. No matter what Hillary Clinton says at the convention to mollify
Sanders supporters; no matter the lies she mouths about her commitment to
the fight against economic injustice and corporate lawlessness; not matter
how loudly she proclaims that Black lives matter, she and the rest of
Democratic Party leadership will instantly mobilize to embrace the
"moderate" Republicans that have been cast adrift by Trump's GOP revolt.
"Moderate" will be defined as any Republican that, for whatever reason,
cannot stomach The Donald or abide the overt racism of his hordes.
The dissolution of the Republican Party as we have known it compels its
duopoly partner, the Democrats, to move quickly to scoop up the spillage:
the tens of millions of disoriented Republican-leaning whites that will
instantaneously be categorized as "moderates," to be ushered into the
Democratic ranks. Clinton and the DNC cannot help but lunge rightward with
arms outstretched to grab a huge chunk of 2012 Romney voters. They are
already savoring the prospect of gaining majority white support in a
national election for the first time since 1964. Nothing will stop them from
shaping a "big tent" strategy to build a "super-party" on the detritus of
the GOP collapse. And not just for the 2016 campaign. The "big tent" they
envision will no longer be 20 to 25 percent Black, with a similar proportion
of progressive whites. Instead, corporate Democrats will launch an appeal to
everyone to the left of the Aryan Nations. The campaign will become a kind
of "One America" crusade, appealing to all "decent" citizens to "unite"
against "bigotry" - but nothing substantive that might repel the newly
available former Republican voters that will now be in play. Black lives
will only matter rhetorically. Those elements of the Sandernista agenda that
might be included in the Democratic Party platform adopted in Philadelphia
will find no place in building a "centrist" superparty.
What we are describing goes way beyond the rightward shift that occurs after
every Democratic convention. Duopoly electoral systems are like binary
stars; they orbit around each other. The destabilization of one star/party's
orbit has an immediate and dramatic effect on the orbit/behavior of the
other; their place in the universe is defined by each other. Democratic
strategists are now scheming to pull whole districts of previously
Republican voters into the party in November, and to keep them there. Black
Democrats believe their overwhelming support for Clinton has made them
indispensable to the party. They will welcome Hillary's "big tent" national
unity campaign as evidence of Black strength in the party, when in fact its
aim will be to push Blacks and progressives back to the margins, to smother
them with newly categorized "moderates" who, before Donald Trump's
intervention, were Republicans.
What's needed is a complete breakup of the duopoly, not just the Republican
half, which would only make the Democratic half more amorphously "centrist"
and useless.
Given that the Democratic Party is hegemonic in Black America, its
fracturing would wreak havoc in virtually every African American civic and
political structure - a very good thing, since the dead weight of the
Democratic Party has calcified and corrupted those structures over the past
two generations. Any weakening of the Democrats opens space for a more
radical Black politics consistent with the historical Black consensus on
peace and social justice. However, Black leftists cannot rely on white
progressives, like the Sandernistas, to set Black politics free by bringing
down the Democrats. It will require a grueling and painful internal Black
struggle, such as we at Black Agenda Report - and previously, at The Black
Commentator - have been advocating for 16 years.
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
