Hear that sucking sound? It's Wall Street licking up the last
dribbles of the Democratic Party.
Times call out for strong Leadership. The Republicans step forward
with a Con Artist and a crook, while the Democrats answer
with...uh...Moe...Bo...what the heck, at least we think he's a good
guy...
Carl Jarvis
On 5/6/20, miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The Democratic Party's Cynical, Anti-Democratic Maneuvers Against Bernie
Sanders
By Branko Marcetic, Jacobin
05 May 20
New York Democrats have struck Bernie Sanders from the ballot, canceling
the
state's June primary. It's left a bitter taste in the mouths of his
supporters, whose disillusionment with the Democratic Party will only
deepen.
Almost as soon as former vice president Joe Biden was left as the only
candidate still running in the Democratic primary, the celebration that
typically follows a nomination victory was replaced by panic among
Democrats
and the liberal press: Would the party unify? Would Bernie Sanders
supporters get behind Biden? Three weeks later, New York Democrats have
effectively canceled the state's Democratic primary, angering Sanders
supporters and deepening the party rift Biden backers fear may hurt his
chances in November.
When Sanders officially suspended his campaign on April 8, he made clear he
would stay on the ballot in upcoming primary contests to accrue delegates
and wield some influence over the party platform and rules come convention
time. But before the month was even over, New York lawmakers slipped a
provision into the state's budget bill paving the way for the New York
State
Board of Elections' unanimous vote last Monday to remove Sanders from the
ballot. Co-chair Douglas Kellner called the primary "a beauty contest" that
is "unnecessary and frivolous," and cited health concerns around voting
during a pandemic.
The decision elicited outrage from top Sanders advisers like Nina Turner,
who charged it had a "chilling effect on democracy," and Jeff Weaver, who
called it a "blow to American democracy." But it's also infuriated
rank-and-file Sanders backers, who told Jacobin they feel disrespected,
silenced, and believe the decision will make the mission of defeating Trump
in November more difficult.
Joseph Henderson was a Sanders delegate for New York's 21st district, a
rural area in the northern part of the state bordering Vermont. He
estimates
he spent hundreds of hours over the holidays driving around, organizing
events, and gathering signatures in the dead of winter to be on the ballot,
all of which has now been for naught.
"For a party that calls themselves the Democratic Party, they really don't
care for actual democracy," he says.
Diana Klementowski first got involved in politics in 2000 because she
"despised George W. Bush so much." She supported Sanders in 2016 before
campaigning for Hillary Clinton in Ohio for the general election, and
decided to become a delegate this year.
"I did a lot," she says. "As soon as you could start collecting petition
signatures, I literally ran out the door, went to my car, drove down the
road and started petitioning. I was darn determined."
Klementowski says she spent three to four hours a day nearly every day for
weeks collecting signatures, gathering more than 150 of the 500 her group
of
five needed. Apologizing at one point for using the word "damn" in
describing her reaction to the latest news, Klementowski clearly found it
difficult to hold back a sense of betrayal.
"They're the only stupid state to do this," she says. "I'm very, very, very
angry."
It was much the same for Toni Kennedy, a registered nurse and Democratic
member of the Potsdam town council who was inspired to enter politics by
Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Kennedy, too, went
door-to-door
in the bitter cold of January gathering signatures to get on the ballot as
a
Sanders delegate.
"New York is one of the hardest states in the country to get on the ballot
for," she says. "So when you put a lot of work into getting on the ballot
and you do everything you're supposed to do, to just be removed without any
say or consideration, it's very undemocratic."
Confirming the Worst Suspicions
It isn't just potential delegates who feel let down. Zohar Gitlis,
thirty-two, Henderson's neighbor and a volunteer for the Sanders campaign,
comes from a Democratic voting family and says she's held a "pretty go with
the flow, loyal Democratic mindset" for her entire voting life. After
supporting Sanders in 2016, she door-knocked for Clinton that October due
to
her concern over Trump being elected. This year, she believes she spent
somewhere close to ten hours a week on the campaign for a month and a half,
including gathering signatures for ballot access phone-banking, and
volunteering in New Hampshire.
"I did a door-to-door during a snowstorm one Saturday afternoon, asking for
signatures," she recalls. "I remember thinking, 'This is great, 'cause so
many people are at home.' But I definitely got a lot of 'I can't believe
you're out right now.'"
For Gitlis, the decision to cancel the primary has made it hard to envision
eventually having one-on-one conversations with voters for the Biden
campaign.
"I'm feeling more alienated than ever by the Democratic establishment, more
completely taken for granted and disrespected," she says. "This news
definitely ignited that feeling, more than any of the other outrageous
things that have happened in this election cycle, 'cause I guess it was
personal, 'cause I'd gathered signatures."
"It's a slap in the face," says Jay Bellanca, upstate co-chair of the New
York Progressive Action Network, an affiliate of the Sanders-backed Our
Revolution. Bellanca, who first got involved in politics working for
Kirsten
Gillibrand's 2006 Congressional campaign, says the cancellation is already
undermining party unity going into November.
"I've tried to bridge the gap between the Bernie people and the
establishment, and every time, it just makes it so difficult when they do
things like this," he says. "The 'DemExit' thing has picked up steam
again."
It was a sentiment repeated again and again by Sanders supporters, who,
while personally committed to defeating Trump in November, now fear it will
be much harder to get others on board. Several recounted similar feelings
among others in their social networks: that they were angry, feel the
decision confirms their worst suspicions about the party, and that they
can't bring themselves to go the extra mile to elect Biden come November -
some may even vote third party.
"I know a lot of people who have voted blue every election of their lives
and knocked on doors for plenty of candidates they don't like who are
feeling particularly uninspired to do that this cycle," says Gitlis.
"You've now caused the disunity that Trump would only dream of," says Larry
Cohen, Our Revolution board chair. "Those of us who are committed to
beating
Trump and electing Joe Biden president, this makes it harder."
Others see more far-reaching consequences in the cancellation, with many
Democratic voters fearing that Trump will use the pandemic as justification
to cancel the election in November.
"New York has provided a precedent for this," says Kennedy. "It only makes
it easier for Trump to do it, to say he's only doing what blue states have
done."
As it stands, the decision to cancel on the basis of health concerns makes
little sense. For one thing, Cuomo has already pledged to give all
registered voters the ability to vote absentee. And even with the
cancelation of the presidential primary, most of the state's residents will
still be voting in June in an array of down-ballot races anyway.
The decision is also difficult to square with the party's resistance toward
earlier calls to delay primaries over the risk of magnifying the pandemic's
spread add suppressing voting. Illinois governor and Biden supporter J. B.
Pritzker ignored the Chicago Board of Elections request to delay the
state's
primary despite having urged people to stay home just days earlier, while
Ohio's Democratic Party challenged its Republican governor's decision to
postpone his, and the Democratic National Committee threatened states with
losing delegates if they delayed their primaries too far in the future.
Meanwhile, Biden campaign staff and Biden himself repeatedly misinformed
voters that it was safe to vote in person, arguing that elections were held
during the Civil War and 1918 influenza, and reportedly insisting against
delaying Wisconsin's primary. Coronavirus cases and deaths have since been
traced to all those elections.
It's all left a sour taste in the mouths of supporters of Sanders, who,
despite his loss, make up a significant chunk of the Democratic base,
particularly its younger cohort. Biden is currently struggling with younger
voters, a key part of Obama's winning coalition, and who have been
frustrated at Biden's refusal to embrace elements of Sanders's agenda. For
them, the cancellation of New York's primary seems just further proof that
the party, for all its demands for unity, is bent on proving it can win
without them.
"If they cut progressives out, I hope they don't blame us if Biden loses
the
election," says Kennedy.
