As you have heard by now, Bernie Sanders has decided to close ranks and endorse Hillary Clinton for president. Despite the fact that he has said all along that he would endorse her if he was not the nominee, it was still regarded as a disappointing by many progressives. After getting votes from over 12 million people, Sanders leads people right back into the same corrupt neo-liberalism that he railed against for a whole year. While, to be sure a number of Sanders supporters will fall in line and support Hillary Clinton, not all will do so.
Cornel West, one of Sanders biggest supporters broke with him to support Green Party Presidential candidate Jill Stein on Thursday. He is sure to draw attention to the surging interest in the Green Party in an America that is tired of the two party system. Of course, the gnashing of teeth by Clinton supporters has already started: branding Jill Stein as the 2016 Ralph Nader- a political spoiler.
They’re already talking about third party voters “throwing away their vote” -browbeating progressives as children who are pouting and stomping their feet for not voting for the lesser evil. We’ll see how effective that is.
The Sanders campaign has been instructive to see how reform proof the Democrats are. We have witnessed voter suppression, suspect dissapearances of voters from the rolls, an absolvement of wrongdoing in the case of confidential emails, and people are supposed to just forget all that?
You wouldn’t go to a restaurant with only two entrees, but we’re all expected to accept it in politics. Voting out of fear allows the Democrats to move ever rightward, as long as the Republicans are worse. Town halls occur, and a national discussion of “Black on Black crime” emerges without any remedies for police violence. Typical.
Considering the political context, is there any surprise that more people are looking for alternatives?