Bernie; Trump, & the Dems Loss of the Middle Class
I almost completed a good, long intro to this post, weeks ago, but it was erased by an unexpected "refresh" by my NoScript. I will probably write something similar to it later. The gist of it was - is - that the long-degenerative economy, correlated to the sucking of wealth to the "upper" 1%, has given rise to something which I called, "The New Middle." NPR recently did some stories on this, using the same term(!), but it failed to take account of the political dynamics behind the declining middle class.
The New Middle is a populist, uncertain uprising of those who have been marginalised by the failing economy, including people from the middle class, as well as of the poor. Other groups are a part of the same alienation and abuse of the more-removed powers that be, such as blacks, native americans, and immigrants, but do not see themselves as part of the New Middle. The greater part of the New Middle is claimed by whites from the former middle class, who have felt hurt or cheated. Part of their feeling of powerlessness has been turned, not only by Trump, but by both parties, and by divide-and-conquer elites, into active blame and racism towards the groups I mentioned. Thus, the New Middle can be its own enemy, keeping others from joining it, in paramount complaints, as over NAFTA, the TPP, or Federal Reserve policy.
The New Middle is an emotional movement - a fight-or-flight political representation of personal angsts. The "fight" side chose Donald Trump as its representative. The hopeful, trusting side, which resorted to "flight", chose Bernie Sanders. "Fight or flight" is really a popular misnomer. I am thinking more of the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous systems. Some of you might see the parallel. Also, I am generalising. Both sides of the movement show both "emotions." Bernie-lovers also put up a good fight - at least many of them did.
But the reality is that, on the one hand, Donald Trump was reclaimed by the GOP establishment. Thereafter, there was great tension in his campaign, as Republicans denounced him, and as he searched for a way to maintain his populist messages, despite being saddled with old, divisive platforms, like, "term limits, the death tax, pro-life, climate denial, and so forth." I was the first to say that Trump did not know what he was talking about. Instead, he was being an opportunist, unable to see the stupidity or limitations behind some of his stances, like climate denial or anti-Muslim. But the main point here is that the GOP took him away from the fullness of the movement, and made it impossible for him to join forces with Bernie.
On the other hand, as Bernie fled into the arms of the DNC, his tantamount message was that, because Trump is derogatory of some groups and individuals - as one would expect from the "fight" side of the movement - Trump must be defeated at all costs. Even if it meant tolerating Clinton's crimes and her obvious duplicity on the TPP. At the same time, Bush and other GOP dark money - as well as endorsements - were flowing to Hillary Clinton. Why? Because she represents the moneyed interests, the full establishment which oversees both parties, defending their ponzi schemes embedded in the status quo. They are the big banks, the gambling banks, the "free"-traders, big pharma, big insurance, etc., and investors in globalisation and the flight of jobs to Asia. That support flowed to Hillary Clinton also because Trump represented, in his crazy way, the New Middle movement, (which the GOP clumsily fought to co-opt), which is ANTITHETICAL TO THESE INTERESTS.
Trump, in his GOP triumph, was largely co-opted; and Sanders, in his DNC defeat, was also co-opted on the Left. Thus, the two-headed, over-arching ESTABLISHMENT co-opted both leaders, setting their followers against each other in an intense Right-versus-Left campaign. That is the same old logic that has given us partisan gridlock, and the LESSER OF TWO EVILS CHOICE, for decades, all through Thatcher-Reagan supply-side doctrine, as represented by the parasitic dynasty: Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama-Clinton. Trump, Clinton and, yes, Sanders, have diligently fed this illogic - this black/white fundamentalism - this continuing regression into fight-or-flight, rather than into true progressivism on the right and on the left.
Consequently, MILLIONS of people have swarmed to vote "strategically", voting to keep either Clinton, or Trump, out of office at all costs. Thus, they again support the dysfunctional logic of preemption, to their own detriment either way, rather than voting their heart privately, and en masse. We will experience more war, more borrowing, more strife, more decline. It's a damn shame. It's comical in its appearance, and tragic in its consequences.
Through the noble graces of the corporate media, the RINO, blue-dog, FAUX MIDDLE retains its NeoLiberal, NeoCon grip on the greater swath of the declining middle class, no matter who is elected. There will be no decline in the hemorrhaging of our powers and freedoms which is greased by political corruption, crimes and lies. There will be no change in our economic philosophy, and our slow economic collapse. At least not until the New Middle finally overcomes its fragile fissuring, and comes into its own.
When will we put an end to this slow, silent, post-JFK coup? When will the baby boomers finally grow up and act finally as spineful leaders, instead of control freaks, comfort creatures, and Millennial-molesters? (Ha ha - I get a little wordy).
Suggested reading: "Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State. Nation Books, 2014." ISBN 1568584547 - by Ralph Nader
Now, onto the links. Many of you know of Thomas Frank. http://www.tcfrank.com/ He wrote a pivotal book, "What's the Matter With Kansas?" He starts off our journey, here, in his reporting of the corporate media rigging things against Bernie Sanders - and his addressing of the issue of the decline of wealth in the middle class - and how the DNC types have abandoned that huge segment of the population, despite their platitudes...
Thomas Frank: How The Media 'Exterminated' Bernie Sanders And 'Real Reform' - Harper's Magazine contributing editor Thomas Frank joins Here & Now's Robin Young to discuss why he believes the media, including the Washington Post, has largely opposed the campaign of Bernie Sanders. Frank concludes that real reform isn't possible.
Swat Team: The media’s extermination of Bernie Sanders, and real reform - By Thomas Frank
Listen, Liberal: Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People? is a 2016 book by Thomas Frank about how the American Democratic Party has changed to support elitism instead of the working class.[1]
The Washington Post was seldom a friend of the Bernie Sanders presidential candidacy. Here's a 2015 claim that the media was not rigged against Sanders, (in favour of Clinton). Is the media biased against Bernie Sanders? Not really. But a few facts kinda proved this incorrect, like this: New York Times busted for anti-Bernie bias: The iconic, Clinton-endorsing newspaper slyly edits article to smear Sanders
Quora: Are Bernie Sanders supporters overstating how much media bias there is against him?
The Donna Brazile leak: More Evidence Was Just Leaked Showing How DNC Rigged Primary Against Bernie
"Voting Is a Ritual Meant to Divide" - By The Conscious Resistance
Nor a Lender Be: Hillary Clinton, liberal virtue, and the cult of the microloan - By Thomas Frank
Dangerous idiots: how the liberal media elite failed working-class Americans: Trump supporters are not the caricatures journalists depict - and native Kansan Sarah Smarsh sets out to correct what newsrooms get wrong
Noam Chomsky Interview: "Enormous Sense of Hopelessness and Anger" Reflected in Appeal of Trump and Sanders. - Written by Melissa Parker, Posted in Newsmakers
The Scourge of Neoliberalism: Why the Democratic Party Is Failing the Poor - "This willingness to quietly accept a status quo that privileges wealthy communities at the expense of the poor pervades the thinking not just of Clinton Democrats, but of the two-party system as a whole."
New evidence that politics, not economics, drives inequality: Study included data sensitive to rise of the '1 percent'
Why People Vote for Trump: Some are drawn to the appeal of what he says, not the substance.
Millions of ordinary Americans support Donald Trump. Here's why - by Thomas Frank
Youngstown, Ohio: why voters are supporting Trump in a bellwether city
How Half Of America Lost Its F**king Mind
Just another example of how poorer individuals in the middle class are being squeezed: Criminal prosecutions soar in rent-to-own sector
May 3, 2016: Why Trump and Sanders are blasting the same enemy in Indiana (and it’s not Clinton)
Awakened Humanity Awaits Fully Scripted Ending As Controversial Election Day Nears
Pat Caddell: Pro-Clinton Media Bias Is a ‘Terrifying Crisis in Democracy’
Solid Evidence That The Media Is Biased Against Donald Trump
Michael Moore: Trump’s Election Will be the Biggest “F**k You” in History
Why this progressive, environmentalist, and activist woman will vote for Trump
A Progressive's Indictment of the Democratic Party
Robert Reich: 'Did the white working class give up on the Democratic Party or did the Democratic Party give up on the white working class?'
What the Democrats Don't Get (And Why It Could Cost Them the Election)
It's as If They're Trying to Lose: Democrats' Optimism Ignores the Struggles of Millions:
Corporate Democrats simply have nothing to offer the working class. So instead, they put forward a largely rose-tinted view of the American economy, downplay material struggles, defend the status quo, and offer tepid reforms in the place of solutions that would challenge corporate power.
Bernie Sanders's Hopes and Regrets
Oct. 25, 2016: Bernie Sanders Is the Most Popular Politician in America
Bernie Sanders’s Hard Fight for Hillary Clinton
The Big Con: what is really at stake in this US election
Hillary Loses the Left
US election campaign reveals mass alienation from two-party system
How a Disappearing and Deluded Middle Class Awaits the New President
America's Corpocracy: World's Public Enemy Number One. An Interview with Dr. Gary Brumback
Jill Stein to Progressives: ‘Don’t Waste Your Vote on Corporate Democrats’
Jill Stein Agrees with Trump: Hillary Clinton Presidency Means Nuclear War, a ‘Mushroom Cloud Waiting to Happen’
Barrel Bomb: The Cataclysmic Close of Campaign 2016
George Soros on tape: Trump will win popular vote in 'landslide,' but Hillary Clinton's electoral victory is already 'a done deal'
WikiLeaks Bombshell: ‘There Is No US Election’
Julian Assange’s Most Incendiary Interview: “Hillary Clinton Is The Central Cog Of The Establishment”
Assange: Clinton and ISIS Funded by Same Money, Trump Won’t Be Allowed to Win
Assange predicts Trump will lose, accuses Clinton Campaign of trying to hack Wikileaks
ELECTION IS OVER! Hillary’s Secret FBI Deal Just Got Exposed and It’s Worse Than ANYONE Imagined
I've written various other posts about the 2016 race, etc., in my own LJ, and in communities like, o_c_c_u_p_y and bernie2016. Many of these posts are linked over at liberal_plus HERE. (One post on Hillary Clinton's corruption, and media bias, during Bernie's run, is relevant to the subsequent run by Trump, I think). Even though the race and election are almost over, I will probably continue posting about 2016 in my journal, ("RIGGED", "MEDIA BIAS", "THE FALLACY OF 'STRATEGIC VOTING'", etc.), because I am not so interested in changing a few votes as I am in looking into the truth and the meaning of things. Thank you for visitting this post. Please support my imaginary presidential campaign - and your own.
Here's one more link, harkening back to those anguishing days of the Philadelphia convention:
July 30, 2016: Hillary's Convention Con - by Ralph Nader...
The 2016 Democratic Convention in Philadelphia was a multi-layered, raucous display of political theater. A host of delegates loyal to Senator Bernie Sanders were inside in large numbers exclaiming “No more war” during former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta's speech and raising all kinds of progressive, rebellious signs and banners against the Hillary crowd. Although Hillary addressed them directly in her acceptance speech, “Your cause is my cause,” those dissatisfied delegates in the hall saw her rhetoric for what it was: insincere and opportunistic.
She said she’d tax the wealthy for public necessities, but declined to mention a sales tax on Wall Street speculation that could bring in as much as $300 billion a year to support such initiatives. She opposed “unfair trade agreements,” but remarkably omitted saying she was against the TPP (the notorious pending Trans Pacific Trade Agreement backed by Obama that is receiving wide left/right opposition).
She paid lip service to a “living wage” but avoided endorsing a $15 an hour minimum wage, which would help single moms and their children - people she wants us to believe have been her enduring cause. Few people know that it took until the spring of 2014 before candidate Clinton would come out for even a $10.10 minimum wage. News reports noted that Clinton, a former member of Walmart’s board of directors and Arkansas corporate lawyer, was wrestling with how to support $10.10 per hour without alienating her Wall Street friends.
“Caring for kids” doesn’t extend to encircled Gaza’s defenseless children, hundreds of whom were killed by American-made weapons wielded by the all powerful Israeli military. Gaza is the the world’s largest open air prison and under illegal blockade. Remember, as Secretary of State, Hillary fully backed war crimes, condemned by almost all countries in the world. On the stage in Philadelphia, she spoke of backing Israel’s security without any mention of Palestinian rights or the need to end Israel’s illegal occupation of the territories.
The New Middle is a populist, uncertain uprising of those who have been marginalised by the failing economy, including people from the middle class, as well as of the poor. Other groups are a part of the same alienation and abuse of the more-removed powers that be, such as blacks, native americans, and immigrants, but do not see themselves as part of the New Middle. The greater part of the New Middle is claimed by whites from the former middle class, who have felt hurt or cheated. Part of their feeling of powerlessness has been turned, not only by Trump, but by both parties, and by divide-and-conquer elites, into active blame and racism towards the groups I mentioned. Thus, the New Middle can be its own enemy, keeping others from joining it, in paramount complaints, as over NAFTA, the TPP, or Federal Reserve policy.
The New Middle is an emotional movement - a fight-or-flight political representation of personal angsts. The "fight" side chose Donald Trump as its representative. The hopeful, trusting side, which resorted to "flight", chose Bernie Sanders. "Fight or flight" is really a popular misnomer. I am thinking more of the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous systems. Some of you might see the parallel. Also, I am generalising. Both sides of the movement show both "emotions." Bernie-lovers also put up a good fight - at least many of them did.
But the reality is that, on the one hand, Donald Trump was reclaimed by the GOP establishment. Thereafter, there was great tension in his campaign, as Republicans denounced him, and as he searched for a way to maintain his populist messages, despite being saddled with old, divisive platforms, like, "term limits, the death tax, pro-life, climate denial, and so forth." I was the first to say that Trump did not know what he was talking about. Instead, he was being an opportunist, unable to see the stupidity or limitations behind some of his stances, like climate denial or anti-Muslim. But the main point here is that the GOP took him away from the fullness of the movement, and made it impossible for him to join forces with Bernie.
On the other hand, as Bernie fled into the arms of the DNC, his tantamount message was that, because Trump is derogatory of some groups and individuals - as one would expect from the "fight" side of the movement - Trump must be defeated at all costs. Even if it meant tolerating Clinton's crimes and her obvious duplicity on the TPP. At the same time, Bush and other GOP dark money - as well as endorsements - were flowing to Hillary Clinton. Why? Because she represents the moneyed interests, the full establishment which oversees both parties, defending their ponzi schemes embedded in the status quo. They are the big banks, the gambling banks, the "free"-traders, big pharma, big insurance, etc., and investors in globalisation and the flight of jobs to Asia. That support flowed to Hillary Clinton also because Trump represented, in his crazy way, the New Middle movement, (which the GOP clumsily fought to co-opt), which is ANTITHETICAL TO THESE INTERESTS.
Trump, in his GOP triumph, was largely co-opted; and Sanders, in his DNC defeat, was also co-opted on the Left. Thus, the two-headed, over-arching ESTABLISHMENT co-opted both leaders, setting their followers against each other in an intense Right-versus-Left campaign. That is the same old logic that has given us partisan gridlock, and the LESSER OF TWO EVILS CHOICE, for decades, all through Thatcher-Reagan supply-side doctrine, as represented by the parasitic dynasty: Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama-Clinton. Trump, Clinton and, yes, Sanders, have diligently fed this illogic - this black/white fundamentalism - this continuing regression into fight-or-flight, rather than into true progressivism on the right and on the left.
Consequently, MILLIONS of people have swarmed to vote "strategically", voting to keep either Clinton, or Trump, out of office at all costs. Thus, they again support the dysfunctional logic of preemption, to their own detriment either way, rather than voting their heart privately, and en masse. We will experience more war, more borrowing, more strife, more decline. It's a damn shame. It's comical in its appearance, and tragic in its consequences.
Through the noble graces of the corporate media, the RINO, blue-dog, FAUX MIDDLE retains its NeoLiberal, NeoCon grip on the greater swath of the declining middle class, no matter who is elected. There will be no decline in the hemorrhaging of our powers and freedoms which is greased by political corruption, crimes and lies. There will be no change in our economic philosophy, and our slow economic collapse. At least not until the New Middle finally overcomes its fragile fissuring, and comes into its own.
When will we put an end to this slow, silent, post-JFK coup? When will the baby boomers finally grow up and act finally as spineful leaders, instead of control freaks, comfort creatures, and Millennial-molesters? (Ha ha - I get a little wordy).
Suggested reading: "Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State. Nation Books, 2014." ISBN 1568584547 - by Ralph Nader
Now, onto the links. Many of you know of Thomas Frank. http://www.tcfrank.com/ He wrote a pivotal book, "What's the Matter With Kansas?" He starts off our journey, here, in his reporting of the corporate media rigging things against Bernie Sanders - and his addressing of the issue of the decline of wealth in the middle class - and how the DNC types have abandoned that huge segment of the population, despite their platitudes...
Thomas Frank: How The Media 'Exterminated' Bernie Sanders And 'Real Reform' - Harper's Magazine contributing editor Thomas Frank joins Here & Now's Robin Young to discuss why he believes the media, including the Washington Post, has largely opposed the campaign of Bernie Sanders. Frank concludes that real reform isn't possible.
Swat Team: The media’s extermination of Bernie Sanders, and real reform - By Thomas Frank
Listen, Liberal: Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People? is a 2016 book by Thomas Frank about how the American Democratic Party has changed to support elitism instead of the working class.[1]
The Washington Post was seldom a friend of the Bernie Sanders presidential candidacy. Here's a 2015 claim that the media was not rigged against Sanders, (in favour of Clinton). Is the media biased against Bernie Sanders? Not really. But a few facts kinda proved this incorrect, like this: New York Times busted for anti-Bernie bias: The iconic, Clinton-endorsing newspaper slyly edits article to smear Sanders
Quora: Are Bernie Sanders supporters overstating how much media bias there is against him?
The Donna Brazile leak: More Evidence Was Just Leaked Showing How DNC Rigged Primary Against Bernie
"Voting Is a Ritual Meant to Divide" - By The Conscious Resistance
Nor a Lender Be: Hillary Clinton, liberal virtue, and the cult of the microloan - By Thomas Frank
Dangerous idiots: how the liberal media elite failed working-class Americans: Trump supporters are not the caricatures journalists depict - and native Kansan Sarah Smarsh sets out to correct what newsrooms get wrong
Noam Chomsky Interview: "Enormous Sense of Hopelessness and Anger" Reflected in Appeal of Trump and Sanders. - Written by Melissa Parker, Posted in Newsmakers
The Scourge of Neoliberalism: Why the Democratic Party Is Failing the Poor - "This willingness to quietly accept a status quo that privileges wealthy communities at the expense of the poor pervades the thinking not just of Clinton Democrats, but of the two-party system as a whole."
New evidence that politics, not economics, drives inequality: Study included data sensitive to rise of the '1 percent'
Why People Vote for Trump: Some are drawn to the appeal of what he says, not the substance.
Millions of ordinary Americans support Donald Trump. Here's why - by Thomas Frank
Youngstown, Ohio: why voters are supporting Trump in a bellwether city
How Half Of America Lost Its F**king Mind
Just another example of how poorer individuals in the middle class are being squeezed: Criminal prosecutions soar in rent-to-own sector
May 3, 2016: Why Trump and Sanders are blasting the same enemy in Indiana (and it’s not Clinton)
Awakened Humanity Awaits Fully Scripted Ending As Controversial Election Day Nears
Pat Caddell: Pro-Clinton Media Bias Is a ‘Terrifying Crisis in Democracy’
Solid Evidence That The Media Is Biased Against Donald Trump
Michael Moore: Trump’s Election Will be the Biggest “F**k You” in History
Why this progressive, environmentalist, and activist woman will vote for Trump
A Progressive's Indictment of the Democratic Party
Robert Reich: 'Did the white working class give up on the Democratic Party or did the Democratic Party give up on the white working class?'
What the Democrats Don't Get (And Why It Could Cost Them the Election)
It's as If They're Trying to Lose: Democrats' Optimism Ignores the Struggles of Millions:
Corporate Democrats simply have nothing to offer the working class. So instead, they put forward a largely rose-tinted view of the American economy, downplay material struggles, defend the status quo, and offer tepid reforms in the place of solutions that would challenge corporate power.
Bernie Sanders's Hopes and Regrets
Oct. 25, 2016: Bernie Sanders Is the Most Popular Politician in America
Bernie Sanders’s Hard Fight for Hillary Clinton
The Big Con: what is really at stake in this US election
Hillary Loses the Left
US election campaign reveals mass alienation from two-party system
How a Disappearing and Deluded Middle Class Awaits the New President
America's Corpocracy: World's Public Enemy Number One. An Interview with Dr. Gary Brumback
Jill Stein to Progressives: ‘Don’t Waste Your Vote on Corporate Democrats’
Jill Stein Agrees with Trump: Hillary Clinton Presidency Means Nuclear War, a ‘Mushroom Cloud Waiting to Happen’
Barrel Bomb: The Cataclysmic Close of Campaign 2016
George Soros on tape: Trump will win popular vote in 'landslide,' but Hillary Clinton's electoral victory is already 'a done deal'
WikiLeaks Bombshell: ‘There Is No US Election’
Julian Assange’s Most Incendiary Interview: “Hillary Clinton Is The Central Cog Of The Establishment”
Assange: Clinton and ISIS Funded by Same Money, Trump Won’t Be Allowed to Win
Assange predicts Trump will lose, accuses Clinton Campaign of trying to hack Wikileaks
ELECTION IS OVER! Hillary’s Secret FBI Deal Just Got Exposed and It’s Worse Than ANYONE Imagined
I've written various other posts about the 2016 race, etc., in my own LJ, and in communities like, o_c_c_u_p_y and bernie2016. Many of these posts are linked over at liberal_plus HERE. (One post on Hillary Clinton's corruption, and media bias, during Bernie's run, is relevant to the subsequent run by Trump, I think). Even though the race and election are almost over, I will probably continue posting about 2016 in my journal, ("RIGGED", "MEDIA BIAS", "THE FALLACY OF 'STRATEGIC VOTING'", etc.), because I am not so interested in changing a few votes as I am in looking into the truth and the meaning of things. Thank you for visitting this post. Please support my imaginary presidential campaign - and your own.
Here's one more link, harkening back to those anguishing days of the Philadelphia convention:
July 30, 2016: Hillary's Convention Con - by Ralph Nader...
The 2016 Democratic Convention in Philadelphia was a multi-layered, raucous display of political theater. A host of delegates loyal to Senator Bernie Sanders were inside in large numbers exclaiming “No more war” during former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta's speech and raising all kinds of progressive, rebellious signs and banners against the Hillary crowd. Although Hillary addressed them directly in her acceptance speech, “Your cause is my cause,” those dissatisfied delegates in the hall saw her rhetoric for what it was: insincere and opportunistic.
She said she’d tax the wealthy for public necessities, but declined to mention a sales tax on Wall Street speculation that could bring in as much as $300 billion a year to support such initiatives. She opposed “unfair trade agreements,” but remarkably omitted saying she was against the TPP (the notorious pending Trans Pacific Trade Agreement backed by Obama that is receiving wide left/right opposition).
She paid lip service to a “living wage” but avoided endorsing a $15 an hour minimum wage, which would help single moms and their children - people she wants us to believe have been her enduring cause. Few people know that it took until the spring of 2014 before candidate Clinton would come out for even a $10.10 minimum wage. News reports noted that Clinton, a former member of Walmart’s board of directors and Arkansas corporate lawyer, was wrestling with how to support $10.10 per hour without alienating her Wall Street friends.
“Caring for kids” doesn’t extend to encircled Gaza’s defenseless children, hundreds of whom were killed by American-made weapons wielded by the all powerful Israeli military. Gaza is the the world’s largest open air prison and under illegal blockade. Remember, as Secretary of State, Hillary fully backed war crimes, condemned by almost all countries in the world. On the stage in Philadelphia, she spoke of backing Israel’s security without any mention of Palestinian rights or the need to end Israel’s illegal occupation of the territories.