03-10-2016, 12:53 AM
Quote:If Sanders is allowed to stand nationally, or any other independent candidates in any other state, all that does is split the vote especially on the left.
I find fault with this reasoning. It assumes that the Democratic Party represents the left. It doesn't. However, the Reaganites, neo-liberals and even neo-cons that have taken over the party still feel entitled to the votes of those on the left even though they will never give anything but tepid lips service to the concerns and agenda of the left while privately scorning them with contempt to the plutocrats and corporate titans who fund their campaigns.
There will never not be some right-wing ogre that will serve as the perfect foil for the Democrats to employ their disingenuous fear-mongering campaign to sucker those whose stomachs turn when they think of what the Democratic Party actually represents into dutifully casting their votes in the Blue column anyway.
Without an alternative party that actually represents and stands for the interests of the left the Democratic Party will continue to move rightward without concern for losing the votes of those who prefer a left agenda. They used to consider Reagan the devil but Reaganism is now a fair description of the Democratic Party agenda. Then Bush was the devil but the Clinton and Bush families are great friends now. How long before Bush-ism becomes the new standard of "opposition" to the Republicans? Until the Democrats have to compete for the votes of those on the left the support of those voters will always be taken for granted as a virtual entitlement by the party leaders.
The Democratic Party is dead to me. I held my nose and voted for Obama in 2008 (literally a last-minute decision) but I'm done with the "Lesser Evil" thing. I supported and voted for Jill Stein in 2012 and will do so again this year. I don't consider it a protest vote but a positive vote for an agenda that I can agree with.