How I learned that the system is hopeless, and that reform from within is a deadly waste of time.
Not so many years ago, I was a Progressive. I was registered as a Democrat and, although I thought the so-called “center” was a rubber-stamp for corporate America — similar to, but not as crazy as the GOP — I was hopeful that sane caring people could move the party to become its better self.
That ended when virtually the entire group of Democratic candidates running for president dropped out to endorse Biden — clearly to stop a surging Bernie Sanders. Of course this was legal. And supporters of this idea claimed this was necessary because Sanders was not electable.
But the bigger lesson was that, whatever the voters wanted, the Democratic party would NEVER allow those who oppose corporate power — that is, the wealthy donors — to win. When it came to siding with voters or corporate donors, the Democrats would always choose the donors.
Now, I know some readers will talk about how Biden stands up to the wealthy and to corporate power. But that’s nonsense. One can cite some small token actions — similar to Big Oil’s greenwashing — but in fact, like the GOP, the Democrats are all-out in protecting JP Morgan and ExxonMobil. When the real consequential decisions are made, the Democrats don’t care about you any more than Trump does.
