This is how a political party dies:Trump, Sanders, and the collapse of our failed party elites

[restorefreedom]

This is how a political party dies: Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders — and the collapse of our failed political elites
PAUL ROSENBERG

The Iowa caucus results may have brought a brief reprise from full-scale panic mode among political elites, but there’s no denying that the terrain we’re on now looks nothing like what anyone expected a year ago.
...
It’s not just the babbling punditocracy that’s been caught with its pants down this election cycle. As Nick Gass noted at Politico recently, Trump’s resilience has confused and confounded political scientists as well—in particular by challenging the thesis of the “seminal 2008 book ‘The Party Decides,'” as Gass calls it. The book’s thesis is fairly straightforward—that for the last several decades, at least, it’s party insiders, not voters, who determine parties’ presidential nominees. By those lights 2016 was always going to be a Bush-Clinton battle of the political dynasties, so it’s not just Trump, but Sanders as well who’s threatening those certainties.

...

Thus, Obama’s attempt to deal with the accumulated backlog of unresolved issues, problems, tensions and unmet expectations in a bipartisan manner, within the imaginative framework of the dealigned era was successfully mis-portrayed as a radical departure, when, in reality, only a radical departure could possibly have dealt with all that accumulated backlog. (A radical departure, I should add, which would first and foremost consist of restoring how our politics has usually functioned.) This is precisely the argument that Bernie Sanders is advancing today.

If neither party is prepared for such a radical departure, then one or both of them very well may die, because the American people demand it, even as the established frameworks of American politics fail to deliver for them—both the frameworks of intra-party organization, which evolve over time, and the framework of periodic inter-party/transparty reorganization, which used to occur via realigning elections.

The unexpected storylines of the 2016 election cycle so far are but superficial expressions of far more fundamental untold stories deep within the bowels of our collective public life. Even if the GOP thwarts Donald Trump, and Hillary Clinton’s almost unanimous support by the Democratic establishment keeps Sanders at bay, the profound elite failures of the post-1968 era cannot be wished away, including the chimera of elite bipartisan solutions. Sooner or later, something’s got to give. If neither party is equipped to respond to what the people demand, it would be foolish not to expect a return to the more chaotic politics of the pre-1860 era.

http://www.salon.com/2016/02/06/this_is_how_a_political_party_dies_donald_trump_bernie_sanders_and_the_collapse_of_our_failed_political_elites/

[RKP5637]

1. Bottom line, millions and millions of people are fed up with being treated as disgruntled employees

in a large corporation, USA, Inc.

[yourout]

2. Then mix in TPP, To Big to Prosecute, and Impeachment is off the table.

Like the Republicans our party leadership is corrupt to the core.

[Lodestar]

3. Majority of politicians ARE the 1% regardless of party affiliations.

Skip to 48:10

Propaganda and Collective Insanity - Blind Spots and the Illusion of Choice

[chervilant]

26. He almost called

Hi11ary a Republican. lol Wonder if that was a "Freudian slip"?

[RKP5637]

7. It really is. It's been the SOS for several decades now. FINALLY, Americans are starting to

comprehend the game that's been going on. IMO NAFTA/CAFTA sucks too! Sucked jobs right out of America. And then the solution to the financial crisis was to prop back up the Big Boys, and let them have at it again. Too Big to Fail, and Too Big to Prosecute. They must laugh their asses off each day on the way to the banks, who are having a good time of it too. And then along came Citizens United. It's a F'en rigged Casino. Then, we have the MIC taking a good chunk of change too.

[TTUBatfan2008]

39. Don't forget the Pharma/Health industry

Arguably one of the biggest rackets around and seems to go unscathed compared to the bankers. All of it adds up to a sad situation for the American public. If there is not a serious change in our politics sometime soon, there will be a complete revolt with violence, etc.

[RKP5637]

40. What I find so pathetic in the US is the level of ignorance by so many. Many just can't seem to

grasp what's going on. Many seem to lack the capability for critical thinking. Some are starting to get it, I hope it's enough to sway this country back to we the people.

The US constantly muddles in the SOS. Definitely, the Pharma/Health industry is one of the greatest ripoffs. Often in the US it's like the gangsters are making all of the decisions for the country. If one looks at the wealth distribution curve for this country it's deplorable. What often strikes me as so peculiar, is sometimes those with the least vote in those wanting to take even more from them.

[liberal_at_heart]

4. K&R

[CrispyQ]

5. Wuerker nails it again!

I think Jeb! surprised a lot of folks.

[restorefreedom]

6. that pretty much says it all. nt

[CrispyQ]

8. And leadership from both parties are stunned & scrambling. -nt

[restorefreedom]

10. i dont think jeb! will ever recover from the shock. nt

[hifiguy]

14. He's deader than King Tut at this point.

And even he seems to know it. Maybe Jebtrho can be a double-naught spy or a fry cook when he grows up, instead of POTUS.

[restorefreedom]

17. actually i think king tut's got more zip lol. nt

[RKP5637]

11. It needs a major shakeup. We've been in a rut with the SOS several decades now. Hey Jeb,

Barbara ain't gonna save you, she makes you look weak and unable to handle a presidential run on your own.

[RKP5637]

9. Outstanding !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! n/t

[frylock]

16. Hillarians love to hate this toon.

[hifiguy]

12. There are a lot of feces rapidly approaching the impeller

and it's the elites and one-percenters who are gonna get hit with the shit. It's only a matter of time.

[restorefreedom]

13. and they don't see it. more's the amazement. nt

[hifiguy]

15. They know it, deep down,

but their conscious mind can't and won't allow them to believe it. Their days ARE numbered. They're like Kevin Bacon at the end of Animal House, jumping up and down and screaming "All is Well!!!!" at the advancing stampede.

A key remaining question is whether it will come to THIS or not. They certainly deserve no less.

[restorefreedom]

18. my biggest fear is election theft

we know they screwed iowa, and bernie probably won there. between superdelegstes and electeonic voting machines, i have no doubt attempts will be made to steal a rightful nom from bernie.

[hifiguy]

19. If they do, the Democratic Party is done for.

But they are arrogant enough to try it.

The Clintons and their DLC/Turd Way pals were the worst thing that ever happened to the party.

[restorefreedom]

21. i keep thinking of the brouhaha over the florida and michigan delegstes in 2008

dws and hillary were NOT going to give up without a helluva fight. and i suspect they are just as dug in this time.

but the difference is, this time so are we.

[Agschmid]

23. Seriously...

[Surya Gayatri]

41. Not sure you want to adopt Dr. Antoine Louis' infamous invention

as the symbol for your anticipated and much touted "Political Revolution".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reign_of_Terror#The_Terror

The Terror (French: la Terreur), was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between two rival political factions, the Girondins and The Mountain, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of the revolution". The death toll ranged in the tens of thousands, with 16,594 executed by guillotine (2,639 in Paris),[2] and another 25,000 in summary executions across France. ...

The guillotine (called the "National Razor&quot became the symbol of the revolutionary cause, strengthened by a string of executions: King Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, the Girondins, Philippe Égalité (Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans), and Madame Roland, and others such as pioneering chemist Antoine Lavoisier, lost their lives under its blade. During 1794, revolutionary France was beset with conspiracies by internal and foreign enemies.

____________________________

"A key remaining question is whether it will come to THIS or not. They certainly deserve no less."

Not convinced that the majority of the American public would follow you down this route.

You're advocating a Terror-style overthrow of TPTB, heh?

[SoLeftIAmRight]

20. Another poster said "this is a fight for the heart and soul of the party"

I agree

[restorefreedom]

22. perhaps the most existential battle i have seen in my lifetime. nt

[sadoldgirl]

24. K&R.

Should Bernie get enough delegates to have the
majority of committed delegates, and the super
ones go against him, the party will either explode
or implode.

I still think that neither party cares about this as
long as the status quo is preserved.

[silverweb]

25. Sweep away the corrupt and ineffectual.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Make way for what actually works!


[font color="purple"]Go, Bernie!
Feelin' The Bern!

[Thinkingabout]

27. The DNC has been around for longer than any of us.

Just because some may not be happy with the DNC as a Democrat I will remain with the DNC, they have the best platform to help the most people, stick around, the DNC is not dying.

[restorefreedom]

28. there will certainly always be a democratic party imo

but the discontent with estsblishment politics might give birth to more left and right leaning alternative parties to contrast with the dems and repubs

only time will tell.....

[Thinkingabout]

31. Aww, the TP has split the GOP, does not serve them well

There are the Green Party, Libertarian Party, Liberty Union and on and on. Those parties has not been able to capture enough votes to overtake the DNC or GOP though the TP has tried.

[restorefreedom]

34. the tea party wing proved to be very effective at obstruction

i dont expect a liberal offshoot to take that position, because they/we are not petulant brats like the gop. i do think we are moving towards the possibility of an alternate party being much more effective and popular than libertarian/green, or maybe they themselves will become more popular.

[Thinkingabout]

35. Obstruction does not equal progress. Bottom line, the DNC is not on a death bed.

[restorefreedom]

36. agree about obstructionism. also semi agree about dnc not

being in death spiral. i do think a viable more left leaning option will emerge, however.

[Thinkingabout]

37. Democrats has a large range of believers in the Democrat platform, there are far left, left, middle

and centrists, we do not discriminate.

[restorefreedom]

38. it was always known as a big tent. but the "socialist" attacks on bernie

from other dems make me question how open the party is to real fdr type liberalism. even if its just campaign hype, there seems to be a philosophical divide there.

[Blue_Tires]

29. What kind of "revolution" does the right even want?

What the fuck would that America even look like?

Fun fact: The GOP has been whoring the hell out of "revolution" every two years pretty much since 1994...

[Fumesucker]

30. If Trump wasn't bellowing contradictory nonsense he could be highly dangerous

I'm with Jimmy Carter, forced to choose I'd choose Trump, God rest my soul. Trump is an ass but not an ideologue.

[Hydra]

32. There's ample evidence that the establishment is cooked

They're not taking it well either, which will drive people even faster to alternative parties.

I think it will be funny when the 3rd way and the Bushes are all alone in the same party with no voters, sitting in the fictional "Middle(extreme right)"

[restorefreedom]

33. exactly. they keep making things worse as they cling to power. nt