The welcome rebellion in the Democratic Party -- By Katrina vanden Heuvel

[bemildred]

The political fallout from the Panama Papers has been felt throughout the world. So far, the trove of leaked documents has exposed shady financial activities involving powerful and wealthy figures such as British Prime Minister David Cameron, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s friends, Chinese actor Jackie Chan and Argentinian soccer star Lionel Messi. The scandal even forced Iceland’s prime minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, to resign in disgrace.

In the United States, however, the reaction to the Panama Papers has been somewhat muted. No Americans have been implicated in the massive leak — not yet, at least — and the revelations, although tantalizing, have simply provided concrete evidence of something many already knew. Yet, while nobody should be surprised that the financial and political elite stash their wealth in offshore tax havens, the Panama Papers explicitly document the unfairness of a rigged system that deprives countries of the funds needed to make crucial public investments. That is particularly relevant at the current moment in U.S. politics.

Indeed, that fundamental unfairness is at the heart of the Democratic presidential race, which, last week, descended into petty bickering. In advance of the Wisconsin primary, in which voters handed insurgent candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) his sixth victory in seven contests (before his win in Wyoming over the weekend), front-runner and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton not so subtly suggested that Sanders had no business being in the race. “He’s a relatively new Democrat,” Clinton told Politico reporter Glenn Thrush, “and, in fact, I’m not even sure he is one.”

Clinton’s jab might have been nothing more than a personal attack on Sanders. But it also served as a political broadside against the progressive populism that Sanders has injected into the conversation, an attempt to beat back the challenge to the establishment that his candidacy represents. And it was a reminder that, although Republican front-runner Donald Trump’s odious bluster still dominates the headlines, there is an important debate happening in the Democratic primaries about the direction of not just the country, but also the party.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-welcome-rebellion-in-the-democratic-party/2016/04/12/ab6089d6-0010-11e6-9d36-33d198ea26c5_story.html

[Jefferson23]

1. Can the party can be reformed under a Clinton administration, should there be one....hard to

guess.

[Jack Bone]

2. survey says....

[Jefferson23]

4. She is clearly not interested, I get that..whether she can avoid it and or prevent it is another

question.

[bemildred]

3. Very uncertain times, I would say.

I think the Panama Papers thing has just begun to roll, it is early still, just turned Spring, and there are already a number of wrecking balls at work. The mob needs something to focus on, and the PP will give them that.

It is my impression that our managerial elites are getting nervous, and there is talk of concessions again, single payer, finance reforms, voting rights, etc., but the only way to end it is to get rid of them all and pass new laws and the means to enforce them. They are crooks. They will not give it up. Our plutocratic betters will not give up their advantageous positions willingly, and they certainly will not give up their dick-waving contests, but we can make them do it with something other than our money and our government.

Our whole foreign policy position in the Middle East is disintegrating, too, and it will be much too late by 2017.

[Jefferson23]

5. Yea, too many like the way it has been and the Panama Papers could end up revealing

non deniable evidence of corruption..so we'll see.