[rad-green] Class War, the DNC, and the Fight for Our Lives

*https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/02/28/class-war-dnc-and-fight-our-lives
<https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/02/28/class-war-dnc-and-fight-our-lives>Common
Dreams          February 28, 2020Class War, the DNC, and the Fight for Our
LivesThe ruling class needs to know that we're coming for them. And this
fight doesn't stop at the ballot box. Our futures depend on it.by Erin
McCarley*

[image: Democratic presidential hopefuls Former New York Mayor Mike
Bloomberg (L), Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren (C) and Vermont
Senator Bernie Sanders (R) participate in the ninth Democratic primary
debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season co-hosted by NBC News,
MSNBC, Noticias Telemundo and The Nevada Independent at the Paris Theater
in Las Vegas, Nevada, on February 19, 2020. (Photo: Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty
Images)]

*Democratic presidential hopefuls Former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg (L),
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren (C) and Vermont Senator Bernie
Sanders (R) participate in the ninth Democratic primary debate of the 2020
presidential campaign season co-hosted by NBC News, MSNBC, Noticias
Telemundo and The Nevada Independent at the Paris Theater in Las Vegas,
Nevada, on February 19, 2020. (Photo: Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images)*

Way back in 2000, my indy media friends and I were filming Colorado’s Green
Party Convention, held at some fancy hotel in Denver. The keynote speaker
was, of course, the Party's presidential candidate Ralph Nader. The hotel
was packed with anti-corporate activists young and old, environmentalists,
anti-war folks, state, and local Green Party candidates.

Also conspicuously present was this culture-jamming street theater group
called “Billionaires for Bush… or Gore.” This satirical comedy troupe
randomly appeared throughout the 2000 electoral season. Dressed as
high-society billionaires in their tuxedos, black top hats, evening gowns
and feather boas, carrying plastic cigars, this group of 15 or 20 actors
paraded up and down hotel escalators, blowing proverbial smoke in people’s
faces, carrying signs with slogans like, “This is what Plutocracy looks
like!”; “Widen the Income Gap!”; “Leave no Billionaire Behind!”; and “This
is Class War, and We’re Winning!”

I’m pretty much nostalgic for those days now. Twenty years ago, the
complete plutocratic control of our electoral system was an idea so cynical
and absurd, that it was downright funny! This was ten years before the U.S.
Supreme Court's *Citizens United* ruling opened the floodgates for
financial contributions via Super PACs, corporate lobbyists, and dark money
organizations to spend billions of dollars on election campaigns. That era
was our warning.

Today, I have this sickening feeling that political historians will look
back at the 2020 US presidential elections as the final battle in the long
war between electoral democracy and plutocratic oligarchy in the United
States. I also believe that the chance of President Trump securing another
term is totally within reach—not because it’s what most Americans want, but
because it’s what the DNC, the superdelegates, and the ruling class inside
the Democratic establishment are working very hard to deliver to us.

"If this electoral season is teaching us anything, it is showing us that
core democratic values are highly fluid when billionaires pour money into
them."

Here we are, just before Super Tuesday. There’s so much energy and
excitement in the air as people of all political stripes are getting geared
up to go to the polls en masse. Meanwhile, Michael Bloomberg is laying the
groundwork for a brokered Democratic Convention in July
<https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/20/bloomberg-brokered-convention-strategy-116407?fbclid=IwAR0lHr5VsiwVn7gKQAugafz91HQ3GzMX-bcrYifCWUpSiD-an-Lny2avzUw>,
where he is planning to complete his wholesale purchase of the Democratic
nomination.

Like many Bernie supporters who witnessed the DNC-rigging of the 2016
Democratic primaries, it’s hard to be hopeful about a fair process in 2020.
For those who weren’t paying close attention then, here’s a quick run-down
of the anti-Sanders establishment manipulation in 2016
<https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/02/14/timeline-how-the-dnc-manipulated-2016-presidential-race/>.
Sanders had secured electoral victories in 18 state primaries. And yet,
superdelegates across the board awarded a majority, if not all, of their
delegate votes to Hillary Clinton, even in states where Bernie Sanders won
by a landslide! In other words, superdelegates acted as spoilers,
nullifying and defying the electoral results from their own states. The
DNC, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, and the corporate media—who conistently featured
superdelegate tallies
<https://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/03/07/clinton-benefits-us-medias-misleading-reporting-delegate-counts>
alongside
earned delegates—successfully secured
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/06/06/voters-outraged-media-accused-falsely-preemptively-crowning-clinton>
the
nomination for Hillary Clinton, who then turned around and lost to Donald
Trump in the general election
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/11/09/wtf-usa-shock-and-horror-donald-trump-wins-presidency>
.

After the dust settled from this disaster, a class-action lawsuit
<https://observer.com/2017/05/dnc-lawsuit-presidential-primaries-bernie-sanders-supporters/>
was
filed against the DNC on behalf of millions of Sanders supporters who
financially backed his campaign, and who expected the DNC to administer a
fair, impartial and democratic process. Plaintiffs accused the DNC of
rigging the primaries: of violating of their own charter in regards to
ensuring neutrality. The corruption was rampant: The Hillary Clinton
Victory Fund paid the DNC $3.3 million
<https://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/clinton-fundraising-leaves-little-for-state-parties-222670>,
effectively merging the two entities. The DNC Chair, Debbie
Wasserman-Schultz
<https://observer.com/2016/07/clinton-rewards-wasserman-schultzs-shady-behavior-with-new-job/>
was
Hillary Clinton’s former campaign manager in 2008. The DNC colluded with
the corporate media
<https://fair.org/home/with-dnc-leaks-former-conspiracy-theory-is-now-true-and-no-big-deal/>
 to smear the Sanders campaign
<https://www.democracynow.org/2016/7/25/exclusive_wikileaks_julian_assange_on_releasing>
all
throughout the primaries. And yet, the class-action lawsuit was dismissed
<https://observer.com/2017/08/court-admits-dnc-and-debbie-wasserman-schulz-rigged-primaries-against-sanders/>
after
several months of litigation.

This last November, multi-billionaire Michael Bloomberg “donated” a
combined $800,000 to the DNC and 44 states
<https://nypost.com/2020/01/29/bloomberg-gave-800k-to-democratic-party-during-campaign-launch/>,
when he announced his bid for president. Since then, he has poured $400
million
<https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2020/02/19/bloombergs-poll-numbers-show-the-power-of-billionaire-narrative-control/?fbclid=IwAR2WqoKBXnp5NA2cPlCZbtQ5RjNgBDcOMt2gJ4PS2YR3VXxjyC6L-gXUAhA>
into
broadcast, radio and cable ads, $42 million into Facebook ads, and $36
million on Google ads for his campaign. He’s spent about half-a-billion
dollars in three months, and it’s just the beginning of his campaign. In
this same time period, he has risen from four percent to 20 percent
<https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2020/02/19/bloombergs-poll-numbers-show-the-power-of-billionaire-narrative-control/?fbclid=IwAR3-jxbUx8D73SM1cYC7ZViyrC8G9WSdVq9szIhCcSVnuPn2CkRdMEv0RP4>
in
the polls, even though he hasn’t been on the ballot or even participating
in the debates, until February of this year. It’s incredible to witness the
sheer power he has in manipulating public opinion simply by dropping
millions of dollars on an election.

"This isn’t about who your favorite candidate is anymore (if it ever was).
It’s about voting for, or against, the oligarchic takeover of the
Democratic Party and the end of electoral democracy in this country."

Most people still have a hard time comprehending the scale of Bloomberg’s
wealth. His net worth of $62.8 billion is more than 20 times the net worth
of President Trump.
<https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/02/bloomberg-wealth-compared-trump-democrat-candidates/>
It
dwarfs the net worth of all the other Democratic presidential candidates
combined, including Tom Steyer, whose $1.6 billion is a pittance compared
to Bloomberg’s wealth.

Many progressives are hoping that Bloomberg’s lengthy and atrocious policy
record will trump the power of his money for most voters: his overtly
racist stop-and-frisk program
<https://thenorthstar.com/king-voting-for-mike-bloomberg-is-the-line-i-just-cant-cross/?fbclid=IwAR3Hil7lH6-btNatrAiri_CTEK1xKyCGQSUXDagCAVX1-sVAM7ZVvlzxVtY>,
his NYPD Muslim surveillance program
<https://theintercept.com/2020/02/19/mike-bloomberg-ran-stasi-style-police-and-surveillance-operations-against-muslim-americans/>,
his dozens of sexual harassment allegations
<https://www.gq.com/story/bloomberg-sexism?fbclid=IwAR2fcDj7lyrAwNTUTW3zl5GmbI6qfuNphExGkKW6Km6CKOUTL1fEL9TzO80>,
etc. Surely the fact that he’s been a registered Republican for most of his
life, someone who has praised redlining, someone who wants to cut basic
government programs like Social Security
<https://theintercept.com/2020/02/19/mike-bloomberg-social-security/?comments=1&menu=1>,
will be enough to offend the majority of Democratic primary voters! But if
this electoral season is teaching us anything, it is showing us that core
democratic values are highly fluid when billionaires pour money into them.

Toward the very end of the Nevada Democratic Debate, *MSNBC*'s Chuck Todd
asked candidates to answer this question quickly: “There’s a very good
chance none of you are going to have enough delegates to the Democratic
National Convention to clinch this nomination. Should the person with the
most delegates at the end of this primary season be the nominee even if
they are short of a majority?”

This one question was perhaps the most critical question of the night.
After the disastrous 2016 primaries, the DNC was pressured into
forming a “Unity
Commission
<https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dnc-unity-reform-commission-2016-presidential-primary_n_5a2c59fbe4b0a290f05145d2>”
as an attempt to negotiate with the angry Sanders campaign surrogates who
felt the process was rigged. This commission was composed of Sanders and
Clinton surrogates. The hope on the Sanders’ side was to reduce the role of
superdelegates
<https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/09/dnc-superdelegates-unity-commission-288634>—or
get rid of them completely—in future elections. Out of this 2017
Commission, a key compromise was made. The agreement was that in 2020,
superdelegates would no longer be allowed to vote in the first round of the
Democratic primaries. Instead, they would now be restricted to voting only
in the second round, if one Democratic candidate doesn’t secure a clear
majority of pledged delegates (1,991, or just over 50 percent of the
total). In the second round, all 3,979 delegates will be free to vote for
any candidate they choose.
<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/22/us/politics/democratic-primary-dnc-superdelegates.html>
Even
former pledged candidates are allowed to change their votes.

It’s one thing to require a 51-percent majority to secure a party
nomination when there are two candidates. It’s quite another to require a
51-percent majority when there are eight candidates still in the race! With
such a huge pool of Democratic candidates dividing the vote, it will be a
huge challenge for any one candidate to reach a 51-percent threshold. And
if no one can, then we move to a brokered convention in July, according to
DNC rules
<https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/22/us/politics/democratic-primary-dnc-superdelegates.html%5D>,
where superdelegates will again place their hands on the lever.

Who are these superdelegates? Well, there is actually little public
understanding of who they are. We know they are members of the DNC (which
in 2020 includes many fossil fuel and bank lobbyists
<https://truthout.org/articles/top-dnc-committee-is-packed-with-fossil-fuel-and-bank-lobbyists/>),
Congress members, Democratic governors, party insiders and VIPs. They’re
appointed (not elected) by the DNC to protect establishment interests.
They’re not bound to follow the votes of their own states, nor are they
accountable to voters in any way. In essence, they can very easily act as
spoilers. And in interviews, they are currently making open threats to
thwart the will of the people
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/27/youll-see-rebellion-sanders-supporters-denounce-open-threats-superdelegates-steal?fbclid=IwAR1qx6QXOvOgA6DcCrS46cPVPwDsnCpvtlikNVUQICRXps57ijCihc39KeI>
and
block a Bernie Sanders nomination, even if he has a plurality. In addition,
they are being actively courted by Michael Bloomberg
<https://www.democracynow.org/2020/2/17/michael_bloomberg_philanthropic_spending_muting_critics>
.

So in response to Chuck Todd’s question, Biden, Warren, Buttigieg and
Klobuchar all answered “no,” that the candidate with the most votes should
not necessarily be the nominee. The only candidate who answered yes
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/19/sanders-alone-debate-stage-say-candidate-most-votes-should-get-nomination-convention?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR1gaVlVgieaZdlPV9EIJhsJvtP6pF-OZawgNPz36odeTvTMomgcwQtuQuQ>,
that the person with the most votes at the end of the primary season should
win, was Bernie Sanders. This one debate question speaks volumes about each
candidate’s willingness to follow the democratic will of the people,
instead of handing over the power to the superdelegates and the DNC to make
the final decision. This is what’s at stake with a brokered convention.

We’re fighting a class war: *the people vs. the corporate oligarchy*. This
isn’t about who your favorite candidate is anymore (if it ever was). It’s
about voting for, or against, the oligarchic takeover of the Democratic
Party and the end of electoral democracy in this country.

If Bernie Sanders remains as the frontrunner, and the DNC and their
superdelegates nullify and defy the votes of millions of Americans, there
will be political war. And the Democratic Party will longer have any
legitimate base in U.S. society. No longer will there be even a façade of a
party that represents the interests of the working class, the poor, women,
people of color—the majority of this nation. The Democratic Party will be a
sham, an oligarchy, and the plutocratic transition will be complete.

"The stakes couldn't be higher. After four years of Trump, we are in a
moment of national and global emergency as a result of staggering wealth
inequality, institutional racism, political corruption, rising fascism, and
ecological collapse. This election is critical, not just for the future of
the United States, but the future of life on this planet."

We’ve seen what happens when corporate democrats put their hand on the
lever and substitute their establishment candidate in order to protect the
one-percent. Voters stay home on Election Day, and we end up with President
Trump. This is the likely scenario at this very moment, unless one
candidate is somehow able to sweep Super Tuesday, grabbing the overwhelming
majority of state votes and pledged delegates, and someone wins the
nomination in the first round. *Five Thirty Eight* has Sanders with a 50/50
chance
<https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/bernie-sanders-fivethirtyeight-democratic-presidential/2020/02/06/id/953034/>
of
winning in the first round. And so democracy hangs in the balance.

While it’s every candidate’s prerogative to stay in the primary race as
long as possible and capture as many delegates as they can to carry to the
Convention, this strategy of staying in the race is actually increasing the
likelihood of a Trump win in November. None of the candidates, except
Sanders
<https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/483642-poll-trump-edges-out-all-top-2020-democratic-candidates-except-sanders?fbclid=IwAR3mJpQsFa3Osz5ObIWb94Ksa48I9x-0iTKStjuf7D-tT3doeatksOaaLlI>(and
to a lesser extent Biden), consistently beats Trump in a head-to-head
lineup—not Bloomberg, not Buttigieg, not Warren—none of them. Only Bernie
Sanders consistently beats Trump
<https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/483642-poll-trump-edges-out-all-top-2020-democratic-candidates-except-sanders?fbclid=IwAR3mJpQsFa3Osz5ObIWb94Ksa48I9x-0iTKStjuf7D-tT3doeatksOaaLlI>,
especially in key battle ground states.

If these other candidates really cared about defeating Trump, the strategic
thing for them to do now would be to suspend their campaigns and unify
behind the candidate who’s most likely to defeat Trump. But they already
told us where they stand during that Nevada debate and what’s most
important to them.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. After four years of Trump, we are in a
moment of national and global emergency as a result of staggering wealth
inequality, institutional racism, political corruption, rising fascism, and
ecological collapse. This election is critical, not just for the future of
the United States, but the future of life on this planet.

As the street-theater group used to say: “This is class war. And we (the
billionaires) are winning!” With the support of millions of people, Bernie
Sanders is waging an ideological and political war against the billionaires
and corporations that control our politics, our economy, and our entire
society. He’s up against the fossil fuel industry, the private healthcare
industry, Big Pharma, the prison industrial complex, and the military
industrial complex. He’s 78 years old, and he’s carrying the weight of the
world on his back. He’s fighting for us, all of us… and we're fighting for
him.

This is exactly why Sanders is so threatening to the ruling elite. They
keep telling us he’s unelectable, but the truth is he’s the most electable
candidate we have, and the only one likely to beat Donald Trump. So on your
primary election day, let’s do what the one-percent fears most. Let’s show
up in droves. Let’s show up in armies. Let’s bring so many friends and
family to the polls that we break the voting machines. Let’s overwhelm the
system. The ruling class needs to know that we’re coming for them. And this
fight doesn’t stop at the ballot box. Whatever they do to sabotage this
election, this movement will spread like fire because this isn’t about an
election anymore. This is truly the fight for our lives.
<https://www.commondreams.org/author/erin-mccarley>

Erin McCarley <https://www.commondreams.org/author/erin-mccarley> is an
independent photojournalist and writer based in Denver, Colorado. With a
master’s degree in photojournalism from UT Austin, her still photography,
videos and writing have been published by the *Westword*, *teleSUR English*
, *Free Speech TV* in Boulder, CO, *KLRU TV* in Austin, TX,
*CounterPunch*, *Yes!
Magazine*, *The Christian Science Monitor*, the *MIT Press*, the *Ford
Foundation*, *Science Daily*, *The Daily Texan*, and others.

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