They want democracy dead

Democracy is one of those dangerous words like freedom. More people like the words than like the realities they refer to. Words are more malleable than reality. Words can sort of be what you want them to be, mean what you want them to mean, while reality is just sort of what ever it is. Rather harder to control. Words help. Some.

American democracy. Remember that? That thing we export to go along with all the bombs and bullets. We're happy to shove it down the unwilling throats of the third world victims of our giant fucking war machine, while democracy in America gets drowned in the bathtub. They thought sure they'd killed it.

They almost have. America has become the giant fucking war machine.

“He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.”

Friedrich Nietzsche

“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.”

Voltaire

Corporate interests control everything, and our political system has been corrupted, co-opted and turned into a grotesque caricature of itself.

What the presently entrenched system does perfectly is frustrate the will of the American people. That's why almost nothing good ever comes from our governmental process. That's why congress sucks and progress never happens. Oh, the excuses! Corporate interests are served, the people are stiffed, and all the politicians are left to make excuses to the plebes, make that the rubes, the chumps. It's a giant fucking con game and the American people are the marks.

Study: Congress literally doesn’t care what you think

Have you ever felt like the government doesn’t really care what you think?

Professors Martin Gilens (Princeton University) and Benjamin I. Page (Northwestern University) looked at more than 20 years worth of data to answer a simple question: Does the government represent the people?

Their study took data from nearly 2000 public opinion surveys and compared it to the policies that ended up becoming law. In other words, they compared what the public wanted to what the government actually did. What they found was extremely unsettling: The opinions of 90% of Americans have essentially no impact at all.

This video gives a quick rundown of their findings — it all boils down to one simple graph:

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And now for a glimpse at the brick wall at the back of the theater.

Un-Democratic Party: DNC chair says superdelegates ensure elites don’t have to run “against grassroots activists” Critics say the unelected superdelegate system is rigged. Debbie Wasserman Schultz basically admitted this is true

SNIP

Critics have begun to ask why this undemocratic system exists. CNN’s Jake Tapper posed precisely this question to Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, an ally of Hillary Clinton who co-chaired her former presidential; campaign, in a Feb. 11 interview. She responded with shockingly blunt honesty.

“What do you tell voters who are new to the process who say this makes them feel like it’s all rigged?” Tapper asked the DNC chair.

“Unpledged delegates exist really to make sure that party leaders and elected officials don’t have to be in a position where they are running against grassroots activists,” Wasserman Schultz calmly explained.

God forbid democracy might wake up an bite them in the ass.

Yes, they want to defeat the grassroots because who needs good ideas?

Like democracy.

Or progress.

Or anything but more of the fucking same.

If you’re one of those people who’ve had enough, the grassroots are the heart and soul of America — and our system uses super-delegates to rig the game to keep the grassroots activists from ever fucking changing any damned thing?

That’s a fucked up game.

Is it any wonder that people are pissed?

We're not going to take it anymore. That's what this political revolution is about. We are no longer going to be bound by a system rigged against us. We're going to replace that system with one that is actually just and profoundly biased in favor of the American people and the general welfare.

No more gerrymandered, grid-locked, red-taped, super-delegated, vote manipulated, gamed and rigged anti-democratic bullshit.

Whatever tricks they may pull, this revolution's not going back in the box.

People ask how we’re going to do that, how could we possibly hope to stand up for ourselves? Step 1, elect Bernie Sanders president. Step 2, continue to build the revolution and organize, electing new people in and old people out until change is achieved through a hyper-charged democratic process until a just, sane and peaceful society exists for everyone. This is our shot at something better. Something much better. Radically better. Sometimes radical is a good word.

They tried to dumb us down so they could steal our democracy. But we found/invented the Internet. And the Internet is some strong medicine. There's nothing dumb about us. We homo sapiens sapiens, wise and knowing creatures that we are. 

We have to work on Bernie to make him a better peace candidate but at least we know we have his ear. He’ll at least listen. That he’s not a better peace candidate, other than by comparison, is my only real criticism of him. I don’t mean to diminish it by putting it that way. I think peace should be our number one priority.

At least Bernie is sane about the Military Industrial Complex and the giant waste of money. He genuinely values and honors veterans. He has spoken out against quagmires and war as anything but a last resort. And, while I disagree with him on the issue of continuing the drone war, for example, his judgment about war has in other notable cases proven quite sound, even prescient, in our recent past.

And let no one diminish the profound fact that Bernie saw Iraq for exactly what it was.

Listen to a wise person speak (in 2002).

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I also believe that Bernie is as close to a peace candidate as the present system would tolerate, by quite a long shot, America having been subsumed by its own war machine.

America, the home of the brave, has to be assured that there is a tough guy in charge because we’re so afraid of the world outside our borders. We make enemies when we should be making friends. The people of the world share a lot of common interests. We should start acting like we understand that.

Most of our enemies are imaginary, invented or created by us, a product of xenophobia, militarism and war profiteering run amok. Most people in the world are actually pretty cool. Of course we all have our shortcomings.

Bernie has his head on straight compared to the rest of them. With Bernie in office we can at least work honestly and straightforwardly toward peace, sanity and the common good.

Bernie is the right person for this moment. Especially when you consider his history and authenticity. He represents a rare breed known for their dogged commitment to public service and their integrity — which is an almost impossible thing to maintain in our fucked up money-trough/moshpit/cess-pool of a system.

And the clarity of his vision is remarkable, to say the very least. He’s been saying the same things for forty years. We’re just now catching up to him. Most of us now realize things he’s known for quite a long time. All of his adult life. His commitment to the finest human values has been admirable. A thing of beauty.

This is simple. We need to make big changes. Bernie is that guy.

He understands human priorities.

He understands national priorities.

He understands global priorities.

This is about everything that matters.

We’re not just a campaign, we’re a movement.

We have a real chance to make important long overdue changes now, including facing up to the challenge of climate change. Join us. This revolution is about making things better and not letting a thoroughly and blatantly corrupted system stop us. We’re breaking out of this straitjacket! And yes we fkn can! Bernie is just step one, step two is Bernie’s army.

It’s time to come together as a people and begin to demand that our government and our public servants begin to do the right things for the American people

and quit doing the wrong things for transnational mega-corporations.

The people are rising up. Please join us. This is for America and democracy.

Please reach out and help the rise of the Berniecrats, including our own Angela Marx.

Sanders Democrats for US House & US Senate

Your contribution will be divided evenly between Jesse Smith, Raul Grijalva, Tim Canova, Shawn O'Connor, Alex Law, Peter Jacob, Bill Perkins, Eric Kingson, Janet Garrett, Dimitri Cherny, Thomas Wakely, Mike Manypenny, Tom Breu, John Fetterman, Terence Strait, Keith Ellison, Gary Kroeger, Tom Fiegen, Geoff Young,Kevin Stine, Angela Marx, and Alex Singer.

Best wishes, Angie! We’ve got your back — because we know you have ours.

Our own Wade Norris is another self-avowed Berniecrat (and climate change champion) running for House District 27 out in Colorado. I’ll have more about him in the near future.

No more tricks! Let democracy rule!

Come on up for the rising.

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Those in any party protecting the rigged system, want nothing to do with democracy or fairness or progress or doing the right thing. It’s time for people to quit finding excuses for doing all the wrong things and accepting all the wrong things and start doing all the right things, because they are the right things, and for the love of us all.

What would America be like if we did right by each other?

Where were you during the great political revolution of 2016, grandma?

I was right there, dear. Feelin’ the bern.

This is our chance to make democracy real.

Most likely the last we’ll ever get.

Show LieparDestin and the BNR some love. Donate to Bernie through the BNR.VISIT THE BERNIE NEWS ROUNDUP WEBSITE! SIGN UP, DONATE, VOLUNTEER @BERNIE'S OFFICIAL PAGE. MORE INFORMATION ABOUT BERNIE & THE ISSUES @ FEELTHEBERN.ORG

From the comments, courtesy of 2andfro:

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