Will Sanders Seize the Democratic Party?

Sanders is moving the Democratic party even more to the left. How far left? Very left. So much so that the old guard is speaking out against him. That includes Hillary Clinton and James Carville.

They are worried, very worried. Even Tulsi Gabbard worried Clinton. How will the legacy power-brokers in this party deal with Sanders and the likes of Ocasio-Cortez who is trying to build her own cadre of socialist candidates and take over the party? Sanders is the headliner now, but after him there are more such totalitarians lurking.

Sanders is now the clear leader at 48 cents on Predictit. That’s an even money bet. Bloomberg is still rising too; he’s now 22 cents. It’s the historic party controllers and power-brokers versus the progressive/socialist hordes. Count everyone else as defeated. Biden and Buttigieg have had their runs, and they’re over (13 cents and 11 cents, respectively). $1 means certain victory in the nomination.

Sanders isn’t exactly an upheaval in terms of the ever-present socialist thrust of the Democratic party. From that standpoint, Sanders looks like part of a long progression toward broader and deeper progressivism and suppression of freedom in America. However, the progressives have mostly avoided being seen as socialists. They have stayed in the closet until now.

Socialism used to be the kiss of death in America until recently among some of us, younger voters, it is said. It is still the kiss of death. Even among many Democrats, there is latent and silent hostility toward going too far. It’s hard to stamp out the American love of freedom and replace it with socialist nonsense and slogans. Even if a superstructure of institutions hostile to freedom, especially the national security and welfare states, now sits atop our society and political system and even if Americans have been educated and propagandized endlessly, the spirit of the Revolution, the spirit of freedom is largely intact. It needs only be aroused and tapped. In the end, freedom will triumph, but not without a conscious effort that propels a transformation toward freedom and away from our embedded institutions of totalitarianism, fascism and socialism.

Nonetheless, Sanders stands for a huge revolution to seize power both in the Democratic party and in America, where he’s a totalitarian threat.

The only question at this point is whether or not the legacy powers of the party decide (a) to suppress him now, or (b) let him run and be soundly defeated so that they regain and maintain party control. Maybe they’ll execute on both sides of this coin. They can. See the excellent blog of Charles Burris on this score. See also Walter Karp, who explains the collusive and self-serving operation of the powers in the two parties.

Sanders’ lead in the state-by-state tallies is overwhelming right now. Only 6 states in the deepest South remain in Biden’s camp. Every other state (all 44) and even D.C. are being called for Sanders by bettors. Sanders has grass-roots strength among Democrat primary voters.

Can the party bigwigs even engineer a Sanders’ defeat at this point? Is it even feasible? The betting market is saying there’s a 50-50 chance of his defeat, but if so Bloomberg is a 4-1 shot. It’s a coin flip at this instant for Sanders. He doesn’t have it wrapped up. We’re nearing the stretch. Bloomberg represents jockeying to create a foul that makes Sanders lose. But at this point, Sanders looks like the winner.

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10:14 am on February 6, 2020