The Illusion of Democracy in America

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

When US elections are held for high office and key congressional posts, party bosses in cahoots with monied interests decide things, not voters.

It works the same way every time, Super Tuesday results in 14 states the latest example.

According to pre-election polls, Sanders was heavily favored to trounce Biden in most states, especially delegate-rich California and Texas.

Tuesday results turned out otherwise. In three presidential campaigns (1988, 2008, and currently) longtime establishment figure Biden never won a primary election until South Carolina last Saturday.

It came after poor showings in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada, his campaign close to collapsing.

How was it possible to dramatically turn things around overnight, turning near-defeat to frontrunner status in a few days?

The post-Super Tuesday delegate count has him with 566 to Sanders' 501, Warren virtually out of contention with 61, and Tulsi Gabbard with one.

The rest of the Dem starting field dropped out, Bloomberg the latest. Is Warren next?

A Wednesday NewsOne report said the following:

"Elizabeth Warren has reportedly decided to suspend her campaign to be president. It wasn't a question if, but when and how…"

"After such a poor showing during this early primary season, the decision to call it quits was likely not much of a surprise to anyone who's been paying attention to politics."

"What may have been a surprise…was the additional report that Warren's team was colluding with Bernie Sanders to make a dual announcement of ending her campaign along with endorsing his."

On the same day, the Washington Post reported the following:

"Top surrogates and allies of Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are discussing ways for their two camps to unite and push a common liberal agenda, with the expectation that Warren is likely to leave the presidential campaign soon, according to two people familiar with the talks."

"Warren associates and the camp of former vice president Joe Biden also had talks about a potential endorsement if she drops out, according to two people familiar with the conversations," adding:

"(C)onverations…are in an early phase," nothing official so far. Warren's "associates…say she is now looking for the best way to step aside…no certainty she will endorse Sanders or anyone else."

He and Warren reportedly spoke by phone Wednesday, Sanders saying:

"She has not made any decisions as of this point. It is important for all of us, certainly me…to respect the time and the space she needs to make a decision."

Given how poorly she's done so far, polls for upcoming primaries largely showing no improvement, it's likely just a matter of when she drops out and whether she'll endorse Sanders, Biden, or neither aspirant.

Most polls conducted in February through early March showed Sanders leading Biden, other candidates way behind, according to Real Clear Politics.

It suggests that election meddling turned things around for the former vice president, a figure considered "safe," Sanders not "safe" enough — despite going along to get along most often, his rhetoric and voting record world's apart.

How else could he have been elected and reelected to the House and Senate since 1990?

True blue anti-war/progressive Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney overcame huge obstacles to serve six terms as Georgia's 4th district representative (12 years) — before defeated by the power of Big Money, notably from the Israel lobby for her support of long-suffering Palestinians, her opposition to Israeli apartheid.

Rarely ever does someone of her stature serve in Congress, almost never for the duration of her tenure.

What could transform the US into a model society if figures like her got elected in large numbers is prevented by manipulating the process to block it.

That's the American way — hypocrisy, autocracy, and plutocracy from inception, not democracy.

No rule of the people ever existed – governance of, by, and for the privileged few alone at the expense of most others under one-party rule with two right, sharing power by taking turns.

American exceptionalism, moral superiority, and the indispensable state are pure fantasy.

The nation's founders empowered its privilege class to rule – democracy the way it should be an anathema notion throughout US history, at home and abroad, wanting it eliminated wherever it exists.

Each US electoral cycle, names and faces change. Dirty business as usual remains in place, dark forces retaining power — their interests alone served, never the public welfare.

Managed news misinformation and disinformation created a truth emergency gone unaddressed – voters unable to make informed choices from major media coverage.

Democracy in America is for the privileged few alone at the expense of most others, billions of dollars spent each election cycle insuring it.

Digital age technology makes outcomes easier to control. Easily manipulated corporate controlled electronic machines vote, not citizens.

It's why losers can become winners. Was Super Tuesday the latest example? Results diverging from pre-election polls suggest it.

Fantasy democracy over the real thing is why around half the US electorate abstains most often in presidential year voting, larger numbers in midterm elections.

Voter disenfranchisement is rife, independent candidates shut out of the system, unable to compete on a level playing field.

If elections transformed swords into plowshares and changed things to serve all Americans equitably, they'd be banned.

VISIT MY WEBSITE: stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman). Contact at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html