Bernie Sanders cannot win the Democratic Party’s Presidential nomination without working some behind the scenes magic. But even if he were to swing enough Superdelegates to his side to pass Clinton, wouldn’t he be doing what he claims to hate? His campaign runs on the notion that he will fix the ‘rigged’ political system. But using superdelegates to win would be using the ‘rigged’ system he claims to hate. (Which I truly believe he does hate) I watched his campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, on CNN today speak with Jake Tapper. He was very tense during the interview and seemed to weave his way away from what Tapper was trying to address.
BUT LET’S RECAP FIRST
Currently, Hillary Clinton has 1,812 PLEDGED delegates to Sanders’ 1,521. That’s a huge lead in of itself, considering that there are only so many votes left for the taking. Now, most people know that Clinton and Sanders will more than likely split these remaining votes with one (probably Clinton) getting a little more than the other. But for the purpose, let’s say Sanders gets most of the delegates. Even then, he’d be short of the 2,383 needed to win the nomination outright.[1]
But let’s get back to reality now. Sanders, in his perfect world, may grab 60% of these votes, which would leave Clinton with 40% and a total of that exceeds Sanders’, which would still give her the popular vote by the way. Both would be short but we haven’t even scratched the surface of the Superdelegates. And before anyone tries to scream at me and bring up the notion that Superdelegates are a trick by party leaders to control who wins the election… you’re absolutely right. The Democratic Party is corrupt and uses flimsy rules to get the nominee that their party leaders’ (people they believe actually know what they’re talking about) believe to be the right candidate for their party’s interests.
HOWEVER
This is not the GOVERNMENT being corrupt. This is a PARTY being corrupt and the only people you can blame for continued party corruption are the leaders and members within that party (which means YOU if you’re a registered Democrat.) People have this ridiculous viewpoint that we, the people, are only allowed to vote for the Republican Asshole or the Democrat Asshole. This is where we are at fault. We can, at any time (election years) end the reign of either of the 2 big parties by simply ignoring them. We continuously get angry about how the wrong people are in power, we forget that we put them in power. If you don’t want your candidate to bend at the whim of the democrats or republicans, don’t vote for a democrat or a republican. Find your guy or gal and run them independent. Yes, it is hard because of the money that these parties have but all it takes is one big upset to set off a chain-reaction. You have to work hard to make change. Sooner or later, the party leaders will step off their thrones, take a look around and adapt to what the people want. For now, though, the system is what it is because they can make it whatever they want. It’s a party, not a governing body. For example, Democrats allowing Independents to vote is completely up to them and if they say no, then it’s no. It’s not corruption, it’s keeping your party closed to members only.
BACK TO BERNIE
So, including these Superdelegates in the mix, Clinton wins the nomination handedly. What Jeff Weaver was trying to articulate today on CNN was that Superdelegates aren’t bound votes and can switch sides all the way up to the convention in July. He’s right about this but at a risky price. Yes, Sanders can still do some work to flip Superdelegates but he can’t do anything to change the popular vote. Hillary Clinton has won almost 13 million votes to date compared to Sanders’ 10 million. There is about a 3 million vote difference between the two of them, so even before you claim voter tampering, go ahead and add a couple hundred thousand votes to Sanders’ score and he still falls well short.[2] For all of the hoorah and chanting Sanders has voiced (to his credit, extremely well) he still has not convinced the voters, the people he so dearly wants to represent, that he’s the right choice.
So we’re at the point now where Bernie can do 1 of 2 things. He can…
1: Accept the Peoples’ wishes, bow out and throw his support behind Clinton to try and beat the Devil incarnate himself, Donald Trump.
OR…
2: Stay in the race, wine and dine Superdelegates and convince enough of them to switch to his side before the convention begins in July.
BUT
If he goes for option 2, then, like I stated at the beginning; isn’t he doing what he hates? Bernie isn’t “Politics as usual” but doing this would be just that. He’d essentially be stealing the election from the people. He would be the party leaders’ new “Golden Ticket” into the White House and slip past Clinton using the votes of Superdelegates who, everyone knows, do not represent the views of the people. It really comes down to what Bernie wants more. If he truly wants to bring down and fix a corrupt party, he should bow out and fight WITH the people to ensure that the next election is not won off of flimsy rules and corrupt party leaders. If he wants to be President more, he should stay in, bend to the will of the party leaders and steal the election away from Hillary Clinton and, in a sense, the majority of the Democratic Party voters who chose Clinton.
I hope he goes with option 1. As much as I despise Hillary Clinton; fixing the party system is WAY more important than making sure Clinton stays out of the White House. Bernie’s passion and his ability to arouse the passion of the people is essential in getting the party system fixed and ensuring that the voting returns to the people and our elected officials bend to our whim, not some rich schmucks who declared themselves “Party Leaders”.
*And again, do your research on other parties. Gary Johnson was just nominated as the Libertarian candidate. He’s much better than either Clinton or Trump, in my unprofessional opinion. We don’t have to choose Democrat or Republican if there’s a better choice out there.*
[1] http://www.270towin.com/2016-democratic-nomination/
[2] http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/democratic_vote_count.html
Young Politics 2016 