Talking into the Wind

Election season in America. There is nothing like it anywhere in the world. Some, maybe even most, do it better. And surely there are also a lot places that do it worse. But I really doubt that any nation can have such a convoluted, impractical, inconvenient, illogical, costly, undemocratic process of a electing the only nation wide elected office holder.

And we got ourselves a doozie this year. But that is just an observation and not what this blog post is about. However, as you read on, keep that observation in mind.

I am a strong supporter of US Senator Bernie Sanders to be elected President, and so I get to read and talk about his candidacy with many Hillary supporters. A theme that I have heard from these supporters from the earliest days of the campaign has been, that “other people” will not vote for a Socialist so he can’t beat a Republican, and even if he did win, he can’t pass any of his plans because Congress is overflowing with Republicans. The first point is totally irrelevant, since if Socialism is so despised, then how could he win the nomination? And if the fear of Socialism only exists in Republicans, then most of them they are not voting for him anyway, and we all know Republicans would never vote for Hillary. More importantly, Bernie Sanders in all his years in office always worked to promote private enterprise, expansion of Democracy, and using government as the organization to operate certain industries where profit is not in the public benefit. Industries such as schools, health care, and infrastructure projects. These areas have always, since Colonial times been administered, at least partially, as social institutions in the US.

The second point is unique. Because once the point is made that he will not be able to pass any legislation they are in the awkward position of justifying it with outright misinformation. The reason is quite obvious. The point is made under the assumption that Congress will have both houses under Republican control. If that happens, then Congress will block every thing Hillary proposes as well.  We all know the song, it’s been playing almost continuously for 7+ years. Hillary supporters in order to obscure that they raise “Her” above Bernie is to make two (empty) points. First is that Hillary has actually passed legislation, and Bernie has not. Without going into details, that simply is not true.

The second point assumes the first point is correct and is more of a demand. How will he pass his legislation proposals, is the common challenge. One person even asked for a detailed plan. Whether or not the Republicans hold both houses, there will be different players. For example, Harry Reid will not be the Democratic leader. This would be like asking Peyton Manning exactly how will you win the Super Bowl, what plays will you call and who will be your receiver for the winning touchdown. Not the day before the Super Bowl, but at the beginning of pre-season. But when the question is reversed, the answer gets flipped back to “Hillary has a history of getting things done so there is no need to explain it.”

So, in a year when all the assumptions have turned out wrong, we are being told to elect a candidate based on the assumptions that have turned out wrong.