Wednesday, June 8, 2016

REVOLUTION OR COUNTERREVOLUTION?

Bernie Sanders has called for a Revolution in American politics.  I believe that a case can be made that it might have been more precise if he had called for a Counterrevolution.  

Quietly, Republicans started a Revolution, under Reagan, that took over the American grass roots by concentrating on State and local governments, which allowed for voter suppression and gerrymandering that was able to affect national elections, and reached a high point when Republicans were able to effect, what some have called, a coup, which installed George W. Bush as President.  The ineptness of that Administration allowed for the Presidency of  Obama, which was quickly nullified by the elections of 2010 where Obama's counterrevolution was cut short by Republicans, able to use their grass roots clout, as well as apathy of Democrats,  to thwart his major programs.

Historically, top down revolutions, as well as counterrevolutions, just don't work out well.  If only we could harness, Bernie's proven skills, to mobilize  the people, at the grass roots level, we will be able to cleanse ourselves of  the pernicious elements in our society.

3 comments:

  1. The opening statement of the second paragraph summarizes spot on. And, the conclusion on the third paragraph is ... well, the crystal ... as in, perfectly clear. One of the best posts.

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  2. I believe that Bernie has gotten the ball rolling. Since his campaign is funded on the grass roots level rather than by Super PACs, it's fair to claim that he is acting in a "Socially Acceptable" manner. That, in and of itself, is a "Revolutionary" idea for politicians, although I prefer to think of Bernie as a statesman.

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  3. Trump's comment in response to Bernie was "You wanna bet?" That's a typical comment for a casino operator, and par for the proposed Balmedie in Aberdeenshire, Scotland golf course which Trump wanted to build until Scottish farmer Michael Forbes told Trump to " ... take his money and shove it up his arse." Those Scotsmen do have a way with words. But that's a story for another time.

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