In the April 16th issue of the LA Times I was just reading an article by Evan Halper and Matt Pearce, entitled “Angrier Sanders backers oversell message,” describing how superdelegates to the Democratic National Convention were awakened by 2 A.M. phone calls and targeted in social media posts. There was the story of an activist in Chicago who unleashed a movement to “harass” superdelegates backing Clinton, with an online “hit list” complete with delegate phone numbers and some home addresses. Then, in the Wednesday April 27th issue of the LA Times, following the primary elections in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and Rhode Island, there appears to be a new equilibrium in the air. There is an air of inevitability and a new normal that appears to be settling over both major parties.
Everyone knows that Donald Trump won all five primaries, earning the majority of the 172 delegates at stake. But enough of the candidate of the other party! Hillary Clinton’s win in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Delaware on Tuesday, April 26th earned her 90% of the 2,383 delegates needed to clinch the Democratic nomination, according to the Associated Press (AP). Clinton has 2,141 delegates while Sanders has 1,321 according to the AP. Interestingly, this has transformed Bernie Sanders into a candidate influencing the Democratic Party’s agenda rather than winning its presidential nomination. Furthermore, he has reduced his campaign staff by two thirds, according to reports on NPR.
To his credit, Bernie Sanders has been effective in bringing the issue of getting unaccountable money out of politics and giving greater emphasis to closing the gap of inequality into the mainstream consciousness of the Democratic Party. To our credit as Democrats, we have been able to debate the issues and formulate platforms rather than resort to sophomoric name calling and demonizing as the methods of persuasion. Clearly, we appear to be dealing with a consciousness devoted to raising the plight of everyone in contradistinction to an egocentric consciousness that purports to elevate itself by oppressing the rest that it sees as different from itself. How could the latter ever succeed in a democracy where we have had a tradition of looking out for one another? Indeed, in state after state, the platform that concerned itself with the economy, healthcare and terrorism has won consistently over those who were concerned primarily with income inequality as their top issue. In addition, those concerned with gun violence won over those who questioned the right of families of victims to sue the manufacturer of the rifle used in the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
It behooves us all as Democrats to make sure that the progress that President Obama made with the Affordable Care Act are preserved for posterity, along with environmental conservation measures such as rejection of the XL Pipeline to be built from Canada through the Midwest. It is up to all of us to make sure that no American is discriminated against because of their race, religious preference, gender or who they love. There is only one party that will stand up and fight for all of us, the Democratic Party. Let’s make sure we continue to have a Democrat in the White House, come November.