Presidential election started earlier
this time. There has already been two debates; one among Republicans and
another one among Democratic candidates. Republican debate looked more like a
verbal argument than a debate, and candidates made, to put it simply, a mockery
of themselves. The best way to weigh the impact of their debate is to analyze the
result, which put Donald Trump at the top of the table as the most popular
candidate. It is interesting that conservative media tried to discredit Trump
by putting his name with the less known candidates, or not mentioning his name
at all (see http://2016.republican-candidates.org/
and https://www.conservativereview.com/2016-presidential-candidates
for instance). The Democratic debate on the other hand, was more civil, and the
only ones who were prepared and had had campaigned about their plans were
Clinton and Sanders.
Clinton tried (and stressed) to present herself as Progressive,
perhaps to change the hawkish picture people have of her. The women Democrats
supporting her probably don’t mind that. Besides, if any candidate accomplishes
a quarter of his or her promise when elected, that would be a success. Bernie
Sanders however was himself; faithful to his standards and without fear of
losing votes of Moderates and On-The-Middle Democrats. Although Hillary Clinton
attacked him on a few issues, he was respectful of her in not bringing her
history of siding with the big business, which Sanders could certainly find
many instances. Popular polls considered Sanders winning the debate, but the
media announced Clinton performing the best. It is clear why the media would
side with Clinton since Sanders in many occasions, including this debate, attacked
the media as being in the hands of a few large corporations. The moderator had
a few words to say in order to tarnish Sanders image as well. Anderson Cooper
attacked Sanders’ votes on Brady Law, Nicaraguan Sandinista, in addition to mentioning that he had his honeymoon in former Soviet Union. Cooper was
accusing him by reminding people of the “Red Scare”. Needless to say that when
Reagan created Contra Wars in order to overthrow Sandinista in Nicaragua,
Anderson Cooper was working for CIA, an agency most responsible for the bloody
war that Reagan created. Alameda Newspapers, which is owned by the most
Right-Wing media mogul and every publication (local publications) is pretty
much dominated by the most conservative journalists, in one of its titles
claimed: “Candidates Labored to Find Differences”. Considering that every
candidate had his or her own voice in some issues, the largest gaps could be
find between Sanders and others. Clinton has historically been pro big
business, especially in financial sector. The most recognizable of all other
candidates, beside of Sanders and Clinton, was Martin O’Malley. He made a few
good points, but those would not take him far. Looking at Sanders views on
issues reflects a huge difference between him and others. A summary of some of
his views are extracted from one of his campaign pamphlets as follows:
“Major Planks of his Campaign:
·
create jobs and rebuild our infrastructure,
·
raise the minimum wage to $15
·
protect the environment and tackle climate
change
·
establish single-payer health care
·
provide free college tuition
·
reform the immigration and criminal justice
systems and reaffirm our civil rights
·
rely on diplomacy in foreign affairs without
rushing to military action
·
overturn Citizens United to negate money’s
undue influence on our elections.”
However, there were two important statements that he made in his
speech that made his claims more credible. He mentioned in passing that he was
the only candidate among all who was not a millionaire! He also stated that he
did not receive campaign funds from the SuperPAC. In international policies,
however, he follows the line of American greatness, and America remaining the
world leader, by spending massively on military equipment, ammunition, and military
innovations. He attacked Russia for bombing anti-Syrian government groups. Obviously he is still a part of the system, or he would not have been able to rise up
thus far.
Americans are so much disenfranchised with their political system
that the majority of people do not vote. The majority of those who do vote,
either vote on party lines or by making assumptions of who would be the winner.
In this case, poll takers have a big role in collecting votes towards the
candidate of their choice. The reason that Sanders and Trump are the popular
candidates of either party is that they distanced themselves from the
establishment. Sanders appeals to the more educated middle-class, in addition
to economically lower echelon of the population (or progressive 99%), and Trump
appeals to the racist and military type portion of the population (uneducated
99% and some 1% who cannot side with other Republican candidates). The problem
that Sanders has is that most of his supporters do not probably belong to Democratic
Party. However, if Sanders wins the primary, considering all other conditions
remaining the same as they are today, he would be the next president of the US.
