by B. R. GOWANI
From left: Jim Webb, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton (former Secretary of State), Martin O’Malley and Lincoln Chafee on stage in a Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas on Oct. 13, 2015. PHOTO/Joe Raedle, Getty Images/USA Today
When in 1996, billionaire Ross Perot ran again (he was a presidential candidate in 1992 too) for president as a candidate of the Reform Party of the United States of America (RPUSA), which he had founded in 1995, the New York Times supported his inclusion in the presidential debates but Perot couldn’t participate because he was opposed by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). But in 2000, the same New York Times opposed Ralph Nader’s and Pat Buchanan’s participation in the presidential debates because none of the candidates “has yet reached the status of a candidate with demonstrated national support.” The Newspaper, like others from the moneyed class, preferred the two party (Republican and Democratic) system. One can understand the reason: it’s easy to control, bribe, and manipulate two parties as compared to managing and bribing several parties. (In 1996, President Jimmy Carter didn’t join the debate when independent candidate John Anderson was allowed to participate in the debate.)
Times have changed – not because there is more democracy in the US but because the capitalist class feels more secure. The Republican debate saw almost one and a half dozen candidates on stage in two sessions. The Democratic presidential debate this week had five candidates on stage. Of course, Hillary Clinton was there too. Many commentators and pundits declared her the winner in the debate! The CNN’s own poll showed people overwhelmingly chose Bernie Sanders as the winner.
Another sign of changed times is the very open anger of US Senator Bernie Sanders about inequality, incarceration, and unemployment. He also explained his position as a “democratic socialist”:
“And what democratic socialism is about is saying that it is immoral and wrong that the top one-tenth of 1 percent in this country own almost 90 percent — almost — own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. That it is wrong, today, in a rigged economy, that 57 percent of all new income is going to the top 1 percent.”
“Today in America, we have more people in jail than any other country on Earth. African-American youth unemployment is 51 percent. Hispanic youth unemployment is 36 percent. It seems to me that instead of building more jails and providing more incarceration, maybe — just maybe — we should be putting money into education and jobs for our kids.”
Sanders defended Hillary when the CNN’s questioner Anderson Cooper asked about Hillary’s use of private email server while she was Secretary of State. One simple reason can be that Sanders didn’t want the debate time to be wasted on email issue and instead wanted it to focus on major issues. Another reason, possibly, is that Sanders has doubts about winning the Democratic nomination and is thinking of joining Clinton cabinet in some capacity.
Now about Hillary winning the debate. Yes, she is the winner for the Democratic Party elites who had doubts about her. She has ruined Vice President Joe Biden’s chances for running as a presidential candidate before even his entry. Just released ad about Biden by his supporters was of course, for Biden, a testing of people’s and Party stalwarts’ mood.
Coming back to Hillary, she is a Queen of Chaos, to borrow the title of Diana Johnstone’s book about her. Just one example: She was in the forefront, along with Susan Rice and Samantha Powers, in removing Muammar Gaddafi and truning Libya into a land of chaos, for no reason. (These ladies dragged President Barack Obama into that war.) Hillary is equally crafty as her husband, former President Bill Clinton (1993-2001). Answering Cooper’s question “who is not a capitalist,” Hillary answered:
“… when I think about capitalism, I think about all the small businesses that were started because we have the opportunity and the freedom in our country for people to do that and to make a good living for themselves and their families.”
This coming from a person who had been on the board of directors of Wal-Mart!
“As a shareholder and director of our company, I’m always proud of Wal-Mart and what we do and the way we do it better than anybody else,”
However, her mouth remained shut when Wal-Mart was waging big campaign against trade unions.
She didn’t respond to one of the candidates’ (Martin O’Malley, former governor of Maryland), accusation:
“You are not for putting a firewall between this speculative, risky shadow banking behavior. I am, and the people of our country need a president who’s on their side, willing to protect the Main Street economy from recklessness on Wall Street.”
What she did instead was to bring up a totally different thing in her defense:
“But I have been on the forefront of dealing with climate change, starting in 2009, when President Obama and I crashed (ph) a meeting with the Chinese and got them to sign up to the first international agreement to combat climate change that they’d ever joined.”
Of course, it’s always easy for the World’s Cop to tame others but almost always impossible to rein in its corporate rogues.
Up until this point in time, warmonger Hillary’s chances of becoming the next US president, and for that matter, the first woman president, are bright. Yes, the news media, particularly the Fox TV, and the Republicans will try to do their best to go after the private email server issue, but it seems Hillary and her husband Bill will, most probably, overcome this hurdle.
Unfortunately, her victory, if she wins, will lead the United States into more wars and more disasters.
B. R. Gowani can be reached at brgowani@hotmail.com