Does anybody else feel something like a tectonic shift occurring in the political world right now?

[BigBearJohn]

I don't know how to explain it, but something very heavy seems to be occurring.

Opinions?

[grasswire]

1. Yes, and I'll bet a lot of paid political strategists are up...

...all night tonight trying to discern the path ahead.

[JackRiddler]

3. May they convert instead to human beings.

Is the nicest thing I can say about them. Otherwise, who cares? They are far from the center of this thing, which has no center.

[Kip Humphrey]

13. And I can assure you

They do not have an answer because they will not ask the correct questions because what is happening is outside their experience and imaginings.

[pdsimdars]

23. That great quote - it's hard to understand something when you're paid not to understand it

[dchill]

76. +1

[roguevalley]

118. it's like a candle lit against the darkness by vast numbers who only had their courage and their

Bodies. It began with Arab spring and swept the world. There has been a great awakening of consciousness that can't be turned back or defeated. No way Bernie would have happened without it and a great conscious yearning for freedom.

[jberryhill]

2. Only if you watch media saturation coverage

[JackRiddler]

4. That alone would be a majority, no?

But that's not encompassing what is happening.

[daleanime]

6. Or walk around people during the day....

even those who are never interested in politics know something is happening, everyone is uneasy.

[senz]

5. Yes, growing distrust of the establishment & greater consciousness of a rigged system.

I hear it from commentators and regular people on the left and right and consider it a victory for Bernie.

[ladjf]

69. Good post. nt

[merrily]

7. Positive or negative? Sanders has made positive sea changes. Trump, on the other hand, is

emphasizing and exacerbating the same kind of ugly underbelly that has been on this continent since before 1776.

Bernie's positive sea changes http://www.democraticunderground.com/1280109865

As for Trump, I don't think an explanation is needed. I would not be surprised if we see a surge of neo-Nazis and/or the Klan.

[PatrickforO]

30. It's kind of a contest between good and evil within the same revolution.

Let's hope FERVENTLY that the good wins. Go Bernie!

[Merryland]

55. I know what you mean.

And as John Lennon said, "You know, it's gonna be alright..." (from "Revolution" but you probably knew that...)

[ladjf]

71. Yours is a highly significant point that all need to understand.

The "wood" in our "tree of government" is getting very rotten. The question is which forces will be standing with that rotten tree hits the ground. (This is basically a reiteration of the previous poster stated.)

[socialist_n_TN]

84. My opinion is that history shows during.......

the lead up to revolutionary or even pre-revolutionary time, there is a hollowing out of the political middle to the ends. I think that's what we see happening now, that lead up. That's also why a mass party of labor is so desperately needed. There's no grouping that can give order, strategy, and tactics to the masses that are being radicalized daily. Even if the majority of the mass movement is to the left, that still doesn't mean the right won't win. They WILL win if they are the more organized flank.

There needs to be left organization towards socialist revolution or you will get either fascism or, more likely IMO, Bonapartism.

[merrily]

87. Excellent post. IMO,

union busting was part of the Cold War, as well as part of the war on workers.Union busting was part of the Cold War, as well as part of the war on workers.That said, I am not a fan of using the word "war" for anything but the actual horror it was designed to name.

[PatrickforO]

88. I believe you are right.

We've needed a labor party here for centuries and never developed one. Now we need it more than ever, because if Trump wins we will end up with a fascist gov't.

[wilsonbooks]

8. It's been a long time coming but starting with

Occupy it has been building rapidly. I believe it will sweep the house clean.

[ladjf]

72. Yes.

[OutNow]

9. Bernie has explained how political changes really happen

Real change does not happen because of an election. It happens from the bottom up, not the top down. Significant parts of the population drives change via their involvement in the process; not merely by voting, but by direct action - like the Montgomery bus boycott, the national student strike to end the war in Vietnam, the organizing drives of the CIO in the 1930s, etc, etc.

With the exception of the Occupy movement, we haven't seen real sustained political action for several decades. And the establishment crushed the Occupy movement as fast as possible. Bernie has stated, in almost very speech, that no president, not him or any other candidate, can solve the problems with the current system. His call for a political revolution is serious. His call has been heard by millions of people. This may, indeed, be the start of a shift in politics. Feel the Bern.

[Kittycat]

12. +1

[Merryland]

59. it's the difference between

Hillary's message : "I will fight FOR you"
Bernie's message: "I will fight WITH you. We will fight this together."

[earthside]

80. Very keen observation.

Hillary Clinton is the 'entitled' candidate.

Sen. Sanders is the down in the trenches candidate and has been his whole life.

And in a twisted way, I think this is how a lot of the Trump supporters see Trump, too ... as an individual who is fighting with them.

A lot of people in this country are tired of the style of leadership exemplified by Clinton of being above us and knowing what is best for us.

[marions ghost]

82. excellent differentiation Between Hill and Bernie

---says it all....

[starroute]

86. Comic book fans call it "damseling"

It's when a supposedly strong female character gets reduced to the role of damsel in distress and has to be rescued by the nearest available knight in shining armor.

Hillary gets away with it because she's a woman, so it isn't immediately apparent that she's damseling other women -- but she is. She's saying, "You can't protect yourselves. You need a champion. I will be that champion."

It isn't just women she's applying it to, of course. But that's where it comes out most strongly.

[ladjf]

73. +1

[mia]

10. Can't figure out why I'm suddenly feeling sympathetic toward Trump.

Are the DNC and the RNC somehow working together? Today I early voted for Bernie in Florida. Hope he wins.

[Myrina]

43. ... when you look at tRump & who he represents, it's easy to feel sorry ...

.... they are sad, desperate people with narrow world views, and they feel incredibly threatened because their small ideas are just about out of steam & they don't know how to change. They're operating from close to the lowest steps of the Maslow pyramid - fear and survival.

I feel sorry for people who are stuck in that space because it will eat them from the inside out.

[Fast Walker 52]

45. they are likely the same people whose life expectancy is not going up in this modern world

so, yeah, I can't empathize with them to an extent. But the racism is inexcusable.

[EL34x4]

68. You think everyone at a Trump rally is a

frothing-at-the-mouth racist?

A lot of them are just blue-collar guys who have seen their jobs get sent overseas and believe that neither party gives a shit. They're not there to punch black kids in the face.

Fail to recognize this at your peril.

[marions ghost]

83. I think you're right

we must understand that many Trump supporters are just regular people--but drawn to the more VISIBLE opposition candidate.

Until now, Bernie hasn't been on their radar.

[Myrina]

105. ... did I say anything about the rallies?

Did I use the term "racist" at all?

Please use a little critical thinking rather than a broad brush next time.

Have a nice day.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

117. Many of them are probably paid to attend the rallies

[roguevalley]

119. everyone is looking for salvation from this shit we're in. the less enlightened go for trump but we

As berners spring from the same well. Hrc is the well.

[ladjf]

74. I feel ZERO sympathy for Trump. If he has any saving graces, I'm not aware

what they are. nt

[0rganism]

11. tectonic shift ... that's how i've been describing it lately

we're seeing the Republican party rip itself in two, going to be a party only for socially conservative racists pretty soon, while the bankers and military industrialists are scurrying away from that sinking ship as fast as they can.

[dana_b]

26. which makes the Democratic party

very vulnerable to their influence even more than they already are.

[Chan790]

33. ...except...

the message from the left-base of the Democratic party has been clear...there is no quarter here for those disaffected conservatives or those here that would extend an olive branch to them. They are not welcome, they will never be welcome as they currently are, and those that court them will be driven away. The party is the party of the Democratic base, not the Democratic establishment; likewise the Democratic tent is not a political refugee camp for those fleeing the insanity of the Republican party.

I'm okay with this, honestly. It might be that my mother's side of the family is culturally-middle-eastern (Syrian Catholics of Phoenecian, not Arabic, descent.) and there is a quote of the region regarding negotiations with refugees..."You will become us or you will be slaughtered upon the sands and driven into the sea." (The other part of that side of the family is Cree and if the Native Americans thought more like my Syrian ancestors, we'd all be browner and speaking Algonquian.) It sums up my feelings about DLCers and disaffected Republicans perfectly...sign on the dotted-line for the entirely of the progressive cause without conditions, exceptions or incrementalism; get out; or get driven the fuck out.

If I've ever thought there was a weakness of the left, it was the resistance to taking up metaphorical swords against the pretenders and quislings inside the Democratic tent...that seems to be at an end. It's our party--pain and misery to those that would try to take it from us.

[Fast Walker 52]

47. "The party is the party of the Democratic base"-- really?

That's not my impression. And I think Dems should welcome discontented conservatives to their side. That is how you grow.

[BillZBubb]

62. Not if they are still conservatives and bring that philosophy with them.

If they have truly abandoned brain dead conservatism, yeah they should be welcomed, but if they simply want to push the Democratic party rightward, hell no. That's how we got the DLC and the Third Way--and it has ruined the Democratic party.

[Z_California]

97. That is how you grow...

...into a one-party system.

No thank you, we already have the numbers. Right wingers can form their own new party where they can peddle their trickle-down war mongering bullshit.

[Chan790]

99. Exactly. +1 n/t

[0rganism]

115. agreed - this will be the next phase of political realignment

instead of fielding jerks from the Republican party to lower their taxes and push for more international trade agreements, they'll join the Democrats as the only remaining viable party, leading to a decade of "centrist" Democratic dominance, in which many social gains are made but economic progress stalls out. instead of facing off against mainstream Democrats like HRC, the economic left will be fighting influence from the ex-GOP newcomers.

my crystal ball gets kind of cloudy from here on, a lot depends on the specifics of who pulls the strings and which puppets are suspended therefrom. i could see a scenario where the Democrats are weakened by lower participation from the economic left, but our winner take all system precludes long-term success of 3rd parties. i suspect after a few years the younger generation's bigots will become less dedicated and more accustomed to seeing women and minorities in positions of power, and moderate the new Republicans to re-establish themselves as a major party only slightly to the right of the new Democrats.

[Major Hogwash]

14. Yes, the earth quakes from the steps of Bernie Sanders coming to get you!!!!

To vote for him!!!

[Scootaloo]

15. The deep, festering boil of the right is coming to a head, ready for lancing and drainage

[Old Crow]

28. Ew. (N/T)

[tokenlib]

40. YUP, that sounds like the Third Way/DLC/ Wall Street, and corporate coddling bunch alright..n/t

[Skwmom]

16. I sense a lot of game's afoot to maintain the status quo. n/t

[Arugula Latte]

103. The PTB might be able to pull that off this year, but

I can't help but think they are in for a wake-up call in the next election cycles. More and more people are on to their game and as the young folks age in to the voting process and the Eisenhower generation dies off and social media continues its profound transformations of our society I sincerely hope the DNC will ever be able to shove a horrible DINO candidate like Hillary upon us again.

[AnotherVoter]

17. This ain't your old school one-dimensional game of chess...

Here's an interesting post (with interesting diagram) suggesting that we have left the traditional linear political spectrum. Trump is a wild card (hah).

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/3/10/1498406/-Pivoting-to-the-center-doesn-t-help-if-you-ve-been-surrounded

[dana_b]

27. that's a really interesting read.

thanks for pointing it out.

[sorechasm]

38. Nice diagram. I like the fact that Hillary's policy bubble is completely empty

hoping to absorb whatever policy ploys will get her elected. It's also perfectly centered to spin in any direction.

[Blus4u]

41. I just got back from spending almost an hour

on Subir's article/spectrum graph and resulting comments at the link you provided.

Welcome to DU and thanks for the post.
Your post could certainly serve as a thread starter here.

I found the author, Subir, to be a very patient and engaging fellow as he answered many commenter's questions, and explained his rationale very well.

Peace

[AnotherVoter]

123. Glad you liked it!

Just seeing your message now.

Thanks for the welcome

I also enjoyed the thoughtfulness of that post. It's always good to see in depth posts rather than all of the "hurray for our side" type of stuff.

[VulgarPoet]

18. A hurricane is coming

and when it lands, it'll scatter the chessboard; upend the kings and pawns alike. I can't wait.

[ucrdem]

19. Hurricane Hillary and better batten the hatches. nt

[VulgarPoet]

20. ...Wrong name.

Ew, by the way.

[ucrdem]

21. First woman president. We're losing our collective beans over the prospect.

And that's what this crazy-ass primary is all about.

[Old Crow]

29. Oh, I don't think anyone's losing their beans over the Tulsi Gabbard presidency.

That's a good five to nine years away. Personally, I'm looking forward to it. She's going to be awesome. She'll have some big shoes to fill, but I'm 100% confident she'll be up to it.

[polly7]

37. Zing! I like that. She's great. nt.

[Fast Walker 52]

48. well played

[Old Crow]

92. Thank you!

I meant every word I said, too. As a progressive man, I am eager to see a Madame President--provided she's the right woman. If Tulsi Gabbard is selected to be Bernie's V.P. on the ticket, I will be delighted.

[myrna minx]

31. There are many feminists who would be delighted for a woman President. It's just

that Hillary isn't the choice for a feminist like me. This is something very different. This is a shift away from extreme right and center right policies- making a course correction - back to center left - left. The last 40 years of RW policies has produced too much misery in the lives of average people on both sides.

Sanders' populism is about linking arms and rising together. Trump's populism is about attacking the other and blaming him/her for taking from you. One is hopeful - the other is brownshirt.

For the last 40 years, the Democratic party has ceded the framing of economic policy to the RW and then worked within the best of that offering. That has lead us here. Now there are people in the Democratic party who are pulling away from the RW framing and cleaving a new path and it's resonating with a lot of people. There's much more going on here. The seeds were planted during Occupy and are still bearing fruit.

[Fast Walker 52]

49. yes, I agree.

[noiretextatique]

52. this woman agress eom

[farleftlib]

56. Exactly

Hillary is wrong for America. Period. To try to claim it would be some feminist victory to elect her is to miss the point by miles and miles. A RW hawk in a dress is still a RW hawk.

[marions ghost]

85. well said

totally agree.

Yes it is a seismic shift that has needed to happen for a long time.

Millennials = children of boomers and genx. Thankfully many of them were taught well...

And they want something better than THIS!

[BillZBubb]

67. That's got to be the nuttiest comment of the day.

[ucrdem]

107. Nevertheless Rove and the Kochs are actively supporting Bernie. Not Clinton. LINKS:

Groups backed by Koch brothers sing Bernie Sanders' praises

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/politics/article/Groups-backed-by-Koch-brothers-sing-Sanders-6880281.php

Conservative SuperPAC's Ads Take Aim At Hillary Clinton

The group ran ads branding Bernie Sanders as the only true progressive in the race.

http://www.npr.org/2016/02/26/468216156/conservative-superpacs-ads-take-aim-at-hillary-clinton

[Peace Patriot]

22. I don't use earthquake metaphors lightly--I'm a Californian!

And I think this is even better, for what I feel: A GRAVITATIONAL WAVE--just recently detected. Scientists say it's the most important discovery in human history, though I've yet to find anyone who can explain it to me. Started billions of years ago with the merging of two black holes far, far away, and only just reached our radar last month (where, clever species that we are, we had some SuperDooper Detector Thingee all set up to record it as it rolled on by).

It just occurred to me that the two black holes are what the Democratic and Republican Parties have become since the Reagan junta: merged, and so dense that they emit no light. The space-time wave that this merger sent out was a lo-o-o-o-ong time coming, but its detection by those of us paying attention is momentous! We still don't understand it--none of us do. I don't think even Bernie Sanders and those who urged him to run and helped him plan the campaign understand what has happened.

We are riding a wave that alters space-time itself. It resembles the '60s. It resembles the '30s. It resembles 1776. It resembles slave rebellions from Haiti (1791) all the way back to the Roman Empire. It resembles the Pythagoreans and their tangles with Tyrants in Ancient Greece. And then it hits our detectors and moves right on into the future, where we see a restored democracy in the USA and a restored and recovered Planet, our Mother Earth.

Trump is just an opportunist and an asshole, trying to ride this gravitational wave the way Hitler rode the one in a broken Germany. Bernie Sanders, however, is more like FDR, who took a broken country out of the Great Depression and made it whole again, and far more democratic than it was before.

The gravitational wave that Sanders is riding--no doubt surprising even to himself, but definitely pinging his radar early one (or he wouldn't have declared)--is the NECESSITY for CHANGE felt by so many people in this country in so many ways. Space-time must alter. Things CANNOT continue as they were. We will NOT be sucked back into the double black hole of both parties failing to serve us, both parties betraying us, one with "free trade for the rich" and the other with heinous war. The gravitational wave is us, We the People, who have detected ourselves!

[Waiting For Everyman]

32. That is the coolest post.

I really liked following your thought. I hadn't heard of this wave, I'm going to have to read up on that. It sounds fascinating and at the same time frightening. Two black holes, wow, what could be more apt for the parties?

[Casandia]

35. I recommend two books that helps explain what's going on right now

The first is by Howe and Strauss "The Fourth Turning" which explains how societies go through massive changes every 100 years (much more complicated than this, but you get the idea)

and the other book is The Crash of 2016 by Thom Hartmann. He goes into great detail about our country and the theories of The Fourth Turning. A VERY good read.

[dana_b]

39. wow - what a great analogy

for the parties and I agree that we're in some sort of big change era. Please let us be MOSTLY smart about taking the better way.

[ebayfool]

44. I wish I could rec your post for "SuperDooper Detector Thingee"!

Yeah, Californian here too. Though I'm much more comfortable with earthquakes than just about ANY other natural disaster, like tornadoes, typhoons, etc.

I like your imagery, poetic!

"We are riding a wave that alters space-time itself. It resembles the '60s. It resembles the '30s. It resembles 1776. It resembles slave rebellions from Haiti (1791) all the way back to the Roman Empire. It resembles the Pythagoreans and their tangles with Tyrants in Ancient Greece. And then it hits our detectors and moves right on into the future, where we see a restored democracy in the USA and a restored and recovered Planet, our Mother Earth."

[BigBearJohn]

46. Wow! What you said! You rock!

[Fast Walker 52]

50. Nice analogy!

[Merryland]

63. brilliant, beautiful analysis

BERN BABY BERN!!!!

[socialist_n_TN]

93. Marxists would call those social conditions.........

. Revolutions usually come in waves. The revolutions in 1848 inspired Marx and Engels. Trotsky said that a revolutionary situation is when the rulers can't rule in the way they have and the ruled WON'T be ruled in the same way as they have been ruled.

Thirty-five years of neo-liberal economics and neo-conservative foreign policy have left us all, angry, broke, and exhausted. HRC offers more of the same. She's said it several times, that a Democrat's main job is saving capitalism from itself. But capitalism doesn't WANT to be saved at this time. It'll be around for the next quarter and that's as far as they will look. The entire Republican Party doesn't think that capitalism NEEDS to be saved, so with that group nothing changes except by degree, maybe a little better with HRC and worse by the Republicans. Bernie offers a little more change, but it's more of a nostalgia thing. A return to the capitalism of the post-war era. The problem there is that the conditions that gave rise to that era aren't around anymore. It's not so much that capitalism WON'T go back to that era, it's that they can't.

A revolution sets up a monumental clash of social forces, but that's what's is coming. The question is where will this revolution take us, because it IS open. My personal take is that the masses are heading left, in spite of the Trump phenomena. But a leftward moving population is not enough. These forces have played these games forever. That left populist impulse can be countered by wealth and tighter organization and a dedicated group of the right-wing like the fascists. Fascism is always the last ditch defense by the bourgeoisie.

[dreamnightwind]

120. Great post, but

it is well known the Pythagoreans were triangulators.

I agree entirely with your assessment of what is going on in politics. The corporations have been playing both sides off the other and getting away with it while they rob us blind.

The first response was for people to be so disgusted with both major parties that the majority of them left, just calling themselves "independent" but having no actual role in either party's primaries or decisions, so IMHO that is a disempowering response.

The current response is an attempt to overtake each major party using out-of-the-box leaders to rally behind.

I've always thought that it could break two ways, towards RW authoritarianism or towards an equitable and peaceful democratic society respectful of each person's (and our planet's) needs.

We have, hopefully, a window to do it right. If we don't succeed in getting power back from the oligarchs, the truly ugly authoritarian forces who are also unhappy with the status quo will fill the vacuum.

[billhicks76]

24. Agreed. Revolution Brewing

[dana_b]

25. Yes but it's unnerving because

although I can see a lot of good coming from it, I can see some really tough stuff too. What if it is Bernie vs Trump?? How will the rallies, elections and all that play out? I am actually hoping that either Cruz or Rubio is nominated because I think Trump is too dangerous.

[ladjf]

75. All of the Republican candidates are dangerous. nt

[Waiting For Everyman]

34. Feels like a big black swan coming.

A Nassim Taleb "black swan", that is.

Coincidentally, that's been my family's symbol for going on 600 years, 400 of them in this country (as of 6 years ago).

My ancestor, in the 1470s-80s was the herald (historian/secretary) of brothers Edward IV and Richard III, the last of the House of York of England. He knew a thing or two about tectonic shifts in the political world, no doubt.

Same for the dude some generations later who came here on the ship "Sea Venture" (shipwrecked on Bermuda in a hurricane -- imagine being fortunate enough to hit that tiny unknown island in the middle of the ocean in a hurricane -- with not one life lost out of 150, who then claimed it for a new stock company they formed for it; the whole beach was full of ambergris and apparently he among others became a millionaire back then). After reaching Virginia he survived the Indian Massacre of 1622 and lived to an old age.

So there is bad luck and then there is good luck (and sometimes the two are a little mixed together). Which the black swan will bring next, we'll find out. But sometimes it comes in an incredible way.

As an aside... for all that, you'd think I'd be a great swimmer and/or sailor, right? But no, I am strangely "cursed" -- I never could float (I sink like a rock), and I sink every boat as soon as I get on them (three by now, two of them rather large so I don't try anymore). Weird, huh? It gets weirder yet, the surname of this family is Waters... Waters of the swans... and that was 150 years before Bermuda. Truth is much stranger than fiction.

No reason I'm telling you this particularly, except it seemed to be the right time for a story.

We, all of us, have a story, we all have to have a chance to be what we're meant to be, whatever that is... and that's why Sanders has to win.

Needless to say, I feel a litle invested in this place and I'd like to see it rise from the right-wing ashes of the last 4 decades, and be again what FDR proved it could be.

I
(Btw, no, they didn't have any slaves and they didn't steal any Indian land -- they weren't crooked enough to stay rich very long, but that's ok.)

[renate]

98. that's an incredibly cool background!

Thanks for sharing it!

[Betty Karlson]

36. Long overdue. Bound to happen some time. Please God make it so. eom

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

42. I'll toast that tectonic shift after Bernie wins Ohio.

I'm glad that Camp Clinton is supposedly expecting Bernie to win 3 or so states on Tuesday, and I hope he does perform at least that well. His jobs message should resonate well here, but Clinton has been running vague tv ads here for a few weeks with Morgan Freeman voiceovers, promising to 'break barriers' in her Presidency for 'anyone' who doesn't get paid enough, gets shafted by the system, etc. Vague enough to basically have anyone and everyone feel like she's going to try and help them out, but no actual specifics, because if she did tell people she's championing $12 an hour, they'd ask 'Why not the $15/hr Sanders wants?'. Ditto her half-assed college plans vs Bernie's full-court press for paid public higher education.

[Fast Walker 52]

51. Yes.

[Merryland]

53. yes yes yes yes yes!

Thanks for framing it like that - Bernie is revitalizing & empowering the electorate - it's YUUUUUUUUGE!

[salinsky]

54. Yes ...

... white people are pissed.

Some for the right reasons.

Some for the wrong reasons.

[Karma13612]

57. Yea, I think it has been building and we are reaching a point where

enuf people are becoming acquainted with Bernie's message, while we are seeing Trump self-destruct.

We are uniting, he is dividing.

We are peace, he is violence.

And Hillary is now making more gaffs then zingers, and even her zingers are tone-deaf and doing her more harm than good.

Mind you, I am supporting Bernie, but I don't think I am that wrong.


The only thing I am getting more annoyed about is that there was/is a gigantic time gap between when NY required voters to change registration and the date of the Primary.

Deadline to CHANGE REGISTRATION to Democrat in NY: October 9 2015
Yea, that's right. It was before they even had the first debate.

NY State Primary: April 19th.

Yea, thats right: If you wanted to change party affiliation to Democrat, you had to do it 7 months in advance.
Seven.
True, new voters can register for the first time (and select a party) by March 25th postmark.

So, any Bernie supporters who are now feeling Bern, but might have been Independent or Republican, and didn't change affiliation by October 9th of last year, don't get to vote in the primary coming up in April.

So, as always, it boils down to new voters who get themselves registered as Democrats by the upcoming March Deadline.

If I understand all this correctly.
I think this is so absurd, and frankly reeks of disenfranchisement.

[treestar]

58. No.

Why does everything have to be so dramatic in America? We use those types of words too often.

[berningman]

65. no we cant

[stevenleser]

91. Constitutional rules are what they are. nt

[treestar]

95. we don't have to

there's not going to be any tectonic shifts, just gradual progress. Which is a good thing. Nobody lives through great disruption like might happen to people in other countries where the changes threaten the overall structure.

Our Constitution works, and is good, and most voters know that.

[H2O Man]

60. Yes.

It isn't a shift that took place only in the political world. It is a group consciousness step towards a higher level of common ground.

Since I am only now having my first cup of coffee this morning, I will have difficulty putting it into so many words. But, for older forum members, it may remind them of when as youngsters, they engaged in group activities that included the consumption of mind-altering substances. Then, everything seemed clearer, to fit together, to make sense.

This is a purer shift. No substances needed. Everyone participates in the ceremony.

[Trust Buster]

61. Republicans are screwing up but this is still a center-right country IMO.

.

[ladjf]

70. The Republicans are "bat sh.t crazy". I don't know what the

main stream Democratic Party Establishment is up to. Just continue trying to suck up to the
lobbyist's tit. We are close to having no effective Government at all, only an out of control
Capitalist Mob pillaging our people.

[socialist_n_TN]

100. I disagree that this is a center-right country......

And before you bring up those "self identifying" polls, those are not accurate. The only way to really judge a population's politics is where they stand on issues, NOT what they THINK they are. And on ALL the issue, the US population comes down on the center-left.

[BigBearJohn]

64. See below

[BillZBubb]

66. I wish it were so, but I don't see it.

On the Democratic side, it's business as usual and the center right candidate has the system set up for her nomination. Business as usual.

On the republican side there has been a major change. The two leading candidates are actually saying out loud what the party stands for. That is highly unusual as republicans have been masters of getting across their nativism, racism, and jingoism without vocalizing it directly. That has their party establishment in a tizzy. Their lunacy is out there for all to see and there is nowhere for them to hide.

I suspect after the election we will have a center-right president, a conservative Senate, and a very conservative House. In other words nothing has really changed. The corporatists and the wealthy will still rule the country.

[BigBearJohn]

79. If we spent half the time we waste in discouraging people by explaining to them how it can't be done

and instead focused that energy into figuring out how it CAN be done, we just might actually make it. Our own doubts are often our biggest obstacle to success. If it's gonna be, it's gotta be me.

[Enthusiast]

77. Millions of us now recognize the political establishment does not have our best interests at heart.

We also now recognize the media is united in protecting that status quo, a status quo that is bent on our destruction.

[cantbeserious]

78. ^^^ This ^^^

eom

[questionseverything]

102. the same 1% own the machines that count our votes

and the software that reports our votes

[Enthusiast]

104. Call me a conspiracy theorist but I believe

the shadow government has been interfering with elections worldwide. They have an anti-democratic history that is undeniable. We know for sure about the domestic examples of 2000 and 2004. Any effort that benefits the fossil fuel industry and the war profiteers appears to be acceptable. They killed 58,000 of us in Vietnam for absolutely nothing.

[CanonRay]

81. Yup, no telling where this will all end up

The law of unintended consequences is a harsh one, and there is no plea bargaining.

[LWolf]

89. Yes. nt

[UglyGreed]

90. K/R

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

94. Yes. A large number of people no longer accept that politics-as-usual is indicative of democracy.

And, they see that "bi-partisanship" is all too often a cover for collaboration.

[stevenleser]

96. We had better hope not, since the only massive change possible after this election is to the right.

If Hillary or Bernie are sworn in on January 21st, 2017, the ensuing six years, assuming they are lucky enough to be re-elected, will look a lot like February 2010 through today.

In other words, a slow, messy, contentious slog between a Democratic President and congress featuring at least one branch controlled by Republicans who refuse to pass any of the Democratic President's initiatives. This will have the effect of blunting the enthusiasm of any of the folks who worked to elect that Democratic President.

If a Republican wins the white house, combined with a completely Republican congress they will pass a torrent of very ugly but trans-formative legislation. They will likely replace several Liberal Supreme Court justices with Conservative ones. We will be suffering the after-effects for a minimum of 40-50 years.

[RobinA]

111. I Often Don't

see eye to eye with you, but in this case I think you are absolutely correct.

[JFKDem62]

101. Exactly. Been feeling it for months now. The US is changing dramatically and quickly.

And few seem to see it.

The oligarchy and establishment are losing power.
The people are stepping up.

[RobinA]

110. Then Why

do I keep hearing how the 1% continues to gain power? Something that appears to be true based on my own experience.

[JFKDem62]

113. Both are true and one has led to the other.

The tremendous power/ wealth of the 1%ers is causing a tremendous uprising of the people.

[RobinA]

121. Well, We'll See

I'm not convinced, but I hope you are right.

[Warren DeMontague]

106. The beltway poop-bahs are completely clueless. It's the 21st century and they're acting like its 96.

You see it with something like marijuana legalization; 4 states and counting for recreational use, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz is still out there yammering with "tough on drugs" rhetoric designed to appeal to imaginary soccer moms.

[JFKDem62]

122. The establishment seems to be stuck in a 20th century alternative universe

and are totally totally clueless and amazed that the people have moved to a different world.

[RobinA]

108. Nope

same old same old. The only change is the level of obnoxiousness, but that's been increasing forever, helped out exponentially by the Internet. I see mudslinging, people repeating negative talking points about the candidates they don't like, predictions if imminent collapse of political parties, candidates pretending to be outsiders who have functioned as part of the establishment for their entire adult lives, parsing of every utterance of candidates and then using the most irrelevant gaffe to smear them if they are not one's chosen candidate, distortion of candidates' positions and past positions, predictions of seismic shifts, voters saying they are tired of politics as usual, voters claiming whatever the meme of the week is about their candidate and his/her opponents, no issue debates...and on and on. OK, the debates have become even less substantive than in the past, but that's not tectonic. Couple of candidates from left field who are doing significantly better than originally expected, but that's not really new.

So no, other than the quadrennial increase in the noise and melodrama levels, I'm going to have to go with things are pretty much as usual if you consider that the internet continues to ratchet up the screaming.

[Utopian Leftist]

109. Steven King summed up the current situation quite

nicely this week, I thought.

He said (not exact words, but close) that after having sewed the dragon of political divisiveness for the past 8 years, the Republicans now are astounded to discover that they have in fact created a dragon.

[KoKo]

114. Well Trump certainly is the epitome of that.

They don't know what to do with him...but, think he's still useful before they slay him. Right now they are using him to pick of Sanders claiming that Bernie supporters were responsible for the Chicago Protests that shut down Trumps big Rally.

Trump started attacking Bernie today. Next we know he will be making fun of the size of Bernie's "hands" and calling him "Little Bernie" and whatever other juvenile names and dirty jokes his "Stuck in Jr. High" brain" can come up with.

[AwakeAtLast]

112. Well, let's see

I live in blood red Indiana, where Mike Dunce, I mean, Pence, is Governor.

The only political signs I have seen so far are Bernie signs and I've seen MANY.

[GreatGazoo]

116. yes and it parallels the shift away from big brands

Especially in the food industry big brands have lost value and they are struggling to find their footing as the old world crumbles.

We are entering the age of transparency and many of the old one-to-many models are crumbling as peer-to-peer flattens the world. What started with Howard Dean found success with Obama. Now Sanders seems to be Phase 3.

Sanders has been doing the same thing for 40 years -- which makes him the candidate best suited to transparency. In the old world, the one-to-many media dominated world they could have shut Sanders down. All the crap they are pulling would have worked it's evil magic. But really, after the "Dean Scream" in 2004 it is hard to find an example of the media being successful in their attempts at character assassination.

2004 was the same year that CNN hosted the Swiftboating of Kerry but that didn't stop him the way Dean was stopped. Obama had a rapid response team and used the internet to mobilize and correct MSM memes. Now we have Sanders who is showing us how there are two separate cultures in among voters. The first is the old one, characterized by treating the MSM as the ultimate referee and scoreboard. The second one is characterized by the transparency and instant fact checking of social media.

This is part of the problems for Team Clinton. Their polls don't see us coming because we don't have landlines. Their ads and attacks either don't reach us because we don't have cable or are quickly debunked by social media. In some ways the Sanders Revolution is the overthrow of old media.

And that's huuuuge.