Episodes
Monday Feb 03, 2020
Democratic Primary kicks off in Iowa
Monday Feb 03, 2020
Monday Feb 03, 2020
Here’s what the Corporatocracy is up to today, FEBRUARY 03, 2020. You can visit our website at WakingJustice.org for more details- here are the headlines…
Today is the first day of voting in the democratic primary where democrats vote to decide who they want to run next November in the general election against President Trump. So we thought we’d offer a general primer on how the nominating process is supposed to work, as most voters understand it. And we’ll contrast that with a summary of key revelations over the years that have exposed a vast network of corporate corruption in the democratic primary process– and the democratic party itself.
Whether your personal focus is Social Justice, Democratic Justice, Environmental Justice or Animal Justice– every Global Justice activist should understand the dynamics of power that have corrupted the Democratic Party leadership. Indeed, competent, informed voters understand that the real contest in the democratic primary is not merely among candidates who best represent the issues that they care about; but further, the true contest is between those candidates who want to end party corruption versus those candidates who seek to uphold it.
So maybe the easiest way to understand the true dynamics of power in today’s Democratic Party is to go back to 1992, when Bill Clinton won the democratic primary and went on to win the US Presidency. Before Clinton was elected that year, he was president of the Democratic Leadership Council (or DLC). It was a corporate-funded Think Tank whose mission was to transform the Democratic Party.
Clinton and the DLC called themselves the New Democrats, and their aim was to -quote- “discard the New Deal Policies that had united the middle class” and instead prioritize the interests of -quote- “the professional class” among US multinational corporations – the neoliberal elites...
The DLC and New Democrats were direct descendants of the corporatism and neoliberalism that had emerged in the early 1970s. And that new era of corporatism in the 70s, of course, had risen in response to the “New Left of the 1960s”. Over the ‘60s, the New Left had coalesced into a movement of solidarity among Blacks and middle class Whites— it included the integration of Civil Rights and anti-war activists, environmental activists and anti-corporatists like Ralph Nader. And It had culminated in the idea of a Poor People’s Campaign, originally conceived by Senator Bobby Kennedy and led by Dr. Martin Luther King.
The Poor People’s Campaign was supposed to challenge what Dr. King called -quote “the triplicates of militarism, racism and materialism”; to demand defunding of war-profiteering and neoliberal projects; and to prioritize the funding of anti-poverty programs like education and jobs programs- and guaranteed income, housing and healthcare for all Americans. Sadly, both Dr, King and Senator Kennedy were both assassinated within weeks of the launch of the Poor People’s Campaign.
Before his assination, Senator Kennedy was winning in the 1968 democratic primary. He would have been the democratic challenger to Republican Richard Nixon in the 1968 general election. After Nixon was elected President, he immediately began programs such as his so-called “War on Drugs” to “disrupt” and “vilify” the New Left that had coalesced under Dr. King and Senator Kennedy.
And Nixon appointed corporate attorney Lewis Powell to the Supreme Court. Powell was the author of the now-famous “Powell Memo”. It was a secret memo – and effectively a “Call to Arms” – to key leaders of US corporations to “wage guerilla warfare on the New Left” to protect the interests of BigBusiness. Powell’s Memo is widely credited for inspiring mass investment by US Corporations to develop Washington Think Tanks in the 1970s and 80s. These corporate Think tanks would become incubators for corporate-friendly politicians who would eventually help corporations seize control of both major political parties in the U.S.
This era marks the final chapter of what Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Chris Hedges calls the Corporate Coup D'etat of our democracy. Indeed, one of those corporate-funded Think Tanks was the “Democratic Leadership Council”. It was funded by major corporations like Dupont, Chevron and Koch Industries, among others. And in 1992, Bill Clinton was their hand-picked presidential nominee.
The Clinton administration signalled the takeover of the Democratic Party by corporate elites whose control of the DNC today is stronger than ever. It’s now maintained “behind the scenes” by corporate think tanks like the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) and the Third Way.
If all this sounds like conspiracy theory to you, please be sure to check out the links provided in this article. It’s the truth...
And the corporate takeover of the Democratic party is pretty much the same thing that’s happened in the Republican Party. In fact, Donald Trump ran on his platform to -quote- “drain the swamp” of corporate corruption, but as his voters have now realized (hopefully) is that just like Obama did, Trump has completely sold out his administration to corporate interests. Just like Obama before him, Trump’s administration has now transferred more wealth to the Top 1% (corporate elites) than any president before him.
So in both political parties- these contests are now about sorting out which politicians are aligned in the interests of the 1% versus the 99% – or what’s commonly referred to as -quote- the “Establishment” versus anti-establishment candidates.
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- And in the democratic primary this year, it seems clear that Bernie Sanders, Tulsi Gabbard and Andrew Yang are the anti-establishment candidates. And the top remaining Establishment candidates are Joe Biden, Pete Butegieg, and Amy Klobachar.
- Of course, the other major pro-establishment corporatist is billionaire Mike Bloomberg. But Bloomberg got in late to the race- too late to run in Iowa.
- And as for Elizabeth Warren– she originally entered the race as an anti-establishment progressive, but her honesty and integrity have been questioned during the course of her campaign. As leading indie journo and anti-corporatist Chris Hedges said, “I do not trust Warren completely”
- So, according to the latest polls, the race today in Iowa seems to be a virtual tie between anti-establishment progressive Bernie Sanders and pro-establishment corporatist Joe Biden.
- And in the democratic primary this year, it seems clear that Bernie Sanders, Tulsi Gabbard and Andrew Yang are the anti-establishment candidates. And the top remaining Establishment candidates are Joe Biden, Pete Butegieg, and Amy Klobachar.
Will the corporate establishment try to rig the election against Sanders as it did in 2016? Or will the 99% prevail today in Iowa? We shall see! And going forward on your #DailyWakeUpCall, we’ll focus more on the democratic primary and then the general election. We’ll promote the best indie journos out there who are telling the truth about this whole process. And along the way, we’ll discuss ways that we can all be working together now to ensure that whatever the outcome, we’ll have sufficient leverage against the Corporatocracy to force real change after the election.
Ok, that’ll do it for today. We hope you enjoyed the podcast... If you want to learn more about how all of us in the work of Global Justice can join together in strategic boycott and finally force this corporatocracy to the people’s bargaining table, to end all this injustice and corruption, and to help save our planet– please check out our ABOUT Page and listen to our first podcast. While you’re here, you can also sign up to get your #DailyWakeUpCall– delivered right to your inbox each day. Just fill out the quick form at the Top/Right of our home page. And each morning – by 4:20 AM ✊🏽 – we’ll email you a link and quick description of the podcast for that day. And if you want more info on how you can get involved, you can email us at info@wakingjustice.org. We’d love to hear from you.
We’re running out of time, y’all... Join us... Peace.
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