"That's how it goes......"

Senator Bernie Sanders has done what had to be done, in current circumstances, to try to ensure that he and others representing his views will be at the table when important policy decisions are being made. If, by some circumstance that turns out not to be the case, the fact that Sanders ran in this primary, did well, kept his word - hard as that must have been for him, says far more about Senator Sanders than it does about the legion of his sell-out former supporters. They have been cruelly denigrating him, after his endorsement of Hillary Clinton, during past days. So...they now say they are determined to vote for the Green Party's Jill Stein. She can't win, the Party isn't on every state's ballot. Even if, through some amazing circumstance, she had the possibility of a win - would she be allowed to? Really? The same thing, or something far worse, would in all likelihood, happen to Ms Stein as has happened to Bernie : "not allowed".

If only more voters had supported Bernie Sanders, made the primary into an uncontrollable landslide, that could have changed things - made the "not allowed" into "try and stop it now!" The voters didn't do that though...too many remained too blind, or misguided by others, to recognise a good thing when it was right under their noses!

The fault is not in Bernie, the fault is in the USA's culture of fearing anything resembling socialism, and in being duped by neo-liberalism under the label "Democratic". Bernie Sanders' policies hardly resemble socialism anyway, as any expert would confirm. There's paranoia in the USA, paranoia so deep, handed down from McCarthyism and still, in 2016, too many remain unable to see past it.

There has been no proper left-wing politics in the USA for too long. The powers that be prefer it to remain that way, and will make it their business to see that it does. It'll take several more elections, some catastrophic out-turns and drastic events before the truth finally dawns.

The best, fairest and sanest piece, about Senator Sanders, I read at the weekend is by William Rivers Pitt at Smirking Chimp:
The Long Victory of Bernie Sanders


Not forgetting that it's Music Monday:

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows.......

(From Everybody Knows by Leonard Cohen)

Sung by Don Henley