Hold onto your hats! Everything that you assume about the Upcoming Presidential Election May be Wrong
The DNC May Drive Bobby Kennedy Jr. or Marianne Williamson into an Independent Campaign for President.
With Biden and Trump deadlocked in polls, as the presumptive nominees of their parties, saving Democracy may demand that Kennedy swallow hard and take on the establishment of both parties.
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I’ve been thinking a lot about Daniel Webster lately.
In the back of our minds, most Americans - and especially those of us from New Hampshire and Massachusetts know that Webster was an important force in the struggle to end slavery. In fact, in his time Webster was the most famous elected official in the struggle against slavery. Yet somehow - though Webster was renowned for his booming voice and condemnation of slavery - his voice has been stilled to a shallow echo of itself. In the years since then.
Depending on which historian you consider your “go to” authority you will hear various stories accounting for this. All of them, however, revolve around Daniel Webster’s “about face” on the Fugitive Slave Act.
Several months ago, I interviewed historian and author Joel Richard Paul, author of the recent biography of Webster “Indivisible: Daniel Webster and the Birth of American Nationalism” for The Radical Centrist Podcast” ( link below) Paul argues that, while Webster was strongly opposed to the provisions of the Fugitive Slave Act, he was also deeply concerned that the Union was not strong enough at the time of its passage to win the inevitable Civil War that Webster believed was coming. Webster felt it was imperative that he buy extra time for the Union before war ensued. He knew that agreeing to a compromise that allowed for the Fugitive Slave Act would be a stain on his legacy, even though Lincoln himself agreed to the compromise. It seems that in hindsight, even Webster underestimated how deeply it would cut into his reputation and legacy.
There is a stark, and troubling, parallel between this and the recent behavior of Bernie Sanders.
You perhaps will remember how the Democratic party used every possible means of underhanded and anti-democratic means to deny the nomination to Bernie back in 2016. Many have argued that it was this behavior that ultimately gave us Donald Trump as our President. Though we will never know because there was never a head-to-head election between Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump.
Now, we’ll get back to the Sanders/Webster comparison in just a moment; but first, let’s talk about how the Parties have run roughshod over the process, and more importantly over “we the people”.
Let’s first be clear about the legal authority of the two parties - THEY HAVE NONE.
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For all intents and purposes, they are two corporations, with NO constitutional franchise whatsoever.
Thats right. There is nothing in the constitution or in the main corpus of law, that gives either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party any legal authority. After all remember that George Washington warned us in his farewell address to beware of factions (That is what the parties are after all) as did Madison, Adams and Franklin among many others.
If the Federal or State Governments had not - long ago - surrendered the mechanisms for conducting elections - particularly primary elections - to the two major political parties, candidates vying to be the alternative to the chosen candidates of the power brokers in the Democratic and Republican parties would be able to challenge, in the courts, the banana republic tactics currently infecting our election process, and the Federal and State Governments would NEVER be able to get away with the perversion of the process that both the Republican and Democratic parties are engaged in.
Let’s look at the mess they have created. If the Democratic Party gets their way New Hampshire citizens, who have for 100 years honorably and diligently conducted the first-in-the-nation Presidential Primary, will not only be bypassed by the primary process, but delegates chosen by the people will not be seated at the Party’s Convention and their votes will not be counted.
During the election of 2020 Donald Trump accused Joe Biden of hiding in his basement as a means to avoid accountability. This time, both candidates are hiding and they are using the party’s apparatus to allow them to avoid the voters. All of this is happening at a time when the presumptive nominees of both political parties are individuals who the vast majority of voters do not want running for the office. Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump hover at about 70% of the electorate that wishes they were not the choice in the next election. This does not even begin to address doubts that the public has about Kamala Harris or Trump’s “player to be named later”. Neither political party can claim the high ground when it comes to election shenanigans but for the moment the Democratic Party is the winner in the anti-democratic stakes.
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This week, the Democratic National committee will meet to affirm a new set of “Rules”, nothing with the force of law of course because they have no legal authority. The rules create special categories of delegates that are intended to override and steal the votes from New Hampshire citizens. Joe Biden is expected to “skip” New Hampshire’s primary, but the special delegates to be adopted by the Democratic Party will be able to override any vote of NH citizens. It gives new meaning to the old phrase: “Heads I win. Tails you lose.” Any alternative candidate, no matter how well they do, will find their votes cast for Joe Biden. If you thought the Chicago Convention of 68 was bad, this one could be worse.
Now, back to Bernie. Last week he was asked how he could support this system of alternative delegates that was used against him in 2016. He said that we were in an existential fight for democracy. In other words, to prevent an authoritarian from becoming President, we have to use authoritarian tactics ourselves. Bernie would do well to remember what happened to Webster. By selling his soul, he tanks his legacy.
Notes & Links
Indivisible: Daniel Webster and the Birth of American Nationalism
About Wayne D. King: Author, podcaster, artist, activist, social entrepreneur and recovering politician. A three-term State Senator, 1994 Democratic nominee for Governor. His art (WayneDKing.com) is exhibited nationally in galleries and he has published five books of his images, most recently, "New Hampshire - a Love Story”. His novel "Sacred Trust" a vicarious, high voltage adventure to stop a private powerline as well as the photographic books are available at most local bookstores or on Amazon. He lives on the “Narrows” in Bath, NH at the confluence of the Connecticut and Ammonoosuc Rivers and proudly flies the American, Iroquois and Abenaki Flags. His publishing website is: Anamaki.com.
Podcasts are produced at Anamaki Studios in Bath, NH.
This land lies in N’dakinna, the traditional ancestral homeland of the Abenaki, Sokoki, Koasek, Pemigewasset, Pennacook and Wabanaki Peoples past and present. We acknowledge and honor with gratitude those who have stewarded N’dakinna throughout the generations.
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