Politics used to be boring to write about and after writing straight politics for a couple of elections, many simply burn out. Campaign promises were made that candidates knew would and could never be kept, always dependent on what internal polling told them what to say, who to speak to and what to do, with an electorate acting like mindless sheep and allowing party establishment and the media to tell them who to favor and who to vote for, then the howls of "they didn't keep their promises" all the way until the next election.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
Until this election cycle.................. Enter Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.
It has been liberating to see voters refusing to be led like sheep to the slaughter by the MSM, it has been entertaining to see the party establishment aka the "political class" wringing their hands and chasing their tails, and more importantly it has been enlightening to millions, in both parties, to have the roof of hell ripped off to expose the demonic puppet-masters that have been pulling their strings all these years.
While this is not an endorsement for either man, we do endorse what they have done for and to the political process and how they have awakened millions to the corrupt antics that have dominated the process for so long, so kudos go to both men whether we agree with their stances or not.
BERNIE SANDERS - GAME RIGGED FOR HILLARY CLINTON
Starting with Sanders on the Democratic side, who has risen despite the DNC rigging the game in favor of Clinton and despite the media's constant theme of "Hillary is inevitable."
Bernie Sanders supporters have learned a very harsh lesson after just two primaries, one in Iowa which Hillary Clinton barely won with 49.9 percent to 49.6 percent, and one in New Hampshire where Bernie crushed Hillary by 60.4 percent to 38 percent, yet Hillary took 29 delegates in Iowa to Sanders 21 and they both receieved 15 delegates from New Hampshire....... but the kicker is that Hillary already 394 delegates to Bernie's measley 44, with 4,325 delegates not yet allocated.
A Democratic candidate needs 2,382 to win the party's nomination.
Image screen shot via Bloomberg Politics.
HOW DELEGATE MATH WORKS:
There are 2,472 delegates to the Republican Convention, and almost double that for Democrats: 4,762. A candidate becomes the party’s nominee when he or she secures a majority of delegates.
The parties allocate to each state a number of delegates based on population and a variety of other factors that vary state by state. In most states, candidates win delegates based on the votes they receive in primaries and caucuses. The Democratic Party calls these pledged delegates; Republicans call them bound delegates. These delegates are mainly split between at-large delegates, awarded based on the outcome of the statewide vote, and district-level delegates, determined by vote totals in each of the state’s congressional districts.
The tally also includes Democratic unpledged delegates, also known as superdelegates, and Republican unbound delegates from each state. These are party leaders and elected officials who are free to back any candidate they choose. They are shown on the graphic when they make their preference public and will change if they switch allegiance to another candidate.
Here is why Sanders supporters are up in arms right now over the Sanders NH win that actually won Sanders nothing because Clinton is still ahead:
In the Democratic Party, you’re a superdelegate if you’re a member of the official party apparatus. That includes all current Democratic governors and members of Congress as well as former presidents, former vice presidents, state party chairs, and that sort of thing. In the Democratic Party, superdelegates can vote for whichever candidate they wish regardless of how the state that they come from votes. (Source)
The Democratic party establishment, specifically the superdelegates do not have to abide by the will of the voters and can technically "select" Clinton rather than "elect" a nominee.
DONALD TRUMP - GOP HOISTED BY THEIR OWN PETARD
How does a man who has more money than most of the population sees in a lifetime, in a time when "class warfare" has created divisions across the nation, manage to appeal to almost every demographic of the electorate?
NY Post explains how "Donald Trump has invented a new way to win"
America hasn’t been great for the working class for decades — which is why “Make America Great Again” is a great slogan for a guy who’s talking tough on the problems that blue-collar Americans (and more than a few middle-class folks) see as killing them.
And getting attention — unbelievable attention — even as he breaks all the “establishment” rules.
Because he’s playing and winning by blue-collar rules, and what are you gonna do about it?
Of course, he also has to show he’s for real. Why should these voters trust him? Answering those unspoken doubts is why Trump doubles down on his promises — he’s not just going to build a wall, but make Mexico pay.
First off, it’s funny — always a plus. More, it says he’ll damn well at least get the wall built.
It’s the same for the huge tariffs on Chinese imports and so on: Politicians never deliver everything they promise, but the higher they aim, the more likely you’ll actually get something.
And if you start negotiations with a reasonable offer, you wind up with President Obama’s lousy Iran nuclear deal.
BINGO - Trump rewrote the rules, refused to follow the "unspoken" rules of conduct, of campaigning, of just about everything.
The expression "hoisted by your own petard" means "Injured by the device that you intended to use to injure others," and it is exactly what the GOP establishment has done to themselves.
The difference between Republican "Superdelegates" and Democratic ones is the reason that the GOP party establishment cannot steal the election or rig it the way the Democratics are attempting to do for Clinton against Sanders, without a brokered convention, because as of 2012, "Each state's delegation (other than delegates elected on a primary ballot) is bound by the results of the state's presidential preference vote."
Via Washington Examiner:
That rule was fortified by amendments made at the Republican convention of 2012, ironically to handicap insurgent candidates in the future. It was a response to the phenomenon of Texas Rep. Ron Paul winning nearly all of the delegates in states like Maine, Minnesota and Nevada, in spite of losing wider initial contests in those states.
This year, experts observe, that rule could function in a manner opposite the way it was intended, by preventing party leaders from voting against a candidate of whom they don't approve.
Which is why we are seeing new headlines, such as this one from the Politico, which blares "Campaigns secretly prep for brokered GOP convention."
The primaries and caucuses that dot the nominating calendar and whose results drive headlines will decide whom most delegates are bound to vote for on the first ballot at the Republican National Convention. Should the first ballot fail to produce a nominee, the outcome of the convention will depend on results of the parallel primary now underway for the hearts and minds of delegates.
Emphasis mine and that is important, should Trump not be able to the 1,237 delegates needed to win the GOP nomination on the first ballot at the convention, then the delegates are no longer bound by the results of the state's presidential preference vote, and become no better than the Democratic Superdelegates that can go against the will of their states' voters to "select" the candidate of their choice.
In that article they detail possible behind the scenes scenarios and options as last ditch attempts to prevent Trump from winning the GOP presidential nomination should he continue his massive leads, including the following:
One former RNC chairman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, suggested another soft power that the national party could assert over the outcome. The RNC’s Committee on Arrangements controls the logistics of conventions, including the allocation of staging space for campaigns’ whipping operations. In the heat of a floor fight, such details could become meaningful.
Another former chairman, Michael Steele, thinks that is a very bad idea:
But another former chairman, Michael Steele, warned that any attempt by party insiders to nudge the nomination to a favored candidate would be disastrous. “If they want to monkey around with this process and try to fix it, they’re asking for all hell to break loose,” he said.
“Any inkling that state party officials or national party officials are colluding and conspiring to prevent a particular individual from getting the nomination,” he said, “will basically create Armageddon with the base.”
BOTTOM LINE
As long as the political process is rigged with the corupt party establishment "selecting" our nominees rather than allowing the populace to "elect" them, the political process will always be corrupted by the establishment leaders.
Many believe it is too late to save America and I do not have a crystal ball to predict whether they are right or wrong, but I can say with 100 percent certainty that the process can never be fixed unless the populace understand that it is broken to begin with.
People are awakening to that corruption, refusing to allow themselves to be led like sheep to the slaughter as with previous elections, and whether Sanders or Trump make it to the end or not and become the nominees of their respective parties, they have won in that aspect, because the general population now see very clearly just how broken the system truly is.