It really isn\u2019t about who the candidates are \u2013 hurtful as that may sound to some in our identity-saturated times. It is about what the candidate might try to do once in office. In truth, the very fact that nowadays we are allowed to focus on identity to our heart\u2019s content should be warning enough that the establishment is only too keen for us to exhaust our energies in promoting divisions based on those identities. What concerns it far more is that we might overcome those divisions and unify against it, withdrawing our consent from an establishment committed to endless asset-stripping of our societies and the planet.<\/p>\n
Neither Biden nor Trump will obstruct the establishment, because they are at its very heart. The Republican and Democratic leaderships are there to ensure that, before a candidate gets selected to compete in the parties\u2019 name, he or she has proven they are power-friendly. Two candidates, each vetted for obedience to power.<\/p>\n
Although a pretty face or a way with words are desirable, incapacity and incompetence are no barrier to qualifying, as the two white men groomed by their respective parties demonstrate. Both have proved they will favour the establishment, both will pursue near-enough the same policies<\/a>, both are committed to the status quo, both have demonstrated their indifference to the future of life on Earth. What separates the candidates is not real substance, but presentation styles \u2013 the creation of the appearance of difference, of choice.<\/p>\n The subtle dynamics of how the Democratic nomination race is being rigged are interesting. Especially revealing are the ways the Democratic leadership protects establishment power by policing the terms of debate: what can be said, and what can be thought; who gets to speak and whose voices are misrepresented or demonised. Manipulation of language is key.<\/p>\n As I pointed out in my previous post<\/a>, the establishment’s\u00a0power<\/em> derives from its invisibility. Scrutiny is kryptonite to power.<\/p>\n The only way we can interrogate power is through language, and the only way we can communicate our conclusions to others is through words \u2013 as I am doing right now. And therefore our strength \u2013 our ability to awaken ourselves from the trance of power \u2013 must be subverted by the establishment, transformed into our Achilles\u2019 heel, a weakness.<\/p>\n The treatment of Bernie Sanders and his supporters by the Democratic establishment \u2013 and those who eagerly repeat its talking points \u2013 neatly illustrates how this can be done in manifold ways.<\/p>\n Remember this all started back in 2016, when Sanders committed the unforgivable sin of challenging the Democratic leadership’s right simply to anoint Hillary Clinton as the party’s presidential candidate. In those days, the fault line was obvious and neat: Bernie was a man, Clinton a woman. She would be the first woman president. The only party members who might wish to deny her that historic moment, and back Sanders instead, had to be misogynist men. They were supposedly venting their anti-women grudge against Clinton, who in turn was presented to women as a symbol of their oppression by men.<\/p>\n And so was born a meme: the “Bernie Bros”.\u00a0It rapidly became shorthand for suggesting \u2013 contrary to all evidence<\/a> \u2013 that\u00a0Sanders’ candidacy appealed chiefly to angry, young, entitled white men. In fact, as Sanders’ 2020 run has amply demonstrated, support for him has been more diverse than for the many other Democratic candidates who sought the nomination.<\/p>\n So important what @ewarren<\/a> is saying to @maddow<\/a> about the dangerous, threatening, ugly faction among the Bernie supporters. Sanders either cannot or will not control them. pic.twitter.com\/LYDXlLJ7bi<\/a><\/p>\n — Mia Farrow \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 \ud83c\udf3b\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83d\udc99 (@MiaFarrow) March 6, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/ESYyithWoAAvLll-copy.jpeg\")
\nPolicing the debate<\/h3>\n
\n