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| Hillary Clinton addresses a Planned Parenthood Action Fund gathering in Washington, June 10, 2016. (Stephen Crowley / The New York Times) |
The debacle that was the 2016 primary season is nearly over, but the primary system itself may have destroyed faith in American democracy. Certainly it has divided the Democratic Party.
The Internet is awash with accusations that the Democratic primary was rigged; anger, confusion, and fault-placing are running wild, and so are the online right-wing "trolls" who feed the fires of discord between the two camps of the Democratic Party through misinformation and divisive invective.
With buyer’s remorse sweeping the GOP, election fraud lawsuits pending, millions of Bernie Sanders supporters crying foul and some vowing "Bernie or Bust," many are even forecasting the breakup of the two-party system.
So where does the truth lie, and where do we go from here? How do we separate malfeasance from propaganda?
The Suppression of Democratic Party Populism
The truth is that the Democratic primary was hobbled at the starting gate by blatant partisanship on behalf of Hillary Clinton by the DNC and the mainstream media.
The heavy-handedness of the Democratic Party elite -- particularly Debbie Wasserman's actions as party chair in restricting debates, followed by her open admission that the purpose of superdelegates is to crush the possibilities of grassroots candidates rising to challenge the party establishment -- was called to account even by Democrats. Telling a passionate, reform-minded populist movement "we’re rigged to suppress you" is not the best way for the head of a party to start an election season. Calls for Wasserman’s removal were not isolated.
The primary process was also one of the most distorted media political events we have witnessed in recent years, with the networks exhibiting an astonishingly destructive lust for profits by handing Donald Trump billions of dollars in free airtime in order to build ratings, even as they deliberately tuned out Sanders’campaign.
The California primary finale provoked ubiquitous outrage as the Associated Press played queen-maker, anointing Clinton the nominee based on secret interviews of the superdelegates, who will not actually cast their votes until the Democratic Convention in July.
Going forward, all candidates and parties have a responsibility to make foundational election reform a central focus of their work.
This move came a day before the last major primary date, possibly suppressing voter turnout in our most populated state where registration had reached record levels. Even the DNC publicly protested what was seen as a pointless slap in the face to the millions of voters who had yet to cast a ballot. Such media interference only fosters overall distrust and the conviction that powerful networks are aligned with Clinton and manipulating in her favor.
It also conjures memories of the 2000 election when Fox News wrongly called the presidential race for George W. Bush in Florida, forcing Al Gore to contest the results. Meanwhile, the press shot him full of "sore loser" arrows, and he eventually rolled over to die quietly. This is presumably what the networks expected of Bernie Sanders.
Yet, the game has changed.
Social Media vs. Corporate Media
For the first time during a national campaign, the full force of online alternative news outlets and social media came to the plate, taking on the powers that be with relentless coverage and viral Facebook and Twitter posts, circumventing the editorial whitewash and blackouts of the corporate press.
When the networks ran with incendiary headlines claiming Sanders supporters had engaged in mass violence at the Nevada Caucus, online journalists and activists outed the story as false. Numerous cell phone videos proved them right.
In truth, that the Bernie Sanders campaign was born and lived at all is due only to his network of web-savvy supporters, sharing documentation of his speeches and actions from the 1960s through his career in office, posting the images from his nascent grassroots campaign, packing halls and overfilling stadiums. All of this was largely ignored by the corporate press, as though his skyrocketing underdog candidacy simply did not exist.
The result of all this manipulation is evident on websites for election integrity, voting rights and third parties which previously could count a few hundred interested supporters. Many find that the number of voters today who believe they are being lied to, and that the electoral system urgently needs reform, are swelling into the thousands.
Millions are registering their disaffection in polls, with 66 percent of the public now saying they distrust the primary system.
Please continue this article here: http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/36408-was-the-democratic-primary-just-manipulated-or-was-it-stolen
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