In a previous comment, we suggested that the Electoral College could save the world from a Trump presidency. In this piece, we will suggest that the College could imperil the world by blocking a Bernie Sanders presidency.

We fear that likelihood of the latter is greater than the former. Trump enjoys the backing of the Powers that Be, namely, the wealthy 1% minority that wield awesome power and resources to bend laws and governments and other invisible forces to do its bidding.  

The Powers that Be, their money and influence, were the X Factors in 2000, when the presidency of Al Gore was blocked, despite having won the popular vote, and even though there was mass voting fraud and disenfranchisement by the Powers that Be on behalf of George W. Bush. Indeed, Bush’s presidency would go on to serve the interest of the 1% class, while soiling on the rest of the population.

The Powers that Be have many tricks up their sleeves. Gerrymandering, voter disenfranchisement, Super PAC’s, distortion of facts, shameless dishonesty, media propaganda (compare Sanders’ media air time to Trump in all the major networks), corporate welfare, bribe by lobbyists, Wall Street—these are a few of their tricks, which has been seriously studied and analyzed, and which is widely known to the general public, who often speak of them in casual terms. They have infiltrated the House of Representatives and have sought to sabotage President Obama—especially his initiatives on behalf on the 99%—ever since he was voted into office.    

Like Bush, Trump represents the interest of the 1% minority. Perhaps more so. And this is why it is more likely that a Sanders presidency would be blocked by the Electoral College than a Trump presidency. The Powers that Be would unleash the full measure of their wrath and means, least because Berine Sanders is far more for the people than anyone in the running, more than any politician in recent memory. They are scared of him. And they better be.

The Electoral College could also undo a Sanders presidency in favor of Hillary Clinton. Indeed, the Powers that Be seem to be quietly working in her favor. On all the major networks, not only does Clinton receive more air, but the political commentators featured in them speak far more favorably of the Clinton campaign when weighed against the Sanders campaign. Clinton virtually has the endorsement of all the major politicians in office. It was reported by Democracy Now! that president Obama said in a fundraiser that people should rally behind Clinton. We know that massive voter disenfranchisement occurred in the Arizona and New York primaries, to Clinton’s advantage. In the recent New York contest, 125,000 voters from the Brooklyn county alone were purged from the voting registry, leading to the suspension without pay of New York City’s board of elections comptroller. (Altogether, about 3 million New Yorkers could not vote for Sanders.) And who knows how else the Powers that Be have worked on behalf of Clinton. Time will tell.

Should Sanders emerge as the winner of the popular vote, Sanders is going to need all the support he can get from the 99%, for whose cause he genuinely stands. We mean loud support and sustained pressure by the majority to compel the Electoral College to honor their vote.

Say what you will of Sanders, but if you are of the 99%, his policies would favor you more than any other candidate’s, no matter how anyone tries to argue otherwise. Universal heathcare alone, which other candidates oppose, proves the point. So does tuition-free college. So will the reduction of US military aggression all over the world. A vote against Sanders is a vote against the interest of the 99%. So even if you do not like nor agree with him, he represents you. Genuinely.

The President, to the extent he is able, genuinely tries to represent the 99%. Obama’s background is similar to Sanders in key respects. They were not born rich. Their families are of the working class. They attended public schools. They are racial minorities. These are but a few things that give them the credibility to represent and sympathise with the concerns of the 99%. We cannot say this even of Hillary Clinton, who is of the 1% billionaire class.

Sanders has a real chance of winning the presidency, despite his setback in New York. As such, you better believe that there is a real chance that the Electoral College could rebel against the popular vote majority for Sanders.

The people, the 99%, have so much power that it does not even realize. After the Obama revolution of harnessing the Internet to amass small campaign donations from ordinary Americans, the Powers that Be responded with Citizens United, so that corporations and other stealth money could drown out the small donations of ordinary Americans that out raised John McCain in 2008. Now, the small campaign donations of Bernie Sanders are outdoing the Clinton campaign, in historic numbers still counting. The 99% have a voice too, and they could be a lot louder in opposing the Powers that Be, which has proved very effective in our bid for better environment regulations to avert climate catastrophe (if it is not yet at that point), culminating in the Paris agreement last December.

Therefore, the Sanders people would do well to be ready should he win the popular vote—for the majority’s sake.      

FURTHER READING

Masters of Mankind: Essays and lectures, 1969-2013 (2014) by Noam Chomsky, Haymarket Books