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| Merrill |
This is the second time Sanders has run for president,
succumbing the first time to former Secretary of State in the Obama
administration Hillary Clinton and this time to former Obama Vice President Joe
Biden. This, his second and one suspects last run for the presidency – Sanders
is getting on in years -- may be a tragedy to the youth of the nation, who hung
on his every word, but it is a farce for most grownups.
Sanders announced he was leaving the Democrat primary race
on Wednesday, April 8, but his announcement only meant that Sanders was out,
not down. In Connecticut, he may remain on the ballot because under state law,
according to a story in CTMirror,
“Secretary of the State Denise Merrill cannot cancel a primary without the
written permission of candidates who have qualified for the ballot.” Merrill is
yet awaiting permission from Sanders to suspend the costly Democrat
presidential primary.
Even though Sanders has thrown in the sponge, the socialist millionaire still wants to amass a minor fortune in Democrat delegates. Sanders is determined to use his delegates to the Democrat Nominating Convention to bend his party towards a glorious socialist future, and some within the party of Jefferson, Jackson and Bailey are now wondering whether the man ever wanted to be president. There are two broad reasons why men and women of good will enter the Democratic primary presidential lists: 1) to become president and, 2) to make a point. Sanders has now conceded for the second time that he has not enough delegate votes to deny his presidential primary opponent the nomination. Presumably, after the nominating convention, Sanders will throw his support to Biden, as previously he had done with Clinton.
But there is a thorn in the rose bouquet, or the shadow of a
thorn. It’s obvious that Sanders wants to be a commanding presence at the
Democrat nominating convention. Will he withhold an endorsement of Biden if the
Sanders gang is not adequately represented in the nominating convention
plank? If Democrats move to the traditional Democrat center in hopes
of retaining votes in the general election, will Sanders open a campaign as an
independent, socialist candidate for the presidency? Though these questions
have not been asked of Sanders, they begged to be answered, largely because of
the manner in which Sanders has conceded a primary win to Biden. Sanders is
running to score ideological points – and, more importantly, to move his
sluggish party to a socialist position from which it cannot easily withdraw.
Unlike Eugene Debs, for instance, Sanders is not now, and perhaps has never
been, interested in running the country as socialist president.
Sanders’ thumbprint on his party has caused some agita in
Connecticut’s Democrat Party, which has been trending progressive/socialist for
many years. Merrill notes that Sanders has ceded the nomination to Biden. “That
for me,” she has said, “effectively ends the justification for holding a
primary in Connecticut. Now, the results are predetermined. Then comes the
announcement he [Sanders] will remain on the ballot, which hopefully he will
reconsider.”
But acknowledging that he has not enough delegates to win the
nomination does not mean that Sanders has pledged his delegates to Biden. That
could happen at the Democrat nominating convention – if the Democrat platform
incorporates Sanders' ideological predispositions. And if not – well, there’s
the thorn in the rose. It’s altogether possible that Sanders might flee the
convention with his deluges in hand and challenge Biden as an independent
candidate for president in the general election. Progressive ex-president Teddy
Roosevelt did just that when the Republican nominating convention in 1912 gave its presidential endorsement to William Howard Taft. Roosevelt’s defection from
the Republican Party marked the real birth of progressivism in the United
States.
If Sanders is a SERIOUS socialist, why should he not follow
the same course?
Merrill, a faithful Democrat in arms, is justifiably
concerned with the cost to her party of what she regards as an unnecessary
Democrat presidential primary in Connecticut. Someone should tap her on the
shoulder and ask whether she plans to go forward with her decision that forces
a Republican presidential primary in her state -- when only a handful of
left-leaning reporters can name President Donald Trump’s California presidential primary
opponent without consulting their political Cliff Notes.
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