Democratic Primaries

So long as they take the Democratic Party as their chief opponent, they separate themselves from the real stream of political life in our country. The choice is theirs. The left tail of the political bell curve has adopted a futile strategy. They seek to gain influence by demonstrating they cannot be relied on, thinking that in defeat, the Party will turn to them. That is not how it works. Blocs that cannot be relied have no influence, only blocs which can be relied on do, and to make up any deficit, the Party must move to the center for more votes. The strategy is counterproductive, yet for reasons beyond rational analysis, people persist in it. One suspects 'born to lose' is a tattoo with wider application than old biker gangs and such....





"From Bernie’s perspective, dropping out of a race once you have no chance of winning is peculiar behavior that can only be explained by the work of a hidden hand. For most politicians, though, it is actually standard operating procedure. Only Sanders seems to think the normal thing to do once voters have made clear they don’t want to nominate you is to continue campaigning anyway."





"When things are not called by their right names, what is said cannot make sense. When what is said does not make sense, what is planned cannot succeed. When plans do not succeed, people become uneasy. When people are uneasy, punishments do not fit crimes. When punishments do not fit crimes, people cannot know where to put hand or foot."