As it looks as of 10pm Tuesday night, Bernie is only in the lead in North Dakota. While impressively close to Clinton despite being essentially unknown a year ago, I don't think he quite made up the deficit. While I'd love to see California go for Bernie tonight, realistically, even with a large California win, the popular vote and delegate math (even without superdelegates) are against him. Clinton has more votes and more delegates, and it becomes harder to make a case for Bernie. On the face of it, it seems to subvert the will of the people.
Don't get me wrong, this election has been FULL of suspicious events: starting from the very first coin flips in Iowa, we knew this would be quite an election. Since then, we've had many states be very close calls, only after polling locations were closed and Bill Clinton suddenly decided to visit precincts, snarling voters in long lines. We've seen Arizona and other states close polling locations and run out of ballots. We've seen states move polling locations last minute. We've seen the number of debates restricted, with debates being late on Saturdays when less people are able to tune in. We've seen state conventions like Nevada attempt to suppress dissent with false voice votes, and a resulting media frenzy trying to make Bernie supporters look bad. We've seen the media declare a primary winner the night before the last major primary, when there was no reason or indication to do so.
It's entirely reasonable to be angry at the process. At the very least, our presidential voting process is confusing and needs serious reform. Increasingly, these events point to conscious attempts to manipulate the vote, but without more specific evidence, not much can be done.
But it is also clear that Bernie's preferred method -- changing the system from within -- isn't going to work, certainly not this election cycle. Aside from the allegations of vote manipulation, the Democratic party no longer represents a very large part of the population, and honestly, neither major party represents a large part of the country. Half of the country in not affiliated with a party, and the primary process for both Republicans and Democrats essentially leaves out half of the country. That isn't acceptable and needs to be changed. While the Republican agenda is one of obstruction, hate, and fear, the Democratic agenda is supporting their corporate donors. True, the Democrats aren't pushing for discrimination like Republicans, but they're also ignoring the economic plight of many Americans. For evidence, see how hard Hillary Clinton hit Bernie's proposals that used to be staples of the Democratic party: universal healthcare, universal free education (college, in this case), living wages, etc. Private insurance companies, banks, and large corporations all fight these proposals, and Democratic party officials like Clinton tend to side with them.
If we want to really make this country move in a Progressive direction, I don't believe we will get there with Republicans or Democrats. We need a new party for the people. A new party for the Progressives in the Democratic party that are disillusioned, and the progressive-minded independents out there that probably form a voting bloc at least as big as the Democratic party itself. If we unite under a true progressive party, we're the majority, and we win.
While we could form a new party, there might not be a need. The Green Party of the US already holds most of Bernie's positions: fight global warming, create jobs with clean energy, forgive student debt, make universal healthcare. Dr. Jill Stein, Green Party nominee from 2012 and candidate in 2016, not only holds most of Bernie's positions, but has actively reached out to Bernie for "collaboration".
Bernie, please take up Dr. Stein on her offer, and switch to the Green Party nomination. The revolution you started is big enough to win the general election if we all band together. And even if it wasn't, at least we'd be fighting for our principles, not campaigning for a major party that actively opposes those principles.
