Bernie Sanders
Related: About this forumHillary Clinton’s Support Base as Bogus as US Democracy
Hillary Clintons Support Base as Bogus as US Democracyhttp://www.counterpunch.org/2016/04/22/hillary-clintons-support-base-as-bogus-as-us-democracy/
R. Gino Santa Maria | Shutterstock.com
US elections, despite all the media hype and endless rhetoric about democracy in action, are in fact little more than manufactured political theater. The country that ceaselessly trumpets democratic values and transparency practices neither when it comes to its own elections.
As New Yorkers go to the polls in Democratic and Republican primaries this week, it is critical to once again highlight the myriad ways that democracy in the United States is, like most other things, a commodity to be bought and sold. From corporate control of the infrastructure of elections, to the creation of mass bases of support out of whole cloth, the candidates, as well as the system itself, cannot be trusted to be genuine.
Perhaps nothing illustrates this point more clearly than the results of multiple studies on Hillary Clintons online following which reveal that the majority of her Twitter fans, and indeed her social media following in general, are completely fake. Consider the implications of these findings from StatusPeople.com, and well-respected analytical tool TwitterAudit, which both found that no more than 44 percent of Clintons followers were actually real, active users of Twitter.
This may seem something trivial, but in fact it cuts to the very heart of the notion of democracy, and the legitimacy of a candidate who is perhaps the most obvious embodiment of the political and financial establishment in the US. Indeed, Bernie Sanders, among many others, has correctly noted that Clinton is in many ways the epitome of the ruling elite.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/04/22/hillary-clintons-support-base-as-bogus-as-us-democracy/
malokvale77
(4,879 posts)I've not run across one in the wild.
Baobab
(4,667 posts)even the ones that look real
Are you? Me?
Destroying all semblance of community is what happens.
Everything that gives people joy or especially strength must be co-opted.
malokvale77
(4,879 posts)you post some well researched info.
You know I'm real because I post in the Working Poor group.
dchill
(38,505 posts)As in Chicago, for one.
Joob
(1,065 posts)She probably doesn't know which way to lie when she sleeps.
corkhead
(6,119 posts)Fairgo
(1,571 posts)Better than the 1%, I guess.
SoapBox
(18,791 posts)And just now on NPR (I no longer listen but bit my tongue to hear what they would say)...all about how Bernie needs to "tone it down" and back off of her...
BUT every point they made about him backing off, easing up on her, dropping out...just made the case even LARGER of how he should go on and continue the same.
These talking heads are idiots.
Baobab
(4,667 posts)Being able to blackmail everybody to tell them what to say and do
do what you want.
thereismore
(13,326 posts)There are so few people there it hurts to watch.
RoccoR5955
(12,471 posts)It's Hillary's turn!
Lone_Wolf
(1,603 posts)With the crowds and enthusiasm Bernie is generating, I find it difficult to believe Hillary has more supporters. We know her campaign is:
Manipulating the polls
Suppressing the people who are likely Bernie supporters
Using astroturf to make it look like she has supporters.
This election is being stolen.
eridani
(51,907 posts)But I don't really think of that as the same thing as a support base.