Day 2

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The second day of the Democratic National Convention was a little less interesting than the first day.  The outstanding--for me--features were: the roll call vote for the candidacy, which Hillary Clinton won by a large margin, and a wonderful speech by Bill Clinton.

When Bill Clinton talks, one begins to believe that, (1) given the huge influence that Business has on American culture, society and the American economy, and (2) given the way in which American uniqueness and supremacy dominates American public discourse, and (3) given the way in which hate of Socialism is ingrained into American consciousness and thinking patterns, the future of progress in the US lies with the Democratic Party, at least for the near future.  Anything that seems to suggest communal steering of its objectives is easy to laugh off (e.g., most recently, Healthcare).  It is nothing short of a miracle that Bernie Sanders was able to get as far as he did, and he would have got a lot further, if not for the fact that the Rules of the Democratic National Committee, and its leadership, acting on behalf of the anti-Socialism culture from within, worked actively to sabotage the chances of Bernie Sanders being nominated to be their candidate.

It was sort of a game-theoretic setup.  If Bernie Sanders were to be nominated, the goals of many of the Democrats would be championed by him, but there was a reasonable expectation that Trump would prevail, capitalizing on the "un-American" philosophies of the Sanders platform.  Championing the underdog, uplifting the poor, allowing the same freedoms to people of alternate lifestyles and for people of the wrong ethnicity as those allowed to the majority white "Christians", these were all horrible things to suggest.  Free education for the poor?  (Doom our poor white kids to be in classrooms way past the tenth grade?  Why would they want that?)  The world does not realize that the population in parts of America is far more ignorant than the vast majority of the population of the earth.  It is an American's right to remain ignorant, and to believe in fairy-tales, even if the rest of the world believes in a secular explanation of the universe.

The most interesting aspect of Bill Clinton's address, describing in far greater detail than anyone had thus far done, the history of Hillary Clinton's involvement in public welfare (in the broad sense) was when he summarized at the end.  He observed that it was difficult to reconcile the person he had just described, and the person reviled in the Republican Convention, and on the Republican campaign.  Yes, it was, and one of those Hillary Clintons was real, and one was made up.  It is amazing how much personal hostility the Republicans have against the Clintons; it is as if they recognized that the Clintons were a greater threat to the Republican Party than had ever existed before.  A conservative columnist, on behalf of the Republican machine, actually crafted, and the Republican Party polished the myth of the Clintons as liars and perjurers, deceitful and unreliable.  Numerous specific charges of lying were leveled at them, and none of them substantiated--except for one, about an affair with an intern.  (Disingenuous to harp on this by a party in which large numbers have married multiple times, but apparently the crux of the matter had to do with where the affair was conducted, hallowed ground for Republicans, apparently.)

The Democrats, at least some of them, should find this difficult to understand.  Why would the Clintons be considered so dangerous?  They are moderates; Bernie Sanders's agenda must have left the Clintons horrified.  Nobody knows.

Hillary Clinton seems driven by compassion: bring education to children, bring healthcare to the poor, bring security and safety to women.  She has only come lately to justice.  She is determined, and not angry.  In contrast, Bernie Sanders has been angry, at the economic disparity between the extremes of the economic spectrum, at the disproportionate power wielded by the affluent, the contrast in the opportunities available to the rich versus those available to the poor.  But Hillary Clinton (and Bill Clinton before her) have generated far more anxiety in Conservative hearts than Bernie Sanders ever did.  Bernie Sanders's ideas could, the conservatives must believe, be attacked using the good old standby of being almost communism.  On the other hand the Clintons offer such reasonable, almost business-friendly steps to a better America, that Conservatives really cannot build up steam for a real defense against them, and must resort to manufacturing personal scandals and pretended outrage.  (Make no mistake: the Democrats' outrage against what Donald Trump says is also mostly pretended.  The man has always been crude, and there's just so many times that we can pretend outrage at variations on the same old theme.  My outrage muscles are fatigued beyond imagining.)

The campaign strategy (as many could see months ago) should be one of forcing Hillary Clinton to set aside her tunnel vision, and to make her absorb a little of the anger of the Bernie Sanders campaign.  But it isn't going to happen; once again I see the anger fading, and the complacency returning.

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