2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: A slightly more nuanced take on whether Hillary Clinton is "establishment" [View all]dreamnightwind
(4,775 posts)I've long been dismayed at the issues many or even most members of the progressive caucus support, and the progressive caucus is the best of them. The truth is that even they are to some degree in the pocket of forces who don't have our good interests in mind. They, like most other pols, spend more time on the phone asking corporate donors for donations than they spend governing. This is literally true.
Bernie's campaign is a huge step to correct this. Hillary could have run the primary campaign without such donations, since her main opponent was doing so, but that isn't who she is.
We really have to change how we fund our politicians. Legislated or legal change will be hard-fought, it's one of the things to work on and probably the most important, since it will enable all other reforms.
In the meantime, we need to learn to elect candidates who are willing to run crowd-funded campaigns as Sanders is doing. Only then will they be free to represent us rather than wealthy corporate interests.
Aside from that, we're left with choosing the least bought candidates to find anyone who will stand up for our interests, and that is no way to run a country. The least bought, with few exceptions, are still bought.