Primaries and Caucuses

The voting in the Nevada caucuses has just finished, and citizens who are not confused are simply not aware of what is happening. The journalists are cheerfully reporting opinion polls which contradict reality. Those same journalists are contradicting each other, and they are even contradicting themselves. Perhaps the purpose of the opinion polls is to confuse people. If that is the case, they are doing a fine job.

In the interest of clarifying the situation, we must first explain that there is a difference between primaries and caucuses. Primary elections are run by state and local governments. By contrast, caucuses are private events that are directly run by the political parties themselves. Further, primaries use secret ballots for voting. On the other hand, caucuses are local gatherings of voters who vote at the end of the meeting for a particular candidate. Then it moves to nominating conventions, during which each political party selects a candidate to endorse.

Some states use the primary election process, while other states use the caucuses process. The end result is to determine a certain number of electors for a particular candidate, based on its total number of representatives in Congress. Each elector casts one electoral vote following the general election. There are a total of 538 electoral votes. The candidate that gets more than half, which is of course 270, wins the election. That is the way Trump won the election.

The important thing to remember and to drive home to the members of the public, the working class and the middle class, is that the votes cast during the general election serve basically no purpose. It is only after the general election that the president is elected!

But before the general election the ”powers that be” have placed the primaries and caucuses. These are being presented as an important part of the ”democratic process”. Even though it is something of a farce, it is important to vote, so citizens should be encouraged to cast their ballots.

The polls opened early in the state of Nevada, and the early voting was most impressive. Apparently it was a record turn out. This is an indication of the strength of the revolutionary movement, which is clearly broad and deep.

The press is reporting a shortage of volunteers at the voting booths. All candidates can afford to spend millions on campaign financing, in some cases tens and even hundreds of millions. Yet those same candidates expect workers to volunteer their time, to work at the voting booths, probably with little or no training, and do a professional job. When this does not happen, as the gong show in Iowa clearly proves, the candidates complain bitterly. Perhaps it should be suggested, to the candidates, that they should work at the booths and show people how to do a proper job! For that matter, I suppose it never occurred to them to pay those people who are performing their democratic duty.

Now that Sanders has officially been declared the winner of the Nevada caucus, the journalists are not at all happy. They are now being forced to face the fact that the Sanders campaign is gaining momentum. People across the country are becoming excited about the idea of having a socialist president. Sanders is now a force with which they have to face.

As there is a crowded field of candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination, it is doubtful that any one candidate will win a majority of delegates needed to win, at the Democratic National Convention. The candidates who wins a certain minimum amount of votes in each state will secure a number of delegates to vote for that candidate at the Democratic National Convention. At least, that is the best I can gather. If no one candidate has a majority of delegates, then a second round of voting will take place and the ”Super Delegates” will be allowed to cast their vote. No one quite knows just how these people are selected, probably by the party bosses. Certainly the American voters have nothing to say in the manner. The fact remains that these Super Delegates are quite numerous and can easily determine the Democratic candidate for the presidency. American democracy at its finest!

The capitalists and the party bosses within the Democratic Party, the card carrying members of the party, are consoling themselves with the thought of the Super Delegates throwing the nomination to a candidate other than Sanders. The hell with what the voters want!

No doubt the speech Sanders gave immediately after winning the Nevada caucus was cause for concern to the bourgeoisie. He promised to raise the minimum wage to 15 dollars per hour. Also more well paying union jobs, free college tuition, the cancellation of all student loans, housing for the homeless and universal health care. He also promises to challenge the pharmaceutical industry, impose a Wall Street tax, reform the criminal justice system, end private prisons, legalize marijuana, expunge the records of those convicted of possessing marijuana and reform immigration. Then there is his plan to place the country on the road to sustainable energy, away from fossil fuels. As for all the firearm violence, the mass murders, he promises universal background checks and to ban the sale of assault weapons. There will be an end to the current policy of separating babies from their mothers and placing children in jail. Bravo Bernie Sanders!

Each and every one of these promises is completely reasonable, at least from the standpoint of the common people. From the standpoint of the capitalists, the bourgeoisie, each and every one of those promises is completely unreasonable, absolutely out of the question.

This is all the more reason to support Sanders for president. It is clear that the American people have spontaneously gravitated to the Left, towards socialism. That is fine, as far as it goes. Now it is up to conscious people, Marxists, to explain to them that the capitalists will never allow a peaceful transition to socialism. They will do whatever it takes to stop Sanders. In the process, the working people will learn that we are right. The experience will not be a pleasant one. There is simply no other way.

The best way we can support Sanders is by having Americans join the two mainstream political parties. As card carrying members of the parties, they can nominate Sanders for president, as both Democrat and Republican. They can also nominate numerous other Leftist people for offices, on a state and federal level. As well, they can amend the Constitution, by a vote of two thirds of the states, to abolish the Electoral College. There is also the not so little matter of carrying signs and posters which put forward our belief in revolution and scientific socialism. Last but not least, it is absolutely necessary to form a true Marxist Communist Party, separate from our support for Sanders.

It is to be hoped that women and students, those who have proven themselves to be such excellent organizers, will once again come together, as they did at the time of the swearing in of Trump, and get behind Sanders. We want that support to be as broad based as possible. With that in mind, it is further hoped that people will put aside their differences and come together for a common cause.

By contrast, the true Communist Party must be supremely exclusive, composed only of true Marxists, those who endorse the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat. The goal of the Party is to raise the level of awareness of the working class, to prepare them for the revolution and subsequent socialism, in the form of the Dictatorship Of the Proletariat. The most advanced workers will have to be raised to the level of Marxists, true conscious people.

Time is not on our side, as the revolution could break out at any time. As people are now enthusiastic about Sanders, the capitalists may provoke a revolution very soon.

With that in mind, feel free to educate the public with Marxist slogans:

Workers of the World, Unite!

Scientific Socialism!

Dictatorship Of the Proletariat!

Sanders For President!