http://triblive.com/opinion/salena/9843407-74/sanders-clinton-democrats#axzz3y8OrzLAW Can the clown cars converge on the center-right?
SOMERSET Three cars in a row with Bernie Sanders bumper stickers passed the traffic signal on the old Glades Pike in the center of town. A few Sanders signs marked houses and mobile homes along the 160-mile drive from Pittsburgh to here and back. It's an anecdotal observation, for sure — but you didn't see any Hillary Clinton stickers or signs on the entire rural drive, either. Elections aren't just about comparing which candidate has the most visual energy. But elections are always about contrasting yourself with your opponents; voters want to know what sets you apart from everyone else. Seemingly every headline in the national news, daily if not hourly, is about what Donald Trump said and how his Republican rivals differ with him. It is, quite frankly, astounding that in the other race that has become the Democrats' nomination battle between Vermont socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, no one has asked Clinton to explain how she differs from Sanders' socialist ideology. Not one question, even though Sanders shockingly is the frontrunner and Clinton shockingly isn't in the primary season's first two nominating contests. Is this the case because Trump is sucking all of the oxygen out of the other campaigns? Or is it because Democrats are treated differently by the national media? All fair questions because, goodness knows, if someone was running as an anarchist in the Republican field, Sen. Marco Rubio or Gov. John Kasich certainly would be asked how their views contrast with anarchy. On the Republican side, Trump's worldview is seen through his absoluteness — either everything is going to be fabulous, or someone is a horrible person. His rivals constantly have to contrast themselves with that ridiculousness. Sanders views the world as a connected string of injustices; he believes the country would be better under a socialist government that provides everything for the masses for free and bills the middle class and the wealthy. Clinton doesn't need to critique Sanders' personality — but she has not been pushed to critique his ideology or called upon to declare that her worldview is not the same as his. And, honestly, she couldn't do that anyway. She and the party's establishment are terrified that the Democrats' base has become as crazy as Bernie. She was burned once before by being the second most liberal Democrat in a presidential race – when she ran against Barack Obama in 2008 – and she isn't going to let that happen again. Meanwhile, the national media allows her to get away with such a strategy by not asking what separates her from Sanders. Where are the newspaper columns suggesting that Bernie is dragging Hillary to the left? There aren't any. No one is forcing Clinton to take a more moderate stance because, if she has to pitch as far left as Sanders does to win the nomination, then Democrats certainly will not win the general election with a candidate who campaigned to be more socialist than the socialist. Which leads to an underlying question that is rarely discussed: Have Democrats gone so far left that socialism really is their prevailing view? Is that what is being hidden from the public, by not forcing Clinton to express her true worldview instead of the far-left pitch that Sanders embodies? Certainly the press and pundits are glossing over the possibility that the party's base has embraced the notions that it is OK to be complacent, that government should run everything in our lives, that safe zones are OK to suppress free speech and that government's giant safety-net beats individual creativity or responsibility as incentives to achieve success. Both political parties are realigning and allowing their furthest wings to drive the clown cars. Someone on one political side or the other needs to make the personal sacrifice of their aspirations in order to take a stand where most of America is — slightly center-right and strapped in their seats until Election Day. __._,_.___ ------------------------------ Posted by: "Beowulf" <[email protected]> ------------------------------ Visit Your Group <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/grendelreport/info;_ylc=X3oDMTJmbm81cW0yBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2Z2hwBHN0aW1lAzE0NTM4NTY3Mzg-> [image: Yahoo! 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