Landslide New Hampshire Primary Results by Stephen Lendman
Iowa caucuses portend little, rarely if ever determining what’s to follow. New Hampshire was the first primary.
It represents state or perhaps New England sentiment, not indicative of upcoming primary results.
Yet it’s significant enough to show Trump and Sanders’ candidacies are real, not flashes in the pan - duopoly power brokers no doubt plotting ways to turn things around for their favorites.
A long, seemingly endless, primary season remains, including so-called super-Tuesday on March 1, concluding in mid-June ahead of summer party conventions.
Republicans hold theirs from July 18 - 21, Democrats from July 25 - 28, each funded by deep- pocketed corporate interests and billionaires.
Sanders and Trump triumphed overwhelmingly in New Hampshire, swamping their rivals - Sanders over Clinton by a 60 - 38.4% margin, Trump besting 2nd place finisher John Kasich by 35.1% to 15.9%.
Iowa winner Ted Cruz slumped to 11.5%. Jeb Bush stayed alive with 11.1%. Marco Rubio registered 10.6%. Results for all other Republican candidates showed too little support to sustain their campaigns much longer.
Next up - the Republican South Carolina primary on February 20. Democrats hold theirs separately on February 27.
Recent polls showed Trump way ahead by a nearly two-to-one margin over Ted Cruz, Clinton swamping Sanders overwhelmingly, the margin varying by individual survey.
Whether New Hampshire results change things remains to be seen. Does it matter? America’s sham money-controlled political process lacks legitimacy, a democracy in name only, too corrupted to fix.
Duopoly power brokers decide things. Proportionally representative (PR) governance is absent. America’s rigged winner-take-all system lacks credibility.
PR represents all voters from all political parties (including independents) proportionally to their electoral strength. If candidates from one party win 30% of the votes, they get 30% of legislative seats. Not in America. Here, 50.1% takes all.
The Electoral College constitutes another systemic flaw. It's fundamentally undemocratic. Bush v. Gore stands out.
Winning a popular mandate doesn't matter - especially when five Supreme Court justices have final say, their choice overriding the electorate.
Sixteen times under Electoral College rules, winning presidential candidates got a minority of votes. Winner take all rules exclude runoffs. Popular favorites lose more times than people realize.
Most often, half the electorate opts out, wanting no part of a system not representing them. Presidents can be elected with as little as one-fourth of the popular vote or less.
Throughout US history, electoral legitimacy was sorely lacking. Today’s sophisticated technology facilitates election-rigging with electronic ease.
Corporate programmed and controlled electronic voting machines decide things, not enfranchised citizens.
Many legitimate voters are stripped from rolls, Blacks and Latinos most affected. Undercounts and overcounts are common.
Media scoundrels report none of this, suppressing what’s most important, perpetuating the fantasy of US democratic elections.
So-called super delegates are another issue, one getting no mainstream coverage. Republican and Democrat power brokers choose them separately from voter preferences.
Out of 2,380 Republican delegates, 153 (6.5) are chosen by party brokers, powerful insiders. Democrats are far worse with 795 (19.6%, including 308 elected officials) out of 4,048 delegates.
Super-delegates are free to support preferred establishment candidates, regardless of popular favorites. Democrats especially can swing things for Clinton if Sanders surprises by getting most primary delegates.
Scores of Republican super delegates could defeat Trump if his current huge lead narrows enough by convention time.
Big money-controlled politics assures corrupted results every time, voters having no say whatever. America’s political system is too dysfunctional to fix, democracy pure fantasy.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."
http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
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