Why Kamala Harris’ DNC nomination reminds me of the Soviet Union
Last week at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Vice President Kamala Harris officially became the Democratic nominee for US president.
The symbolic and celebratory event — which included a live concert and dance party with rapper Lil Jon — was the culmination of a carefully choreographed, by-the-powers-that-be process unprecedented in American politics.
President Joe Biden was removed from the race, dubiously replaced by Harris to run against GOP nominee Donald Trump.
In an unusual virtual roll call, Harris secured 99% of the participating delegates’ votes — along with hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign funding that donors had contributed to the Biden campaign.
As an immigrant from Soviet Russia, Harris’ nomination is giving me flashbacks to the totalitarian country I left behind.
Back in the USSR, we had no real elections — and ordinary people had no real say in who would govern “Mother Russia.”
State rulers would appear out of nowhere and geriatric General secretaries — such as Nikita Khrushchev or Leonid Brezhnev — simply hand picked their successors.
There were no election campaigns, no party platforms, and no debates.
There was one candidate who represented both the Communist Party and the “nonparty” members and only his name was on the ballot. Citizenry showed up at the polling stations where they were greeted with music, various treats, trinkets and even children’s toys.
Those who ignored their civic duty got a knock on the door by so-called agitators — demanding to know why a Soviet comrade had yet to perform their duty at the ballot box.
Those who failed to appear were punished and labeled “anti-Soviet,” while the number of Soviet citizens who voted never fell below 99%.
And yet somehow, these elections were described as “democratic.”
Decades on, America’s Democrats have clearly borrowed a page from this Soviet playbook.
Although the US is far from communist, the similarities cannot be ignored.
Harris was the only candidate on the Democratic ballot and the DNC restricted delegates from considering other candidates or submitting write-ins.
Harris also has a penchant for Soviet-era governing styles — what with her beliefs that “capitalism isn’t working for everyone” and plans for centralized commodity pricing structures.
Once Biden was sent packing, there were no debates to choose his successors, no primaries or actual voters involved.
All the while, the Pravda-like US media could hardly contain its celebratory ecstasy at Harris’ coronation. Joseph Stalin would be proud.
Biden’s abrupt withdrawal from the race, also smacks of Soviet-style electioneering.
Much like in 1964 — when Khrushchev was replaced by his former protégé Brezhnev following the former’s disastrous handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Much like with Harris, Vladimir Putin’s rise to power was sudden and unforeseeable.
In 1999, then-Russian President Boris Yeltsin resigned unexpectedly on New Year’s Eve, appointing his prime minister, Putin, as acting president.
By resigning, Yeltsin effectively rigged the subsequent 2000 presidential election in Putin’s favor by granting him the advantage of incumbency.
Yeltsin admitted to his trick to former President Bill Clinton — with whom he had a chummy relationship — in a phone call placed on the evening of his resignation, according to recently declassified White House transcripts.
“I have given him [Putin] three months, three months according to the constitution, to work as [acting] president, and people will get used to him for these three months. I am sure that he will be elected,” said Yeltsin to Clinton.
The DNC Convention itself reminded me of the Congresses held by the Soviet Communist Party of the every five years and widely televised on each of the two state television channels.
During the Congress, geriatric Politburo members spoke fierily about progressive democratic policies pursued by the USSR and the oppressive policies of the USA.
They praised Soviet socialism and denigrated America’s capitalism despite the fact that ordinary Russians, visiting a grocery store, often found empty shelves.
Similarly, in Chicago this past week, the DNC Bolsheviks — Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Nancy Pelosi — were pushing the exuberant message of DNC “joy” vs. GOP “anger” as anti-Israel protestors created mayhem outside.
A 78-year old Clinton accused Trump of creating “chaos,” even as crime skyrockets across American cities overwhelmed by the illegal immigration brought to them by Biden and Harris.
Oprah Winfrey on Wednesday, urged voters to “choose common sense over nonsense” — as though it is Republicans, rather than Democrats, claim that transgender children can identify as “minotaurs” or “Tootsie Roll pops.”
Soviet-style “show” elections are not just limited to the Democrats these days.
They’re also a staple of third-world dictatorships, such as Iran and Venezuela.
In July, for instance, Iran held a so-called presidential election following the death of Ebrahim Raisi in May.
A 60-year old reformist lawmaker Masoud Pezeshkian won against the hardline Saeed Jalili, having promised to improve relations with the West.
But the only vote that really mattered was that of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Which is why true reform is highly unlikely.
Meanwhile, Venezuela remains engulfed in massive protests following its own disputed election last month.
Incumbent President Nicolás Maduro refuses to cede power to opposition leader, Edmundo González Urrutia, who international observers say won two-thirds of the vote. The Venezuelan Supreme Court is officially “auditing” the tally.
But like Iran’s Khamenei and the apparatchiks of my Soviet youth, only one candidate had a chance here, Nicolás Maduro.
Seems Harris and her DNC proxies may have been taking notes.
As November edges closer, the display between Biden and Harris is bearing the hallmarks of an emerging totalitarian state.
Is this what America is moving toward? The DNC Convention suggests that we are.
https://nypost.com/2024/08/24/opinion/the-kamala-harris-nomination-feels-like-the-soviet-union/
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