Did 638 People Stop Sanders? The Incredible Stupidity of the Media, the Voters, and the System

News media reporters and political officials have declared that Hillary Clinton’s win in the Nevada caucus represented the death of Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign.  However, looking at the actual vote tallies, we discover that Clinton only beat Sanders by 638 votes.  In a country of over 300 million people, is it possible that so much can be decided by so few?   

It should be clear that our primary system makes a mockery of our democracy as small segments of the population are given the ability to decide the future of the nation.  This unfair and unrepresentative process is then magnified by a news media industry that has little vision, memory, ethics, or rationality.  For the 24-hour corporate news media, every small bit of polling and voting is enlarged and intensified so that it serves as the ruling consensus about the current political order.  Focused on the present with a laser beam of superficiality, these paid actors pretending to be political scientists feed into a social herd mentality. 

Of course, we should not let the public off the hook since ultimately they are responsible for buying into the media stupidity.  In conversation after conversation, I have been shocked to realize how shallow my fellow Americans can be when it comes to understanding our political process and media culture.  The only way that 638 people in Nevada can shape our political future is if we let them. 

Here is a list of very dumb statements from some very “credible” new sources:

“Bernie Sanders’s loss in the Nevada caucuses, 47 percent to 53 percent, reveals a very realweakness of his insurgent challenge to Hillary Clinton.” This is the general establishment narrative that once again is based on an insignificant number of American voters.

“BernieSanders hoped a victory in the Nevada caucuses would change the direction ofthe Democratic race, but the results didn’t turn out as he’d hoped." So the entire direction of the national race has been decided by 638 people?

“Despite collecting millions in small-dollar donations and packing thousands of peopleinto arenas around the country, despite topping Hillary Clinton for the first time in anational poll of likely Democratic voters, the path tovictory has narrowed sharply for Sanders. Some would argue that a window ofopportunity slammed shut Sunday night in Nevada and that the upcoming race inSouth Carolina is the proverbial kitty-bar.” Yes, according to this astute reporter, even though Sanders may lead in national polls, and people are pouring money into his campaign, his loss by 638 votes in Nevada means that everything else no longer matters.  

I could go on and list thousands of articles that come up with the same narrative but fail to look at the actual numbers involved and fail to criticize the dysfunctional nature of the current political-media system.

Let's all take a deep breathe and keep the movement going.