TALKIN' ABOUT A REVOLUTION (BUT NOT IN NEW ZEALAND)

While the talk is of a political revolution in the United States, New Zealand is sleepwalking to a general election which will decide who will get to head the table in the boardroom of New Zealand Incorporated.

IF ANYONE REMAINS who doubts that there is such a thing as a Democratic Party establishment those doubts should have been dispelled over the past forty-eight hours as that very same establishment has quickly coalesced behind feeble Joe Biden in a desperate attempt to stop the Bernie Sanders juggernaut in its tracks. But despite ringing endorsements from former centrist presidential hopefuls like Pet Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Beto O'Rourke, nothing has really changed. We're still headed to Democratic Party national convention in July where the political establishment will attempt to finally kill of Sanders campaign, just as they did in 2016. The future of the Democratic Party really is at stake.

Make no bones about it, Sanders represents a real threat to the American elite and its continued rule. Whether you think he's the real deal or a New Deal social democrat, Sanders represents a threat to the legacy of the two previous Democratic Presidents, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Their corporate 'third way' policies would only be perpetuated by Joe Biden.

Not that Biden would ever get the opportunity to implement them. Apparently unwilling to accept that another corporate candidate, Hillary Clinton, lost to Trump because she was the wrong candidate - lets blame the Russians instead - the Democratic Party establishment want to repeat exactly the same mistake again. They are more scared of Sanders than Trump and they are quite prepared to sacrifice the interests of the American working class to keep Sanders out of office. The political arrogance on display is extraordinary.

While the struggle continues in the United States, the New Zealand general election is predictably shaping up to be a contest between political adversaries who share a common loyalty to 'the market'. The parliamentary skirmishes between Jacinda Ardern and Simon Bridges are more squabbles about priorities rather than fundamental ideological differences.

There will be no struggle within the Labour Party between conservative and progressive forces because there are no progressive forces in the Labour Party.

Similarly, the Green Party subscribes to a neoliberal-friendly brand of corporate environmentalism that thinks carbon neutrality by 2050 is an adequate response to the climate crisis we now confront. It too poses zero threat to the interests of the political establishment.

There will be no talk of a 'political revolution'. Instead this general election will again be about who gets to sit at the head of the table in the boardroom of New Zealand Incorporated. It is little wonder than well over half a million New Zealanders want no part of these boardroom shenanigans and will not vote. In the absence of a political party to vote for that will represent our interests, it is the sensible and sane choice to make.