Many of us watch with dismay the spectacle put before us, as august members of the house intelligence committee appear to wrap themselves into pretzels, parsing out who said what to whom and what could they have meant or didn’t – all in one conversation that lasted perhaps 20-25 minutes in all. To me, it is obvious that what is really being played out in these elaborately staged impeachment hearings and the carnival-like clamor whipped up by the MSM around them, demonstrates how extreme partisanship can overtake the country’s government institutions, reducing the legislative duties to an afterthought. That even as extremely poor policy decisions made by the same Trump these Dems are so keen to be rid of, get hardly a mention, much less a push-back, official or otherwise (didn’t they all just pass that Patriot Act with nary a raised eye brow?).

Personally, I kind of doubt many of those who voted for the various representatives of this house really intended their elected officials to spend their entire time over the past 3 years chasing Russian and Ukrainian ghosts, using every spare minute of legislators’ time to figure out some way to upend the 2016 elections that gave us Trump. Sure, some people do seem so caught in TDS that perhaps they welcome just the process we are seeing (hooray! We finally get Trump on something) but I’d be skeptical about assuming it’s a majority of the country’s vote eligible citizenry. From either side of the aisle.

Naturally, those who are truly concerned about the welfare of the country and the health of its democratic institutions have grown understandably sick of the frenzy of back and forth memes and over the top Twitter barbs. By now it should be clear to anyone who followed even part of these - not so solemn - hearings and perhaps tuned in to this or that breathless commentary, that nobody is going to emerge as winner from the charade now unfolding before us. At the same time, there is a sizeable fraction of the politically engaged on the democrat side who are far more interested in the primary process and strongly support this or that candidate or policy, who are utterly dismayed at the sight of this much-ado-about-nothing hearings taking the limelight and would rather entirely disengage from a spectacle which obviously has nothing to do with what truly ails this country. However, while I understand the sentiment all too well, I am also of the opinion that perhaps we, on the progressive side, are ignoring these impeachment goings at our peril.

To start with, I believe that staying disconnected, in the sense of not expressing the disturbing misgivings we feel about these proceedings that have absolutely nothing to do with what really ails this country, is a mistake. As is pussy-footing around the obviously glaring constitutional issues around the conduct of foreign policy which these hearings raise. I realize it is an unpleasant spectacle at best, and at worst, one that is completely distracting from the primary campaigns going on as we speak. However, I also happen to believe that the silence will not serve us well, especially we who are on the core Bernie supporters side. Here is a snap summary of my reasons, which I present for your consideration:

l. This Impeachment circus may, in the end spell disaster for democrats. And, like it or not, this is the party for whose nomination Bernie is running. No matter what happens, I see a democratic party greatly weakened by these proceedings. A party that is now supposed to be conducting primaries to choose the next candidate for president, and the policies that go with such a candidacy. Nancy Pelosi’s calculated gambit may not pan out in the sense of either leading to actual impeachment or, at the very least, causing such great outrage among democrats that they will come out to vote in droves, come Nov 2020. But the very opposite may happen - the whole exercise may fizzle in the end, leaving even die-hard democrats wondering what the hell it was all about, and possibly starting a finger-pointing process to pin the blame somewhere. For that is the nature of TDS –instead of a cure we will likely witness a metamorphosis into some other, still more lethal form. So even if Bernie wins the nomination, the primary process may take place under a dark cloud of an imploding DNC which may unfortunately embroil even Bernie, sucking one and all into a toxic morass, and drowning the policy debates in which Bernie excels.

2. I read somewhere that it is possible that the real purpose of this charade is not so much to depose Trump but to neutralize the progressive wing of the party. Effectively take the wind out of the many sails who’d otherwise be engaged in steering the boat to directions better aligned with a government that benefits the people. Indeed, what tangible benefit, I ask, do the people derive from these impeachment hearings? How many have hope for better healthcare, more equitable education, better paying jobs? How has justice for the poorer and less privileged been served? How effective has been the fight to clip the wings of the MIC and the rest of the rapacious lobbies?

But perhaps that’s exactly the purpose. With all the oxygen in the room taken up by this clown show about nothing, important items on the progressive agenda are effectively muted. Including those causes where we strongly disagree with Trump’s policies, except no one seems to care much about THOSE disagreements.

3. This is not the worst part however. For us, that is. If this impeachment business makes its way to the senate, Bernie will have to vote for it, and may even need to do some grandstanding in a speech or two. Mitch McConnel may well choose to drag the hearings into February, forcing the democrat presidential candidates who are senators to attend the senate, cutting into campaign appearances. Again, the limelight will shine bright on “something impeachment”, even as Bernie’s causes will suffer from both his absence on the campaign trail and the demands upon his attention.

Furthermore, the more he says during the hearings in support of impeachment, the more likely he is to lose potential Republican and many independents’ votes, come November. And Bernie will NEED a large fraction of the independent vote in crucial states as well as some republican cross-overs.

4. Unfortunately, the way I see it is that, if anything, these misguided impeachment hearings may well energize Republican voters, including those who never did care much for Trump. From what I hear and read so far they are all aghast at the proceedings, and getting more so by the day And in case it all fizzles out after the senate, predictably, fails to impeach, then many more people, now on the fence, will feel the democrats took them for ride to nowhere, and will punish them at the polls. At the very least, this means that many a purple state may well go red and many state representative seats will flip to republicans, as even independents who might otherwise be inclined to consider a democrat nominee, will decline to do so out of sheer disgust.

5. I have no idea what other people see in this circus mounted for our supposed entertainment, but to me it is completely obvious that what we have here is another gambit by the Deep State to mount a coup against the current administration, using, as a ploy, a disheartened Democrat establishment, driven to near insanity by TDS. If Plan A was Russiagate, which fell apart after Mueller failed to deliver, Ukraingate is clearly Plan B, following largely the same pattern, this time using a “whistleblower” who is more like a leaker. A whistleblower who was, for all intents and purposes, a CIA plant at best and/or a Democrat operative at worst.

The impeachment case rests upon the flimsiest of all possible cases. It all hangs on the fact that a corruption investigation by Ukraine of malfeasance committed under a previous democratic administration, was demanded as a quid pro quo before releasing military assistance (of the kind Obama’s government never approved but was pushed by congress). The said malfeasance happens to involve the then VP, Biden, who now just happens to be a candidate for the democratic nomination. One who is, arguably, a front runner, though in truth he is fast fading entirely due to who he is (a centrist and a corpodem to the bone) and what he isn’t (a change candidate. Forget the hope). That’s it. It’s all just about Biden, who coincidentally was a point man for a corrupt regime change operation, from which his son apparently benefitted to the tune of some Million or so. The same Biden who was likely talked into a misbegotten presidential candidacy by a desperate – and possibly plotting – DNC.

What we need to worry about is that the same Deep State now so concerned about Trump will be even more concerned about a Bernie president. If the plots against Trump can be this far-fetched and this flimsy, yet nearly neutralize his ability to act on his preferred policy, would TPTB not hatch similarly mad schemes to at least neutralize a president Bernie (possibly aided this time by the RNC) therefore preventing enactment of any of his professed policies? Just because the deep state threw its weight on the side of the democrat establishment this time doesn’t mean they won’t switch their nefarious little neocon hatched plots to the republican side in a jiffy.

6. All in all, I do worry most about a greatly emboldened deep state that, come what may out of these hearing, will be the real winners. They will be the winners if we tacitly agree to their little ploy of keeping their “whistleblower” (who is anything but) under wraps. They will be the winners when they succeed in completely overshadowing the primary process with this bogus shit show. They will be winners if Bernie has to come out forcefully in support of an impeachment process that is full of holes, both legal and ethical (they already chucked up a win when Tulsi had to back off her original position when cast doubt on the process, even if she remained in favor of “transparency”). The deep state will be even greater winners when year after year no one dares challenge the MICs exorbitant budget and their buddy intelligence agencies that were shown to be politically compromised and ethically challenged. But more than anything, the deep state wins when the progressive message is getting drowned out in the hysterical vapors that come from a House, now completely paralyzed in carrying out its ostensive duties. Heck, the deep state just won another one, when Pompeo’s announcement about “legalizing” the settlements did not draw the sound condemnation one would expect, and barely a peep from the Democrats.

When everything is quiet on the progressive front, the Deep State wins, because they showed the progressive camp to be too weak-kneed to speak up when dissent and righteous indignation were called for.

For this and several other reasons I didn’t mention, I believe that even if Bernie has to speak in favor of this pugnacious reality show, we, his supporters, and the many people on the [real] left, especially the ones who spoke so loudly and clearly against Russiagate, we cannot and should not remain quiet. I will therefore urge the good columnists and bloggers out there to chip in with their voices and sound the alarm bells. I hope at least some who so capably denounced Russiagate as the hoax that it was, will also rise to the still greater challenge this time. We need to have strong voices from OUR camp, because, among others, should Bernie be the nominee, we will be able to point to those voices and perhaps garner a measure of support for Bernie he wouldn’t get otherwise. Support that I am absolutely convinced he will need to win. And some of us need to speak up because to not to do so will only embolden a deep state hell bent on crashing us all under the boots of the vampire squids of the MIC and Wall Street. It will take some bravery to do so for the columnists with a public perch. And it’ll no doubt beget nasty push-back. Yet I believe there must be some who will be able to muster both the courage and the clear-sightedness needed, because these dangerous times demand no less.