Written by Paul   

Today we learned that we can look forward to a Bernie Sanders/Donald Trump debate in California.
It also seems that there is some concern in the mainstream media that this this proposed event is somehow disruptive. Tonight Rachel Maddow, on MSNBC reported that having the presumptive Republican nominee debate the perceived also-ran in the Democratic primary is counter-productive, distracting, and harmful to Democratic Party unity, and basically unheard-of in the history of American electoral politics. In other words, she billed it on Prime Time news as a waste of time and an aberration. No surprise I suppose from a corporate mouthpiece.
This comes a couple of days after Chris Matthews, also on Prime Time MSNBC news, dropped the bomb that on the seventh of June the media establishment, in collusion with the DNC, was going to announce Clinton as the Democratic nominee at 5pm Pacific Time, even though the polls on the west won't be closed for three more hours.
I have to wonder what's wrong with healthy debate in our politics and what's wrong with letting the polls close and the votes be counted?
Regardless of what you think of Donald Trump, at least Bernie Sanders has enough moxie and faith in our democracy to think that debating the issues is an important part of the process and that as voters we deserve to be heard.
Hillary, on the other hand, was invited to debate Bernie in California and declined. Bernie promotes and invites the public forum, which is emblematic of Democracy. Hillary, by contrast, does not. It seems she is more comfortable giving paid speeches to Goldman Sachs executives and shortchanging the democratic process.
Had Hillary conceded to a debate with Mr. Sanders she could have used the forum to solidify her positions and frankly take a few jabs at Donald Trump.
As a citizen of the state of California I don't agree with her decision not to engage the people.
And as a lifelong Democratic voter I am quite sure that Bernie is our candidate.

It's too bad the media has taken up the mantle of the DNC and made this a show of ratings. We could use some healthy debate about the future of this country, regardless of party affiliation.

Does anybody think we're being railroaded once again?
Gore v. Bush comes to mind.