Letter to the editor: The empire strikes back at New Hampshire

TO THE EDITOR:

New Hampshire does have power — that’s why the DNC is afraid of us.

Almost 60 years ago, the voters of New Hampshire declared the D.C. establishment wasn’t working for them. In 1968, by the thousands, Granite Staters turned out to vote in NH’s presidential primary and ended the presidency of Lyndon Johnson over the Vietnam War. Since that spring so many years ago, the D.C. establishment has tried to squelch the voices of NH’s independent spirit. Is it a coincidence the Democratic National Committee voted to remove NH’s status as host of the first primary?

Four years after the McCarthy upset, NH upended the establishment again with McGovern, and through the decades, NH voters sized up the candidates and pointed out the flaws of the establishment pick. But according to the establishment powerbrokers, NH’s vote for Sanders over Hillary in 2016, and Bernie again in 2020 this time over Biden, was the ultimate sin, and NH must now and forever more pay the price.

The establishment hates being questioned, challenged and judged. They insist on compliance, they want NH’s voice sidelined. NH doesn’t have establishment power-brokers here to deliver victory. The beauty of the NH primary is that each candidate has to work for each and every vote. Living rooms, backyards, town hall meetings, on the street — candidates need to show up, answer the tough questions and prove their character.

The DNC has created a calendar to block any progressive challenge to the establishment insiders. We will know the results of the South Carolina Primary the day Congressman Clyburn makes his choice known. We will know the results of Nevada as soon as the culinary union endorses. The establishment wants to be able to rest easy dreaming of a West Wing office, a fat media contract or outrageous lobbying fees believing NH’s voters can be ignored.

While some will claim it was NH’s lack of racial diversity that caused the establishment to clamp down on NH, in reality it was NH’s uncontrollable independent spirit. Twenty years ago, the DNC voted to add South Carolina and Nevada as the third and fourth states to the early pre-Super Tuesday window behind Iowa and NH. The action was made to add racial diversity to the early process and it worked, and even better it worked electorally too. The Democratic nominee for president won America’s vote in the Novembers of 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020. Then comes 2024, the establishment sidelined the scrutiny of Iowa and NH from the process to mask the now obvious challenge that paved the road to Trump’s disastrous return.

While the establishment may create draconian punishments for candidates and the NH state party to avoid any upheaval of their carefully crafted plans to obtain power and riches, NH voters are determined to provide a level playing field for every candidate to get a fair shot at winning the nomination. Thus, the DNC’s punitive action.

BURT COHEN

NEW CASTLE

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