Free will astrologer Rob Brezsny coined the word Pronoia, the opposite of paranoia, which means a belief that the universe is conspiring to shower you with blessings. One friend calls it a “prospiracy.” Whatever you call it, looking at the world through pronoiac eyes it is a great way to live. It’s also a great way to view a presidential election that could otherwise be very stressful.
I believe I have uncovered a divine conspiracy (or prospiracy) to elect a loving, unifying president. I think that president will be Bernie Sanders. Here is the evidence of the prospiracy that I’ve discovered so far. I don’t know how this ends.
· 2016–Donald Trump is elected. Cultivating a pronoiac view of the world means you assume everything that happens is part of the prospiracy. It is indisputable that Trump has awakened us. It almost doesn’t matter what his energy has awakened us to. It’s enough that we are awake, we are paying attention and we know that it matters who is president. That’s a huge shift in consciousness. Very similar to how a cancer in the body or other life-threatening illness can function.
· 2018 –AOC is elected. Young inexperienced working class latinx Bernie protégé Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeats an incumbent Democratic top leader of the House. This shows us that something new is happening in the wake of the Trump election. Nothing is as predictable as it had seemed. New faces, possibilities energies are taking hold. Other new faces are elected with Bernie’s base and energy.
· 2019
o Large number of people running for Democratic nomination keeps attention off Bernie
o Mainstream media focuses most energy on frontrunner Joe Biden and potential up and comers Kamala Harris, Beto O’Rourke and Elizabeth Warren, largely ignoring Bernie as yesterday’s news.
o Bernie’s putative irrelevance allows Bernie to raise money, build capacity, hire staff, build his team with almost no opposition, scrutiny or interference, the spotlight is elsewhere and his support is growing.
o Bernie raises enormous amounts of money from working people. The largest number of contributions comes from teachers. The second largest comes from Amazon and other people at the bottom of the “gig economy.”
o By the end of the year, rising “stars” like Kamala Harris and Beto O’Rourke begin to drop out of the race.
o Mainstream media continues to discount the possibility of Bernie ever being the nominee (always putting a “ceiling” on his support) while at the same time raising false concerns about his “electability.” Some candidates are emboldened to enter late and stay in late, both of these occurrences seem to help Bernie’s campaign:
§ Billionaires Tom Steyer and Michael Bloomberg. Both accelerate unlimited spending.
· In late 2019
o They draw down polling numbers off of front-runners/attention getters Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren
o They are one of many factors continuing to draw mainstream attention (including attacks) away from Bernie Sanders
o Donald Trump is impeached by the House. This reminds everyone what is really at stake. The Democratic electorate in a fullscale panic to defeat Trump and undecided about who to vote for. A strong plurality of those who are decided are for Bernie. Many others stay home.
o Bernie Sanders continues to be the most loved and trusted politician in America and continues to rise in the polls.
· 2020
o Donald Trump
§ Is acquitted by the Senate which simultaneously draws attention away from Bernie’s ascendance during a key period of the election and reminds everyone that we need a candidate we can trust.
§ Is publicly reported to be privately obsessed with how difficult it would be to defeat Bernie in November.
§ Continues to stir up in-fighting between mainstream Democrats and Berniecrats, failing to perceive that his interference is only making it more likely that he will have to face Bernie in November.
o Billionaires Bloomberg & Steyer are still in and spending even more money
§ Progressive billionaire Tom Steyer whose top issue is climate action weakens Elizabeth Warren while simultaneously drawing attention to climate change as an existential threat that Bernie is the boldest leading candidate to address.
§ Center right billionaire Michael Bloomberg weakens Joe Biden and ascending Pete Buttigieg.
§ Both billionaires’ naked profligate binge advertising has the unintended effect of drawing attention to Bernie’s main populist theme: resting control of the country from the extremely wealthy and giving it to working families.
o Two opponents of Bernie (Buttigieg and Klobuchar) actually get delegates. This has effect of further fracturing the non Bernie vote (between Warren, stubbornly staying in, Biden, clinging to super Tuesday and the possibility of large African-American support, Buttigieg, Klobucharge and unlimited billionaire advertising buys, this means that any chance for centrists behind one non Bernie candidate is completely fractured.)
o Bernie Sanders continues to be the most loved and trusted politician in America and continues to rise in the polls. He is drawing bigger and bigger crowds, filling stadiums while other Democrats are lucky to fill a high school basketball gym. He frequently comes in first in mainstream polls over all Democratic candidates in beating Trump in November both in nationwide vote and in head to head contests in key states. He is the only candidate with a clear path to acquiring a majority of delegates before the Democratic convention.
As MSNBC’s National Political Correspondent Steve Kornacki put it yesterday, “Polls have consistently shown that Sanders is broadly liked by Democratic voters. The possibility has been staring us in the face for some time that he’d start winning contests and that the bandwagon would start growing pretty quickly.”