tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post6543169839939588216..comments2024-03-28T16:08:29.578-04:00Comments on Sardonicky: Be Cynical: VoteKaren Garciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15612731479365562803noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-15391165960555176452014-11-05T19:48:35.014-05:002014-11-05T19:48:35.014-05:00@Denis:
Thanks for the Marx quote. I don't re...@Denis:<br /><br />Thanks for the Marx quote. I don't really consider myself a Marxist, but that bit of political analysis from him seems very relevant to the current situation.<br /><br /><br />@annenigma (and @all):<br /><br />Yes, interesting article by Marianne Williamson at your provided link --- but I think she's displaying way too much hope that the Democratic Party corporatists will relinquish control. (And do, at this point, read @Denis' Marx quote).<br /><br />Williamson writes "The new era begins today, as the Democratic corporatists start lining up for the presidential nomination in 2016. What can we do? Make it clear -- make it really, really clear -- that hell no, we will not support a corporatist nominee."<br /><br />The problem is, hell no, they (the corporatists) won't go (away).<br /><br />And that's important to understand, because if Democratic progressives just keep wishing and hoping that they will, or even think that "mak[ing] it really, really clear" will be enough, then the next few years will just be a replay of the past. That is, after each election season, the Democratic leadership, whether they have won or lost, becomes ever more right wing --- but progressive Democratic rank-and-file party members and other voters, ever hopeful, fail to build any of the absolutely-necessary pressure structures <i>outside</i> the party, from where they can apply strong pressure and not be co-opted.<br /><br />We can debate what form those external pressure structures should take, but I myself am increasingly of the opinion that nothing less than a new political party will do.<br /><br /><br />@Pearl:<br /><br />About critical commenters, "Why didn't we hear from them sooner?"<br /><br />Too much political "hope" afoot in the land, perhaps?Fred Drumlevitchhttp://www.freddrumlevitch.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-20382194343273992912014-11-05T19:01:05.950-05:002014-11-05T19:01:05.950-05:00The article in the NYTimes, Election 2014: The Pre...The article in the NYTimes, Election 2014: The President is not a Happy Warrior" had a lot of interesting comments in the Readers' picks section. Why didn't we hear from them sooner? Pearlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-36655893555906170682014-11-05T16:27:08.246-05:002014-11-05T16:27:08.246-05:00Marianne Williamson does a great takedown of the D...Marianne Williamson does a great takedown of the Democratic Party in her piece titled 'The Democratic Party Needs Its Soul Back'<br /><br />http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marianne-williamson/-the-democratic-party-nee_b_6105104.html<br /><br />I wish I could find the You Tube video that Eva, one of Karen's readers, pointed out several years ago that shows Obama speaking to young poli sci students in D.C. shortly after taking office. He warns them of the hazards of having principles when you're in politics - 'You will only be disappointed'. If anyone knows where that can be found, please share it with us.annenigmanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-39148517422100909022014-11-05T15:54:33.495-05:002014-11-05T15:54:33.495-05:00@ Fred Drumlevitch
Any breach in the grip of the ...@ Fred Drumlevitch<br /><br />Any breach in the grip of the Democratic and Republican Parties on the American body politic in order to get a wider public hearing would be welcome. Like the hole in the dike that the Dutch boy tried to plug, the purpose of a strong third party is to make that gap even wider and harder to plug.<br /><br />Polls show that a majority of Americans say that both the Republicans and Democrats are doing such a poor job that a new, third party is needed.<br /><br />No easy task, given the false divide-and-conquer drama created by the powers that be to keep the American people divided and distracted. The Founding Fathers warned us about the threat from a two party system.<br /><br />However:<br /><br />“Even where there is no prospect of achieving their election the workers must put up their own candidates to preserve their independence, to gauge their own strength and to bring their revolutionary position and party standpoint to public attention. They must not be led astray by the empty phrases of the democrats, who will maintain that the workers’ candidates will split the democratic party and offer the forces of reaction the chance of victory. All such talk means, in the final analysis, that the proletariat is to be swindled. The progress which the proletarian party will make by operating independently in this way is infinitely more important than the disadvantages resulting from the presence of a few reactionaries in the representative body. If the forces of democracy take decisive, terroristic action against the reaction from the very beginning, the reactionary influence in the election will already have been destroyed.” – Karl Marx, Address of the Central Committee to the Communist League London, March 1850Denis Nevillenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-909208487334858642014-11-05T13:28:01.332-05:002014-11-05T13:28:01.332-05:00Oh, and for some other, reader-selected additions ...Oh, and for some other, reader-selected additions to the Nation list:<br /><br />http://www.thenation.com/slideshow/155750/slide-show-nation-readers-most-influential-progressives-twentieth-century<br /><br />We can debate who should (or shouldn't) be on the list, but that doesn't alter my basic point, that most Americans wouldn't know much, if anything, about most candidates for a progressive "honor roll".Fred Drumlevitchhttp://www.freddrumlevitch.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-80894582000161809052014-11-05T13:10:11.078-05:002014-11-05T13:10:11.078-05:00@Will: I'll second the thanks from @Denis for ...@Will: I'll second the thanks from @Denis for the W.E.B. Dubois link.<br />And @Denis, thanks for the David Souter quote.<br />Here's a link, for anyone who wants it:<br />http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Souter-s-lament-Civic-ignorance-hurts-America-4822882.php<br />(Perhaps as interesting as the quote itself is its minimal dissemination, revealed when, to find it, I did a google search on a phrase from it).<br /><br /><br />Okay, so what now?<br /><br />This week, not six months or a year from now, is the time to start building a new political party, one that — unlike the plutocratic neocon Republican and co-conspiring neoliberal Democratic existing ones — is actually concerned with social and economic justice, national infrastructure, restoration of and respect for civil liberties, and genuine representative government.<br /><br />And if we are to tout representative government, then those of a progressive bent really <i>must</i> do more to educate the "average", "middle-of-the-road" citizen, who, after more than three decades of rightward indoctrination and political movement, doesn't even think about, let alone care or aspire to, issues of the public good.<br /><br />My guess is that 90% of the American public has no knowledge whatsoever about 90% of the people referenced at the following link (let alone what they stood for and did):<br /><br />http://www.thenation.com/slideshow/154631/slide-show-fifty-most-influential-progressives-twentieth-century<br /><br />And both of those 90% figures might even underestimate the reality.<br /><br /><br />@(All): Anticipating the election outcome (which was even worse in Arizona than nationally), I put up a short new post at my blog a couple of days ago, about the deceit of modern electioneering and the state of the American voter. Comments welcome.<br /><br />http://www.freddrumlevitch.blogspot.com/2014/11/call-northside-666-or-why-az-gop-now.htmlFred Drumlevitchhttp://www.freddrumlevitch.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-13134281680924086892014-11-05T12:40:44.073-05:002014-11-05T12:40:44.073-05:00Musings from Pearl:
Annenigma: Obama could not h...Musings from Pearl:<br /><br />Annenigma: Obama could not have gotten away with all his malfeasance without the support and ignorance of people who should know better. The inability of the so called liberals of the Democratic party to separate truth from fiction regarding the true objectives of this president are the reasons why we have a true Republican Congress slipping through although some are making noises about repairing some of the cracks in the Ship of State. Obama is now exposed and hopefully democrats who recognized this by not voting or voting correctly will begin to rethink and become active in pushing for change finally. The fact that young voters stayed away is significant one hopes.<br />Much has to happen in the coming years to wake up the citizenry but the comments of important leaders behind the curtain will grow louder. Wonderful quotes from Denis about these greater minds who lament the loss of democracy and endless wars destroying the country and its people.<br />All we can do is read and write the truth and not be afraid to speak and discuss it with others. <br />Now that the Republicans have no excuses to neglect the people, reaction will hopefully begin to set in.<br />The country is divided as evidenced by the closely run fights in several states (as in Florida for governor)which is an important signpost for the future. And maybe another good thing is Hillary may not have a clear path to the White House.<br />So, as Karen reminded us, fasten your seatbelts. Interesting things are on the horizon, so hold on.Pearlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-76873089315260093132014-11-05T08:32:37.168-05:002014-11-05T08:32:37.168-05:00Congratulations to Obama! As Right-hand henchman f...Congratulations to Obama! As Right-hand henchman for the Kleptocrats, he's bumped off the Democratic Party in his usual bang-up fashion. With every failure to defend D/democratic principles when they were attacked, he put another nail in the coffin. And just to be certain no life was left in that obviously ailing body, he suffocated it with his recent words: "Make no mistake. My policies are on the ballot". <br /><br />That wasn't ad lib either - it was a prepared speech. That tired old "make no mistake" phrase had to have been written by him though. Just like the old-fashioned word "shellacking" he used in 2010, he's a throw-back to the Reagan area in many ways. The same kind of 'transformative' actor, and that's putting it charitably. <br /><br />Our consolation prize is that now Congress could actually IMPEACH him and the country would get on board. After all, it's not just the Democratic Party he has destroyed. It's our Democracy itself that he is actively destroying. There is no lack of evidence to support that claim either. I don't think I need to list it all here.<br /><br />Perhaps that's his goal - rather than go down in history as a failure as President, he can claim fame in victimhood. He's certainly been capitalizing on that theme instead of actually fighting for and defending D/democratic principles. annenigmanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-33447931535668104312014-11-05T08:08:58.162-05:002014-11-05T08:08:58.162-05:00@ Will – thanks for the link
“I believe that dem...@ Will – thanks for the link <br /><br />“I believe that democracy has so far disappeared in the United States that no "two evils" exist. There is but one evil party with two names, and it will be elected despite all I can do or say. There is no third party.” - W.E.B. Dubois<br /><br />All the turds that were dumped in the punch bowl last night! Try to polish those turds!!!<br /><br />Let the public pension Wall Street feeding frenzy begin! “From Illinois to Massachusetts, voters effectively placed more than $100 billion worth of public pension investments under the control of executives-turned-politicians whose firms profit by managing state pension money.” - David Sirota, <br />http://www.ibtimes.com/midterms-2014-election-puts-extra-pension-funds-control-wall-street-financial-1719085<br /><br />One of the largest turds was the re-election of Republican Kansas Governor Sam Brownback. In Brownbackistan everything is and will continue to be awesome!!! Despite Brownback gutting Kansas and Kansans knowing it, they voted for more crumbling schools and dwindling public services???<br /><br />Former Supreme Court Justice David Souter:<br /><br />"I don't believe that constitutional government as we know it in the United States can ultimately survive in that atmosphere of pervasive civic ignorance and majority dissociation from the basic process of American government. But certainly not now in this age of ideological polarization of increased political spending by interest groups and by corporations at a time when, for example, one of the manifestations of the health of American democracy is the increasing trend of its military into a mercenary force. I do not believe American democracy can survive in this state of civic ignorance and disengagement. An ignorant people can never remain a free people. Democracy cannot survive too much ignorance.”<br /><br />Conservatives and neo-liberals are the beneficiaries of this managed ignorance and the public is indifferent. The term Orwellian has little meaning to a people who have never known anything different, who have scant knowledge of history, civics, or public affairs, and who have never heard of George Orwell.<br /><br />“Democracy is dead in the United States. Yet there is still nothing to replace real democracy. Drop the chains, then, that bind our brains. Drive the money-changers from the seats of the Cabinet and the halls of Congress. Call back some faint spirit of Jefferson and Lincoln, and when again we can hold a fair election on real issues, let's vote, and not till then. Is this impossible? Then democracy in America is impossible.” - W.E.B. Dubois, “Why I Won't Vote,” 20 October 1956Denis Nevillenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-10251581211047372402014-11-04T22:27:01.354-05:002014-11-04T22:27:01.354-05:00Why I Won't Vote by W.E.B. Dubois, The Nation,...Why I Won't Vote by W.E.B. Dubois, The Nation, 20 October 1956: <br /><br />http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/298.htmlWillnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-38261893433785611032014-11-04T18:04:54.775-05:002014-11-04T18:04:54.775-05:00The nation’s media whores will be putting Kansas i...The nation’s media whores will be putting Kansas in the spotlight tonight.<br /><br />I voted several weeks ago. One can indeed be both a cynic and a voter.<br /><br />When Kansas Senator Pat Roberts voted against ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities treaty two years ago, he entered my shit list.<br /><br />Excerpts from my letter to Senator Roberts:<br /><br />“More than 43 years ago, Kansas Senator Bob Dole delivered his first speech on disability rights. The United States has exhibited global leadership in the promotion of the rights and dignity of all people with disabilities. The United Nations treaty on the rights of the disabled was inspired by American laws passed to help the disabled.<br /><br />As the father of a disabled child, who benefited from the Americans with Disabilities Act that Senator Dole championed, I believe that people with disabilities in all countries should have these same rights in order to live full, satisfying and productive lives. <br /><br />During my travels outside the United States, I have paid particular attention to the attitudes toward disability and levels of accessibility, which vary greatly from country to country. This treaty would have created greater access for disabled Americans serving, working, traveling, and studying abroad.<br /><br />I saw former Senator Dole, in support of this treaty extending the rights of the disabled around the world, sitting in his wheelchair on the Senate floor during the debate.<br /><br />I am extremely disappointed in your “no” vote.<br /><br />Kansas Senators voting against the rights of disabled people was disgraceful. One can only imagine how former Senator Dole must have felt leaving the floor after the vote, nearing the end of his life and personally witnessing the reality of what his Republican party has become. Pure right wing fear-mongering at its most evil and flat out disgusting!<br /><br />No United Nations treaty can ever supersede the laws of the United States. The Supreme Court has ruled that the Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution specifically forbids it.”<br /><br />Never received a response from Senator Roberts to my letter, but I have recently been bombarded with robo calls by him.<br /><br />And last week there was Dole is campaigning for Pat Roberts!!! JHC!!!<br /><br />Dole declined to comment on Roberts' position on the U.N. convention, and an aide said the former senator "would prefer not to broach that subject at this point."<br /><br />My vote (sigh) for the Independent Orman [the No Labels, private equity guy] was against Roberts. A spokesman for Orman said Orman would have voted for the treaty.<br /><br />As Thomas Frank said last Sunday, “We will elect a whole platoon of empty, defeated men to the Senate on Tuesday, and then, two years from now, we will search out another company of hollow heroes to champion our righteous rage—and do it again and again, slowly sinking into our impotent fury.”Denis Nevillenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-80440260770360824342014-11-04T15:02:23.062-05:002014-11-04T15:02:23.062-05:00I'm going to vote now for Kay Hagen in NC.
Ke...I'm going to vote now for Kay Hagen in NC.<br /><br />Keep your eye on NC's Senate race.Cirzehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07070125217972397204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-974773076690597683.post-25106909793112444842014-11-04T10:30:39.456-05:002014-11-04T10:30:39.456-05:00Ralph Nader and others have a good idea for a bind...Ralph Nader and others have a good idea for a binding item on the ballot called NOTA - None Of The Above. Nevada has had a non-binding form of NOTA since 1976. <br /><br />"A binding NOTA would work this way: candidates would have to be concerned about both their opponents (if there are any at all, or if there are any who are competitive) and the NOTA line. For if NOTA obtains either a plurality or a majority of the votes cast, the election for that post would be cancelled or invalidated, along with the dismissal of the candidates, and a new election would be called."<br /><br />There's more description and aspects to consider at<br />http://nota.org/nader.htmlannenigmanoreply@blogger.com