Given the political nature of my holiday/New Year's cards (still haven't sent them all out, sorry), a few people have asked me who I support now that Dennis Kucinich has been forced out of the Presidential race. That's a tricky question, because there's nobody I'm excited about in the way that I was for Kucinich. I haven't decided whether I'll write his name in, vote for Cynthia McKinney of the Green Party (imagine that, a woman, who's black, and liberal, and has substance!), or vote for Mike Gravel (the other decent Dem candidate ignored by the media). I can say that what I WON'T do is "play ball" with the farce that is being presented by big business and the media and go the lesser-of-two-evils route. Aren't we tired of that route yet? Didn't we learn in the last two elections that it doesn't even matter, because the whole damn horse race is fixed anyway? The fact that Gore and Kerry both conceded too-quietly to shady fixes underscores their lack of character and the larger problem of sameness in flawed the 2-party system.
Most of my liberal-leaning friends seem to have been swept up in the Obama love-fest, but they're fooling themselves if they think he will bring about any kind of substantive HOPE© or CHANGE®. Sure, he says a lot of great things and he can string articulate sentences together (a lot to ask from a President, I know!) and get crowds riled up, but don't confuse showmanship with statesmanship. Yes, it's absolutely shameful that our country has had nothing but white, male Presidents until now. But as much as I would love to see a woman or a person of color in the White House, that fact doesn't mean that Hillary or Obama will be different in any way from what we're used to. Look at Colon Powell, Fat Al Gonzales or Condoleisure Rice and tell me what they've done to advance the causes of women or minorities. Nathan. They're just towing the line, and Bulsh surrounded himself with the illusion of "diversity" while he and his advisors ran the country into the ground with bankruptcy, erased goodwill and trampled civil liberties for us all.
Of course either Obama or Clinton would be *marginally* better than Bulsheney, but so would you, or I, or Carrot Top, or my cats... When you're already at the bottom, there's only room for improvement. Look at who "liberal" Barack and Hillary have chosen as their advisors, warmongers and business-as-usual, profits-first corporate pawns. John Edwards would've been little better. And speaking of character, I thought this piece about Obama and impeachment was relevant and sadly funny.
Something else that scares me is hearing some of my liberal-leaning friends say that they think John McCain is a decent guy. He scares the crap out of me...he's a maniac, hell-bent on war (100 more years of Iraq, anyone?), who may be lying about his Vietnam experience, and older than the hills to boot. No thanks.
All of the Republicans are nightmarish, even Ron Paul (easily the best of the lot, who I agree with on a few issues like ending the war, NAFTA, IRS fraud, etc..but not enough to support him). Thankfully some of them have dropped out, goddamn foaming-at-the-mouth immigrant-bashing, anti-everything-but-Jesus-and-profits-and-war MFs.
Here are some links of interest:
Do the Democrats Offer Real Change?
ABC News: Obama is More Aggressive Than Bush
Is Religion a Threat to Democracy?
How to Erode and Destroy Democracy
The USA is in the shitter, and we're swirling down fast. Get ready for a Depression the likes of the 30s and radical climate change, for starters. But my greatest fear is that, before the farcical "elections," Bulsheney will stage another "terr-or incident" like the one we got in 2001, as an excuse to declare Marshul Law, call the elections off and remain in power indefinitely. (the reason I'm misspelling key words is so as not to get picked up on govern-ment search engines looking for dis sent speech). If that sounds laughable to you, you haven't been paying attention to things like Presidential Directive 51, the John Warner Defense Authorization bill, and the Military Commissions Act of 2006, or the real kicker, the pending HR 1955 "Radikal Homegrown Terr-or Act" (aka the "Thought Crimes Bill," which makes it potentially illegal to express a different opinion than the government, attend any kind of protest, be guilty by association, and more. This one is scariest of all...call your Senators now!). Maybe you still think that the twin towers (and don't forget WTC 7, which imploded after never being hit by a plane) were brought down by a few guys with boxcutters, or aren't familiar with Naomi Wolf's The End of America or haven't heard about the FEMA Concentration Camps? Well, it's all a total bummer to say the least, and the weight of it is crushing in its immensity. I hope that none of it is true, but after what we've seen these last 7 years, and with a quick glance at the history books, (collapse of empires and the transitions from free states to fascist states) it seems much less absurd. The fact is that just for writing what I've written here and linking to those sites, I could be construed as "threatening Freedom" and suddenly "disappear" to a secret prison with no legal rights...and then maybe they'd come looking for you, if we'd ever corresponded. We're living in some very scary times my friends.
I urge you to read some more varied news sources (I'll grant that a few of the links above appear to be hosted on the sites of nutters but the sentiments are echoed elsewhere and I think the viewpoints for the most part outweigh the context). Join the Integrity Now Yahoo group, click around some of the websites I linked to. Truthout has some good articles, though too centrist overall for my taste, Prisonplanet is interesting, OnlineJournal has some great articles...there's a lot out there to wade through, take it all with a grain of salt but please don't ignore it or pretend that it will go away. Thanks for reading, go McKinney!
Posted by pj at February 11, 2008 11:07 PMStill digesting. However, it tastes good to eat truth. Thanks for the time that went into this PJ.
Can I link to this or are you worried about the guv-ern-mental powhers? You know they have eyes on me!
Man.
I've certainly never been accused of being "positive," but every year you continue to baffle me as you progressively slide farther and farther into your idealism and away from practical reality. You're on your way to becoming the liberal counterpart of the crazy guy in Cotton, MN with the hand-painted anti-United Nations and county sheriff signs on the edge of his property. And just like that guy, I worry that nobody's going to listen to anything you say but you.
Posted by: Not-quite-as-pessimistic-Ryno at February 22, 2008 12:58 AMAh PJ, I feel your pain.
As YOU know...your home state and my current state did NOT have the primaries "count" for Democrats. A penatly for MI "daring" to run the primaries EARLY to get some national light on our economic problems. The Republicans cut the electoral votes in HALF... the Democrats gave us...none :( So no, I did not vote in the primaries as a result. And yes, like you I got a lot of "huh???" when I said I wanted Kuchinich to win.
I don't agree with all that you say and do think you come off as a bit negative at times...but your posts have presented an alternative view and are usually well researched. I think you know a lot of your friends have been fed up for the last 8 years at the current “president.” Your views gave me things to consider, and you were one of the reasons I got into making political art as well (that and total disgust over the current administration).
As for criticism on your current political views...at least you never said anything as politically stupid/ historically ignorant as "praising" Fidel Castro like some we can think of. Let's just ignore those pesky first two decades…the body count/state executions...and the punishment of "social deviants" (gays, certain religions, whoever that week) as well….
Not letting Gravel or Kuchinich in the debates was a big mistake and limited the scope of issues in the party. I give them credit…even the Republicans let some of the “long shots” into the debates. ( Still no way in hell I’m voting for any of those candidates from that party).
Gravel spoke at EMU by the way. Seemed to know his stuff…and despite decent coverage by the school paper, he got a very small crowd ☹
Saw a great documentary on Ike and today’s war business dealings called “Why We Fight.” His farewell address Ike was asking the PEOPLE to take the burden on responsibility and be better informed on the issues and dealings of government…sadly, people didn’t seem to listen as much as he hoped in the last 50 years.
http://sonyclassics.com/whywefight/main.html
Oh. It's always sweet to hear the ghost-of-streetfights-past take unsolicited shots at unnamed targets.
My god! Who on earth would suggest that someone who threw the CIA, the mob, and a lawless tyrannical government off their island and instituted immediate reform which led to free public health care and a higher literacy rate and lower infant mortality rate than his ungodly rich neighbor to the north was some kind of "not evil person." I can clearly see why our wonderful Kennedy-led government would try almost immediately to stage a covert assassination, setting the stage for decades of political animosity and cover-up lies.
That guy sure sounds politically stupid and historically ignorant!
Posted by: Ryno at February 26, 2008 10:54 PMThanks for the "plug" P-dawg, but why the long face?!
I must agree somewhat with earlier sentiments expressed that you do seem a bit more cynical than usual... sheeeee-ot, and that's coming from a disgruntled New Yorker!
Seriously, I don't blame you in the least for feeling outraged about the sad state of affairs that the world is currently in and you should be, along with the rest of us, and I applaud your diligence in "getting the word out" as you always have good things to say on such issues along with informative weblinks and resources.
But my friend, lighten up, it's not that bad. Well, actually, things ARE really fucked, but that still shouldn't stop you from smelling the roses once in a while, especially while there are still some around to smell, you feel me?! We can't neglect this, flowers need to be smelt if they are to propagate properly. Rest assured that one way or the other the Earth will purge itself of all it's aliments... with or without us. Personally speaking, I'm for the "with us" but then, that's just me.
It's true though, in the grander scheme of things balance will be reestablished, and it has to be if we as a species want to endure the crises laying just ahead. Of course it would be naïve of us to think this will all just magically fix itself one day and disappear overnight, because it won't, but I do believe that the possibility for a better world is here within our reach. But it's a collective reach, and we all have to fight hard for it from each of our respective fronts because "freedom isn't free" as is so rightly stated.
Let's face it, we can only do so much as individuals, right?! But as long as each of us continue to stand up for what we believe in our hearts & minds to be true and just , then our collective individual efforts can transform the paradigm of the current social order as we know it into something much more humane and sustainable. It really can happen, but we must be willingly to do our part no matter how difficult that might be at times. Though there are no guarantees this will ever happen, I am certain however it will never happen if we chose not to try. Yet, even if after all the struggles and efforts we still fail to realize that collective reality of our desires, our efforts wouldn't have been in vain because at least our spirits were pure of purpose. It's only when we give up hope and give in to the pessimism that the battle is already lost. And that's an alternative I'd rather for each of us not too indulge. Besides, it's counter-productive at best and gives the "thems" way too much power then they deserve. What can I say, I'm a stubborn S.O.B. down to the bitter end.
;-)
As you already know real change comes from citizens organizing, banding together and putting sustained pressure on the gov't to reform and behave for the good of the public trust. That's when social change ever truly happens when WE THE PEOPLE get our butts into action, so no matter who gets elected POTUS this time or next it's actually up to EACH OF US to be the change we want the world to be. And sadly that message/reminder is lost in all the media circus coverage of the top Elephant & Jackass party nominee fighting to be the current inept head of state and tool of the military industrial complex.
(BTW, "Why We Fight" is a great documentary.)
Deep down, I know you haven't lost hope, so it may seem to others like impractical idealism, but even if it is, my brother PJ, keep on spreading your perspective and truth, as well as fighting the good fight. Just along the way try not to forgot about the those roses every now an then.
PEACE!
Posted by: JJP at March 14, 2008 11:38 AMJesus A. Christ, after all that long-winded violin-laced sermon I go ahead and hack up that last sentence with stupid multiple grammatical errors.
Nice.