Thanks Chris, good way to start the New Year, go for
the throat, 1% owns 90% of everything folks, will do
nothing and say nothing,FEAR, Americans are full of
fear people. Repeat myself"Evil exists when good
people do nothing”  Americans are idiots, idiocracy
is the new system that crept up on creeps. Solution,
“Annie get my Gun the G man is back”. ALSO DO NOT PAY
YOUR TAXES, Pay yourself instead, no one else will.
Spinless Americans like the movies need to get
slapped around before they figure it all out, Super
Bowel commercials more important, LeBron the
illiterate and Kobie the rapist that is American
dream, Poor Nader and Chris when the Police state is
worshipped by the ignorant American Public that is
quickly becoming their Role Model Communist China now
communist USSR-USA. Too little Too late run for
cover, do not forget your gun!

“...this retreat is another example of the lack of nerve we must overcome if we are going to battle back against the corporate state.”

IF being the operative word, of course.  No, of course we won’t battle against the corporate state. (!) We are not Republicans, or Democrats, or Independents, or Liberals, or Conservatives, or Tea Partiers: We are Capitalists.

And this is the way our “democracy” ends, not with a bang but a whimper.

Yes the corporations are in control, but because of their incompetence they have
bankrupted the country. The are putting into place a police state to deal with the
population once the economy collapses. This will be the end of America. The world will
go on without us. Hard times are ahead for all.

Hedges and Nader are greatly concerned with what the New York Times and the Washington Post print or don’t print.  I suggest they stop reading them, if only because they will find their digestions much improved thereby.

The Left—people who think that peace, freedom and equality should be preserved and increased—have plenty of where to go and work to do.  It’s those still committed to the system that have a problem.

And now, start getting ready for another round of the illusions of change.  This time is support for Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul.  They’ll probably become the New Lesser of Two Evils Party for many liberals in the next election.

Traditionally, the left grounds itself in the needs of the people. 
But at present there is no such thing as “We the people”.  We the
people are willing to risk what little security we have in order to
obtain greater security.  Over the last 50 years, Americans have
developed a strong sense of security that is reinforced by
abundance.  Even though people like Chris Hedges and Ralph
Nader may see the writing on the wall, that sense of security has
not yet been lost.

The majority of Americans do not identify themselves as “We the
people” but as “We who aspire to be among the wealthy and the
elite” or “We who stand as rugged individualists against the
depredations of centralizing power”.  We have come to assume
that what we have we will always have;  and until the majority
comes to believe that this is simply not true, there cannot be a
viable left.  Wish it were not so, but it is.  Hedges and Nader are
intellectuals and their great weakness, no matter how strong their
sense of justice and compassion, is that they must speak in
abstractions and abstractions are not very tasty to the American
mental palate.

John Best, I beg to differ. The enemy is NOT polarization, it is political corruption on both sides of the isle. The Fat Cats that fund the elections are working to disenfranchise all the weaker minions, and they are winning. I agree that the Tea Party are just real people protesting the same thing we protest.

Jack Lohman
http://MoneyedPoliticians.net

Thanks Chris, the right way to start off the year,
repeating myself, “EVIL EXISTS WHEN GOOD PEOPLE DO
NOTHING” and the Americans, like the bogart movie,
“next time I slap you, you take it and like it”, that
is the American dream, solution, “Annie get my gun, the
G man is back”. Fire One!

It seems to me what you’re advocating is futile, Chris. Voting for independent and third party candidates as long as the Democrats and Republicans maintain their stranglehold on the electoral system is nearly equivalent to voting for the candidate you like least, and it’s a waste of time. This doesn’t mean there’s nothing for us to do, though, and the clue is in what I wrote above: “as long as the Democrats and Republicans maintain their stranglehold on the electoral system.” If we want fundamental change in our government’s policies, that’s where we need to focus our energies. We need to build a popular movement for electoral reform that will open up the electoral process, and I think it could be a popular movement. Who but the hardcore Democratic and Republican party activists doesn’t want more choices on the ballot? We could begin building this movement by trying to pull together all the marginalized political parties into a coalition for electoral reform.

I don’t pretend to know everything we should demand in this movement, but full public financing of elections, ranked-choice voting, proportional representation in legislatures, and a Constitutional amendment declaring that corporations are not natural persons seem like good ideas to me.

In America half the people eligible to vote don’t vote. The half that does vote are fooled all the time — every time — and the half that doesn’t vote isn’t ever fooled anytime. Democrats are Republicans and Republicans are Democrats. They are all cells within one corporate person… cancer cells.

For many decades now, America has been in decaying decline. Every election results in more Americans becoming rabble, yet the growing rabble in America gets less and less rousable. Isn’t that a curious thing?

The reason for the rabble being unrousable certainly can’t be because Americans are nonviolent. America’s past and present is all about the routine use of both individual and systemic violence to take everything from anyone less violent. Structural violence is the only thing that holds America together. It’s an objective reality that violence is considered a virtue in American culture; its highest virtue.

The rabble are not rousable in America because natural persons in America have become as wholly dependent upon corporate persons as a fetus is upon its mother. The corporate persons decide, and the natural persons obey… because the corporate persons provide everything that the natural persons consume.

Corporate states eventually leave no natural left in natural persons. The consumers become what is consumed.

The “progressive” liberals have ensured that elections cannot possibly serve any good purpose, and nonviolent protest can’t work without a violent partner.

The young Nader might possibly have radically changed history, if he had become famous back then for being The People’s Advocate, instead of his becoming America’s Consumer Advocate.

Joni Mitchell’s advice was clearly better than Nader’s. Ralph helped us become greater consumers, and he now claims that only the super-rich can save us. Joni sang that we should all get ourselves back to the garden.

Inheret the Wind, perhaps I did not make my point well the Tea Partiers are not the enemy.  They are Americans too.  The enemy is polarization.  Polaraiztion under which ‘the common good’ suffers.  We cannot re-develop and state a new social contract if we allow ourselves to be so easily divided.

The schizophrenia, the bi-polar politics must somehow end.  Koch minions vs. Sorros minions?  The minions all lose to the winners, Koch and Sorros. 

We might consider joining the ranks of the tea partiers and having a positive influence from within…......if we are up to the task.

Leftwing, rightwing and centerist are symbolic terms used to artificially divide the continuous spectrum of political philosophy into tidy, bite size groupings. This averaging of diversity not only doesn’t reflect the true nature of the political spectrum it also frames the discourse into a linear relationship when a circular one far more accurately symbolizes the body politic of all western countries.

The linear metaphor puts anarchists and libertarians, for instance, as the two most distant groups ideologically when, in my opinion, these two are kissing cousins philosophically. Anarchists and libertarians are no more different in political philosophy than say RINOs and DINOs. The circular metaphor much more accurately reflects the real relationship of political opinions in America.  The circular metaphor offers an alternative to the political dead end of our current artificial divisions, it shows how we are all cousins, how we are all in this together.

They (the ruling capitalists) are gambling that they can whittle away
the middle class and impoverish the working class without another
Great Depression like the 30’s.
But if they are wrong, then when the next Great Depression hits,
we will have plenty of angry folks who will rise up, take to the streets
and dismantle our corporate government—unless another FDR steps forward
to save capitalism for the ruling capitalists.

When you quit your job and refuse to consume, and there are enough of you with the courage to do that, then the system will collapse, and you can figure out what to do next.  Otherwise, you just have to be a wage slave, and wait for the system to collapse on its own.

Look, many people that preferred Nader didn’t vote for him… because they didn’t want to throw my vote away. Same with Perot. The reason is that the rules favor the two parties, and that’s exactly the way they want to keep them. It’s a two-man see-saw that guarantees them 50% control. They don’t want to cut that to 33%.

Only Instant Runoff Voting, AKA Ranked Choice Voting, will change it.

Jack Lohman
http://MoneyedPoliticians.net

surfnow, January 3 at 4:05 pm Link to this comment

Really, Inherit The Wind, the Left has to follow the example of the Tea Party if it wants to be successful?  Yeah, there’s a brilliant solution. The problem is, as both Nader and Hedges understand, is there is virtually no MSM outlet for any Progressive. Information control in this country has become a monstrous conservative monolith. And it is not just the MSM- it is radio, books, school textbooks, and much, soon to be most, of the internet. Amerikan Fasicsm has perfected what Goebbels and the Nazis started and there is no way to break up that stranglehold.
**********************

More whining “It’s not fair!”

Yeah, the Koch Bros funded the TP.  So? Get Soros and some of the other Billionaires who are (or pretend to be) to fund the “Sons and Daughters of Liberty”. And get MSNBC to do for the SDL what Fox does for the TP.

When your enemies are defeating you, it’s a fool who doesn’t learn how to use their own tactics against them.

Chris,
I have spent decades working on a solution to this.  I have it, and you are the person to make it work.  Please contact me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and I will send it, a blueprint for nonviolent revolution that will actually accomplish something.  The plan needs a leader, and I am confident you could be that person.

“Inherit the Wind” may be on to a bit of something.  I look at the tea party as angry, anxious, frustrated, and/or scared voters.  I suppose the ‘movement’ has morphed and will continue, but at present, it’s certain they have been a tool of the interests Nader and Hedges warn us about. 

Rather than create a ‘left tea party’, shouldn’t the very members of the tea party be recruited into a new progressive party?  Ignore your first conditioned reaction to say ‘yuk’.  As ugly as their image is, I assure you they are no uglier than the rest of us. 

Surely the tea partiers can now see that the controllers, the masters of the tea party are indeed using the members of the tea party against the members interests.  Shouldn’t the left be recognizing these people, the rank and file of the tea party as being the working men and women, and the retirees, who need a strong and uncorrupted government working on behalf of ‘We the People’?? 

Yes, many, many tea partiiers are ugly up close, and we all are.  The overwhelming majority of people on this planet are ugly in nature and can be uglier under many conditions.  It may be that the beauty of human nature is the exception, only showing itself under rarer circumstances, but I digress.  We should not ostracize the tea party because there is some ugliness among them.  There is a lot of good too, and none of us is any better than they.  We are all ugly in that we have prejudices, nastiness, all manner of human weaknesses.  These negatives have been manipulated, stoked and stroked by big-money oligarchical forces.  Remember the Koch Brothers derailing any chance of a decent health care bill?  Hedges touched on this theme previously, and I believe him correct, that we are they.  We who think of ourselves as being in a privileged intellectual class ‘above the fray’ had better come down to earth.  So had those who serve the oligarchical masters thinking their loyalty will be repaid.  One thing we all have in common?  We are far more easily manipulated than we will admit.   

So, why is the ‘left’ unable to able to open the eyes of these tea partiers?  Two things: Will and Means.  Comfy and paid off, the left lacks willpower to take risks.  As for means, as some suggest, the nature, control if you will, of the media is indeed a huge problem.  And, the means to educate (not indoctrinate, EDUCATE) is in questionable hands as well.  It’s apparent manipulation of our education and thinking toward commercial purposes has been a problem for many decades. 

We need an organization as CitizenWhy suggests, and paid organizers with a solid, clear, specific platform behind them, and perhaps we can manage the required credibility to get people like Paul_GA on board.  I would think people would take a chance on local third party candidates, but in the national elections, people hesitate to risk losing to the party that is the ‘perceived greater of two evils’ as Nader suggests.

Hedges recognizes current political realities when he concludes his article by quoting Nader, “How much more can the oppressed take before they revolt? And can they revolt without organizers? These are the two important questions. You have got to have organizers, and as of now we don’t,” but he ignores political realities when he advocates abandoning the Democrats. The truth is that, as things now stand, the left does have nowhere else to go but with the Democrats. That is the reality, and reality sucks, but it is what it is.

Hedges’ metaphor about speed, “McCain is 50 miles per hour and Obama is 40 miles per hour,” doesn’t accurately describe what is occurring politically. The Republicans are pedal to the metal, while the Democrats are applying the brakes. The political shift to the Right, seen as ended in 2008, is currently accelerating. Lindsey Graham, once perceived as being from the Center/Right of the Republican Party, is now perceived as being from the Center/Left of the Republican Party. Lindsey Graham said on Sunday that the U.S. should have a permanent military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan while Joe Biden has said that “We will have all of our troops out of Afghanistan by 2014, come hell or high water.” The Republicans first order of business will be a partisan effort to repeal the Meager Health Care Reforms.  Knowledgeable, informed, political observers know that this meager Health Reform was meager because of political realities, and right-wing obstruction, and not because of Democratic malfeasance. Republicans apparently believe that this wasted futile attempt will give them a political advantage, Republicans will be playing politics and not doing the peoples business with this attempt. Obama once said that “Starting from scratch Universal Health Care would be the way to go [sic],” but Universal Health Care is anathema to all Republicans, Left, Right, and Center. Before dissatisfied elements of the left effectively helped the Republicans take control of the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrats passed 100’s of progressive initiatives, which were blocked, obstructed, and buried in the U.S. Senate by Republicans.

Some on the Left continuously and wrongly claim that there is no dichotomy between Democrats and Republicans, this perception is stupidity, or more likely deceitful demagoguery.

Hedges is pleading with the Left to rise up with acts of “Physical defiance,” which I believe is absolutely necessary in order to stop the rightward shift in our political life, but many from the left are focused on a counter productive condemnation of Democrats, while ignoring the plea of Hedges and others. Such a behavior is idiotically counter productive, and self destructive.

The Dec. 16 protest by Hedges and his fellow patriots has been perceived as being futile, meaningless, and impotent by many, but impotence will be the result of a lack of constructive action, and counter productive coalition busting by some on the Left. Paraphrasing an infamous right-wing, geo-political, realpolitik, political philosophical strategy, I’ll say that “The Democrats may be bastards, but at least they are [more progressive] bastards.” Many of these “Bastards” are more progressive than they are given credit for being, and they can not be expected to magically achieve the impossible. Supporting the not so Left, may someday make the impossible possible, while defeat of the more progressive will only serve the interests of reactionaries, and accelerate the rightward shift in our political realities.

Hedges and his fellow patriot’s can be perceived as being irrelevant, or they can be perceived as being the small vanguard of a political movement. If this potential political movement fails to grow and achieve objectives, we’ll be left with Democratic “Bastards” as being our best hope of obstructing the more bastardly Republicans.

Those are the realities; deal with them, yuh dumbass bastids.

Right after 9/11/01 . . . the Left ceased to exist.  Hillary Clinton (de facto leader of
“the Left” in Congress as of 9/10/01) ceased being a feminist “as far as man-stuff
thingies” (i.e., war, invasion, etc.) were concerned and she was accompanied by
nearly every liberal in the Congress, man and woman.

George Wallace, segregationist governor of Alabama and presidential candidate of
the American Independent Party in 1968, is finally right:  “There isn’t a dime’s
worth of difference between the Democratic and Republican Parties”

What is happening is similar to a pressure cooker without an outlet valve.  The pressure steadily builds.  Because there is no outlet, when the catalyst for change presents itself the energy to make it happen will be extraordinary. 

The best voice of the people has long been pooh - poohed by the left while dismissed as the anti-christ by many on the right.  The World Teacher Maitreya - head of the Spiritual Hierarchy of Masters (those who have stabilized in Buddhic / Christ consciousness) - has lived in London hidden from the masses for far too long.  Spirituality in its transcendent sense encompasses a type of love and beauty that is far more inspiring and motivating than the trinket pleasures that the crowd currently controlling the debate trumpet as the goal in life.  At some level of discomfort with the existing paradigm, ordinary citizens will finally find it worthwhile to demand to hear from Maitreya what the counterpoint to the now-dominating forces of materialism - whose tentacles extend into and color every societal structure - is.  Why not now?

“I am your Friend and Brother, not a God. It is true that My Father has, once again, sent Me to you; but I come to you who are My brethren, to guide you and lead you, if you will, into a blessed future. My task will be to show you that for mankind the ways part. The signposts are set, and on your decision rests the future of this Earth. We are here together, you and I, to ensure that man chooses the correct path, the only Way which can lead him to God.”
- Messages from Maitreya the Christ

a govt is a part of governance. so is cia, fbi, media,
judiciary, congress, army.
in thought, none of these branches of one entity change
an iota.
circumstances change, but ideology of people-owners and
warlords stays the same not matter what changes occur.

changes result only in tactical changes, but the basic
structure me giver-u taker; me commanding-u obeying
remains an invariant.

in short, some days bigger and more crumbs fall dwn—
on other days fewer and smaller.
and on some days…..?
well,if u want to eat, do some errands for me! such as
serve me in afgh’n! tnx

Although I voted for you every single time, nothing is going to “erupt” my dear Mr. Nader, for the liberals.

Its finally time to examine exactly what you are wanting people to march for.

Is it for a progressive agenda shared by neocons and neoliberals which is anti-life, globalist and pro-war?

Or, more likely, should we march for a rogue bunch of criminals who have infiltrated the top levels of ours and other countries’ governments for the sole purpose of invading, incarcerating, killing and plundering? In the name of freedom, of course?

Or should we march for a progressive machine, spearheaded by the current neocons and neoliberals, which has created a larger, more illegal, more intrusive brownshirt security force, than even Hitler? All to be turned inward toward the American people?

Mr. Nader and many true liberals, need to finally understand that talk about philosophy, truth and political approaches is long past.

Since 911 (really, since JKF) we have been subverted to a rogue banking mobster military gang who have infiltrated legitimate government, committing one false flag incident after another, from fake pantywaist bomber nutjobs, to set-up, salad bar crazies, and who are currently engaged in building a global empire for themselves, while boasting about “bringing down” entire countries, by debt, depression or invasion.

Nader and the liberals are going to get nowhere anymore while denying these monstrous false flag events, committed by these rogue monsters, around the world, and the goals of globalism and the accompanying censorship they mean to make permanent. Starting with 911.

These monsters, which include the Bush administration and the Obama administration, two of the most corrupt leaders in our lifetime, MUST BE ISOLATED from legitimate public servants, by the public, the press, and other honest leaders. These monsters will use liberals and conservatives alike, but they are all globalists and progressives. The rhetoric is outdated, Mr, Nader. It does not fit anymore.

And if being a liberal or a conservative, in your eyes, means denying these truths, then good luck. Put me down as the opposite. You’re building on a ton of sand. You have no message while denying the awful truth that we all know. Cricket sounds and no “rising up”, ever again.

Isolate and prosecute these criminals or just zip it. Its tiring.

Ralph Nader is correct.  The liberal wing is broken.  But, even if it
wan’t, there is no chance that corporate control of America can be
halted let alone reversed.  Early in the article, Mr. Hedges points
out that about 4% of the electorate viewed Mr. Nader favorably.  If
all of those individuals voted for Mr. Nader, it would not have
altered the path America has been on the last two years.

Presently, corporate America has a strangle hold on the two
dominate parties.  It also exerts influence on others as well—the
Libertarian for one.  As is so often repeated, money is the life
blood of politics.  Running for office requires large sums.  The
candidate who gets his/her message out has a better chance of
winning.  Media coverage influences people, and media costs
money.

Corporate America has a strong control over the media.  Who is
selected to write columns, what events are covered, and editorials
act as dripping water.  Eventually, what is pushed becomes
“common wisdom” and all else is relegated to being labeled
“extreme.”  Contrary views don’t exist if they are not given
coverage.  If radio stations are bundled into huge monopolies, then
a uniform message permeates not just one area, but the entire
country.  Research has shown that those viewers who regularly
watch Fox media are ignorant of the facts—domestic as well as
foreign issues.  Yet, the viewership does not decline.

The US is not just an imperial power, but is turning into a third
world country.  With the passage of time, the nation will become a
20-80 split.  For 20% of the population, the good times will roll. 
For the other 80%, there will be difficulties in jobs, housing, health
care, education, etc.  There will be an increase in media to distract
the populace—create fear to obtain submission.  Religion will
reach new heights—don’t worry about your plight in this world,
your reward will come in heaven.  Entertainment will consume free
time—how is your football team doing or skydiving with the stars. 
Alcoholism may rise—it was the release for coal workers in the US
and the escape for Russians under the Soviet system.

The American public rejects what Mr. Nader, Mr. Bacevich, or Mr.
Hedges advocate.
The Republic that Mr. Nader and Mr. Hedges wishes to rescue is
more like a runaway train than a foundering ship.  With the ship,
there is always the chance or hope that a new “captain” or a more
alert “crew” will avert disaster.  A runaway train just crashes. 
There is no hope for America today.  No act of defiance, no
political party, no political leader, no writer, no philosopher, no
grass movement will stop the crash.  Those who count themselves
as liberals can only stand on the sidelines and stare in
bewilderment.

Just to add what I believe is theonly solution to progressive reform. And it is certainly not through the election process. The vote has been a joke for decades.The only solution is through massive non-violent protest. Americans, as much as feasible, have to boycott every Korporate product and service.It can be done. It will however take individual sacrifice and personal will.

Chris Hedges is my favorite columnist and—though I’ve not met him—one of my favorite human beings.  His articles are “spot on,” as the Brits say. 

He asks the right question:  what is to be done?  An oldie but a goodie, that one.

Really, Inherit The Wind, the Left has to follow the example of the Tea Party if it wants to be successful?  Yeah, there’s a brilliant solution. The problem is, as both Nader and Hedges understand, is there is virtually no MSM outlet for any Progressive. Information control in this country has become a monstrous conservative monolith. And it is not just the MSM- it is radio, books, school textbooks, and much, soon to be most, of the internet. Amerikan Fasicsm has perfected what Goebbels and the Nazis started and there is no way to break up that stranglehold.

Thank you Chris Hedges and Ralph Nader.  This article is spot on!  I have disowned the “Democrat” New GOP Party.  We are moving ever Rightward because Corporate money only requires the Democrats to be slightly left of the ever Rightward moving Republican/TeaBagger Fascist Party.  Quite a brilliant strategy for these Rightists to exploit the corruption of our Fake Democracy.  It is satisfying to see that Hedges now really gets it !!!

It’s no longer about left or right in the US. At the top, there is no left. At the grass roots, it’s about survival. There was an element of the tea party that wanted to throw ALL the bums out. That could be the core of a movement, not just of the left but everybody who wants to survive with some form of recognizable life. Take over and reestablish sane foreign policy, banking practices, environmental policy, etc. I live in the Philippines, where not so long ago “People Power ” erupted from nowhere and swept away an entrenched system. It can happen. Tear down the two party system. It is a failure. It is a fake. We are the only country that has it. Too easy to turn into one party with two branches.

Whatever Left means needs to be defined by a Party platform that would
resemble a Social Democratic platform, or simply a series of 5 points.

Could anyone define, in simple terms, what the 5 points of a Left candidate
would be? Would, let’s say, a reduction of the defense budget of 25-35% be
one?

Perhaps the Left needs to form a dues-paying national party as they do in
Europe. Then elect a central committee to write a platform, with each point to
be voted on by the dues paying members. Plus posted on a web page where
anyone could vote (indicating their political leanings from Progressive/Very
Liberal to Very Conservative). This opening of a “sentiment” vote to all might
bring in dues paying members. Get out the vote campaigns could be organized
for this vote, including on college campuses, especially community colleges.

Keep in mind that the left, unlike the Tea Party, will not get funding from
lobbyists and billionaires. It will also not have a Fox News to promote it.

The union leaders are despicable. They ought to be run out of leadership, the phony bastards.
Same with Obama, of course. I’m waiting for his cover to be blown, and I’m hoping Assange or some other hero to find that one story or piece of deceit that even the rank and file, veal pen worshipper can’t ignore. I think one more piece of bad news will bring this president down.
Most of all, I’m hoping Ron Paul, flawed as he is, will run in 2012. The truth is, we have no one on the left who will seriously challenge Obama. I’m already reading pro-Paul posts on the far left, and people are saying they don’t care if we get a Sarah Palin, anymore, they’re still not voting for Obama. They also won’t vote for a flawed Democrat who has voted for Obama’s schemes, such as the healthcare insurance giveaway. So there’s a little hope.
When things get this bad, people on the far left and the far right find common cause: the hatred of Wall Street, the hatred of neverending war. Maybe we will have somewhere to go, and it will be relief to find a candidate we can actively support.
(Ralph Nader should organize a picket of the New York Times and the Washington Post. I’ll bet he’d be pleasantly surprised at the number of people who would join him).

What about Bernie Sanders, vermonta. I love the guy.
Heck I love a lot of people in Congress, like John
Conyers, John Lewis, Maxine Waters, and many more. At
least Sanders isn’t a Democrat, but so what?

Let’s suppose that the Mafia, the KKK, or some other
group convinced a few decent, well-meaning people to
join them. They’d be hired as spokespeople and told
that they could make a difference within the
organizations, that if they could get enough people
like themselves to join, the Mafia would turn away
from crime and the KKK would no longer be racist.

Okay, look, we’ve got a bad economy and jobs are hard
to find. So some of these decent, well-meaning
people, having families to house and feed, take the
jobs, hoping that it might be true that they could
make a difference. After all, they’re not criminals
or racists themselves, and if the Mafia and KKK allow
them to join, and pay them, and allow them to speak
out, maybe they really can make a difference.

But even if those within the organizations who hired
them secretly want change, it can’t come about unless
enough decent, well-intentioned people join and form
a pressure group from within.

So these decent, well-intentioned people go around
the country speaking out and telling everyone that
the Mafia and the KKK aren’t all bad, that they are
now allowing decent, well-meaning people like
themselves who aren’t criminals or racists to join
and to speak out, and they need you to join with them
in order to help change those organizations from
within.

Sure, it will take time, but without you it can’t be
done. So because there are decent, well-meaning, non-
criminal, non-racist people in the Mafia and KKK,
will you join them to help change those organizations
from within?

True, you’ll be a minority. True, you won’t have the
votes to get much of anything passed. True, in order
to maintain your position within those groups, you’ll
occasionally have to support the internal leadership
of people who aren’t quite all you might hope, but
aren’t the worst of the lot—in fact they’re a lot
less evil than the worst of the lot, so in supporting
them you’re not sacrificing your principles just to
keep your job, you’re helping bring about change,
slowly but surely.

Are you ready to run for Congress now? Or at least to
help try to elect a decent, well-meaning person to
Congress or the White House? Because our government
is much more criminal than the Mafia, kills more
people, has dealt more drugs, and has even cooperated
with the Mafia on the attempted assassination of
Fidel Castro, and our government, even with the
tokenism of diversity, is much more racist than the
KKK and has killed more people of color than the KKK
could ever hope to.

So what about Bernie Sanders? He’s a decent, well-
meaning person. I love him. But I don’t love
plutocracy, oligarchy, corporatism, fascism,
capitalism, imperialism, neo-liberalism, free trade,
torture, wars of aggression, looting the treasury to
benefit the rich, slashing social programs, and
poisoning our land, water, food, and air for private
profit. I’m sad that decent, well-meaning people who
I love have no better way to earn a living than to be
part of an organization like that, but I understand
because I’m stuck here myself. Economic necessity’s a
mother.

I’m on Bernie’s mailing list, even though I don’t
live in Vermont. He has a lot to say and makes a lot
of sense. I only wish that he had better alternatives
so that his talents could be put to better use.

In most countries when the economy is bad people are mad at those in charge, when it is good they like them. Look at Europe. Reagan sacked safety and the environment and gave the country a temporary boost in the race for the bottom, the next Pres was in office by the time the pain from a poor environment reached the surface. Economy is good, Obama wins the Collapse of the US continues Obama loses. Conservatives sack the future for a little spurt over and over again.

Al Gore was different. He kept giving the gloomy news and herofied little examples of improvement like planting a tree. If he had somehow won the cycle would be over.

To try to excel on gloom I wrote something about the glorious new dark ages burying potatoes and bartering sprouts like medieval peasants instead of the right wing image of glorifying a big gun, a big dog, and a big hoard of supplies. It’s worth a try,
See my personal blog,
richardkanepa.blogspot.com

“Three thousand people rallied to protest the invasion and massacre in Gaza two years ago,”

What massacre? Hamas broke the cease fire and fired thousands of rockets at civilians in Israel. Israel defended itself, like any nation would

“There was also a huge article on this anti-Semite against Arabs, this Islamaphobe, Pam Geller.”

But Hamas, a reactionary fundamentalist movement which opposes most of the so called leftist agenda can stage TV programs to children on hoaw to massacre Jews. And Moslem clerics in Arab countries, also opposed to most of what the left wants, can call for wholesale massacres but not a peep from Hedges or most of the left. Hedges and most of the left are posing as progressives are hypocrites
No,  Hedges you’re the antisemite.

I abandoned the Repubs more than a deacde ago, because I felt they’d abandoned me; I tend to vote Libertarian now.

My advice to liberals/progressives/leftists/whatever they term themselves: abandon the Demos, or abandon hope. The two party system is poisonous, it is killing this country.

                  “If Ralph Nader was starting today
                          he would be expeditiously nipped in the bud”

The fact that there are no rebels on the horizon to lead us didn’t “just happen.” Candidates in whatever party who pose a threat to the corporate power/elite have been effectively diminished or snuffed out by whatever means. This is difficult to assimilate for it is essential to the being of many Americans that they continue to believe ours is a government for the people and by the people, just as they were told in childhood and just as the power/elite wish them to believe; while the puppets the corporate/elite created and placed in power plunder our tax funds and send our children off to be killed in their wars for profit.

What about Bernie Sanders?

Until the last two paragraphs, the article came off as a little too political even Hedges was spot on about the reality of the American “Left” that is long used to “accepting” abuse and would look rightist to people in other nations watching the politically dysfunctional in this country. In fact, they even go so far enough to “defend” abuse. A typical Democrat/Republican party apologist will read this article and call Ralph all sorts of names such as “spoiler”, “sore loser”, “unwinnable”, etc… but the loser isn’t Ralph. The losers are the people who are truly conditioned into fearing real change.

Take a look back at Election 2008 where Obama seduced enough of the electorate to believe in his “hope and change” crap to get his 53%. Mccain had his own set of crap to sell just to get his 46%. I may have been a strong Nader lover when I voted three elections in a row for that man but it was only after I realized that my real reason I went for him was because he actually stood for all of us on issues that mattered a great deal to everyone. Neither he nor Mckinney played into this “first black” or “first woman” president celebrity nonsense. You would never see anything like that from Obama, Hillary, Mccain, or Palin. Unfortunately, 2008 was the year where celebrity trumped principle and issues despite both the financial meltdowns here at home and accumulated disasters in Iraq, Afghanistan, and all over the Middle East thanks to USA foreign policies.

Even in the last election nothing changed. People were still not ready to vote on principle or the issues. Instead, it was another year of feeling like some new “change” was coming from the Republicans in this “Tea Party” form. Then there were those who went on with their usual “the Democrats are doing bad but we must shut up and be practical or else those big bad Republican wolves will eat Obama alive” crap. The fundamental problem with politics is the temptation to assume that we have control over the end (i.e., voting on party and even ideological labels) than the means (i.e., voting on principle and on issues) when our ability to get a good product can only come from the best means. To the people who still want to trash critical thinking as “purist”, I recommend reading the following article on why settling for “pragmatic solutions” is not only lazy but the worst form of self-defeatism.

http://www.mkgandhi.org/g_relevance/chap28.htm

Chris and Ralph: Whine, whine, whine “The Left has no place to go…”

What is it about American politics that people can’t see beyond the context to grab successful strategies.

So Ralph and Chris want a successful, proven model to bring about change?  It’s right there, under their elitist noses.

It’s called the Tea Party.  I may detest what they stand for, but in just over two years they were able to become the 900 lb gorilla for the Right Wing. 

Isn’t it obvious?  The Left needs its OWN version of the “Tea Party”, something that hits people in the gut, ordinary people, and angers and energizes them.

Isn’t it obvious? Ralph Nader and the Green Party were NEVER able to generate that anger, excitement and energy.

The Right could do it, even with a dope like Sarah Palin as their figurehead. But the Left can’t figure out even the obvious.

We are watching the destruction of teacher’s unions now.  ‘Waiting for Superman’ was meant to get the populace to hate teachers and teachers unions.  This demonization in necessary to complete the transfer from public to Charter Schools. Charter schools are non unionized and for-profit (corporate owned).

Teachers will not need to have a degree in education (the de-professionalization of teachers) and will have to scramble to please over-paid administrators (paid 2X higher than public school administration).  They can be used up, exhausted, and thrown away without due process.

No one sees this as a corporate issue, though. Everyone responds in exactly the way they are meant to respond.  The voices who see what is going on are either very quiet or nonexistent.  No one is calling out the danger. In my local paper the comments about union teachers are nasty and venomous.  ‘Why should they have job security? Why should they have pensions?  Kids can’t even read.’ 

When the teacher’s unions go down, the corporations have our kids, too.

Political oppression in the United States is so incredibly pervasive that the majority of the citizens do not even recognize its existence. But this, despite its awfulness, is nothing compared to the overt cultural oppression which makes this all possible. The use of the antiquated terms of ‘left’ and ‘right’ reveal how far this country has descended from any sense of humanity. To oppose war, violence and injustice should not be an issue determined by political affiliation; but in the savage market demographics of the corporate bottom line, it obviously is.
Facebook users take note: Goldman Sachs has invested in that company.Maybe it will dawn on somebody some day that there is nothing liberating about social networking. Corporate mentality wants to keep track of everything.
Hey! But take heart. In the land of the blind consumer, the one-eyed shopper is king.

Much to my shame and embarrassment and far greater regret, I am one of the voters who cast his vote for Obama, despite the fact that Kucinich, Nader, and McKinney were after my own heart. The depth and degree to which I am appalled by Obama is hard to overstate, and for all the reasons so many others are disgusted beyond words: the playing to progressives to win the election, and not only almost instantly converting to Bushism, but going one or two or three or four better than Bush himself, the minute the inauguration day crowds dispersed. The ways in which this guy has offended, the number and manner of his sellouts, takes my breath away.

I’ll never make that voting booth mistake again. I’ll vote only for a Kucinich, a McKinney, a Sanders, a Grayson, or for Nader—never, ever again for these wretched DNC types. Obama might not realize it, but his time in Washington is going to be short.

PS: I’m overseas because jobs stateside are so scarce. I’d be happy to join the protests in Lafayette Park, but I do need to be able to keep a roof over my head. Anybody want to offer me a job, drop me a line, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

“There is no major difference between a McCain administration, a Bush and an Obama administration. Obama, in fact, is in many ways worse. McCain, like Bush, exposes the naked face of corporate power. Obama, who professes to support core liberal values while carrying out policies that mock these values, mutes and disempowers liberals, progressives and leftists. Environmental and anti-war groups, who plead with Obama to address their issues, are little more than ineffectual supplicants.”

This is truth, whether one likes it or not.

So, Morpheus, you want to send delegates to a
national convention? That’s what our founders did,
and the delegates betrayed them. We don’t need
representatives and delegates. We don’t have to drive
a horse and buggy for weeks to make our voice heard.
We have the technology for direct democracy—all we
need to do is use it.

Greens can have some success as a political party in
countries with proportional representation, but the
U.S. doesn’t even that that minimal requisite to
democracy. But even where Greens do gain some power,
if the system itself is corrupt, they are prone to
become corrupted by it.

While it is true that our liberals and progressives
are frightened and submissive, attempts to radicalize
them will only strengthen the oligarchy. The
Communists made that mistake in Nazi Germany. Moscow
had correctly identified the non-Communist trade
unions and the liberal bourgeoisie as the biggest
obstacle to revolution. In hopes of radicalizing
them, the Communists used violence to disrupt their
organizations and take over their unions, and voted
with the Nazis. Although fascism was the ultimate
enemy, it was not seen as the biggest obstacle to
revolution because the Nazis were not submissive,
frightened, and nonviolent.

Our oligarchy is quite open about the fact that it
does not allow public opinion to influence its
decisions. Going into the streets and getting
yourself beaten and arrested, only helps support the
prison industry and our corrupt judiciary. It also
facilitates new laws to suppress civil dissent.

Today’s revolutionaries are practicing socialists.
They don’t support the corporate economy and they
seek alternative and self-sufficient means of
sustenance. They don’t vote because no matter who you
vote for, it is the turnout that legitimizes a
government. A government derives its just powers from
the consent of the governed, and your vote is your
consent. It says that you have enough faith in our
government to delegate your power to whoever wins the
election, and to allow them to make decisions for you
even if you can’t hold them accountable during their
terms of office, which is the ONLY time they’re
supposed to represent you. Agreeing to be represented
by people you can’t hold accountable is the utmost in
apathy and irresponsibility.

Capitalism is predicated on unlimited growth, and it
is like bubble gum where the bubble gets so big that
it explodes and collapses. Sticking bandaids on it
isn’t going to help. Our energies need to go into
local food and housing cooperatives where we can
learn and practice direct democracy. Direct democracy
is to politics what permaculture is to farming. It
isn’t predicated on unlimited growth and maximum
short term gain, but on continuous reliability.

But direct democracy can’t work within a hierarchical
bureaucracy like our government.

Keep in mind the old Hippocratic Oath, “First do no
harm.” To elect delegates and representatives is to
abdicate your power and responsibilities as a
citizen, and it harms both you and your country. We
don’t have to repeat the mistakes of the past. We
have libraries and the internet and we can choose to
do the things that have been proven to work.

Don’t Give UP!

“The left has no where to go”. This is silly talk from someone that is tired, weary and ready to through in the towel. Democrats and Republicans can’t help us now. Once we get over that shock, reality and self preservation will push us forward. 

You have a choice; you just don’t know it yet.  Eventually the Democrats and Republicans will force you to stand up for yourself by backing the American people into a wall. Big mistake…

Here’s your Choice:

Read “Common Sense 3.1” at ( http://www.revolution2.osixs.org )

We don’t have to live like this anymore. “Spread the News”