Two of my recent postings have created a storm of controversy. I've been
subjected to extremes of hyperbolic praise and acidic vituperation.
With a few welcome exceptions, The 'H' Word and When Hope Becomes Hype
have largely been judged as vicious attacks on President Obama, as in
personal condemnation of the man. His administration is certainly
fingered, because the specific lessons to be taken away are definitely
germane and unquestionable timely. While there's value in never
repeating the mistakes of history, what's the point of looking at
Eisenhower or Coolidge when there are hard lessons to be learned right
now? And how irresponsible it would be to not single out and identify
those directly responsible for the destructive policies and evident
treachery unfolding before our eyes in real time?
Let me candid about something: Fairly recently I concluded the President never
intended to deliver on his promises. However, during his first campaign
and the first few months of his presidency, I very much believed in Mr.
Obama and took the man at his word, whereas many others, including Glen
Ford of the Black Agenda Report, said he was not at all what he appeared to be.
This was before the 2008 election.
While I've come to this same conclusion belatedly __ and that and that alone
is the thrust of my two controversial postings __ I am not interested
so much in berating Mr. Obama, as preventing the same mistake from
happening again.
The same mistake would be Hillary Clinton. Or Jeb Bush. Or Rand Paul. Or any
of the other duopoly pretenders to the throne who are already in the
limelight in anticipation of the 2016 election.
What's the difference between butterscotch and butter rum candy ? Sometimes I
can tell. Usually they taste pretty much the same. Frankly it's such a close
call, it's not worth any hand-wringing or long, involved debate about it.
That's the choice we are faced with in our current political system. The truth is,
Democrat and Republican are in the long view pretty much the same flavor.
They are two sides of the same 1% oligarchic corporate-owned coin.
Heads or tails?
It's still a quarter. And it won't buy you a cup of coffee.
It won't even pay the bus fair to your second job or the unemployment office.
So what in my view is the lesson we take from travesty of the last few elections?
What can we learn from the play-for-pay politics of big money,
epitomized by Obama's currying the favor of corporations at the expense
of 99% of the American public? What can we do about the stranglehold of
Citizens United and McCutcheon? What is the alternative to the the Democrat vs.
Republican dog-and-pony show which has made meaningful voting a fatuous
exercise in futility? How can you and I as citizens of our democracy-in-exile
make our voice heard above the din of cronyism and Beltway banditry?
It's really quite simple . . .
Just say 'no' to this sham. Just say 'no' to the fraud of Tweedledee-Tweedledum voting.
Just say 'no' to the duopoly which has as much relevance to real democracy as Monopoly
has to the real economy.
Just say 'no' to the "lesser-of-two-evils" non-choice choice.
Vote your conscience, vote your principles. Do the right thing. Not the
brought-to-you-by Monsanto or Morgan Chase or big pharma or big fossil
fuel or media monopoly thing.
Here's one really great thing that Obama has repeated over and over:
Yes, we can!
I agree!
Yes, we can . . . say 'no' to the duopoly and start having real choice.
Support Bernie Sanders.
Support Jill Stein.
Support any "non-partisan" candidate.
Support those individuals who answer to you on election day . . .
Not Wall Street.
Not too-big-to-jail banks.
Not transnational corporations.
Not play-for-pay lobbyists and SuperPACS.
Not the Koch brothers and other sociopathic oligarchs.
Certainly not the corporate owned Democratic and Republican puppet parties.
Make your vote actually count for something.
Just say 'no' to duopoly.
[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]
