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.
