Right Wing Jerks

We have all been told a lie. The lie that says democracy can be maintained only through voting, through purely representative, parliamentarian means. When the founding fathers set up the Constitution and Bill of Rights, they were wary of any truly popular, working and middle class control of the United States. Our government was to be run as a republic, designed by elites, for the elites. Our three branches of government were not simply invented for checks and balances: another reason was to stymie any massively popular mandates that would go against the interests of the oligarchy.

Several hundred thousand American citizens won’t be voting in presidential primary elections—and it’s not their fault.
In Pennsylvania, for example, a registered voter who needed an absentee ballot had to submit the request at least one full week before the election, and then return the ballot no less than four days before the election.

Buckle up, America.  The voting demolition derby that was the New York primary on Tuesday was merely the crash test for the coming voting wreckage in November:  a carefully planned pile up.
First, live from New York….
Francesca Rheannon, whom you may know as the host of Writers’ Voice radio, did the civic thing by volunteering to work the polls in a town east of New York City.

The Democratic Party, operating from darkness as is its wont, is still blaming Ralph Nader for their defeat in 2000.  A piece at Politico begins “The Clinton campaign has a question for Bernie Sanders: Are you to become “a Ralph Nader and try to destroy the party?”
Where does one begin to expose the deceit in this?

As the 2016 US presidential election approaches, the whole country has once again been transformed into a football stadium, with waves of media frenzy and people cheering for their favorite quarterback. The electoral arena in the US is infested with big money by lobbyists like Big Pharma, Monsanto and the Weapons Industry, to name a few.

If you think that the worst thing for the country is electing yet another establishment politician to the presidency, what is your best, most principled action?  By you I mean the millions of Americans who have supported the candidacy of either Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump.  They have enormous potential power.

We all feel the seemingly oppressive impact of the conservative force that has taken over the United States, but feel hard-pressed to identify where it started and the specific entities responsible. Most of us suspect that it was no accident. We can be most certain that it isn’t.

There are among us today, as there always have been, those who act against the scheme of things that degrades them, and in the process of action everything we have accepted out of fear or insensitivity or ignorance is shaken before us and examined… More important, from this total questioning of what has previously been unquestioned, we learn. And such a process is not beyond the common man.
— Arthur Miller, “Tragedy and the Common Man”, 1949

Rather than fuss, fume, and fester about the Trump phenomenon, we need to analyze the situation that brought us to this sad point in time, including what motivates his many supporters. Most have issues that anger them. They may be only slightly bruised financially by the conditions wrought by a culture hijacked by conservatism, or fed-up with no voice in how this country is run. Others are perplexed by the deteriorating comfort and well being it has brought into our midst.

In the past year, some progressives have explained why they are not supporting Bernie Sanders.  Last summer, Bruce Dixon from Black Agenda Report presented a “sheepdog” theory suggesting that people who join the Bernie campaign will eventually be herded into supporting Hillary.  More recently, Chris Hedges wrote “We must focus exclusively on revolt” and break with the establishment parties.