It would indeed be a great sign of our democracy to have four candidates – instead of just two – sharing the stage during debates for the best presidential candidate. When we only have the choice between two evils, we the people will lose.
By Jerry Alatalo
any are becoming aware that Hillary Clinton isn’t the only woman in the United States attempting to break the “glass ceiling” and become elected the first woman President. After Bernie Sanders exited the race many of his followers have urged him to join with Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who offered him the top position on the Green ticket, an invitation to join forces and continue the remarkable political revolution Sanders’ campaign had generated.
Now that he’s fully endorsed Ms. Clinton and declined Ms. Stein’s offer, many Sanders supporters – finding it impossible to back Hillary Clinton, and angered over recent Wikileaks revelations showing intentional sabotaging of Sanders’ campaign by members of the Democratic National Committee – have decided to continue to November 8 in support of Dr. Jill Stein.
If enough Americans join and support the presidential campaign of Jill Stein to reach 15% in the…
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Three Worlds One Vision 
Yes.
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Indeed, we have two flawed candidates. Only one, however, who poses a major threat to the republic and to many other nations, as well. I am not prepared to risk the idea of an acceptable if imperfect candidate to an untested one who might throw the election of a hyperactive, ignorant, and narcissistic race-baiter in the hope that Dr. Stein (no relation) will be our saviour.
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You don’t stand alone in that regard, Dr. Stein. We face a difficult choice. It will all depend upon what each one of us hopes that our next president will work to achieve. For me, ending the stranglehold of the powerful billionaire class over our government, our addiction to fossil fuels, and endless wars are at the top of my list of important issues. Not everyone shares my priorities.
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Butting in here… and yet those priorities you mention should be THE priorities for anyone involving themselves in the political process.
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Many years ago I began wondering when Americans would wake up to the obvious, that a two-party system was a set-up to hide the fact that America was nothing less than a war-mongering empire and at home a police state, the pretend political choice bandied to the electorate as proof they lived in a democracy. All the while their “nation” was busy spreading terror and bloodshed anywhere in the world where fledgling democracies tried to establish themselves – the same pattern being on the increase today. Of course throwing in a third wheel as an alternative would accomplish absolutely nothing – the power and corruption are way too far out of reach for any decent person or people to reel back in – but it gives something to talk about and perhaps to create little false hopes in those who insist they can “make America great again” which for me means, bringing back the democracy. That’s a joke, of course, since America never was a democracy, never even close. You can’t bring back what never was. Starting over would mean a violently bloody revolution, but with the current state of confusion between liberals, environmentalists, gun nuts, police corruption, racists, drug lords, would-be socialists and etc., where would the necessary coalescing come from? Oh, “they” did a good job creating the Confused Consumer States of America. No matter how unbelievable their crimes and corruption, they can rest easy that there exists no consistent national movement or force to seriously oppose or threaten them. And that’s a slam dunk, probably for at least another decade unless the War House incites NATO to attack Russia and provoke a nuclear response. Then all bets are off and none of these discussion will matter to anyone.
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I agree with much of what you’ve said, though we are not a police state in the Third Reich/Soviet Union sense. The “Consumer States of America” is a topic that features prominently in “Infinite Jest,” a book of fiction I’m just now reading. Daunting but worth it. I think the task of being a citizen requires more effort than most of the citizens even understand, partly an unfortunate reflection on education in the USA. The institutions are shaky now, too many people don’t even know what the idea of “checks and balances is, and the aggrieved are plentiful. It is a difficult moment.
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I think most people’s idea of “checks and balances” would translate as, “I wrote too many checks and my balance is now zero.” But I know what you are saying.
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“I think the task of being a citizen requires more effort than most of the citizens even understand, partly an unfortunate reflection on education in the USA.”
~ I agree, Dr. Stein. I would add that the paucity or absence of unbiased, investigative journalism among the mainstream media also contributes to our ignorance or disinformation on major issues affecting our lives.
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Sha’Tara, it saddens me to have to agree that you are spot on with your general assessment of the USA.
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Taxpayers are shareholders in the USA Corporation. As long as taxpayers look to government to solve social problems, they will get negative value for their investments.
I have long advocated taking an “issue” rather than personality/party stand on the issues facing the country and the world. I personally feel the federal government has outlived its usefulness. I’m fine with it unraveling into local and state governments. That would eliminate one of the four levels of government I pay to boss me around.
Don’t forget Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate. By providing an unrehearsed angle to the debates, he could force the primary contenders to grow up.
Now the action shifts to local and state elections, where individual candidates must decide whether they support their party’s nominee. That the entire House and one-third of the Senate up for grabs gives taxpayers a better strategic advantage than they’ve ever had.
These are my issues: 1. Stop the wars and put that money into taking care of the vets we’ve already maimed and murdered. Their families, too.
2. Go metric. We are screwed up economically because we are not on the same page as the rest of the world in terms of weights and measures. Our “Framers” realized the importance of weights and measures, as well as gold currency, by giving that decision to Congress in the Constitution. Thank Thomas Jefferson for our decimal-based monetary system. Decimals are much easier to figure than fractions. 3. Get off Daylight Savings Time. How much money and time have been lost due to confusion about what time it is? Am I the only person in the world tired of resetting clocks every six months, for no good reason? 4. Repeal the ethanol mandate, sell Archer Daniel Midland stock, and boycott their products. 5. Abolish all drug laws. (People may think I’m kidding, but I question the government’s right to come between individual adults and their own bodies.) 6. Bring back incandescent light bulbs.
That’s only the beginning. I’ll bet others have issues of their own.
Sha’tara, you speak a lot of what I believe. If the federal government were to declare bankruptcy, it couldn’t afford the wars. It might have to invest in human capital at home. Cleaning up the environmental toxins. Reclaiming passenger rail is a big one for me. Anyone care to look into Amtrak’s inside funding and why it is so lame as a viable passenger transportation service? Amtrak is an investigative journalist’s dream and nightmare come true.
Sincerely,
Libby Belle
an alter ego of katharineotto.wordpress.com
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I would have no problems backing you on your issues though one makes me smile: the incandescent light bulb. I so much prefer LED’s as they give a much brighter, cleaner light, IMO. But the main one, get out of all the wars, come home and take care of home. Then I’d add, give the whole world a huge and sincere apology for all the interference… then watch the real nation rise up out of the garbage and discover itself as it’s never had a chance to be. I try to imagine a grown up USA with adults in charge instead of overgrown, overindulged adult-sized two-year olds. It would be a nice change but it’s up to Americans to make it happen. Definitely agree with you on the drug thing. I’d add a major issue: give a woman full and legal choice re: pregnancy, no patriarchal/religious interference permitted; a prospective mother makes a choice? Nothing can trump that, absolutely nothing, even if the rest of the world disagrees, she’s still “right” in her choice. Yes, that’s a big one for me. Then there’s justice as in real equality and that begins with economic equality. No more crap about the rich deserving more because they risk more – the old capitalist investor saw – and the poor feeding from table scraps falling on the ground. Central government? Out – totally. Perhaps have a kind of non-binding economic union of US states, and perhaps including Canadian provinces, and Mexican… states? Provinces? Whatever, all sharing the wealth and taking care of the North American “garden” together. And let the rest of the world go about its own business in its own way. I can’t echo Martin Luther King Jr. here and say, “I have a dream!” because that’s not my dream, just an idea. Thanks for making me think.
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“Perhaps have a kind of non-binding economic union of US states, and perhaps including Canadian provinces, and Mexican… states? Provinces? Whatever, all sharing the wealth and taking care of the North American “garden” together. And let the rest of the world go about its own business in its own way.”
~ Sha’Tara, that’s the most revolutionary idea I’ve heard to date. I believe that a time is coming, though not in our lifetime, when environmental breakdown across the North American continent and our planet will force our species to consider such cooperation between small regions, be they states or provinces, for survival. Of course, all this may not be necessary if, as you mentioned in an earlier comment, “the War House incites NATO to attack Russia and provoke a nuclear response.”
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Birth control is a non-issue for me, because I would just fire any government drones who interfere, even the Supreme Court. Who pays whose salary here? And cushy benefits and retirement plans?
Give myself a tax break, and all that.
You’re right about the anal-retentive, sado-masochistic mindset. I contend we have been stuck in the anal phase of Freud’s stages of psychosexual development. But the shit is hitting the fan now, so to speak.
If Americans considerd themselves “shareholders,” I believe we would develop a more mature approach to the role of government in the economy. As shareholders, we have the right to withhold taxes from government overkill, for instance. We also have the right to refuse payments on debt made in our names and without our permission.
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And so they invented the voting process to create confusion, chaos and total disempowerment among the sheeple. First thing: boycott all elections, at all levels.
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I vote with my big mouth. That is, telling everybody what issues I want Congress to tackle and how I want them to vote. How can voters expect Congress to make good decisions if the voters themselves aren’t informed? By election day, important decisions have already been made.
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Katharine, we have hundreds or more issues to address, the majority of which stem from our capitalist economic system.
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You’re sounding very patient with me, but this is an important point.
If taxpayers consider themselves “shareholders,” rather than “voters” or Democratic or Republican or whatever, they will get a better grasp of their part in creating responsible government. For instance, we would see a major drop in government subsidies to corporations, I suspect. Taxpayer/shareholders would begin to see how they pay at both ends for these corporate perks.
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Cyril, thanks for sharing my post with your readers 🙂
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