Response to a Democratic Supporter

Eventually you'll realize that you've been played. The Democrats aren't the progressive party they were in the 1930s and 40s; they sold out to the oligarchs long ago. They're NOT "failing" to represent the people; they're doing exactly what they intend to do. Which is to lose. Lose elections, or lose legislative battles. Haven't you noticed that when they're in the majority they're helpless, and the Republican minority blocks everything the Democrats claim to support? They meekly bow to the parliamentarian, or to whichever right-wing Senators are playing the bad guy role that week. The most they'll do is pass weak-tea Republican policies such as RomneyCare. And when the Dems are in the minority, they're HELPLESS - except when it comes to begging us all for money and stabbing progressive candidates in the back. 

They don't even pretend to try to keep their promises any more. Student debt forgiveness? Intentionally undermined by using an approach that experts warned in advance wouldn't make it past the Supreme Court. A $2000 check for every American? They didn't even offer an excuse for that one. Ditto for the public option; Biden promised it, and then never mentioned it again after the election.

Their job is to keep people like you constantly trying to kick that football, even though they pull it away EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. They occupy the left/populist spot on the political spectrum to co-opt any real populist left movement, but their policies are cosmetic at best and always right-wing. They discredit the whole concept of leftism by pretending that it's purely a matter of identity politics carried to extremes, and spitting contempt at the vast majority of the American people who are dying under the boots of the health insurance "industry", the oligarchs, and inflation. 

That's why people voted for Trump. Believe it or not, they're smarter than you think; when offered a choice between hypocritical fascists who support the status quo and a fascist who at least acknowledged that the people are being screwed (even though he's just going to make it worse), they chose the option that recognized that there was a problem.

Stop playing the game. Recognize that we're being slowly exterminated by the upper class. We had it better under King George the Third. The political parties will NEVER allow a solution, because THEY'RE PART OF THE PROBLEM. It's time to work towards overthrowing this murder-suicide of a political system. A better world is possible, but no politician is going to hand it to us on a silver platter. We have to make it happen for ourselves.

Six weeks...

 

Either/Or

The Democratic Party leadership don't give a shit about democracy. If they did, they wouldn't have put a visibly demented, doddering old  octogenarian up against Donald Trump. 

OR, this is all just a game between the two major political parties and who wins is meaningless - the oligarchs win either way. In which case we don't have democracy and probably haven't had it for decades. If ever. 

I Forget

The special counsel tasked with investigating Joe Biden's keeping of classified documents in his home during his time out of office has declined to prosecute, saying that Biden's memory is shot. Apparently he doesn't remember when he was vice president or even the year that his son died. I can't say that I'm surprised.

I keep an eye out on the Daily Kos occasionally to see what dyed-in-the-wool Democratic supporters are thinking. In this case, they were virtually unanimous: it's no big deal.

"I'm 63 and I forgot my wedding anniversary. This is totally normal."

"I'm 81 and I forgot my debit card PIN. Joe Biden is the greatest President in history."

"I'm 47 and I just forgot my own last name. Four more years!"

Sticking your head in the sand and refusing to acknowledge reality is such a classic Democratic coping mechanism! But I fear we're going to see some truly epic Democratic tantrums after election day.

I just wish I could see them all without having to suffer through another term of Trump. People really need to wake up and realize that both parties are killing off our species. 

Response to a Democrat (Vote Blue No Matter Who)

So you're saying we should support the man who:

A) is responsible for the deaths and maimings of tens of thousands of civilians

B) is bringing us closer to World War III than anyone else in history

C) promised to veto Medicare for All if it ever reached his desk, while he and his family receive the best medical care in the world for life, paid for by our tax dollars whether we like it or not,

D) has a credible accusation of rape against him, just like Trump,

E) is visibly in a state of advanced dementia

F) was the primary mover behind the 1994 Crime Bill that put millions of black Americans in prison, depriving their children of parents

G) rigged the 2020 Democratic primaries, depriving voters of a fair vote,

H) cancelled the 2024 Democratic primaries, depriving voters of a chance to vote again,

I) was the primary mover behind the 2005 Bankruptcy Bill, which deprived millions of young Americans of the option to escape crushing lifetime debt,

J) armed and is STILL arming actual Nazis in Ukraine

K) broke up refugee families and put them in cages at the border, including thousands of children - many of whom were subsequently raped by staff,

L) is offering Republicans the reinstatement of Trump's most savage treatment of refugees at the border just to get more weapons for Ukraine and for Israel's genocide?

There's lots more I could come up with, but if that's not enough nothing is. As for your suggestion that Trump would be worse on Gaza: perhaps you're right. But it's well known that Trump and Netanyahu hate each other, quite probably because they're both thugs. And for all his evil, Trump is politically pretty canny - and he's cheap. Those are all reasons to suspect that Trump wouldn't be willing to write Netanyahu unlimited checks, unlike Biden.

All that said, genocide - particularly of children - is very personal to me. It's a red line that I will never, ever cross. A vote for Biden is a vote for the continued extermination of the children of Gaza, among many other terrible policies which are bringing the end of the human race closer every day. I'm a father. I WON'T support that.

The political crop

If it weren't for his slavering support of Israel, RFKjr might have had a chance. West simply showed poor judgement too many times to be trusted. Stein seems the best of the alternatives *by far* on her positions and temperament, but I suspect that she's not likely to appeal to more traditional and Republican voters as RFKjr does. The DNC did everything they could to destroy her reputation after the 2016 election,  and since devoted Party loyalists (of both parties) tend to swallow what they're told by their political leaders without question, it's going to be hard for Stein to pierce that veil of ignorance.

But just a reminder: Politics is NOT the answer. In the end, the American political system is owned lock, stock, and barrel, by the oligarchy. They'll happily kill if they have to to protect their power (see Epstein, Jeffrey for just one of many examples), but they shouldn't need to. They'll simply use their media - which they also own outright - to pull a Jeremy Corbyn on anyone they oppose. In other words the media will put out slander and lies against any candidate or movement that challenges the absolute power of the elite, 24/7, rendering them politically dead. And of course they also control the voting and vote-COUNTING apparatus, although their control is slightly less iron-clad than their control of the media.

Lastly, don't forget that they can (and will) influence, censor, or even turn off the internet in the USA at will, either in specific areas or nationwide. The censoring, of course, is done by Big Tech at the command of the oligarchs.

More.

Imagine a fight. Two opponents battling. Call one Red and the other Blue, if you like.

If the two are reasonably well-matched, you'd expect to see a fairly close contest. Sometimes one might be winning, sometimes the other. If it's a long battle, the lead might go back and forth many times.

But suppose that one - let's say Blue - suddenly changes their approach. Rather than trying to win, they start fighting a purely defensive battle. They never try to land a blow. At most, they try to make it look like they're trying to win, without actually ever attempting to be a real challenge to their opponent. What happens? The purely defensive side will inevitably be defeated. What was once a fair battle between equals becomes a slaughter and a charade.

Of course you've seen through this metaphor. I'm talking about the American two-party system. Ever since the Clintons and the DLC gained control of the Democratic Party, ever since they shifted their fundraising focus (and therefore their loyalty) from the public and labor groups, the Democratic Party simply stopped...trying...to...win.

Think of the major political and social initiatives of the twentieth century. Child labor laws. Food and drug safety. Environmental protection. The forty-hour workweek. Social Security. Medicare and Medicaid. The New Deal. The Civil Rights Act. The Great Society. The Equal Rights Amendment. Can you name any initiative supported by the Democratic Party leadership after 1980 that even approached the same level of significance?

If so, my comment section is open to you. But I'm not holding my breath.

In modern American history, all the passion, all the aggression, all of the initiative has been with the Republican Party and the financial elite - the 1% - that they (and the Democrats) serve. They want control over every state, every legislature, every branch of government. They want to ban abortion, eliminate environmental protections, wipe unions and labor rights out of existence, ban Muslims from immigrating, build a wall which would rival the Great Wall of China, eliminate the social safety net, shove gays back into the closet, end Social Security, allow unfettered religious discrimination by (but never against) right-wing Christians...the list is endless. And behind it all is the never-ending lust of the 1% for more tax cuts and more cash from the public till.

More. That's what it is. They want more.

And what do the Democrats want? Why, they're just playing defense. They want to preserve those things that the 1% and the Republicans want to destroy. But gosh darn it, they just keep failing. And yet they still keep collecting those big checks from Wall Street. You'd almost think they were losing deliberately!

And that's why it was such a shock when Bernie Sanders announced the first major initiative to expand the public good in decades: his proposal to make public colleges and universities free for students. It's not a terribly radical idea, in hindsight. If we can do it for grades 1-12, why can't we do it for the four years following? And any economist (or anyone with an ounce of common sense) knows that it would be a profitable investment of taxpayers' dollars: a better-educated people produce more, earn more, and pay higher taxes.

And infinitely more important, they form an educated population which is the basis of a successful democracy - and a free nation.

Progressives have lost the habit of asking for more. We've become good at cringing, and panicking, and despairingly trying to salvage scraps from the leavings of the 1%...but we've forgotten that in the end, it's the people who are the majority. Not the 1%. Not the political masters of either party. We have the power, if we choose to use it. All it takes is for the people to wake up.

But they won't be woken by pale, pathetic visions of slightly ameliorating the apocalypse. It takes a grand vision, or better still many of them, to inspire a downtrodden people to rise up and overthrow tyrants. Free college is just the start. Single payer is just the start. Why shouldn't the American public enjoy all of the privileges that our European cousins enjoy? More vacation time. Shorter work weeks.

And more! A guaranteed basic income for all. Proper mental health care for every citizen. And dental. Lifetime educational opportunities - not just mealy-mouthed "job retraining", but education to enrich the soul and improve the mind. We're not just economic units; our lives mean more than money!

It's time for us to demand...more.