Reform, My Ass!

I'd like to think we can somehow take our democracy back via he current two party system but I fail to see how it could be possible. Average everyday citizens, the 99%, don't have the deep pockets it takes to influence most politicians. We now find ourselves with the finest democracy money can buy. Which is not a democracy at all. It is something more like this. As of this writing, we still have more or less freedom of speech (unless you talk about talking to so called terrorist groups and wind up in a cell at an undisclosed location as a guest of the US military, for example). There are other taboo topics where the punishment is not as obvious but still bad enough. Those who question the the on going War on Terror, invasions of other countries and bombing those we label rouge and or terrorist organizations often face ridicule, humiliation, job loss or marginalization.

The same can be said of anyone who questions capitalism or Neo-liberalism. "What are you, some kinda commie or socialist?" Try to get a job with this label. Hell, this may be worse than doing time in the American gulag. I think we still feed prisoners and let them have shelter which is more than I can say for our ever shrinking social safety net. But if you are a massive financial intuition who has paid BOTH political parties failure is not an option. Read 'em and weep; here here and here. How can average citizens compete?

Financial deregulation under former President Bill Clinton helped pave the way for mega-mergers and big banks gone wild. Did they really expect this industry to police itself? Those who say the market will weed out the dirty players may have been correct but some how they became "Too Big To Fail" and we the tax payers got stuck with the bill. Thus the cycle begins again. For an easy to understand explanation of what's driving the financial crisis check out the documentary, "The Greed Game". The super rich are building wealth on a massive scale while people in so called wealthy western countries are being stuck with "austerity". Those cashing in spend millions on our elections and rake in billions. That's a damn good ROI (Return on Investment)! Are the Republicans any better?

Republicans are all about pro business at the expense of the ever growing underclass. They confuse being a good business man with being a good political leader. Romney offers his business skills as a big qualification to be president but is a good businessman the right person to be president? I think business are two different things. Well duh! Business is all about making money. It is the whole point. Government should be about protecting liberty, providing defense (not an empire) and seeing to it every one's basic needs are being met. What happens when doing the work of good government clashes with making money? Now it seems money wins out every time, no matter the party in power. For a good objective article on Romney click here. Republicans play on people's fears to protect business interests. Government run health care is bad! The old lady on TV says "Big government stay out of my Medicare!" GROOOOAN. Death panels under your bed! They want to take away your guns! The Mexicans are taking our jobs! The list is almost endless but people buy in. Both parties do a hell of a job on selling us on war!

In the beginning George W. had me sold on the Iraq war but I started to listen to those opposed to it and woke up. "War made Easy" is a documentary which exposes the same script presidents use to sell us on war for more than fifty years now. "They are a grave threat to us.", "We must protect freedom." 'We must prevent genocide." Bla bla bla... Neither party questions the fact that a president can start a war and now has a private army in both the CIA and Contractors such as Dyncorp and Academi (formerly known as Xe, Formerly known as Backwater).

There are others who feel this way.

Stan Goff "Why I wont vote (and you shouldn't either)"

Ted Rall Blog

Chris Hedges "This is what revolution looks like"

Chalmers Johnson Read here!

I hope I'm full of shit and those who want to change the system / game from with in are right but how? If not, what are the possible alternatives? Let the dialogue begin! Keep it positive.

No Change to Real Change

I've pretty much given up on The Democratic Party. Obama's try to please everybody stands have pleased no one really. During the campaign, he seemed to be a breath of fresh air saying all the right things. I was then and still am no fan of Hillary Clinton. We were promised "change" (as we are in every election) but as I see it, little to nothing has really changed. We are still bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan with no end in sight. There is no talk now about leaving either place, much less what out goals and intentions are. We have spent more than 1 trillion dollars so far and at least one million lives lost. Both places are a complete disaster and utter failure of our foreign policy. We have a joyous new health care reform bill mostly written by lobbyists for insurance and pharmaceutical conglomerations. As long as we have a "for profit" based system, more and more of us will suffer unnecessarily because of no or poor insurance and fall into bankruptcy. Sorry Republicans, I unlike you CANNOT in any way accept someone losing their house and all they own due to illness. It is wrong. Apparently, the Democrats agree with you. We have no real jobs creation bill and unemployment benefits are on again off again based on the whims of congress. Sure unemployment cannot go on forever but tie it to the unemployment rate or something we can understand! The BP disaster in the gulf is another fine example how nothing has changed. Both our political parties take tons of money from oil industry and when something goes wrong, play politics, potty mouth the oil industry and pass some bullshit labeled "reform" which really reforms nothing. The list of what has not changed is almost endless.

We get political theatre and spectacle. Note, "The Tea Party". They claim to be grassroots (whatever that is) but I have my doubts. I'm not going to slam fellow citizens who get out and take a stand for what they believe, but other than a fear of increasing taxes and hardcore conservatism what is the point? They slam so called illegals while completely ignoring the root causes of the problem. Businesses will hire them and with things so shitty in Mexico and points further south people will go where ever they can find work. Who among us would not do the same? Here are a few talking points. Look for yourself. "Gun Ownership Is Sacred" Why? I've been places where this is not the case and it is a hell of a lot safer. "Traditional Family Values Are Encouraged". My family values may be different than yours. "Intrusive Government Stopped." Does this mean I'll no longer have to take my shoes off at the airport? Will there still be "watch" lists? "Bail-out And Stimulus Plans Are Illegal." This may be a good idea. Why are so many in this movement older and white? I don't care for the term progressive so I will not use it. Rather, those on the left, are not much more coherent about what to do than the Tea Party people. They continue to blindly support The Democrats while ignoring their abysmal record for getting anything good done. Some on the left arrogantly dismiss people who do not think like they do as being ill informed or stupid. Conservatives have legitimate concerns and some good ideas on occasion. Personal and fiscal responsibility are good but lacking in both parties. I may be more left leaning but share some Conservative values as well. Most people are a mix of both I believe. Everyday we as a nation live with this false dichotomy of left vs. right while nothing really changes.

So it would be easy to simply tune it all out as many of us do but I'm not ready to give up. I think there may be a chance to save ourselves from some type of American style dictatorship. We MUST develop other viable parties to counter our current one party system. We now have two wings of the same party that are all about keeping the status quo. The game is so heavily rigged against building such parties, it may be too late. Who writes the rules? Those maintaining the status quo. About the only way I see any better development in this direction is some people with a ton of money getting into it and that may just make matters worse. I'm going shopping for a new party to support. The Republicans lost my vote a long tome ago and now so have The Democrats. Some say I throwing my vote away or worse, voting for Sarah Palin. Bullshit. I'm participating in something new, real opposition to what is going on. Think about it long term Democrats. At least have a look...

THE GREEN PARTY

THE COFFEE PARTY

THE MODERN WHIG PARTY

None of these work for you? Go to Google.com and find one that does and stand your ass up!