No Ballot Left Behind or, Is Our Voters Learning?

This is an open discussion to ask:

What were your own biggest lessons/ takeaways from this last election? I'll kick off with a few of my own:

1. Who could have ever predicted that we would have an election that culminated in the selection of two candidates from both major Parties that subsequently found themselves in the center of FBI investigations? Good job, Democrats and Republicans!

As a result, many Americans found both choices almost equally abhorrent for different reasons and discovered themselves speared on the tines of Morton's Fork. It would be great if we could avoid situations like that in the future. To that end I make the following recommendations to both Partys:

Do your jobs, vet your candidates and have some maximum baggage limitations like most airlines do. If you candidate can barely bring themselves to face the press and average people from the getgo, that's a good sign that there's trouble ahead. If your candidate declines to make the last ten years of tax returns public (an arbitrary figure chosen by me) than tell them they haven't met the minimum requirement for Party support. The American public deserves to know with whom and what the personal finances of a candidate are entangled.

Hmmmm,I realize that my own beloved Bernie did not meet the tax disclosure criterion - he should have. . . Okay, in the spirit of inconsistent and situational ethics that befell both Parties, i.e. it's only bad when an opponent does it, I relieve Bernie of disclosure duties because his policy stances were so awesome.

2. Democrats never ever learn from their failures at the ballot box and in the halls of power, except to misinterpret and take away exactly the wrong message.

Losing seats and influence? Keep on keeping on. Retain the same leaders and consultants and chase the Overton window ever further right as more and more voters jump off the bandwagon. Trump Bad didn't work last time, but it's possible it will suffice next time, accompanied by demonstrating the core values discovered in their last scab-picking retreats: Compassion, Security, Opportunity and Results. Does this mean that they will now show compassion for the loss of opportunity and security experienced in most American households that is the result of their unfocused and feckless centrism? What? That's not what they meant?

3. Democrats continue to loathe and disparage the Left in particular any member of the Left who did not fall in line and UNITE and turn over their ballot to Dems who held up their end of the bargain by offering, as always, Lesser Evil.

To this day they continue to label the left as bigoted racist sexist purists Marxists/Communists (can't waste the Trump/Russia tie-in). How can it be that some on the left may have exercised their Constitutional right to vote Green, sit out, write-in or whatever else their conscience dictated that did not involve the letters HRC, when those votes were rightfully theirs (Dems), dammit! The Green vote, small as it was, was enough to tip the scales in some crucial areas.

Even as we speak, in places where stalwart Dems gather, they are compiling lists and grudge books of those who must be castigated, shamed, brow-beaten, insulted or harassed back into the fold. Don't they recall driving those voters or their media compatriots into the wilderness in the first place? Why do they continue to worry about this small sliver of the population who believed the Dems when they were told they were of no-account and a fungus on the Tree of Incremental Progress? I just don't get it.

For every liberal or blue-collar voter who was driven from the compound, they were supposed to pick up two Republican or Independent moderates. Why is it the Liberal/left's fault when their math proved faulty? Why is it the left's fault when we believed the Party Line that Hillary was a shoe-in and our votes were so small as to be inconsequential?

Okay, I'm having a bit of fun with #3 here. But what is not fun is seeing people equating Democratic Party dissension and dissentors as "unpatriotic" or "treasonous" or alternately as either complicit or unwitting tools tools of Vladimir Putin and Russia. This really is neo-McCarthyism and its no joke.

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MsGrin's picture

with respect to choosing candidates. 2018 may or may not get some turnover in leadership at the county and state levels. It's do-able if more of 'us' swarm in. That's the way rules get rewritten.

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'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member

Phoebe Loosinhouse's picture

@MsGrin
as is the goal of Brand New Congress, Our Revolution, and Justice Democrats -

every single person who participates in that effort either as a candidate or simply attempting to join the Party apparatus at local and state levels should blog honestly about their experience, i.e how open and/or closed to their efforts the entrenched power structure is. That would be some very very interesting reading. A light needs to be shone on the internal machinations.

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" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "

@Phoebe Loosinhouse about our dismal choices for the House in my district. The execrable Clinton groupie lost, yay!, but the tea party Republican is now being groomed for a Big Future--has already, she is a freshman!--been sent on a trip to the ME. This is a rural district so naturally she has been assigned to the finance committee.

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Mary Bennett

Phoebe Loosinhouse's picture

@Nastarana

And you might consider starting a local political blog and making some difference where you live.

Its amazing how fast things can turn around in a Congressional District since they have to be effectively running all the time with their two year terms. How is your Tea Party person standing on the Republican healthcare bill? There is literally no winning position on that for a Republican. I would expect that a real Tea Partyer would desire a higher body count than even what the bill is offering, for their "safest" stance. That should yield some career-killing quotes for the next go round.

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" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "

detroitmechworks's picture

1. They really will do anything to get people to buy weapons. Even ramping up the force used against peaceful protestors, just to make us think that the only way to fight them is to buy NRA and MIC approved tools of death and destruction.

2. The American Political Establishment is not just dead, it's fossilized. There will be no growth, or changes coming out of State Capitols or Washington. The only hope for change is public referendums, which need to be aimed primarily at eliminating the power base of the Parties. I would suggest some states try banning em completely under the Fraternity bans from the 60's. (Right now, I'm willing to try ANYTHING to hurt the parties.) Smile

3. Never Trust a Clinton.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEJDYO53750]

4. The breakup of the US may be a long time coming, but it's inevitable. Start thinking about the country you WANT to have, because that's the one you personally are going to have to create.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

gulfgal98's picture

@detroitmechworks This election finally made me realize not just how corrupt our political parties and politicians are, but also how deeply embedded that corruption is throughout our government.

Just a few examples off the top of my head:
1) Bailing out the banks, but refusing to prosecute those responsible for the collapse of the economy.
2) Huge rise of the security industrial state which now has the ability to glean every single detail about our lives and allows the sharing of such data among various agencies.
3) Ability of the federal government to conduct psyops upon American citizens.
4) Extra judicial murder of American citizens. Ability to detain Americans without a trial.
5) Rise of the police state and the militarization of local police forces.

I have come to the conclusion that there is no way to reform any of this. The only change will come when the entire system collapses which come soon. If it does, it may be to everyone's benefit if the US was broken up into smaller countries.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

detroitmechworks's picture

@gulfgal98 The US will claim sovereignty as long as they control the military.

Honestly, I envision a scenario where PMC's go into retail business for local governments, right after areas with resources STOP sending them to areas without. Any breakup is going to involve serious resource wars, which is sad. Of course they will be condemned at the federal level, but they sure as shit aren't going to do anything other than send drones at all "Terrorists" they can spot, which will be much less effective on domestic soil, because there isn't an ocean between the operators and the targets.

Best strategy in this scenario is to not stand out as wealthy or vulnerable. Fall back on Peasant tactics. Pay lip service while taking care of your people and take serious interest in the health and well being of your neighbors. There will be a LOT of propaganda and lies thrown around, but people remember personal experiences pretty well. War isn't the answer, and the longer you can keep it off your soil the better.

Eventually the small countries will be recognized when the invasions of the "Powerful" start. At that point, all bets are off, and hopefully no asshole is so cruel as to start a nuclear war just to hold onto the tiny bit of power they now possess. (Of course, I expect that, but that's why the "Don't make yourself a target" strategy comes in. May not save you, but at least ya tried.)

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

earthling1's picture

@detroitmechworks Fight back with your wallet. Cut up your credit cards. If you cannot cut them up, work to put yourself in a postion to do so in the future.
It will take sacrifice, but not forever. I think if we work in unison, as is happening now with the disinvestment movement, the 1% cabal will crack and they will flee like roaches to protect their own interests. Pick em off, one at a time.
Forget the small stuff, Immigration reform, Pipelines, gay and lesbian issues, trangender rights, refugees, etc. Keep our eye on the ball. Total destruction of the to big to fail banks. That is where the enemy sleeps, not in the halls of Congress. Congresscritters are all tools, on both sides of the aisle.
Credexit. Stop borrowing from them. If you must borrow, do it with a credit UNION!
Cut down on your consumption. Buy from local small businesses, even if you have to pay a little more. Sacrifice, for the future of your children.
There was much sacrifice during World War 2, and we ,as a nation are the better for it. We still have a country to show for it.
Our country is under threat again, we must rise to the occasion, just like the "Greatest Generation " did. Have we become a nation of mice, or men?
IMHO.

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

Phoebe Loosinhouse's picture

@gulfgal98

I don't recall you ever being as pessimistic, although I can certainly understand why you feel the way you do and have been there myself. Taking a look at your list, the failures you cite are all failures of Justice which is the linchpin of any civil society. Its true that when you lose justice, and the Rule of Law you've pretty much lost everything. It's sad to note that Dems were just as awful in this area as Republicans.

Whenever I'm tempted to feel that there are no solutions, I really try to remember the examples of people like Gandhi and MLK and Nelson Mandela and countless others throughout history that still believed in the possibility of change no matter how bleak things appeared in the moment. What has to happen to invoke that change is for enough people to be hungry for better at the same time in order to achieve critical mass that cannot be ignored. I think we're just about there.

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" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "

gulfgal98's picture

@Phoebe Loosinhouse Yes, generally, I am a positive person and I still believe in the power of social movements, but it is going to take more than a social movement to root out the corrupt stranglehold that corporatism upon our government. I guess one of my points is that even if we reform both political parties, the deep state still exists and it is more powerful than ever.

On a separate note, I really appreciate your contributions here. I enjoy your writing.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Phoebe Loosinhouse's picture

@gulfgal98

In fact, you are one of the most consistently gracious, upbeat people I've ever encountered on the internet. But we all have our down times. Here's a toast to better days ahead.

Cheers!
Drinks

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" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "

gulfgal98's picture

@Phoebe Loosinhouse Also, it might be the flu that I am battling right now.

Note to self. Do not forget to get flu shot next year. Blush

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

SnappleBC's picture

@gulfgal98 @gulfgal98 I've been leaning towards the notion that the only thing which can fix this is a social movement... not a left or right one... but one of awareness. People need to become aware that the system is corrupt to the core and there are no (or virtually no) "good" people inside the beltway. They need to become aware that every single thing they read in MSM is either flat-out false or else presented in a way which deliberately deceives. Beyond awareness, we need a social movement of "cultural values" and by that I mean things like honor and integrity. Our politicians are all obvious liars and we all know that and yet we elect them anyway. We need to start caring that someone is a liar no matter what team colors they wear.

I suspect the rot in the political system is more of a symptom than a root cause.

For me, what I learned, is that while I'm definitely in a minority and I'm hardly alone. Bernie's incredible run was a total stunner to me. The amounts of money he raised, $27 at a time, is mind blowing. The number of talented artists who contributed graphics, video, and music were all astonishing. What I learned is that it's actually possible for a people-powered campaign to win. We didn't quite make it last time. We were facing too much internal corruption within our own party. But the fact that the waves lapped at the wall that high was really encouraging to me. I hope that more and more people join my own little "social movement" of actually giving a damn about our planet and the people around us.

I also learned what the phrase "bleeding heart liberal" means. It means people who like to sit around and chat gaily about who's heart they want to bleed next? Shall we devastate another ME nation or has that become boring? Perhaps a super power would bleed more brightly? Russia sounds good.

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A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard

CB's picture

@SnappleBC
Putin has said if there is to be another World War, it won't be fought inside Russia. I think he means it.

Maybe the US wouldn't be so eager to foment wars in every corner of the world now if they had lost 30,000,000 citizens in war fought within the homeland.

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@gulfgal98 hate to be fatalistic on this spectacularly beautiful March day (low 14 degrees but I feel it changing! Winter is done!), but as my family and I look around, we are all focusing on survival for the first time ever. All our discussions for the farms this year are about preparing for dramatic changes:floods, droughts, high wind, exotic pests,lack of pollination, etc. We're investing in things we've never had to think about before: greenhouses, special mulches, water storage, whole field drainage. I fear people farther removed from the land are about to be stunned by the effects of Trumps immigration policies. I lived in CA for 30 years, and if you think Americans are gonna pick lettuce you're dreaming. Try it sometime. I wouldn't last an hour. At $12 an hour and housing farmers here cant find anyone to pick apples. The shit,climate related and otherwise, is about to hit the fan. Thanking god as I do a thousand times a day for my life and living where i do

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The Aspie Corner's picture

Even now, despite the mountains of evidence to the contrary, there's absolutely no evidence Russia had anything to do with Trumpy Boy getting elected.

More to the point, Democrats would rather shift blame for their shit candidate's loss rather than accept the fact that their candidate was weaker than decaf coffee. "It's all Millennials' fault. They could have stopped Trump but chose not to."

About that: Wasn't it the DNC who colluded with media outlets to prop him up 24/7 to black out Bernie Sanders in the first place? Bernie could have given a speech to tens of thousands anywhere in the country but somehow Trump's podium deserves more air time?

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

thanatokephaloides's picture

@The Aspie Corner

More to the point, Democrats would rather shift blame for their shit candidate's loss rather than accept the fact that their candidate was weaker than decaf coffee.

Oh, their candidate wasn't "weak".

You had it right the first time: "SHIT".

Strong, pure, unadulterated shit.

Wink

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

earthling1's picture

@The Aspie Corner who lined up behind the shit candidate long before the primary.
It is incredibly important to remember all of them in 2018. This is why I'm pushing so hard to Disinfect the entire party before we can seize the name back and install working class people in their stead. We will never be able to move ahead until we clear the loggerhead at the top of the party.
I am making it clear to my own Dino reps that I intend to vote against them, no matter what, even if the only other choice is a Republican.
Cleanse. We know who they are.

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

SnappleBC's picture

@earthling1 If you are an "insider" (ie, someone who should've known better) and you endorsed or funded Hillary Clinton then you're not my friend. I can forgive folk like my family who are simply caught in the matrix. Ditto with a lot of DKOS posters. But if you're a beltway insider or some major organization then you knew what you were supporting.

Any individual or organization who did so will not get my vote or other support.

On the other hand, DKOS just floated a new "progressive" guy running somewhere who needed support. I was, of course, pretty skeptical but it turned out the guy was the first to endorse Bernie. In and of itself that's plenty enough to get me to look more closely.

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A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard

earthling1's picture

@SnappleBC yeah, he looks ok. But I wouldn't give any money, you never know if it goes to him or the fucking Dnc. The shit they pulled with Act Blue donations left a scar on me. Fuck Act Blue.

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

SnappleBC's picture

@earthling1 ... or any other form of support for quite some time. Even the best of them are absolutely in the "show me" category in my head. So far, they are showing me very little collectively. Individual bright spots are almost pointless since they will simply be crushed or coopted

I have limited funds. I try to spend them wisely. Right now that's mostly going to media that I find worthwhile.... this site for a while... Jacobin... etc. It would take another Bernie for me to drag out my wallet for a Democratic candidate.

I am planning on getting involved in my local Democrats Abroad group just to see what's going on (much like I still read GOS) but I won't be supporting their endeavors unless I am DRASTICALLY surprised in some way.

What is absolutely true for me is that I donate to no umbrella orgs. I have never trusted what they'd do with my money. Or, more accurately, I DID trust what they'd do with it and I didn't approve. So when I donate to a candidate it's directly to the candidate with no "tip" for ActBlue. Is that also getting skimmed from (beyond reasonable credit card and handling fees)?

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A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard

earthling1's picture

@SnappleBC among several candidates. You have to pay close attention and read everything. Sometimes they give it all to your candidate but the next time they throw you a curve. Fuckem'.

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

SnappleBC's picture

@earthling1 I THINK I read the fine print during the primaries. But from now on it'll be paper checks directly to the candidate's offices. If I can't figure out how to do that then they can't have my money.

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A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard

orlbucfan's picture

Running the two most obnoxious, odious, corrupt candidates in my lifetime is the reason tRump won. Nothing like having a bunch of fossils in power with hands on the nukes. Rec'd!!

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Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.

thanatokephaloides's picture

@orlbucfan @orlbucfan @orlbucfan

Running the two most obnoxious, odious, corrupt candidates in my lifetime is the reason tRump won.

"Clinton versus Trump? I'm not touching that with a ten-foot cedar pole from Lebanon! Give me that baby-splitting problem any day!"
-- Solomon ben David, King of Israel (1010 BCE - 931 BCE)

Smile

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

1. The public, outside of DC and maybe NYC, is fed up with war. Whomever opposes Trump in 2020 must be an antiwar candidate first and foremost. I believe, just my opinion, that Sanders would have won the nomination despite dirty tricks if he had a robust antiwar foreign policy.

2. They are also fed up with increasing immigration. Sorry, folks, but I hear this everywhere.

3. The peaceful protests against DAPL have revived environmentalists, who, I hope, will no longer allow themselves to be drowned by the Democratic Party. I think the biggest untold story of this year is the growing alliance between Native Americans, environmentalists and the sustainable and organic food and farming movement. That latter group has finally figured out that the Democrats are not their friends, WH garden notwithstanding. I mean no criticism of the former First Lady, who pushed that theme with her garden and her anti obesity campaign as far as she could. The garden was organic but she wasn't allowed to say so. Gee, I wonder what the First Tramp's special project might turn out to be?

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Mary Bennett

thanatokephaloides's picture

@Nastarana

2. They are also fed up with increasing immigration. Sorry, folks, but I hear this everywhere.

And you'll keep on hearing it until the policies which made good, well-paid jobs available without entanglement with the ghastly expenses of higher education extinct in this country are un-done.

This is a manufactured objection. It's yet another way to keep the 99% at each other's throats rather than being the threat to the livelihoods of the boss class that we can (and should!) be.

Mere racism/culturism isn't enough to drive this at current intensity.

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

earthling1's picture

@thanatokephaloides It's damn well about Focus!
We have to force ourselves to ignore the small stuff. To be clear, I'm not saying these issues are not important to those most affected. Be it transgender issues or Native American issues, or refugee issues. I'm saying nothing CAN change until the capitalists are completely run out of our government.
They sleep in the TBTF banks. That is our target.
Focus, focus, for our childrens sake, focus.

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

thanatokephaloides's picture

@Nastarana

I mean no criticism of the former First Lady, who pushed that theme with her garden and her anti obesity campaign as far as she could. The garden was organic but she wasn't allowed to say so.

The entirety of the "anti-obesity campaign", like all others before it, was Potemkin window dressing. Grappling with the real sources of obesity -- the existence of mega agribusinesses and their quest for profits, combined with a rapidly disappearing supply of worthwhile recreational time amongst America's working classes -- would mean the loss of profits for the obscenely rich among us.

When you are working 50 - 60 hours a week just to keep a roof over your head, there's neither time nor ability left over for regular exercise out in the clean fresh air. Under these conditions, human bodies secrete protective hormones (cortisols) which have nasty side effects including runaway obesity.

And that's before we consider the numerous tweaks done to our food for pure profit.

I do tend to be rather cynical of government anti-obesity programs. As someone who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s, my experience is that such activities are nothing else than preparation of our young people for war. The Empire needs all those kids to be athletes so they will make good cannon fodder.

Wolverine has some rather cogent views on this matter from the dietary perspective.

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

@thanatokephaloides partake of those anti-obesity "programs" then one can be shamed relentlessly for not taking the initiative on their own. Personal responsibility alone will cure all your health problems so if you get sick you have no one to blame but yourself, right?

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

thanatokephaloides's picture

@lizzyh7

Not to mention that if one does not partake of those anti-obesity "programs"

.... or if they do not work ....

then one can be shamed relentlessly for not taking the initiative on their own. Personal responsibility alone will cure all your health problems so if you get sick you have no one to blame but yourself, right?

Yeah, that too!

Diablo

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Big Al's picture

and pathetic it all is, the presidential election process, and how very few question not only the process but the need for a president at all.
I was going to say it was how corrupted, controlled and manipulated the elections are, but I already knew that.

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Phoebe Loosinhouse's picture

@Big Al

of people whose opinions I once respected who fell off that list entirely and I guess pretty much for good. On the plus side, I was introduced to new voices who didn't I guess didn't have entrenched positions on the gravy train to protect.

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" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "

earthling1's picture

@Big Al that we stop targeting the frauds in goverment and turn our wrath on those who actully own our government.
Divide and conquer the TBTF banks. Wells Fucko is mortally injured now. Finish them off. Show no mercy. They are practically asking for it with the recent debacle over the phoney 2 million fraudulant accounts. Coupled with the bailout and a subsequent issue involving money laundering, and their support of DAPL,they should be history already.
We are spinning our wheels trying to use a fixed election process. We must act outside of government.
Credexit.
Disinvest.
Wield our wallets like a club.

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

This feels a little bit like focus group testing but here it goes; I never felt so unrepresented in any presidential election since my first in 1980, when I didn't even get a chance to vote before Reagan was declared winner. Sucks to be west coast at election time. Why bother? Just give money. Money money money. Well I don't have any left, what now?

My "rep" Huffman endorsed Clinton before she even announced in the primary. He's a super-delegate, shilled for Clinton the whole way. Of course Clinton was declared winner of our district CA-02 on election night, but Bernie won it with 57% after they counted and the media was gone. You'd never know from Huffman, he just kept shilling through losing the general, and himself won with like 70% or something.

I was LOLing about Huffman's stupid car seat meetup near the end. I mean wtf he finally cancelled it, 'cause Clinton was tanking, but how out of touch can someone get? Pretty far when it's Marin County where he lives, a yuge wealth bubble. I was born in S.F. hospital but we lived on Belvedere Island, one of the most hoity-toity places on earth down there. Now I'm as far north in Sonoma County as you can get, same district, right on the cusp of Mendocino, CA-02 goes all the way up through Humboldt, it's huge. There are a lot of poor people struggling to survive, it's not just me. Don't get me going about cannabis, it's a mess they can't implement on time, the layers are absurd. People are getting away with murder.

Seriously, my takeaway is same as it ever was. Get money out of politics. I don't really feel much like talking to, or voting for pols until that gets done because what's the point? Ban PACs, use public financing, radical change kinda stuff is what I want. I mean radical like root cause of the problem, not the marching around protesting version. Monkey wrench the laws that need fixing, just do it, that's what I say. But first, ya gotta get money out and then here we are back at the beginning again. See? Existential nihilism ftw. Biggrin Thanks

Peace & Love

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CB's picture

Russiagate and the Democratic Party are for Chumps

The orange-tinted freakshow that is Donald Trump should be removed from the White House and sent to some filthy, rat-infested dungeon with a sentence of Life Without Twitter. The same goes for the rest of his racist, eco-cidal, arch-plutocratic, and shockingly Christian Fascist administration. They should be forced to work sunup to sundown in a solar panel-making work camp in the Arizona desert.

But Trump and his team should be defenestrated for what offenses and with what higher purpose? To put another dismal dollar Democrat like Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, or Barack Obama in power? God no. The neoliberal “free market” ideology that Democrats have been advancing every bit as much as (and more effectively than) Republicans over the last generation and more is how we got to this horrific Trumpian moment. Corporate power long ago turned the Democratic Party into a democratically useless lap-dog of the leading financial institutions, top multinational corporations, and the vast U.S. military empire. This depresses and demobilizes much of the nation’s poor and working class citizenry (or ex-citizenry), turning millions into non-voters and millions more into supporters of the ever more rightward, white-nationalist Republican Party.
...
Here’s where a “progressive Democrat” often steps in in to argue that it doesn’t have to be like this because the Democratic Party can be turned in a winning left and social-democratic direction.. I’ve been hearing this from them all my politically cognizant life. It is a naive and unduly trusting fantasy.

Left-leaning progressives have long been held in disdainful contempt by Democratic Party elites (I’ve been writing about this for years) who understand very well that their first job above all others is to prevent the emergence of any serious left opposition to ruling class power in the United States. The foremost duty of the “Inauthentic Opposition Party” [IOP] (as the late left political scientist Sheldon Wolin called the Democrats) is to keep real popular resistance at bay.
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So, it’s a crazy Democratic strategy, right? Not so fast. Remember that the issues “Russiagate” pushes to the margins, including racism, classism, ecocide, and the undermining of the public sphere, are all problem areas for the corporate and imperial Democrats too. The dreary, dollar-drenched Dems have been deeply complicit with the Republicans in creating the rightward neoliberal drift of U.S. policy over the last four-plus decades. It is (never forget) their first and foremost function (in service to the nation’s unelected and interrelated dictatorships of money and empire) to keep left forces and sentiments marginalized. Russiagate makes perfect sense for establishment Democrats on numerous levels, including how it absolves them from guilt for blowing the 2016 elections (because “Russia and Comey did it”) by running a horrible campaign with a terrible, highly unpopular and two-faced neoliberal presidential candidate atop their miserable ticket.
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Phoebe Loosinhouse's picture

@CB

sign onto Russiagate. Right now they are having their own Leakgate sharing the bill. IMO it's obvious to me that they think they will ensnare some prominent Democrats as the leakers, given the names they were throwing around as suspects.

The normal political inclination would be for the GOP to circle the wagons and protect their incumbent,but are they willing to do that if the smoke transmogifies into something more solid where there actually was some kind of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians? Then comes the question about how in or out of the loop Pence is/was as well as Sessions and possibly others.

So how long before it is determined whether or not there is a there, there? This is a very unhealthy atmosphere for the nation as a whole and for everyone within it.

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" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "

edg's picture

@Phoebe Loosinhouse

For there to have been collusion, there had to have been actual activity by the Russian government to interfere in the US election. Considering that the DNC and Podesta were not hacked by the Russian government and that the material given to WikiLeaks came from a DNC insider, it's extremely doubtful that there was any collusion on the political front.

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CB's picture

@Phoebe Loosinhouse

KING: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

And I would just say on that because again, we're not going into the classified sections, that indicating that historically Russians have supported Republicans, and I know that language is there, to me puts somewhat of a cloud over the entire report. It seems to indicate the direction it was going in, but anyway, let me just say this for the record, and I know what your answer's going to be, but I have to get this statement on the record.

On March 15, former acting director of CIA, Mike Morell, who was the acting director under President Obama and put on the record I've had differences with Mike Morell in the past but he was asked about the question of the Trump campaign conspiring with the Russians and his answer was there's smoke but there is not fire at all. There's no little camp fire, there's no little candle, there's no spark.

COMEY: I can't comment, Mr. King.

It's all smoke and no fire. Just more ketchup and mustard on the nothing burger.

As Clara and her friends would say about the latest House Select Committee on Intelligence burger: "It certainly is a big bun. It's a very big bun. It's a big fluffy bun. It's a very... big... fluffy......... bun." to which Clara responds: "Where's the beef?"

It's all about getting that damn ring firmly affixed to Trump's snout so he can be controlled by the Deep/Security State.

pig.jpg
We'll soon be back to business as usual - making money while increasing control and power for the oligarchs in corporate America who are the ones that truly run this country. Remember, greed and getting rich at the expense of others is what has made America great.

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Phoebe Loosinhouse's picture

@CB

as to whether there is or isn't a there there since IMO it's too early to call. Or even which there will materialize or whether multiple smoky theres will unite into a gigantic conflagration that takes down parts of both parties. Couldn't there be a scenario where all theories are correct? - collusion by Trumpets being proved credible and leaks by Democrats to bring down Trump proved credible?

I don't know how anyone can profess to have any kind of definitive handle on all the possible perambulations of this byzantine mess. I plan to simply watch it all unfold.

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" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "

CB's picture

@Phoebe Loosinhouse
the Russia connections since July of last year and still have no definitive answers. It is now obvious all they have are accusations. There's no meat in this nothing burger. It's the very same MO as the McCarthyist accusations in the 50's. Keep repeating accusations and people start to believe there must be something to it. Propaganda at its worst.

Comey says FBI began investigation into Russia meddling in July
March 20, 2017

FBI Director James B. Comey told Congress that the FBI launched its investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. elections nearly nine months ago.

He said the FBI started investigating the matter in July and that its work was still in the early stages.

He declined to say when the investigation might concluded.

Comey refused to comment when asked by Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) if the investigation had uncovered evidence of collision between Trump campaign associates and Russia.

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gulfgal98's picture

@Phoebe Loosinhouse We need to separate out the various aspects of this Russia stuff.

1) If Russia actually hacked the voting machines and changed the numbers and did so at the request of the Trump campaign, that is collusion. I doubt there is any "there" there. For there to be a "there," it would mean that the US openly admits to the world that our voting system is insecure. Yes, we know it is, but will the US government ever admit that? I doubt it. Second, Putin would be risking a new cold war or a cyber war with the US. Putin is way too smart for that. Getting Trump elected would not be worth that risk.
2) If having contact with Russian diplomats or diplomats of any other country is a crime, I would like to see where it is prohibited. Hillary Clinton herself approved a deal which gave Russia the rights to a significant amount of uranium in the US which seems to be a far worse sin.
3) If Trump had business dealings in Russia prior to the election, that is no sin either.

What could be Trump's downfall is his refusal to remove himself from his businesses while sitting as President. That is not just in Russia but elsewhere too. But with Russia, I see this witch hunt as the creation of a new boogie man while also attempting to get rid of Trump, especially now we know that the CIA could mimic the programming techniques of other countries.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

primary process is. I knew that Democrats were corrupt, but I didn't know they were just as bad as the GOP when it came to stealing votes. My second takeaway was that there is no point in voting for the lesser of evil because like a toothache, postponing's one's medicine only makes it worse.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

from the election year.

1. I learned that I was right that liberal Democratic voters would suddenly wake up to the corruption and ruthlessness of our country's political leadership if Trump won. They're no longer sleeping.

2. But I was wrong to think they would suddenly see how close we are to nuclear war in Europe. They still don't see it, they still support Obama's, Clinton's, and Kerry's reckless, threatening posture with nuclear weapons. They still support NATO and American troops being sent to Poland, Romania, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. Even if it's Trump who's rattling weapons, they believe in it because Obama initiated it.

They still believe Putin's Russia invaded Ukraine and annexed Crimea unprovoked. They still don't see or hear anything about Victoria Nuland and our State Department selecting the Pro-Nazi government in Ukraine and supporting the coup there. They still believe Assad started the war in Syria and that we are doing something they don't follow but don't care enough to read about. They don't say anything about Saudi bombing of refugee camps in Yemen or starving that country to death.

What I learned from this is that a lot of Democratic voters and so-called liberals don't care about war, don't care about children dying in unimaginable violence because we are so corrupt. That kind of corruption hasn't caught their attention. So I guess I was wrong about the basic level of humanity of an enormous number of people.

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edg's picture

@Linda Wood

Dems woke up to protest refugees being denied entry to the US but didn't bother getting out of bed to protest the policies and actions that created and continue to create those refugees.

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@edg
So well said.

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both in essays and various replies to essays. Looking up the replies would not be fun or quick, so I will just link to three of my essays on the subject.

http://caucus99percent.com/content/its-not-rocket-science
http://caucus99percent.com/content/my-political-epiphanies-2016
http://caucus99percent.com/content/time-re-fight-most-recent-battle-read...

I will add, as I have often posted before, that Democrats are not clueless, in need of learning, etc. That they do things we don't think they should do doesn't mean they are clueless. Nancy Pelosi, Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Hillary and Bill Clinton and other have done very well at the public teat. What is in it for them to change or even ever admit a mistake? Greedy, yes. Fake, yes. Corrupt, yes. More clueless about political matters than the average left message board poster? Extremely unlikely.

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dance you monster's picture

@HenryAWallace

. . . where I'll disagree with your post dismissing Democratic cluelessness. It's the subject of my essay this morning, in fact (and why I used that word specifically).

Greedy, fake, corrupt, yeah, all those are on full display. But. . . .

If Dems want to win any offices, and their power to become embedded in that corruption or increase it to their benefit might depend in part on winning offices, they are going about it the exact wrong way with their refusal to listen to voters, with their refusal to consider that anything needs changing. If they don't want to win offices, they are doing everything just dandy, but if they want office the decline in Dem representatives clearly shows they are doing it wrong. And this conclave of donors that's taking place now is proposing to spend money either needlessly (if no offices are sought) or misguidedly, dare I say cluelessly, if they think doing the same exact thing over again is going to win them power it has consistently lost them for several election cycles.

Rich motherfuckers can be blinkered on either side of the (diminishingly differentiated) political divide.

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CB's picture

@dance you monster
that Democrats were in firm control of both houses back in 2008?

"This is a mandate to get along, to get something done ... this is not a mandate for a political party or an ideology," Harry Reid - election night.

What's the fucking point of getting Democrats elected if that is what they end up doing?

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@dance you monster

definition of winning.

The smartest, quickest, slickest man about the game of politics whom I've ever heard speak is a Yale Law School graduate and Rhodes scholar named William Jefferson Clinton. As his wife said when she had to disclose their joint income returned to run for President, "He never had any money until after he left public service." (Those may not have been her exact words, but that was the gist of what she said.)

They want to be rich. Their money is not in winning elections. Their money is in keeping people like George Soros and George Blankfein happy enough to keep the money and power flowing your way. Besides, between them, Democrats and Republicans have had almost every local, state and federal office locked up since the Civil War. And they've helped each other enact laws that help things stay that way. IMO, it's going to be a long, long time before Democrats win no elected offices at all. Heck, Disgraceful Debbie won her re-election soon after she was exposed and booed out of the DNC chair.

Sharp as a tack Bill Clinton has access to the same TV programs, newspapers and internet as the posters on this board and he has a lot more leisure time to stay informed than most of us. He's been in politics since at least high school, mentored by Senator Fulbright from that time. He also has the money for advisors, private polls. He has access to every political expert on the planet. I don't understand why he wouldn't "get" it as much as posters struggling to stay alive.

For just one example, Hillary had over 200 economic advisors in 2015, both neoliberals like Rubin and Krugman and more liberal economists, like Stiglitz--not to figure out how to get elected or how to be a populist. Heaven knows, anyone who grew up in Jim Crow Arkansas knows that. No, she hired them to help her figure out how she could seem like a populist to us, the great unwashed, without scaring rich people. That was stated flat out by one of her economic advisors in an article I read at the time.* And the need not to alienate the rich--to curry favor with the rich, more likely--is the issue.

The issue is not that intelligent Democrats with the best educations in the world and a lifetime of political experience can't figure out that most people really, really want clean air and water, health care, food, shelter, education opportunities that don't leave them or their kids paying student loans until they die, etc. (It is amazing how pathetically little Americans dream of anymore.)

They saw the crowds Sanders drew and they knew exactly how and why he drew them. They've long known. But they also saw how to freeze him out and get media to do the same and then they co-opted him because it was either them or Republicans. They won; Sanders and we lost. Yes, she lost the general, but these things have been going in cycles since 1994 and Democrats had just held the Oval Office for 8 years.

*ETA: This may be the article, though I did not read it to check if it is the one that contains the quote. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/us/politics/economic-plan-is-a-quanda... You might also take a look at the Palast article at the head of this thread, to seethe level "clueless" Democrats are operating on and why: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026531352#post3

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Mark from Queens's picture

the potential loss of all that amazing energy and support that Bernie was able to coalesce inside the young generation.

I'm just going to stick to the aspects alone of how amazingly successful Bernie's campaign was, despite the full-court press employed to choke him.

In the end the millennials were told, essentially by the Party, who rigged the thing (we could talk about that for days), that their candidate, who was drawing to rallies tens of thousands of supporters routinely, lost the primary to someone with name recognition but that there wasn't any evidence of tangible, on-the-ground support for. We all know what wins elections: volunteers, canvassers and individual donors. They were essentially defrauded, told it didn't matter how much they were engaged - you lost. Now, get in line. That's not only heart-breaking, but poisonous.

Just remember how amazing and unique Bernie's campaign was: he was getting up to 80% of the youth vote in some cases, because they were galvanized at the outset, by probably the most unlikely of all candidates, because of what, in my opinion, was an unadorned, laser-focus on the most pressing and critical issues to the most people: healthcare for all, student debt and the promise of tuition-free higher education and the infecting influence of Wall St domination over our government (Money In Politics), the last being traditionally the most unsexy of all issues but which he miraculously made into a clarion call that woke people up to what the real problem is for the chronic dysfunction in DC and corporate dominance of our lives. It was his genuine, authentic, trustworthy nature and refusal to play the game (as Drumpf did also) that enamored him to the typically disinterested voter and the partisan who had become skeptical of a politics dominated by incrementalism. The Occupy message had been kindling for 5 years, and Bernie, the only one in DC with the means to do so, lit a torch, which he had been burning his whole career, and turned it into a political bonfire. People were clamoring for someone to take on those universal issues, and he did.

There's so much we could go over, and I wish I could, but I just don't have the time with a baby crawling around everywhere and on the verge of walking.

The greatest takeaway for me, and I think the future of politics will hinge upon it, is how wildly successful Bernie was in generating incredible amounts of money through small individual donations. Proved to all that if you have the right message and your record backs it up, you don't have to go through the accepted and established nightmare that to compete in US politics one must grovel for money. He shredded that myth for all time, and that was probably the single most thing that scared the PTB.

All that you speak of Phoebe, about the epoch being so revelatory concerning which journalists and institutions have show their true colors during it, is another aspect worth dwelling on. The MSM and the parties colluded in so many completely transparent ways, including blacking out Bernie while giving Drumpf billions of $'s of non-stop free advertising, then propping up the deadbeat Clinton with non-stop Fear, is another of the biggest takeaways. There are a lot of folks who are not to be trusted again. Just strengthens our resolve to find and continue to support the small amount of bold and intrepid journalists who are sticking their necks out to tell the story. The depravity of the media in this unbelievable collusion is lesson for the ages, and also hopefully marks the end of their stranglehold domination of disseminating news. Nobody trusts the media or DC. There's great opportunity there for a people's movement to be galvanized apart from those rotting institutions.

The way the Dems conducted themselves during the Convention is another thing that still stays with me. I began collecting material for an essay that chronicles some of the many transgressions and hideous thuggery and RW tactics so that people don't forget that either. It was an outright fascist show of power, despite the stilted delivery and phony fluff.

The more one dwells on this the more one gets angry and wants to bury this party. There really is so much.

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"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

- Kurt Vonnegut

Phoebe Loosinhouse's picture

@Mark from Queens

was and I'll never forget it. It was so uplifting to hear someone speak to me like an adult who could hear the words "single payer" uttered unaccompanied by the word "UnAmerican" and an insinuation that it's the first step on the road to cabbage farming communes, babushkas and death panels. Such a contrast to both President Obama and Hillary "nevah happen" Clinton.

And then to combine that with the small donor policy and the anti-TPP and the tuition and everything else was like a literal dream come true, some 99% hallucination of how I wished politics could be. I even liked that it didn't matter that he was ignored by the media and the Party but kept building momentum anyway. The whole experience was the "we'll always have Paris" moment of my political life. I'd really like to have another one.

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" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "

@Mark from Queens
And also thanks for the quote from Kurt Vonnegut. So good.

I agree with you about Bernie Sanders, but I also agree with others who have said he didn't have a foreign policy strength. He doesn't seem to understand how bad our policy is with respect to war. And I think that means he underestimates how bad the relationship is between the banks, big oil and war, how evil their rampages are, and how dangerous. About that I think he is still somewhat clueless.

That may be why he chose to run as a Democrat, believing it was a party of working people, not a party of war. I think that was a terrible mistake, and that he could have won the election as an Independent.

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gulfgal98's picture

@Linda Wood on two points. I do agree that Bernie's foreign policy stances were not at all strong. I am beginning to think that the main reason Bernie did not address foreign policy is that he knew that there is little the President can do in this age of the deep state to effect radical change to that policy. The first week in office, a new President is acclimated to murdering people by approving drone strikes. Once the first of those happens, the deep state has him.

On the point about Bernie running as a Democrat, I disagree. While I wish Bernie could have run as an independent, being either a Democrat or a Republican is a candidate's only ticket to televised debates. The system became rigged for the duopoly after Ross Perot got nearly 20% of the vote in 1992. Bernie needed to debate Hillary during the primaries to ensure people saw his platform on national tv. He also had said he wanted to debate any other candidate from any party during the primary season but was prevented from doing so by the DNC.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

@gulfgal98
you're certainly right about the debates. But they were such shit, it seems to me. He definitely got a lot of opportunity to respond and to express his positions within the limitations of the format, but I think he would have had more freedom to make his case as an Independent without the debates. Who else was she going to have any real debate with if he had been kept out? But, you're right.

As to the President being an immediate captive of the Deep State, it sure felt like it with Trump, but only to a certain extent. On the one hand, he deftly (?) stated that Russia isn't the only country that kills people, when supposedly boxed in by an interviewer. And he has challenged the veracity of the Intelligence Community. And he's still alive. But on the other hand, he has immersed himself in warmongering contractors and upped their budget glories. Maybe that's how he's managed to stay in office this long after telling Jeb! that his brother didn't keep us safe.

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@Mark from Queens

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Song of the lark's picture

reelected GWB. It was a wake up to eyes wide open. Either I didn't understand politics, or most of the American public in the Midwest and south, or any other idea I could think of. Then 2008 crash, the election Barack Obama. A sense of peril and relief at the same time. Slowly though as time went on I realized that macro problems with our whole way of life and the general thrust of our civilization was at issue and essentially the cause. I saw this embodied in Obama who I think is a bright, and decent person utterly crushed by these macro issues. Which I now list. An entrenched set of gatekeepers, Deep state actors, and money. Underneath it all are Marco issues of Diminishing returns on complexity, resource depletion, increasing problems from climate chance. I have come to believe that the very office of the presidency and many other "powers that be" offices will never be pure and decent. All these closed door meetings, the FUCKING media, the series of rackets that are running, healthcare , education, MIC, etc. The people that occupy these offices will forever be crushed, change or self morph into something LESS.
It was late in Obama's term when the media was happy to present Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton match up that my political heart broke the last time. Really another Clinton/Bush match up. It wasn't about Hillary or Jeb for me It was again not being given a choice. Of having things chosen for me. When you start gaming everything with money and debt, and diminished choice anything can happen. Watch your back, prepare for a bonfire and remember that every thing you write on the internet stays forever. Flynn, Manifort, Clinton, etc will be or were brought down by tracks in the Cloud.

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What I learned from the last election: Those who refused to vote for the DNC's chosen candidate can hold your heads high; the establishment will never publicly admit it, but they get the message that they can no longer take your vote for granted. Young people, in large numbers, joined the left of the Democratic Party and refused to buy the bs that come out of the mouths of establishment politicians.

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It's simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves that we've been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back. Carl Sagan

impressions of bi-partisan corruption were indeed fully true. I cannot believe in any politician at this time, just can't. I knew in my gut they'd never let Bernie win that nomination, but I did hold out hope until the last with the crowds he was drawing and the massive amount of small dollar donations. He was like a dream come true for me, just to hear one of them actually say what I now see as the biggest problems in the entire world really, not just the US. And when he endorsed Shillary and did not even try to bring up the fraud that defrauded all those young, new voters I knew my original impression was indeed spot on. I'm more cynical now than before, of course.

While I really admire Bernie for what he did do, I will never be able to quite forgive him for not going far enough. And I know, its easy for me to say he should have bucked them when I know nothing about what he was or wasn't threatened with, I am sure there were threats. But with the numbers he was drawing I really wish he'd have made that sacrifice as I still think he would have won and also would have had the true support of a majority of people.

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

CB's picture

@lizzyh7
the presidency. He has been in the sausage factory long enough to understand what goes into the process.

Just look at the beating the political neophyte outsider, T-Rump, is now taking in order to make him compliant and toe the status quo line. The powers-that-be are giving him some quick edumacation.

Can you imagine the beat down that would have come from BOTH sides if Bernie had won? Bernie knows the game is rigged. He just wanted take this opportunity to at least slip in some table scraps for the ordinary citizen. Her needs to at least thank Bernie for his efforts that gave her the popular vote in California with his energizing and motivating rallies. Imagine if Bernie had not thrown his hat into the ring in the first place?

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@lizzyh7 N/P

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Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.

earthling1's picture

Although I already have.
But more important to me, is what I have learned today from all the posters and commenters here.
We are all on the same page.
And what is growing here, is growing all over the country. We need to coalesce. We need to come together. Even the Teapartiers hated the bailouts.
Even they supported, accidentally, Medicare. Remember the signs "keep your hands off my Medicare"?
We must all come together, all disaffected voters on both sides of the aisle.
Put aside issues that divide us and focus on the source of money being used against all of us.

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

TaZsa's picture

for Bernie. I donated to him monthly. These were very new things for this oldish Minnesotan, who had never been remotely invested in politics before. Except when, back in the eighties my mom told me if I was going to live at home I had to vote for Reagan. I think I abstained that year. I do remember voting for Nader.

I really thought the convention was going to be the turning point for Bernie and he was going to be president. A real let down!!!! But, just maybe it was the beginning of the end for the Democratic party. I hope so. I thought the repugs were a joke and now it seems obvious to me and perhaps more and more people, that the stupid dems are even more lame than the repugs! Chaos ensues.

I like to believe that the people are awake and can take back our country. I hope so. I sure tell everyone I know that I won't support another dumb politician until they support single payer; like the rest of the civilized world.

I'm sooooo lucky I'm not a young person, I'll be dead before things get really bad... oh there's that dark side again.

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The claim was made above that "The Green vote, small as it was, was enough to tip the scales in some crucial areas."

I looked at the Green vote tallies state by state immediately after the election to see if the charge laid upon those of us who voted for Jill Stein earned the rancor laid upon us by Washer-woman-Schitz and her DLC/DNC ilk. I could not locate a single state where adding the Green tally to HER! tally would have reversed the awarding of the state's electoral votes. I couldn't find a single case where including Johnson's vote counts with Stein's vote counts would have given a state to HER!.

Hillary lost due to her being such a terrible candidate with a horrible strategy and incredibly dense tactics. Anything else is cover for HER! to attempt to ruin the nation worse by running again in 2020.

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Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.

Phoebe Loosinhouse's picture

@neoconned
according to this article in Vox Green Party Candidate Jill Stein Got More Votes Than Trumps Victory Margin in 3 Key States

The numbers are in the article which also debunks the assumption that those figures make Stein "the new Nadar" as posited by Dave Wasserman who is credited as a writer for Cook Political Report and Five Thirty Eight since it uses as its foundation that all those votes should/would have gone to Stein:

So maybe the lesson isn’t so much that Stein acted as a spoiler but that Democrats simply didn’t connect with a bunch of left-wing voters that they should have been able to attract. But of course, that means the party will have to blame itself, not others, for its stunning 2016 defeat.

As many on this board know, not only did the Party and its flacks "didn't connect" and "fail to attract" a "bunch of left wing voters", they went out of their way to drive the Bernie/Green/Independent/Liberal contingent out of the tent as the internal "deplorables" and "irredeemables" of their own purported base.

I notice that some on the left/liberal side seem to embrace the idea that their votes were irrelevant anyway - lots of guilt ridden apologies for Trump's election by saying things like "I live in California so I knew I could vote for Stein" or I live in a Red State anyway so I knew my vote didn't matter", etc. I have to wonder why these voters have become so gaslighted by Dems that they have come to accept the premise presented when they were basically ousted from the Party - "you are insignificant and your vote doesn't matter". No, your vote and even non-vote matters, each and every one.

This self-shaming behavior (IMO) is due to years of swallowing the Party swill that Ralph Nadar is why Al Gore lost, when Al Gore himself and the two-term curse is why he lost, just as Hillary Clinton herself and the two-term curse is why she lost, accompanied by the fact that unlike Gore, HRC and the Dems actively sought to eliminate both blue collar and liberal voters in favor of the centrist snipe they prefer to hunt.

Democrats own the election of Trump through their own choices and actions, end of story. Their failure is not my fault or your fault or Jill Stein's fault or Ralph Nadar's fault. A Party and candidate have to earn votes on their own merits and Not As Bad is not a mission statement.

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" “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” FDR "

"Do your job!" at congress critters. If they cannot manage the deep state then they should dismantle it and recreate what they can manage. Feinstein should have put people in jail, imo, when they messed with congress's computers. And yeah, we will have to elect courageous people rather than the hail fellow well met folks. Guess that says more about us voters than the electeds though.

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glitterscale

earthling1's picture

@glitterscale it takes commitment. We need to remove all the professional bureaucrats and install average everyday working people. The only qualification needed is to be able to read and write. Once in office help is everywhere. Here, Common Dreams, Sane Progressives, everywhere bloggers and commenters congregate. I would even be willing to go to DC to help any truly working class winner.
I'm even considering running for House of Representatives myself.
My mission statement: I'm a working class candidate and that is who I will represent. And small businesses.

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.