Drowning
It's a pretty terrible way to go, especially for a swimmer, because you know, you're in control and you've never been so deep that a cool head and an "I'm not panicking" attitude hasn't been able to bring you to the surface. You have a lot of practice and theory to draw on, but you're not as strong as you once were and that last breath was not the one you thought it would be. You know some tricks that can make it seem better temporarily, relieve some pressure by exhaling and pretending but that's a poor substitute for air and if you do inhale you're done. Nothing but blackness, pain, and the infinite fall.
Have I depressed you? Not my intent but there's a reason I'm in Therapy and it's not because I'm such a sunny and cheerful guy. As they tell you, when the masks drop, make sure yours is secure before you attempt to save others. My Lifeguard training was mostly countless hours of perfecting techniques to make sure there wasn't a second victim.
My preface is metaphor to me. I'm perfectly safe, but conflicted. If you think you are safe too then you can join me in the pool. Plenty of visibility and no surprises. Or you can stand at the side and poke a boat hook at me, throw a flotation device, or just drag the bottom after I sink. Seriously, the first lesson of Lifeguarding is that there's hardly ever any reason to attempt a water rescue.
Of course I'm talking about the choice of horribles we confront this week.
I have never been an advocate of simply not voting. Unless you do our ruling criminal/idiot class are free to interpret your non-participation any way they want, which inevitably of course is confirmation of their criminal/idiot policy and actions. This is the wrong message to send.
I always encourage people to vote their conscience and if, for you, Donald Trump's indictment of a corrupt system (the fact that we have a corrupt political system should be taken as a given) is more compelling than his flaws as a candidate and human then I won't attempt to persuade you otherwise. Should he win my commentary will be directed at measuring him against his promises of institutional change and the failure of Republican Neoliberal policy to deliver economic equity for the 99%.
Hillary Clinton is the personification of our corrupt system and has the added benefit of being a confirmed Imperialist, though in fairness the latter might be because of the sexism of our society. I don't believe for an instant that despite her protestations and the testimony of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren she doesn't believe in the core of her soul the righteousness of Democratic Neoliberal policy and couldn't give a rat's ass about economic equity. Should she win I'll write about that.
Gary Johnson is clueless and even Bill Weld thinks so. Lambert, whom I've met and is very sympathetic to the Green Party, despairs of their effectiveness and organizational abilities.
So you see, I'm not only drowning, I'm drowning in a cesspool. The major argument is which shit sandwich you like best.
As I said I'm conflicted and in no position to give advice.
My feelings at the moment are that it's a race to see who is worst, which is exactly what 'lesser of two evils' voting is designed to encourage and my challenge how to best express my outrage at the polls.
I probably won't share what I choose, but I want to assure you that I'll continue to talk about issues and policy because I don't think the personalities much matter.
Comments
Vent Hole
A foundation starts with a single stone
The Green party, while laudable in its aims, is a poorly organized, even though widely disseminated movement. Even so, what other choice does a Progressive have at this point? Start a new Progressive party? That serves only to dilute what piddling power our small band of like-minded individuals possesses. Working within a major party will not succeed, as Bernie proved, and many of us predicted. But the Greens are not a major party. I don't know the number of Berniecrats who have decided NeverHillary, but that number may be more than the total number of Greens.
So I propose a win-win proposition: we vote our conscience (because the Green party platform is excellent) AND we join the Greens, hopefully steering it to greater prominence and influence. Remember in 1856, the Republicans were new and feeble arrivals on the scene. By 1860, they elected their first president. Let us begin now and make the Green party strong, just as in 1856, when a dying Whig party began terminal shrinkage.
I am firmly convinced that breaking out of the duopoly
is our only hope. Three, even if one of the three is weak and ineffective, is the antithesis of two; the "everything is binary" is proven false. Three will hopefully lead to four, and five, and ten! Then we'll start to find people we agree with. Personally, I am pretty impressed with the Pirate Party, especially as developing in Iceland, and would be happy to support those ideas here. We need to break out of the binary mind-block.
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
Yep
Just a note on one piece you wrote:
I'm pretty sure it will be. In 2012, Jill Stein got only about 469,501 votes--so that gives you a sense of how large the Green Party is nationwide.
I'm guessing the Berniecrats will more than double that.
I have spent too many years -- decades
voting LOTE. I wont' do it anymore. It seems that I needed to see just how scatological the Democratic party really is before I would vote Green. If it weren't for Bernie Sanders, whom it seems that I waited a lifetime to come along, I would have stayed home. Not voting is an option I have never exercised for the reasons the essayist has noted.
After the election I intend to drown myself. In the music of Bach and much of the classical guitar repertoire. blub.
"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage
I'll be going in for genealogy
Tracing ancestors and cousins out to the umpteenth generation is an even bigger time sink than politics - and considerably more rewarding.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
ain't That the truth.
Fun!
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
As a lap swimmer...
I know that the topic is not about drowning... But as a long time swimmer my worst nightmares are about underwater and drowning. But while I'm in the pool nothing seems farther from reality. My nightmares and reality are NOT one. But as far as voting goes I'd rather blame myself than not voting at all. Green seems a good way to go, but if the voting polls seem close I will vote to keep out Hillary. I'd rather NOT have the "nightmare" than see "reality" in a waking state....
Peace
FN
"Democracy is technique and the ability of power not to be understood as oppressor. Capitalism is the boss and democracy is its spokesperson." Peace - FN
I've never been a strong swimmer.
I do ok in pools and calm water. Put me big water like the great lakes and oceans, add some turbulence, and I'm easily overpowered. The noise they make drown out calls for help.
One of the pros of a Trump presidency is the repeal of ObamaCare. The recent rate hikes and looming Cadillac tax is his pitch for the next 6 days. If he stays focused, it could be the push he needs to win. The polls are tightening and Hillary's unfavorable rating is at an all-time high.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
funny how Obamacare was designed
to last exactly as long as Obama.
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
And
it was just about as bad as Obama. No wonder it got labeled ObamaCare.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Should I make a mean comment?
ok, if I were allowed to vote, what would I do?
I would vote Jill Stein to at least not support the duopoly. ... or...
I would not vote to "vote my conscience", which tells me there is no way I vote in such a miserable undemocratic and corrupted system.
I would become a "Good American", as I am very aware about how many folks consider the fact that Germans were "Good Germans" and many still are, by staying silent and/or lick the feet of TPTB. To live with the guilt of being a "Good German" might be more ethical than vote in a system that is so blatantly corrupted, as your vote supports the status quo of a corrupt voting system.
There seems no way to hope for a complete overhaul of your electoral college. That lack of hope for it to be dealt with has not changed from 2003, when I first became aware of it.
So, if you American folks can't change your "operating system", which is the electoral college and which should be erased from your harddrive for good, and if you can't use another, more democratic, more proportional voting system, then I just say, become a "Good American" and live with the guilt of your silence.
Anyhow folks never forgive you the sins of your ancestors, and as you may agree with me, all of our ancestors, no matter from which tribe, race, ethnicity, nationality, had failed and sinned some day in the past. And the kids and grandkids and all those book learned historians live with that conscience. They take over from their parents the conscience of their pains of having been either on the victims' side or being on the predators' side. Being on either side is painful. There is just no way that will ever go away.
Don't believe in bullshit words. Try to imagine the unintended consequences of all your actions. That's hard, the imagination turns out to be lacking, when you compare your imaginations in hindsight to the realities that in fact happened.
Alles wird gut (All will be good). That's one other bullshit saying, the Germans have, when they don't know what to say and do. Well, you just eat bullshit, if you have no other choice, or you die.
Heh, and don't drown. I had the experience of drowning once in HI, when a wave catched me and my dog at the leash with me, and dragged us into deep current, I was not able to escape from. If there hadn't been someone watching it and being able to grab the leash and pull us out against the current, well I guess I would have drowned. BTW. my dog had that trauma of drowning for good and refused persistently to take a walk on the beach of the ocean ever again.
So, the "Good German Authoritarian" says, "Drowning is Verboten".
Heh, ek, all the best to you and to the whole "Home of the Evening Blues".
Great comment mimi. "Good American" is probably best way of
putting it. Just go along with the system, even as the reality is smashing you so hard in the face that the whole system is a fraud propped by complicit media propaganda.
May use that term in a mass email to my friends, if I can ever get it done and down to a manageable size, explaining how I feel about this sham election.
ek's opening and your drowning story, and everyone's sharing of their own experience and/or nightmare scenario, really hits home for me. Never learned how to swim (and I grew up on Long Island!) and have a deep phobia of drowning. Have only recently been able to learn how and feel not totally uncomfortable with floating (provided I can put my feet down when I get tired or nervous), which is a step up from panic-swimming as I call it, which is what I can do in a pool, quickly getting from one side to another underwater on one breath.
What an insane depression we've all been plunged into by this horrifying election, desperately seeking asylum with each other. As zoebear said somewhere recently we'll all probably need therapy afterward. Thank god for c99.
"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
Mimi, you are eloquent but I disagree with non-voting
In your case I understand due to citizenship issues, that you couldn't vote, even if you wanted to. But non-voting by those who can vote is an abandonment of any chance short of violent revolution to change they system. We must build a stronger progressive coalition--which we cannot do either by sitting on our hands or voting for the duopoly.
that's a matter of believing in voting making a difference
I don't believe it does and as far as I understand the electoral college even voting Third Party (Jill Stein) is not making a difference aside from making a point of dissatisfaction with the duopoly vote non-option.
You can't blame anyone for being a non-believer. Moralizing about the necessity of voting just doesn't cut it for some people. But I am not against voting. As I said, I understand a vote for Jill Stein for those who don't want to give up and keep their faith.
Not only is not voting not an option, it plays right into their
hands.
Remember, "We don't have to worry about them, they never follow through and vote anyway" gloating? They interpret not voting as apathy. And they don't care because the winner is the one with the biggest percentage of votes, not the biggest percentage of humans. The fewer the voters, the easier their job.
I say keep the faith and vote Jill. Or whoever you really want to win. The polls are rigged, the media are subservient, who knows how close or far the race really is? They'll read comments like, "If it's close I'll vote for Clinton" or "If it's close I'll vote for Trump," and one side or the other or maybe both will rig the polls so that it looks close, in order to take votes away from Stein and Johnson and the others, the folks who could really remake the establishment into something new.
Both candidates are such swine, we may be able to see a third party win if we just keep the faith. Get that 67% of the electorate who didn't vote in 2014 to the polls voting third party and we have a win, heck, a landslide.
As for Jill's lack of organization and experience? Her heart's in the right place, she'll surround herself with intelligent and experienced people to get the job done. Unlike the others, at least she'll be focused on the correct job that needs doing!
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I disagree, and the candidates are no swines either.
the argument that non voting plays in the hands of the duopoly of the two parties' powers to be, is nothing but a manipulative tool. It's the system that one has to oppose, not the candidates.
The electoral college is an undemocratic electoral system. The votes are not only simply rigged, the voting is based on a system that makes proportional representation of the voter's choices impossible. Therefore the vote has little meaning and it is morally acceptable to oppose that system and not participate in it.
Why you call the candidates swines, I don't know. Then pretty much anyone involved in the political process is a swine. I think that's an insult and not true. There are thousands of people, who believe their political ideas are the right ones. Thousands of others believe they are wrong, arrogant and violating equal and human rights and the rights of sovereingn nations. It's pretty common that people believe in something that is questionable ethically and morally. Everyone decides on his own instincts and conscience of what he/she believes in. That doesn't mean imo they are swines.
Just saying. No offense, I don't buy your argument.
Calling them swine is an offense to swine everywhere
Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur.
ek, this diary offends me.
I usually enjoy your writing. That Jill Steins name is not even mentioned really bothers me. Plays right into the narrative that the duopoly wants us to believe. That there really are only two choices. Whether Jill can win or not she is out there. And the party will only become more well organized when people realize that we need to quit the LOTE voting habits that this nation has fallen into.
Acknowledged.
I'm sorry you are offended which is not only not an apology, it doesn't pretend to be one. The sentiment I mean to express is that I respect the views of my readers even if I do not agree with them.
Perhaps I have not communicated effectively, there are some subtleties. Jill Stein is the only candidate I don't mention by name and she is also the only one about whom I make no particular complaints. Certain positions she has taken this campaign I find problematic which prevents me from an unqualified endorsement or indeed any. Like many other posters I find the concept of a Left Party distinct from a Democratic one that is mislabeled such an admirable goal.
Congratulations on goading me. I'll not elaborate further. My pieces generally stand or fall on their own because I don't have time for extended debate, not because I'm inattentive.
Intentions matter.
No matter how disorganized Jill might be, she'll accomplish a couple of things. As CinC, she can stop the bombing, close foreign bases, and reduce the size of the military. As the Chief Executive, she can declare that moving away from carbon-based energy production is a matter of national security and assign that project to Homeland Security. Since the military has the legal right/obligation to provide Homeland Security with materials needed, the Pentagon can purchase the solar panels and windmills, etc. needed for the switch to renewable energy.
Neither of these things requires a lot of organization or Congressional approval.
And if that was all she accomplished, it would still be good for everyone.
Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.