If you have time I suggest reading this article
by Hamid Dabashi is the Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2016/11/boycotting-presidential...
The start
Why would anyone want to vote in this toxic and ignominious US presidential election?
Participating in a democratic process is a privilege that must restore one's trust in public good. This particular election is the epitome of a disgraceful public spectacle of corruption on one side, and neo-fascism on the other.
Why would any self-respecting human being want to have anything to do with it?
The conclusion
Only 9 percent of Americans have predetermined the course of this election and given the world an option between a Clinton and a Trump, and the rest are being dragged into its tail end by hook and crook to put a democratic stamp of approval on a deeply corrupt plutocracy.
The respective dangers of these two candidates to the world peace might not be identical, but they are certainly similar. And precisely for that reason there are millions of dignified, principled, hopeful, and uncompromising Americans who refuse to be party to this ignominy. I proudly stand with them.
May God protect the earth from "American democracy"!
There are three ways to protest
1] Not voting, but it is hard to distinguish that from the "I'm not bothered" camp, but then again there is a reason for the apathy oft refuted by the partisan; the system sucks.
2] Voting for someone else, blank ballots, write ins. This at least is clear as you were available to vote but chose another way to register your disgust. I chose this method.
3] Protest, day in, day out. Note how easily the elite rallied via the tools of the elite to quash Occupy, BLM and Native American voices. How our system disenfranchises 6 million people based on their criminal record even if they have served their time, I am proud of my State's [VT} stance on this.
Like the author of the article I cannot help but join in with his utter disgust at a deliberately broken system hoisted upon us by a tiny but powerful minority. We have been duped into thinking that somehow our votes matter and "our choices" will somehow be ours, they are not; we are in fact force-fed the candidate of "our choice".
To overcome our reluctance we are fed 24/7 fear and loathing, negativity is somehow the key to "our choice".
Democracy - Our Choice. It's a shell game of epic proportions. A farce without humour.
Vive la Revolution.
Comments
"These are not my fights."
Good way of putting it. A fight between nativist fascism and imperialist neoliberalism is not my fight either.
We're a country, a society, in need of some kind of intervention. Even Putin is cracking wise with a little bit of common sense thrown in there:
gjohnsit tells us about the International Criminal Court opening an investigation of United States war crimes in Afghanistan. Assange is exposing the sick levels of corruption and privilege in our elite as if any of us thought they were serving the public anyway.
Will enough of us listen? If we don't change course, there's likely a nasty future in front the country.
Flailing Empires usually implode.
I personally refuse to not vote
"Complicity through inaction." You may not be aiding in the crime, but by not doing anything to prevent it when you have the capability, you may as well be.
That would be my preferred outcome.
Worse would be if other nations have to "put us down" the way people used to put down a rabid dog.
Thankfully, for most of us there are other choices
beside the terrible two who have a realistic shot at victory. For the voter it should be more about expressing a preference than picking a winner. How else are we ever going bring better candidates forward?
Voting for either Donald or Hillary is an expression of acquiescence to a terrible future.
“ …and when we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine,and understand who God is, and what our own potential is and duties are as human beings.- RFK jr. 8/26/2024
And I chose one!
My ballot selecting Jill Stein went in the ballot box last Tuesday. I will not vote for a corporatist tool like that either of the Major Parties offered.
Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.
Good for you for voting for
Good for you for voting for Jill!
My personal belief is that voting against evil for a possible good is the only option, even if cheating is likely to be employed in order to negate that vote.
At least cheating can be proven, even if only statistically, while voting for those who victimize you seems insane. Not voting simply means that you miss your chance to at least register a protest.
I do wish that people advocating a electoral boycott would think: if a mass protest was to be held and a million could have shown because they felt that the cause was essential but didn't because they thought they'd protest by staying home, how would that appear except as a lack of interest - and seriously, what's the difference in the two cases and how that non-appearance will be presented?
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
That was beautifully put
Funny how Al Jazeera was the most objective news offering in the United States until they pulled out.
"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage
Tragic really, we were so proud of it once we even protected
it in our constitution.
Hamid Dabashi is hardcore cynical - my kind of guy ;->
Yeah, Al Jazeera is a good outfit
Thanks for posting the link. I voted for Stein for all it will
be worth. But Assange has said, Trump will not be allowed to win. Just like Bernie was not allowed to win. In my state I have noted a lot of initiatives on the ballot. It seems there are more and more every year. This indicates to me that our duly elected legislature is not getting the peoples work done. Only the work of their corporate masters. Sad set of circumstances we find our country in. I can only hope that the votes won't be manipulated to the point that the Green's don't achieve 5%.
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." - JFK | "The more I see of the moneyed peoples, the more I understand the guillotine." - G. B. Shaw Bernie/Tulsi 2020
Be Certain.
HER Will So Order It Be Done! One doesn't disobey when it's HER turn!
Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.
the people's work
Or, as in my native Colorado, aren't allowed to do the people's work because of disastrous enactments they must abide by (TABOR).
p.s. Voted for Stein myself. Caught some static IRL for not "holding my nose and voting for Hillary". Sorry, folks, but the SCOTUS argument is pure crap; if you doubt me, Google "Hillary Clinton C Street", read it, and weep!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
That is their plan,
but they are not masters of the Universe.
If I can help it, I will not cooperate with them anymore.
Who really knows what is coming? I'm paying attention, that's for sure.
Now is the time.
stein - baraka
2016
I have never witnessed
anything as bizarre and disgusting as this so called election. I have always voted although twice I could not stomach my choices. Obama 2012 I voted for Stein, and in Big Dogs second term election I wrote in Governor Moonbeam Jerry Brown. This time around it's totally surreal and scary. People say We can't let this crazy man have his fingers anywhere near the nukes. Well how about the war criminal psycho killer Killary?
Ever since 9/11 Americans seem so fear riddled that they chicken little out over the stupidest most unbelievable things. Even when presented with the truth straight from the horse's mouth in the e-mail and speeches leaks and dumps they refuse to let go of their belief that somehow the Clinton's liberal and the victim of a vast conspiracy. Today I read over and over that the FBI is Trumpland and Comey is the latest agent provocateur to interfere with our election process. It's madness on every level. How can the Dems. scream about sexual deviancy when on the Democratic side we have pervy Bill Clinton and Anthony Wiener in play.
I am voting for Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka. I am also voting down ballot for no Democrats. Greens, Indies or socialists will get my vote. Why would any self-respecting human want anything to do with this lot? Are they all suffering from Stockholm Syndrome or are they so invested in Blue vs. Red that they cannot admit they have been duped? Reality based my ass. This is not inevitable it is an unbelievable badly told horror story. Amazing to me that anyone will vote for either of these scary monsters. I'll vote 3rd party and then participate in civil disobedience, participate in demonstrations and work hard to organize opposition party's and organizations.
Cant spot anything quite as bizarre as this one
a real dose of irritable bowel syndrome.
I voted Green
and one Democrat down-ticket: my local State Senate rep who was one of those rare Super Delegates committed to Bernie. He cast his Big Super Vote against Hillary so I rewarded him with my Plain Vanilla Vote.
"Please clap." -- Jeb Bush
Allow me to triangulate, ahem
1. Jerry, former Moonbeam, has turned into a raging corporatist. He is for fracking. He did not insist our Sec State Padilla investigate the massive election fraud. He should have married Linda Ronstadt and moved to Tucson.
2. Sadly, most Americans are ignorant. Most can't be called stupid unless they have been shown unable to learn. Out educational system has been dumbed down to the point that most graduates can read at 6th grade level and can't even make change unless the register tells them how much it is.
3. In my CA district the D candidate is a corrupt corporatist. His opponent is an ignorant R. I am going to vote Green or R because the D was virulently anti-Bernie. Resistance can be likened to a radioactive substance reaching critical mass--nothing much is visible until that threshold is reached. Then the inevitable results. We must not be divided else we will never reach critical mass.
Hey Ed
what can I say. Even Howard Dean turned out to be a asshole. My excuse was I was young and dumb and lived in CA during senile Regan's rule and liked Jerry's stint as gov.. Hated Clinton right off the bat he seemed to be a sleazy used car salesman and so I went for Jerry in the primary. Hey i also believed Obama and worked for him in the primary. Ah I was so much older then I'm younger then that now. Your right he should have married Silver Nose and moved to Tuscon.
(No subject)
voted today in North Carolina
One of the volunteers commented that people did not look cheerful. I started to say, "Just be grateful you got my resting bitch face because I am ready to bite someone" but my dear husband was with me so I stayed calm. When I was given my ballot, I loudly asked, "Do I need to use capital letters to write in a candidate?" Wrote in Jill Stein(as did husband) and voted yes on two local bond issues, took phone photos of all other races left blank. Any further mailings I receive from the Democratic Party will get copies of those snaps and a reminder that my son will turn 18 next year and he isn't happy with his choices, either.
HER Will So Decree
I was inspired to modify Coleridge's master work. I know offer my meager effort with Abject Apologies to Coleridge
Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.
Well Done!
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
You are much too kind
I doubt I'd get a D from my English Lit professor!
Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.
That's brilliant.
That's brilliant.
I actually think I like it better than the original, which I loved... also, this speaks so directly to the state of my soul at this point.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
You are also much too kind
And I'm VERY worried about the state of your soul at this point! /s
Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.
Regarding the state of my
Regarding the state of my soul, me, too, lol. Thinking I'll have to take a break from the blues and have a good punk-fest tomorrow to try to get some good, defiant bounce back in that sucker.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
A Max Headroom Episode . . .
Had a character named Blank Reg, who used head banging music to maintain his sanity. I'd look for a clip if I had time. It was a great scene in a great series.
Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.
The Author Correctly Calls Out Fascism on the Right
And Goin South labels it, a bit more aptly "nativist fascism", but both miss the fascist nature of the neoliberal empire.
Look at the lockstep of dKos and the Democratic Party. It's off the charts authoritarian. Makes Drumpf voters look like open-minded empaths.
All the lockstep is coming from the Democrats. Neoliberal empire is going to require mass acquiescence to neoliberal authority. Neoliberal, global fascism, is what we're fighting when we fight against Hillary.
“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu
Whilst I agree that there is plenty of fascism on the left,
I cannot agree that "all the lockstep is coming from the Democrats". There is also plenty of lockstep fascism on the right.
That these are what it has come to boggles the mind.
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Dabashi's sentiments are strikingly similar to my own
Dabashi's commentary (especially since I live in New York) very closely mirrors my own sentiments this year. Best damn thing I've read in awhile! Thanks very much for bringing this front and center here at C99P.
"Freedom is something that dies unless it's used." --Hunter S. Thompson
Mine as well.
Beautifully written but misguided essay by Dabashi
Dabashi's rationale for not voting is as follows:
To me, this is exactly the opposite of what should be done. I agree with his analyses of the problems but not his solution. His solution is resignation and surrender.
To alter the status quo, there are basically only two ways to accomplish this, other than awaiting the ultimate crash due to never-ending greed of the elites.
1. Vote your conscience, not your fears, and hopefully work within the system to Gradually change it--e.g., slowly strengthening the Greens. Attempting to change politics from within the Democratic party will never happen.
2. Violent revolution. A slow crescendo is mounting against this corrupt government, some of which are justifiable, such as the peaceful Standing Rock Sioux et. al. against violent State-enforced destruction of health, welfare, sustainability of an entire culture. But there are unjustifiable, but nevertheless undeniably violent objections to State power by assassinations of law enforcement officers in several cities.
Watch as each of these types of overt resistance become more common over the next few months. The balance of violent versus non-violent will determine the course of national destiny.
My preference is peace, which will not be achieved by the abject surrender to the powers of evil by not voting.
Thank you for speaking for a
Thank you for speaking for a whole bunch of us and for doing it so well.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.