Hello dear friends, old and new! First off, I want to say that I know I have been away too long; I have massive time-management issues, that is pretty much the only thing that has been keeping me away from these lovely parts. I recently wrote a post that is currently pinned at the top of r/WayOfTheBern and "stolen" (lol) by the mods to pin at the top of r/Kossacks_For_Sanders ... a very humbling experience. An old friend suggested that I post it here too, which I am more than happy to do. I hope you find it insightful.

So the other day I was talking to a Biden troll, as one does lol, and he said something like this:

Dude, we have a President that's literally joking about cops shooting protesters and we've all seen his responses concerning COVID19.

I wholeheartedly agree with you, Democrats are not saints. Seeing Bernie get snubbed again set that in stone for me. But I'm sincerely worried about the alternative.

I had already talked about how **Obama ran like a progressive and governed like a moderate Republican**; he stacked his cabinet with Wall St. desirables, and totally favored Wall St after the crash of 2008. Many people lost their homes, especially POC. If I could go back in time, I would have also included this link (h/t to u/casapulapula): To celebrate Obama Day, here are Barack’s greatest hits (wars, coups, slavery, sanctions, al-Qaeda, colonialism.

I had already explained how **the ACA has done NOTHING to keep the literal cost of healthcare down**, it is a giant corporate welfare program that primarily benefits Big Insurance, and For-Profit Hospitals. They keep raising prices BECAUSE THEY CAN, **it is perfectly legal to raise the price of a life-saving drug by 5000%.** Why is this legal in America? Why hasn't Congress taken action after we all witnessed the spectacle of Martin Shrekil in 2017? It is an outrage to all moral human beings. BTW, Shrekil went to jail, yes, but NOT for price-gouging on life-saving drugs; his smug demeanor at the beginning of the tale is a fantastic illustration for how the wealthy elites view all of us below them. THEY are the clever masters of the universe, and THEY KNOW that what they are doing is PERFECTLY LEGAL; THEY have friends in high places, and $$$ to buy highly talented defense lawyers; the rest of us are merely stupid schmucks who only exist to be taken advantage of.

I had already mentioned that we have **predatory capitalism** in this country, and it will **never stop** if "we the sheeple" keep **giving our consent** to Democratic candidates who are anti-populist.

But the nasty little troll came back with an obnoxious troll comment that completely pissed me off.

"I wholeheartedly agree with you, Democrats are not saints."

DNC insiders are corrupt AF, to agree that "they are not saints" is to deflect the point entirely. It's not a sin to not be a saint. None of us is a saint. This "agreement, on his part, is agreeing to absolutely nothing.

So then I wrote a little something, and he went away! I want to share those ideas with you now as a little gift of "troll repellant". Three key points:

1. Current DNC strategy is to **win Republican voters** at a cost of losing voters who have been loyal Democrats
2. When you are "voting Dem" you are actually empowering their "new Republican Party".
3. The GOP plays bad cop, the Dems play good cop. However, they both work for the same master: the wealthy elites.

Progressives are very, very fucked right now, if DNC strategy does not change. But the possibility of being eaten by a lion is a better choice, IMHO, than the certain death that would come by a firing squad. I will explain what I mean by this down below.

Dem strategy is to 1) win REPUBLICAN voters, and 2) lose voters who have been loyal Democrats.

Truth is, DNC insiders are just not in to their loyal base anymore, babe. FYI, this tweet is pinned to my profile page:

https://twitter.com/OandWN/status/1271111735370371072

Remember, Chuck Schumer told us the plan: for every LOYAL Dem they lose, they will pick up two moderate Republicans.DNC insiders are hijacking the party to remake it as "new Republicans"...same as GOP, only "nicer"

When someone tells you who they are, believe them. #NeverBiden

https://twitter.com/CoreyRobin/status/1270469516682842117

30 Dems—not all of them Blue Dogs—sign letter warning that the debt is getting too high, recommending a commission to deal with Social Security and Medicare, and, if you follow the references, invoking the spirit of Simpson-Bowles. Not good.

Let me deconstruct this a bit. In 2016 Chuck Schumer, who is one of the most powerful Dems in the entire country, said the following right out in the open (!):

“For every blue-collar Democrat we lose in western Pennsylvania, we will pick up two moderate Republicans in the suburbs in Philadelphia, and you can repeat that in Ohio and Illinois and Wisconsin.”

Please ponder those words deeply. Unless I am mistaken, he is saying that the Dem strategy is to try to win REPUBLICAN voters over, fully knowing that they will lose voters who have been loyal Democrats. **DNC insiders are not trying to fight for their own base** or keep the promises that have been made to their base ... no, they are lusting after Republican voters. When one understands their true motives, everything begins to make sense. The Dems are actively trying to beat Republicans by transforming the Dem Party into **one that will attract Republican votes**. I call this the "new Republicans" party, just like the old one, only "nicer".

As an example, take the Corey Robin tweet. 30 Dems are taking the classic approach to taking action that they know the voters will hate: form a new committee that makes a distasteful recommendation, and then follow the advice of the committee because that would seem to be the reasonable thing to do. In this case, in response to "the debt getting too high", 30 Dems want a committee "to deal with Social Security and Medicare". Let's try to guess what the recommendations of the committee would be, shall we? Do you think they would recommend to strengthen and expand these programs, in response to "the debt getting too high"? Or do you think that the order of the day would be more along the lines of slash and burn?

Everyone's mother told them that ACTIONS were more important than WORDS. We've seen many pretty speeches coming out of Dem leaders mouths these days, including an unforgettable non-speech coming out from Pelosi and her minions. But what are these Dem leaders actually DOING? What are they actually fighting for? In the case of Social Security and Medicare, it is clear that they are taking stealth action to "work across the aisle" to CUT these programs, not strengthen them. In addition, David Sirota itemized 10 Things Dems Could Do Right Now -- If They Actually Wanted To Stop Trump’s Power Grab.

For the past four years, Dems have legislatively granted most everything that Trump has asked for. Dems pretend to fight for unions, teachers, and fire-fighters ... but what have they actually DONE that even rustled their hair or got their clothes even a bit dirty? Nothing. Their hallmark move is to give emotional speeches describing the problems in detail, and mixing in sentences like "This must stop!" To the innocent voter, this approach gives an impression that THESE PEOPLE GET IT, they understand MY PROBLEM and they are going to fight to get it fixed. I'm afraid I have good news and bad news on that front. Democratic leaders DO understand our problems, but they have NO INTENTION of doing anything to fix them beyond token gestures to keep their little scam going. If they took action FOR their base, it would most likely piss off the Republican voters whom they lust over. So the "taking action" part never happens.

When you are "voting Dem" you are actually voting for "new Republican Party"

How does that feel? When you vote for Biden, you are giving your CONSENT to have Biden be the president, and your consent for the DNC to continue to pursue its war against progressives who want things like MedicareForAll and real solutions to the climate crisis.

Imagine if the number of votes for Biden was astoundingly low. It would send a pretty loud message that if the Dems want to run a shit candidate, they will lose. **Think about short term pain for long term gain**. The DNC is obviously at war with progressives. If Biden wins, think about how much he will do to destroy the progressive movement and the hurdles that he as head of the DNC will put in place to ensure that nobody like Bernie could ever happen again.

If you HATE progressives, vote Biden. That's another way of framing the situation, other than "we have to get Trump out". Biden is most definitely anti-progressive. He doesn't even have any policy proposals, other than being "not Trump". On Twitter, someone asked if he even had a slogan, I love this response from Graham Elwood:

https://twitter.com/grahamelwood/status/1268635117678780416

“Rapist with dementia who wrote the 1994 crime bill that empowered police brutality and for profit prisons”

If Biden wins, what do you expect him to do? He is a sexual predator who WROTE the crime bill, he is corrupt AF (google burisima biden), he will only be a puppet because he is way beyond his sell by date. We don't even know who is the real power behind him that will be pulling the strings? Obama? Hillary? Someone else?

The GOP plays bad cop, the Dems play good cop. However, they both work for the same master: the wealthy elites

In 2016, a friend shared with me a great article; unfortunately I've lost track of it. I'm borrowing heavily from metaphors from that writing now because they made such an impression on me.

Imagine a wealthy plantation, headed by a handsome gentleman and a beautiful and charming lady. Imagine also the slaves, who are given poor living quarters, enough food and clothing to sustain them but not necessarily palatable or desirable, etc. The plantation owners have a little problem: they own the slaves, but the slaves don't really want to work hard and see the fruits of those labors flow to the owner, especially when their own situation is so miserable. So the owners come up with a solution: they will hire an overseer to "make the slaves work". IMHO, much of the racial divide boils down to the fact that owners hired ruthless white overseers who used cruel methods to make black slaves work. The slaves hated the overseers, and vice versa, and such hatred is understandable.

Here comes the part that made me stop and think: we tend to overlook is that the REAL VILLIANS in the situation were not the overseers per se; the REAL VILLIANS were the owners who hired the overseers and demanded results from them. Somehow, the cruelty of the overseers completely and entirely sticks to these often previously poor white men who were doing what they might have needed to do in order to keep their job, and possibly to survive. The lady and the gentlemen were almost like Dorian Gray, from the story "The Picture of Dorian Gray". A facade of beauty and grace overshadows horrible and rotten souls that was the reality of those beings. Movies like "Gone with the Wind" strengthen and reinforce that narrative. How many of us think of Scarlett's Ma and Pa as being vile monsters? The truth is that THEY were the primary beneficiaries of slave exploitation, but somehow we aren't led to think of them in quite that way.

Let me take things one step further. Imagine that the owners hire TWO overseers, one who plays the classic role of BAD overseer, of course, but also another one to play a new role of GOOD overseer. Remember, the job of the overseer is to "make the slaves work". IMHO, Republican Party leaders are playing the classic role ... they are clearly on the side of the wealthy elites, and fighting to end all worker safeguards and social safety net programs. What many of us have not seen until recently is that Democratic Party leaders ALSO WORK FOR THE ELITES, but they gain our sympathy because they give every appearance that they will fight for us. They give us hope that they are on our side, and if we can only manage to give them more power, then our lot will improve. **But it is only a mirage, sadly.** DNC leaders are a new kind of overseer ... they are LITERALLY EMPLOYED by their wealthy elite donors via our corrupt campaign donation system.

DNC leaders are EVIL, they are way fucking EVIL, they are liars who pretend to be our friends but then stab us in the back whenever they get the chance.

They are the employees of the wealthy elites, who hope you will fall for their very clever con: direct your anger at the Democratic Party, instead of the wealthy villains who are actually pulling the strings that CONTROL the Dem Party. Voters have a ton of anger at both the Repubilcan Party and the Democratic Party - but how much anger do we direct at the REAL VILLIANS, who are paying for this puppet show that we call American Politicis.

Progressives are very, very fucked right now, if DNC strategy does not change. The situation is very depressing; many of us felt sucker punched when Bernie dropped out of the race. But here we are, we have been dealt this hand ... after moping and crying for awhile, I (and I think many others) finally realized that we can either give up or move forward. I'm choosing door number 2.

Here are my thoughts about choosing the lesser of two evils by voting for Biden ... Imagine I am given the choice about how I wish to die among these two options: 1) be eaten alive by a lion, or 2) being shot by a firing squad. My first answer would be to choose the firing squad, as that death would be relatively quick and painless. When I think more, it occurs to me that if I am pitted against a lion, there is a tiny possibility that I might figure out a way to escape. Death by firing squad is certain.

I am #NeverBiden, if at the end of this farce he remains the Democratic nominee I am going to vote 3rd party. I realize that there is a strong possibility that Trump will be re-elected, the thought of which pains me. However, I know that if I vote for Biden, the puppet show will go on and in 2024 many will have forgotten the events of 2016 and 2020, because of our rigged MSM. In my eyes, a vote for Biden is a vote for certain death.

A vote for 3rd party, however, is a hopeful act that sends a message to everyone who has ears to hear and eyes to see that both parties are offering shit candidates that are completely unacceptable. The more voters who vote 3rd party, the LOUDER the message will be ... and there is also the teeny tiniest of hope that the 3rd candidate will actually win the whole fucking enchilada. I'll probably be eaten by the lion, I know, but as I said before

the possibility of being eaten by a lion is a better choice, IMHO, than the certain death that would come by a firing squad.