The West issue revisited

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Sun, 10/22/2023 - 1:24pm

Here's the Revolutionary Blackout video:

Now, CJ here is disparaging of people (Peter Daou, Ralph Nader specifically) that he might otherwise encounter as allies, so that's a flaw. Obviously the named people face significant challenges to their credibility -- Daou seems to underestimate the difficulty of being an independent candidate in America, and Ralph Nader has to spend time denying that he endorsed Biden (which denial he did issue on his radio show). Of course, there is the obvious problem with running as an independent -- how is Cornel West (or for that matter RFK Jr.) going to get on the ballot in California given the enormous signature-gathering problems? (There is, of course, the Peace and Freedom Party, which nobody has yet mentioned.) But there is a kernel of truth in what CJ is saying.

West could, simply put, recognize that there's an organizational issue with his campaign, and direct someone else to form a political party around his candidacy. This sort of strategy is otherwise known as "asking for help." It follows the principle of "if you don't want to do it, have someone else do it for you."

I do not know -- give the amount of discussion my last diary on this topic generated -- how much interest there is here in this topic. But currently what we have in this country are two parties, (D) and (R), orbiting around a vortex of idiocy (Joe Biden), with maybe a few dissenters in Congress on one of the issues (Ukraine) who can't be bothered to elect a Speaker of the House, and a populace which has been sucked into the idiocy but whose only alternative is to ignore the idiocy and plow forward with (in a lot of cases) increasingly difficult daily lives. And that's all there is. Oh but maybe we could do work around an existing organization! Feh. I can think of dozens of organizations in America which don't exist but which desperately need to.

To address the political party thing first. What about a serious "Labor Party"? The Green Party experimented broadly with political organization. What about a labor party with a different political organization than any than has yet been tried? To continue: there are agencies which advocate for the unhoused. Does every unhoused person in America have an advocate?

BDS organizations tend to run afoul of Israeli intelligence, whose presence in this country might have inspired all the nonsense about "Russiagate" in the first place. You've got Congressmembers going to work in IDF uniforms now, but Russia y'know. Are there underground BDS organizations in America?

I could go on and on about this. As I've pointed out previously, it's the atrophy of political imagination which plagues us. Its political imagination was what inspired the radical world to read about the Paris Commune of 1871. It's what inspired Food Not Bombs. It's what inspired RBN. It's what inspired Occupy.

Tags:

#Cornel West

political imagination

organization

political parties

Vote

Comments

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Sun, 10/22/2023 - 3:11pm

So BDS.

pass it on

Just as a hint you need lots of organizations to evade infiltration by the shadow government.

—

“The loyal Left cannot act decisively. Their devotion to the system is a built-in kill switch limiting dissent.” - Richard Moser

Submitted by kelly on Sun, 10/22/2023 - 5:01pm

just growing a ca$h crop

make some money on a mailing list and an endorsement during the crookedest, craziest election ever.
what else is there, I guess?

Submitted by QMS on Sun, 10/22/2023 - 5:26pm

elections are definitely

@kelly

a crooked fest

—

question everything

Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Sun, 10/22/2023 - 7:27pm

Cornell West clearly is not a viable political candidate.

He can barely open his mouth wide enough to enunciate his words, so hardly anybody without a similar speech impediment will be able to understand what he is mumbling, in any event.

In the video, West is shedding himself of any obligations he may have incurred by declaring himself a presidential candidate. He's walking back the whole idea. I hope his supporters have come to grips with this. It seems that Cornell West is not the One we have been waiting for.

His excuses do not matter.

West could, simply put, recognize that there's an organizational issue with his campaign, and direct someone else to form a political party around his candidacy. This sort of strategy is otherwise known as "asking for help." It follows the principle of "if you don't want to do it, have someone else do it for you."

That's probably a disqualifier for the kind of candidate who could pull the US out of it's downward spiral into dystopia.

I do not know ... how much interest there is here in this topic. But currently what we have in this country are two parties, (D) and (R), orbiting around a vortex of idiocy (Joe Biden) ... and a populace which has been sucked into the idiocy — but whose only alternative is to ignore the idiocy and plow forward with (in a lot of cases) increasingly difficult daily lives.

And that's all there is.

I find political elections interesting. They tell a very truthful story about the social state of a nation and the mental health of its citizens and the people who lead them. The political intentions of the big funders of the multi-billion-dollar US Election Industry are never revealed, and what they have planned for the country is largely unknown until after it happens. But voters are mostly interested in domestic issues and the promises that are made about them. They don't believe they have political control over the enormous global events that will impact their lives. They don't know who controls those things. So, they don't give it that much thought.

I do not believe that US Elections can change anything about the geopolitical path that the US traveling, and I do not believe US elections can change the economic priorities of the nation. Those are my key issues, and they are not controlled through direct Democratic processes, so I have no reason to participate in elections. I have no reason to vote for candidates whose votes are controlled by corrupt Parties and Citizens United.

As long as the discussion about elections is based on reality-as-we-know-it, I am interested.

What about a serious "Labor Party"? The Green Party experimented broadly with political organization. What about a labor party with a different political organization than any than has yet been tried?

As I've pointed out previously, it's the atrophy of political imagination which plagues us.

I would agree that political imagination is largely unknown these days. Or is dismissed out-of-hand as a conspiracy theory. The US is ruled by "money talks" politics all the way.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Sun, 10/22/2023 - 9:32pm

Yup

@Pluto's Republic

I find political elections interesting. They tell a very truthful story about the social state of a nation and the mental health of its citizens and the people who lead them.

On the Biden side shitlibs think that he’s doing a great job even though he has gone back on every campaign promise he made and didn’t get them passed for the slimiest of reasons like the unelected parliamentarian who holds no power or the current rotating villain Manchin. Before the democrats even got started Biden gave Manchin's wife a plumb job in his administration. He had lots of leverage over him, but of course he didn’t use it cuz democrats always have a rotating villain to block their agenda. On Ukraine and Israel they think he’s the best person to be in charge now even though everything he has done has brought us closer to nuclear annihilation and the start of WW3.

On the Republican side people think that only Trump can pull our ass out of the fire even though he didn’t when he had the chance and he appointed people like Bolton, Haley and the hideous Elliot Abrams. They say that he didn’t start any new wars, but he told the military to have at it and started sending Ukraine lethal weapons to use against Russia. Plus he admitted that he was leaving troops in Syria so they could steal the oil.

People see what they want to see in their party while refusing to see that they are 1 party and they both serve the donors. Interesting indeed.

He can barely open his mouth wide enough to enunciate his words, so hardly anybody without a similar speech impediment will be able to understand what he is mumbling, in any event.

In the video, West is shedding himself of any obligations he may have incurred by declaring himself a presidential candidate. He's walking back the whole idea. I hope his supporters have come to grips with this. It seems that Cornell West is not the One we have been waiting for.

His excuses do not matter.

West could, simply put, recognize that there's an organizational issue with his campaign, and direct someone else to form a political party around his candidacy. This sort of strategy is otherwise known as "asking for help." It follows the principle of "if you don't want to do it, have someone else do it for you."

.

That's probably a disqualifier for the kind of candidate who could pull the US out of it's downward spiral into dystopia.

I do not know ... how much interest there is here in this topic. But currently what we have in this country are two parties, (D) and (R), orbiting around a vortex of idiocy (Joe Biden) ... and a populace which has been sucked into the idiocy — but whose only alternative is to ignore the idiocy and plow forward with (in a lot of cases) increasingly difficult daily lives.

And that's all there is.

.

I find political elections interesting. They tell a very truthful story about the social state of a nation and the mental health of its citizens and the people who lead them. The political intentions of the big funders of the multi-billion-dollar US Election Industry are never revealed, and what they have planned for the country is largely unknown until after it happens. But voters are mostly interested in domestic issues and the promises that are made about them. They don't believe they have political control over the enormous global events that will impact their lives. They don't know who controls those things. So, they don't give it that much thought.

I do not believe that US Elections can change anything about the geopolitical path that the US traveling, and I do not believe US elections can change the economic priorities of the nation. Those are my key issues, and they are not controlled through direct Democratic processes, so I have no reason to participate in elections. I have no reason to vote for candidates whose votes are controlled by corrupt Parties and Citizens United.

As long as the discussion about elections is based on reality-as-we-know-it, I am interested.

What about a serious "Labor Party"? The Green Party experimented broadly with political organization. What about a labor party with a different political organization than any than has yet been tried?

As I've pointed out previously, it's the atrophy of political imagination which plagues us.

.

I would agree that political imagination is largely unknown these days. Or is dismissed out-of-hand as a conspiracy theory. The US is ruled by "money talks" politics all the way.

—

The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Sun, 10/22/2023 - 11:35pm

I know the term "sh*tlibs" is popular

@snoopydawg May I recommend "neoconservative liberals" instead -- it nails them for their support of Joe Biden's most disastrous projects...

—

“The loyal Left cannot act decisively. Their devotion to the system is a built-in kill switch limiting dissent.” - Richard Moser

Submitted by snoopydawg on Mon, 10/23/2023 - 12:51am

Nope

@Cassiodorus

I’ll continue using shitlibs because it’s what they are. You can use any term you want though. It should be common knowledge that using the term shitlibs describes exactly what they are and it should be obvious who they support. It encompasses all democrats. Plus it says that I have utter contempt for them.

—

Submitted by TheOtherMaven on Mon, 10/23/2023 - 9:07am

How about "neo-con artists"? ;-)

@snoopydawg

—

There is no justice. There can be no peace.

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Sun, 10/22/2023 - 11:08pm

The question I would ask Cornel West were I to interview him

@Pluto's Republic would be: "what makes your candidacy different from a vanity project?"

The question Briahna Joy Gray asked of Cornel West can also be asked in the negative. He might pick up a few dedicated professional-managerial class people wishing to change America. Where would they go if Cornel West lost? Oh yeah, they're all going to write for Black Agenda Report. Or maybe they'll just emigrate -- my guess as regards the country of choice would be Argentina, since it's joining BRICS next year and since the natives speak Spanish, an easier language to learn than Chinese. (I suppose if they went to Russia they could stay with Tara Reade or Edward Snowden.)

There's still time to think Cornel West's project through. But the thing to impress upon Cornel West, now, is that he hasn't thought it through, not fully at least. He's not the one we've been waiting for. But who else have you got?

As regards "voters are more interested in domestic issues": my guess is that Joe Biden's foreign policy is about to become a domestic issue soon. So, let's see, much of Palestine has the same latitude as Los Angeles -- 32 degrees North, the latitude of Tel Aviv. So when Israel drops one of its atomic bombs, the Coriolis effect should at some point take the radiation all the way into Hollywood, no?

He can barely open his mouth wide enough to enunciate his words, so hardly anybody without a similar speech impediment will be able to understand what he is mumbling, in any event.

In the video, West is shedding himself of any obligations he may have incurred by declaring himself a presidential candidate. He's walking back the whole idea. I hope his supporters have come to grips with this. It seems that Cornell West is not the One we have been waiting for.

His excuses do not matter.

West could, simply put, recognize that there's an organizational issue with his campaign, and direct someone else to form a political party around his candidacy. This sort of strategy is otherwise known as "asking for help." It follows the principle of "if you don't want to do it, have someone else do it for you."

.

That's probably a disqualifier for the kind of candidate who could pull the US out of it's downward spiral into dystopia.

I do not know ... how much interest there is here in this topic. But currently what we have in this country are two parties, (D) and (R), orbiting around a vortex of idiocy (Joe Biden) ... and a populace which has been sucked into the idiocy — but whose only alternative is to ignore the idiocy and plow forward with (in a lot of cases) increasingly difficult daily lives.

And that's all there is.

.

I find political elections interesting. They tell a very truthful story about the social state of a nation and the mental health of its citizens and the people who lead them. The political intentions of the big funders of the multi-billion-dollar US Election Industry are never revealed, and what they have planned for the country is largely unknown until after it happens. But voters are mostly interested in domestic issues and the promises that are made about them. They don't believe they have political control over the enormous global events that will impact their lives. They don't know who controls those things. So, they don't give it that much thought.

I do not believe that US Elections can change anything about the geopolitical path that the US traveling, and I do not believe US elections can change the economic priorities of the nation. Those are my key issues, and they are not controlled through direct Democratic processes, so I have no reason to participate in elections. I have no reason to vote for candidates whose votes are controlled by corrupt Parties and Citizens United.

As long as the discussion about elections is based on reality-as-we-know-it, I am interested.

What about a serious "Labor Party"? The Green Party experimented broadly with political organization. What about a labor party with a different political organization than any than has yet been tried?

As I've pointed out previously, it's the atrophy of political imagination which plagues us.

.

I would agree that political imagination is largely unknown these days. Or is dismissed out-of-hand as a conspiracy theory. The US is ruled by "money talks" politics all the way.

—

“The loyal Left cannot act decisively. Their devotion to the system is a built-in kill switch limiting dissent.” - Richard Moser

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Mon, 10/23/2023 - 1:19am

And lastly:

@Pluto's Republic

The US is ruled by "money talks" politics all the way.

from Matt Stoller:

Why America Is Out of Ammunition

This is of course an intrusion into the controversy over whether or not the US will be able to fight two big wars at once, one in the Middle East and another in Ukraine. You doubtless recall that in July it was admitted through the Wall Street Journal that the US was running out of 135mm artillery shells thanks of course to the fact that the Armed Forces of Ukraine were running through them at a rate overmatched by Russian production of artillery shells.

Here's the key passage from the Stoller piece:

We used to have slack, and productive capacity, but then came private equity and mergers. And now we don’t. The government can’t actually solicit bids from multiple players for most major weapons systems, because there’s just one or two possible bidders. So that means there’s little incentive for firms to expand output, even if there’s more spending. Why not just raise price?

So the West today is a sort of host organism being devoured by its corporate parasites. This aspect of Western decline is what makes the neoconservative politics of Team Biden look so ridiculous at this time. What saves the West from immediate doom is that it is very big and still very dangerous -- but such a state of affairs will not last forever.

He can barely open his mouth wide enough to enunciate his words, so hardly anybody without a similar speech impediment will be able to understand what he is mumbling, in any event.

In the video, West is shedding himself of any obligations he may have incurred by declaring himself a presidential candidate. He's walking back the whole idea. I hope his supporters have come to grips with this. It seems that Cornell West is not the One we have been waiting for.

His excuses do not matter.

West could, simply put, recognize that there's an organizational issue with his campaign, and direct someone else to form a political party around his candidacy. This sort of strategy is otherwise known as "asking for help." It follows the principle of "if you don't want to do it, have someone else do it for you."

.

That's probably a disqualifier for the kind of candidate who could pull the US out of it's downward spiral into dystopia.

I do not know ... how much interest there is here in this topic. But currently what we have in this country are two parties, (D) and (R), orbiting around a vortex of idiocy (Joe Biden) ... and a populace which has been sucked into the idiocy — but whose only alternative is to ignore the idiocy and plow forward with (in a lot of cases) increasingly difficult daily lives.

And that's all there is.

.

I find political elections interesting. They tell a very truthful story about the social state of a nation and the mental health of its citizens and the people who lead them. The political intentions of the big funders of the multi-billion-dollar US Election Industry are never revealed, and what they have planned for the country is largely unknown until after it happens. But voters are mostly interested in domestic issues and the promises that are made about them. They don't believe they have political control over the enormous global events that will impact their lives. They don't know who controls those things. So, they don't give it that much thought.

I do not believe that US Elections can change anything about the geopolitical path that the US traveling, and I do not believe US elections can change the economic priorities of the nation. Those are my key issues, and they are not controlled through direct Democratic processes, so I have no reason to participate in elections. I have no reason to vote for candidates whose votes are controlled by corrupt Parties and Citizens United.

As long as the discussion about elections is based on reality-as-we-know-it, I am interested.

What about a serious "Labor Party"? The Green Party experimented broadly with political organization. What about a labor party with a different political organization than any than has yet been tried?

As I've pointed out previously, it's the atrophy of political imagination which plagues us.

.

I would agree that political imagination is largely unknown these days. Or is dismissed out-of-hand as a conspiracy theory. The US is ruled by "money talks" politics all the way.

—

“The loyal Left cannot act decisively. Their devotion to the system is a built-in kill switch limiting dissent.” - Richard Moser

Submitted by QMS on Sun, 10/22/2023 - 7:40pm

political imagination sounds like a contradiction in terms

imagine a political machine working without money sponsors
it does not exist in present circumstances
scripted results requires no imagination
to achieve the desired results
just nod

—

question everything

Submitted by Johnny Q on Sun, 10/22/2023 - 9:22pm

The sad thing is

Despite his many shortcomings and the shambolic state of his campaign, hes still the one I come closest to wanting to vote for.

—

They say that there's a broken light for every heart on Broadway
They say that life's a game and then they take the board away
They give you masks and costumes and an outline of the story
And leave you all to improvise their vicious cabaret-- A. Moore