He had one job to do . . .

Submitted by PriceRip on Fri, 09/09/2016 - 11:57pm

I know about Stephen Watts Kearny only because I have lived in Kearney, NE near Fort Kearny on the Platte River for 37 years with a compulsively inquisitive wife.

Stephen Watts Kearny . . . is remembered for his significant contributions in the Mexican–American War, especially the conquest of California. The Kearny code, which was proclaimed on September 22, 1846 in Santa Fe, established the law and government of the newly acquired territory of New Mexico . . . Four days later General Kearny left for Alta California.

Stephen Watts Kearny's Kearny code made it possible for us to form the USofA as we know it (from sea to shining sea) today.

Not long ago there seemed to be developing a "movement" founded on a straightforward premise: If we all vote for Bernie, he could become president. I am a bit disappointed that someone with political credibility has not carried through with this notion. I have been reading various postings via various routes in various places but I have yet to detect anyone suggesting that we all stop fucking around and get down to the central task of sending a clear message to "the powers that be". If the various polls are correct there should enough "99%ers" to actually have a real impact on the electoral process in the good ol' USofA, that is, if enough people vote for one person (not Hillary and not Donald) then that person would garner enough electoral votes to create a real kerfuffle in the sacred system. Why isn't this sort of "attack" developing?

Maybe I am just not reading the proper bits of the Matrix's data stream.

Tags:

Getting the Job Done

Vote

Comments

Submitted by OLinda on Sat, 09/10/2016 - 12:40am

Giant Meteor

Difficult to get many millions of people on the same page, PR. And, first, who would the person to be voted for be? Pretty much, If it's not Libertarian or Green, they are not on the ballots, so can't be voted for.

The third parties are trying, knowing they won't win of course. But, trying for the kerfuffle. Many of us are voting green to try to send that message, so that effort is underway, (perhaps in too small a way).

It would take someone with Bernie's appeal going city to city campaigning across the country. Fundraising. A little late to start a campaign, hmm? How many would show up to the rallies? But, then again, we are back to who is on the ballot.

Submitted by Timmethy2.0 on Sat, 09/10/2016 - 11:55am

Billions and billions of dollars have been spent to divide us

and get us fighting each other over the most personal and persistent of issues (gay marriage, abortion, personal responsibility, racial and ethnic identity, etc, etc). Everybody needs to become aware of the sabotage before we can all come together as one.

—

Beware the bullshit factories.

Submitted by OLinda on Sat, 09/10/2016 - 12:42am

Interesting to have

an essay mention Platte River and not be about emails.

Submitted by sojourns on Sat, 09/10/2016 - 1:04am

I wonder that myself

If every person that (during the primary session) voted for Clinton because they believed that Sanders' platform was too far reaching, making him unelectable, did vote for Sanders, then he'd be the nominee -- with or without the election sophistry. These are the people that fail to understand that it could be done but only with much hard work and persistence. Something that those on the fence re: Hillary vs. Bernie, would be inclined to inch away from because they already got theirs, so why risk a vote on Sanders?

in the early days of the 99%, during the Wall Street camp outs, I thought to myself-- Well, now that you all know one another, what are you going to do about it? Who will organize you? Who will you coalesce behind? It never happened and would have never happened if Sanders hadn't seemingly come out of the woodwork rekindling the fire. Which begs the question: Did Sanders witness all of this and recognize the potential waiting to be tapped or was he motivated by that which has motivated him for his entire life. That being the desire to see and implement social justice. Or both.

I feel now that a malaise has set in. Some are bitter to the point that they have decided to vilify Sanders, labeling him a traitor. That is misplaced anger from people that have unduly romanticized Sanders.

Who will be next? Martin O'Malley? Will Jill Stein make another go of it? Time will tell.

—

"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones."
John Cage

Submitted by Unabashed Liberal on Sat, 09/10/2016 - 3:27pm

Martin O'Malley was a DLCer--I have photos of him as a "New

Dem Of The Week."

Also, O'Malley was a campaign surrogate for FSC in New Hampshire when she ran last time. (Of course, he's thrown his support behind her again this election cycle.)

Mollie

“I believe in the redemptive powers of a dog’s love. It is in recognition of each dog’s potential to lift the human spirit, and, therefore, to change society for the better, that I fight to make sure every street dog has its day.”
--Stasha Wong, Secretary, Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD)

—

Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

Submitted by Alligator Ed on Sat, 09/10/2016 - 2:30am

A major contributor to Bernie's loss was the thought of

"electability".
Apparently many would-be Berners voted for Hilarious because "of course she is going to win", a grand self-fulfilling prophecy.
If enough people vote their conscience, even if it turns out to be for a losing cause, they will send a message to the PTB that they are disliked. Growing third party numbers will serve as further stimulus to growth, thereby emboldening some more of the disaffected to join in. That is how social movements grow. Courage. Persistence. Patience.

Submitted by ovals49 on Sat, 09/10/2016 - 5:48am

"If enough people vote their conscience....."

That about sums it up. The sad reality is that our elections are not about expressing our conscience as much as they are about winning.

This is the at the root of the American psyche, and our electoral system. Rather than encouraging a wide diversity of positions in a multitude of candidates, our system produces an opportunity to make an either-or choice rather than expressing our conscience. It is tailor made for LOTE (Lesser of Two Evils) voting between TWO pre-selected candidates.

It's not about conscience, and never has been. It's about rooting for your team and being on the winning side.

So let's all get out there and LOTE for our team! Rah rah.

—

“What the herd hates most is the one who thinks differently; it is not so much the opinion itself, but the audacity of wanting to think for themselves, something that they do not know how to do.”
-Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

Submitted by k9disc on Sat, 09/10/2016 - 3:36pm

People Treat Their Votes Like a Bet. nt

—

“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

Submitted by Granma on Sat, 09/10/2016 - 12:24pm

Maybe the more important message

Is to others in 99% that they are not alone.

Submitted by Gerrit on Sat, 09/10/2016 - 10:36am

Hi PR, really, really good question. I dunno either. This though

—

Resilience: practical action to improve things we can control.
3D+: developing language for postmodern spirituality.

Submitted by Not Henry Kissinger on Sat, 09/10/2016 - 12:14pm

Kearny Code was written by a Colonel and a Private.

From wiki:

The code was prepared by Colonel A. W. Doniphan, of the first regiment of Missouri mounted volunteers, who received significant assistance from Private Willard P. Hall, of his regiment. The code was based on the Bill of Rights and laws of Missouri, with amendations from the laws of Coahuila y Tejas, and the Livingston Code.

Though enlisting as a private, Willard Prebel Hall was also a Yale educated lawyer who later became a Congressman and Governor of Missouri at the end of the Civil War. He seems to be the guy chiefly responsible for writing the nuts and bolts of the Code.

There are people in American History who you never hear about but who have had a profound impact on our government and laws. Usually because someone else slaps their name on their work.

Colonel A. W. Doniphan is most famous as the guy who refused to carry out the execution for Mormon Leader Joseph Smith.

As a brigadier general in the Missouri Militia, Doniphan was ordered into the field with other forces to operate against the Mormons, even though he had worked diligently to avoid the conflict, and believed that the Mormons were largely acting in self-defense. After the surrender of Far West, General Samuel Lucas took custody of Joseph Smith and other Mormon leaders, and instituted a drumhead court martial (Kangaroo Court), which declared Smith and the others guilty of treason, and ordered Doniphan to execute them. Doniphan indignantly refused, saying: "It is cold blooded murder. I will not obey your order. . . . [I]f you execute these men, I will hold you responsible before an earthly tribunal, so help me God".[7]

—

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?

Submitted by PriceRip on Sat, 09/10/2016 - 2:05pm

Without Stephen Watts Kearny

in the field I doubt the negotiations at Santa Fe would have gone so smoothly.

Oh, by the way, Kearny should have shot Frémont when they were in California but Thomas Hart Benton would have killed Kearny in retaliation. Such is the nature of history and parallel universes.

Submitted by PriceRip on Sat, 09/10/2016 - 3:11pm

Schoolyard bullies:

The bully surreptitiously picks at you incessantly. The playground monitor never sees his actions. After a time you overtly retaliate. The playground monitor sees your reaction. Care to guess who will be judged the aggressor?
I have a different point of view with respect to the Colonel Doniphan / Joseph Smith segment of our (my family's in particular) history. I, personally, would have had no trouble carrying out the orders for the good of us all. But then I know the Mormons from a different point of view than most I suppose.