At the end of 2014 I met Don Midwest here in Portland. I had to cut our discussion short because I was coming down with a two week flu. I wondered if I'd survive it. Apparently I did. In any case, Don talked about Naomi Klein, about being involved, and working for change. I felt then that there was little hope that anything would ever get better unless the whole structure fell apart.

Now, 8+ months later, I feel that even more.

A little while back I posted some depressing stuff from Change.gov, The Office of the President-Elect. To refresh your memories, here are some of these 2008 bits.

http://change.gov/agenda/ethics_agenda/

Sunlight Before Signing: Too often bills are rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them. As president, Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.

Conduct Regulatory Agency Business in Public: Obama will require his appointees who lead the executive branch departments and rulemaking agencies to conduct the significant business of the agency in public, so that any citizen can see these debates in person or watch them on the internet.

Close the Revolving Door on Former and Future Employers: No political appointees in the Obama-Biden administration will be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years. And no political appointee will be able to lobby the executive branch after leaving government service during the remainder of the administration.

Protect Whistleblowers: Often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse in government is an existing government employee committed to public integrity and willing to speak out. Such acts of courage and patriotism, which can sometimes save lives and often save taxpayer dollars, should be encouraged rather than stifled. We need to empower federal employees as watchdogs of wrongdoing and partners in performance. Barack Obama will strengthen whistleblower laws to protect federal workers who expose waste, fraud, and abuse of authority in government. Obama will ensure that federal agencies expedite the process for reviewing whistleblower claims and whistleblowers have full access to courts and due process.

Once-in-a-lifetime-candidate #1: Disqualified. And oh by the way, the huge majorities his party had in 2009? Gone.

Then there was Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat in the U.K., who ran as a lefty and agreed to be part of Cameron's coalition. Instead of pushing the Tories into moderating their Thatcher Jr-ism, Clegg went along for the ride, His sellout is described here.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/harriet-harman/10-broken-lib-dem-promise...

1. Tuition Fees
Nick Clegg campaigned on a promise to scrap tuition fees if they got into power, and every Liberal Democrat MP pledged to vote against future tuition fee increases. But once in government, Nick Clegg and his MPs voted to treble tuition fees to £9,000,

8. Sure Start
In May 2010, Nick Clegg promised to protect Sure Start and told voters that "Difficult decisions are going to have to be made in public spending, but Sure Start is one of the best things the last government has done and I want all these centres to stay open". But in Government, the Liberal Democrats have backed cuts to Sure Start - and 558 centres have shut so far.

and so on. Reformer #2: No, not really.

Then we have the "leftist" Francois Hollande. No more Sarkozy! A lefty! Or maybe not.

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2015/01/07/391938/French-presidents-term-e...

With two billion-dollar warships paid for but not delivered, Hollande reversed course on sanctioning Russia saying, “I think sanctions must stop now”, but later said they are tied to progress in Ukrainian peace talks.

The first half of Hollande’s term is full of broken promises: He did not refuse austerity, fund job growth, rebalance income inequality or even restore dignity to the presidency, as his first lady tried to commit suicide after discovering Hollande was having an affair with an actress. The former first lady penned a tell-all memoir that will soon be made into a movie.

And he likes bombing. Great.

Next up, Alexis Tsipras. He was going to show that European Union what's what! Instead he did their dirty work for them.

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/30575-syriza-lies-broken-promises-...

(We) have seen the continuation of many of the same policies enforced by the previous pro-austerity regimes in Greece, policies which Syriza, up until prior to the elections, denounced in many instances as being illegitimate and unconstitutional.

But now there's Bernie. We're saved! Forget about Obama being that once-in-a-lifetime candidate. It's Bernie. For real! Except, uh-oh..

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/bernie_sanders_says_he_would...

Here's one of my problems with Bernie.

Sanders has yet to lay out a detailed foreign policy agenda. In fact, his campaign website does not address a single foreign policy issue (unless you count climate change). But his admission that he would not end the drone program signifies that military force in countries like Yemen, Somalia, and parts of Pakistan will be continued under a potential Sanders administration.

They're all somewhere on the scale from deeply flawed to criminal. And these are people we thought would save us! I can't see things improving in this system. Money runs everything. When did it start? With radio advertising? TV? It's always been bad but now it's impossible. Nobody can win without a ton of money, for ads, for bribes, and the promise of future bribes. If you were a shady mover and shaker who would you support? The guy who slips you millions and says that'll be it? Or the guy who slips you millions and tells you there'll be more where that came from?

Hopeless, I tell you! Shaharazade and I brought home the movie "If". Perhaps that'll give me some inspiriation when we watch it.