The Royal Scam

I'm a recent refugee here from DK. I had relegated myself to lurk status over there, not commenting since 2013 and not posting a diary since 2011. I enjoy a political argument as much (if not more) than anybody, but I enjoy principled debate, where the exchange of ideas is paramount, not the exchange of personal insults, which is what DK has degenerated into over the years. What I particularly disliked about the place was how increasingly any point of view not in conformity with the established ideology of the site and its "owner" were simply not tolerated. The mantra of the site -- if you don't want to conform, go somewhere else -- was so reminiscent of what I heard from the right in my youth: "Love it or leave it!" (for those interested, here is a semi-tongue-in-cheek diary of some of my youthful experience)

I had always assumed that my "baby boomer" generation was going to be the revolutionary generation in America. The sad fact is, though, we are not and won't be. Sure, when we were young, some of us were loud, irreverent, and irritatingly visible, and many of the causes we championed -- civil rights, student's rights, women's rights, the anti-war movement -- were forced into the main-stream agenda by our advocacy and actions, but we never transformed our "protest" into political power. And soon "All those dayglow freaks who used to paint the face, they joined the human race. Some things will never change."

Look at the two "baby boomer" presidents who were elected: one was a draft dodger and the other a deserter. The cruel irony, for me, is that we boomers finally have one last chance to elect one of our own who still embraces the ideals that we spent our youth espousing and it is the boomers -- the fuckin' boomers -- who are voting overwhelmingly against him. The Woodstock Generation has morphed into the Status Quo Generation. Now Boomers GOT something - and even though many of us spent a large part of our youth sort of pretending that GETTING things wasn't important to us -- but now we got `em, and damn, we wanna keep `em! And wanting to keep the things you got - however few they might be - tends to make moderates out of radicals.

There is hope: the Millennials, or whatever the hell they're called. These kids GET it; they've picked up the progressive torch that the Boomers dropped and doused with their me-first materialism, relit it, and may actually bring to victory a candidate representing supposed Boomer ideals in spite of the efforts of the Boomers to defeat him.

Let's be real: the road is tough. The deal is stacked against us. It's their game, their rules, their referees. The principal role that government has played throughout history has been to protect the interests of the few against the aspirations of the many. American rhetoric proudly trumpets that we are different, but American reality demonstrates that we are not.

And make no mistake: those who hold the power and the status and the privilege of the current system are not gonna give all that up easily. If history tells us anything, it's that the privileged few will use everything -- EVERYTHING -- at their disposal to protect their own interests. We are tolerated when we are only annoying. When we start to actually become effective, the gloves come off.

But none of that is what I'm here to talk about (it's just that when I haven't written anything since 2011, it's hard to keep things focused).

The Royal Scam:

The Democratic Party shits on its progressive base. They insult us, belittle us, demonize us, condescend to us. On the internets, they ban us. If a progressive candidate comes along to challenge an establishment one, then the establishment one throws out a few rhetorical bones to "sound" progressive, but when elected, immediately reverts to the status quo policies which protect the interests of the 1%. But with all that, they still expect us to vote for them, because we can't let one of those Repug boogiemen become president. The lesser of two evils. Hill the Corporate Shill is not as evil as Ted the Cretin or Donald the Neanderthal. That's the choice we're given, and it's the one we have always accepted.

But as long as we continue to accept it, we will never gain the political power necessary for real change. All that ever does -- even if the Democratic candidate wins as a result -- is perpetuate the current system, and set us up for the Royal Scam again the next time around.

I certainly don't have all the answers about how we get from where we are to the progressive change we all want and so desperately need. I'm just a middle-aged, middle-class refugee from the sixties who's seen a few things and tried to learn from it.

What I do know is this: Voting for Hillary Clinton if Bernie doesn't win the nomination is not going to get us there.

It's time to stop falling for the Royal Scam.

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FreakFlagFly's picture

Oh, we should've known better...

My mother cried
When president Kennedy died
She said it was the communists
But I knew better

Would they drop the bomb on us
While we made love on the beach
We were the class they couldn't teach
'Cos we knew better

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Many if not most here are in your boat, which is why I said "get in line". Joe posted a really good essay on this subject just yesterday. You might want to read A Path to a Different Sort of Victory

All I can control is me (most of the time), and I have pledged myself to
#bernieorbust . If I get angry enough, I might even vote for Hillary's opponent as opposed to just not voting for her.

Welcome to c99. Hope you will check out the welcome new members link and join us as we wrestle with these issues and enjoy some great music and other diversions.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

leftvet's picture

I had been working on this for several days, and almost didn't publish it after I read Joe's essay, since he made the point so much better than I did, but I figured mine was kinda a different take on the same issue.

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Soldiers are required to do their jobs when politicians fail to do theirs

You helped get the country to take the next step in civil rights, stopped a pointless and tragic war, got rid of Nixon, moved women's rights and gay rights off the dime, and started the popular environmental movement.

It could be argued that you postponed the inevitable deterioration of empire for about one generation (not a bad thing, for those happening to be alive at the time). Since Reagan , we've been suffering the pushback.

Again our hope is in the young, and in the elders allied with them. (Remember Benjamin Spock? Bertrand Russell? Simone de Beauvoir?) The younger generation is so great, thank heaven for their energy and perspective, looking forward to what we can bring about together.

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Euterpe2

detroitmechworks's picture

Since Obama technically counts as ours, even though he's said publicly he identifies with the Booomers.

Sometimes I think Sturgeon's law applies to generations too. 90% of what people do is crap.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

Thumb's picture

Kos has a rule against calling out shills. It's an instant banning offense. He claims it's because it diminishes the voices of those who are just passionate, but I think he knows they're there and pushing his candidate and doesn't want them called out.

Having been there since he began, I have a pretty good ear for picking up the professional shills. Going to Kos these days reminds me of something funny I read a few years back on one of the obscure blogs I followed (a professional dominatrix who wrote the occasional Stranger article - very funny, insightful, and bright) and she was talking about a forum for lesbians where after several months one of the moderators finally jumped in and said, "Do any of you realize that none of you are either gay or female?" The tell was that none of what was being discussed in the beginning when the forum was created was present, nothing remained of what the original group liked talking about, which was much more cooking, gardening, movies, family, normal life, than the Dear Penthouse Forum ramblings that the faux "I'm one of you" posters imagined it would be as they took over thinking they were clever.

In this same vein, what I want to post at Kos is "Do any of you realize how many campaign shills you're being roped into wasting your time on?" There is no lively debate, it's all campaign talking points by shills that will repeat the talking point of the day faster than anyone can knock down, cheered on by people who revel in their perceived victim-hood who only care that they're winning regardless of the cost and pointing to the next poll as if THIS TIME it's not going top be under-counting Sanders' supporters by 5-10%.

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"Polls don't tell us how well a candidate is doing; Polls tell us how well the media is doing." ~ Me

Older and Wiser Now's picture

Is it appropriate to ask you if you'd be willing to share any names?

If it's not appropriate, I understand ... in that case, do you have an tips that you keep in mind and things you tend to notice / look for?

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~OaWN

Thumb's picture

If someone, often one of a dozen people all pushing the same new theme at thew same time seemingly out of nowhere (Bernie's taxes) has talking points that are corrected and they continue posting the same talking point in multiple diaries no matter how many times it's corrected, they're very likely a shill. The game is to repeat a false meme as often as you can until a critical mass of time and energy is spent refuting it, then move onto the next memo-ed talking point.

They don't talk about real issues. Ever. It's almost always some head shaking meta piece of bullshit spin.

My rule of thumb in life as it is on the internet; when someone makes me feel like a psycho, I know they're a psycho.

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"Polls don't tell us how well a candidate is doing; Polls tell us how well the media is doing." ~ Me

Deja's picture

About not suing in AZ (I think it was AZ) over voter fraud but waiting until the GE. Funny thing is, someone I'd never heard of kept saying the same thing in same diary. I checked, and they weren't new. Then, it was pointed out that Armando is buddies with one of $hillary's attorneys.

Talking points is all I could think of. Like a memo went out and they followed the script, over and over and over.

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Thumb's picture

After Armando was also outed several years ago of being an attorney for Wal-Mart (among other high-profile clients), he left the site for a while.

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"Polls don't tell us how well a candidate is doing; Polls tell us how well the media is doing." ~ Me

Bollox Ref's picture

Explains the poorly made, Chinese arguments.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

My husband is really feeling the Bern but could not understand the Bernie or Bust crowd. I have come to really respect that crowd, so much so I will vote Jill Stein myself in a swing state. I would hope all Bernie or Bust people will vote though, Jill Stein or whoever is not establishment, and vote downticket anyway. Let their protests be heard loudly. And not just on the streets. Not showing up to vote doesn't work. Protest in the streets and carry those protests to the voting booth.

I ask my husband what would have happened if when we fought for (and won) so many victories as youth if we wouldn't of stopped. Or settled, which is EXACTLY what we did. What if all these years those of us that that we actually still care about politics we would have all, always voted our principles instead of our fear that the other was worse? He now agrees, but doesn't have the level of loathing for Hillary that I do, so he will vote for her.

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I think Jill Stein is the only reliable option. It would catch the numbers, and I think she is on all of the ballots. We need to pool the protest vote to make it as large and unavoidable as possible.

I think a third party is unrealistic. I think we take a page from Grover Norquist and make them pay. First we go after the renegade superdelegates from states that Bernie won. Then we become the biggest pain in the ass this party has ever seen. We need to destroy the party, not walk away and start our own game. Evidence for this is the Green Party itself. That's my opinion.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

leftvet's picture

and would add a few more elements to the mix:

1. Don't sacrifice long term goals for short term gains. The "lesser of two evils" scam is first and foremost a way to keep progressives from focusing on the long term by scaring them into short term decisions that are against their interests.

2. Build from the bottom up. Most "movements" tend to focus around the charismatic leader who is trying to take over at the top. We need to understand that the revolution is NOT Bernie. Given the stacked-deck that he's been up against, it is more likely than not that despite all efforts, Hillary will be the Democratic nominee. If Bernie is the sole focus, then the political energy he unleashed dissipates with his loss. Who are the down-ballot progressive candidates in this election? How much of a progressive wave can we generate even without Bernie at the top of the ticket? How and where do we start positioning House and Senate candidates for the next elections? How and where do we start getting progressive candidates to run for school board, for town council, for mayor, for state legislature, for governor?

3. Voting is only part of it. I do not believe that we can expect to get everything we want simply by voting for it. The electoral system is too rigged against us. We will have to TAKE what we want, it will not be given to us. That means demonstrations, strikes, civil disobedience. It means organizing and educating. It means working for political change becomes a PRIORITY for your life, not just an election-time hobby.

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Soldiers are required to do their jobs when politicians fail to do theirs

mjsmeme's picture

It surely made the folks at CNN uncomfortable as they tried to bury the protest right outside their door.

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mjsmeme's picture

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Lookout's picture

Here in Alabama after we got rid of the poll tax and got the voting rights bill through, a large electorate showed up and voted in George Wallace.

Education goes hand in hand with real democracy. Corporate media is electing Hillary (with misinformation).

As a fellow boomer, I say the struggle was here when we were born and it will be here when we die. Let's do what we can in this moment. There is great hope. Onward... while we can.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

I'd love to be able to give you extra likes for the apropos "Kid Charlemagne" reference.

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Want an axe to break the ice.

I love music=real life examples, thanks leftvet!

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mouselander's picture

george-bush-hillary-clinton.jpg
But as long as we continue to accept it, we will never gain the political power necessary for real change. All that ever does -- even if the Democratic candidate wins as a result -- is perpetuate the current system, and set us up for the Royal Scam again the next time around.

So, so true. The whole "lesser evil" scam is really nothing more than a variation on the old "good cop/bad cop" dodge, where the hapless suspect is encouraged to believe that one of his interrogators is truly sympathetic and on his side, while the reality is that both are fervently and equally committed to railroading him into a conviction, then locking him up in a dank, rat-infested dungeon and throwing away the key. It is long past time to stop falling for that pathetically transparent shit in the political realm.

Unfortunate though it may be, the United States has what is essentially a binary political system, whereby the "viable" choices in any election are limited to candidates A or B (that is, D or R). So the Democratic Party cannot and should not be ignored completely. Worthwhile, progressive politicians like Bernie Sanders, Tulsi Gabbard, Elizabeth Warren, Alan Grayson and Timothy Canova have shown themselves to be true champions of the 99%, and should be encouraged and supported. Those that owe their allegiance to the billionaire class, such as Hillary Clinton, should be shunned and repudiated.

If a large enough number of Democrat and independent voters simply refuses to support Democratic candidates who are committed to maintaining the status quo, then either the Democratic Party will inevitably fade into irrelevance, or else the party's center of gravity will shift in such a way as to repudiate the currently dominant oligarchical wing and embrace its now rather enfeebled populist/progressive wing. Fortunately, the 2016 campaign has revealed such a deep and wide schism between the Clinton and Sanders factions that it really does seem unlikely at this point that any meaningful reconciliation is possible should Clinton become the nominee (which sadly still seems more likely than not).

Which I consider to be one of the most significant and positive outcomes of the whole Sanders insurgency. In my view, it's always better to have your enemy in front of you with drawn sword, then standing behind you with upraised knife.

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inactive account

substantial numbers of people showing up to vote, voting for the most progressive down ticket candidates, but NOT voting for Hillary to drive the point home. I'm really hoping that that occurs in states where your vote doesn't matter, especially the blood-red states where a Democratic vote is only a protest vote.

From what I'm hearing, the Millennials are realizing that they have to take over the Democratic Party just like the tea partiers did. More power to them. I hope they pull it off.

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moneysmith's picture

As a fellow Boomer, I'm mystified every time polls come out showing older people are voting for Hillary. Why? Bernie is everything we used to embrace -- I just don't get it and have lost a couple of lifelong friends over it. And that's okay because I really think this election is the most important one in our lifetimes.

I signed the Bernie or Bust pledge a while back. And since California doesn't have write-ins, I'll vote for Jill Stein if Bernie is not on the ballot. As far as I'm concerned, the Democratic Party can become a footnote in history. They've done nothing for their supporters and deserve nothing from us.

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Hell is empty and all the devils are here. William Shakespeare

polkageist's picture

Moneysmith,
I finally figured out why old folks vote the way they do. I'm 80 and two old friends are self-described "conservatives". I've talked to them about this election and Bernie's resurrection of FDR's policies and realized they are just rather stupid in any area except that of their vocations. The other old folks have never been politically aware even though we went through the '60s with all the turmoil. They believed their TVs and not their eyes.
I agree with dkmich, above, that we can only be in charge of ourselves and probably can't influence others. There is no remedy for stupid. I've given up arguing with people I like and that I've known for 70 or more years because there aren't many left and their votes aren't going to make any difference.
I'm voting for Bernie or, if he doesn't make it, for Jill Stein.

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-Greed is not a virtue.
-Socialism: the radical idea of sharing.
-Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
John F. Kennedy, In a speech at the White House, 1962

Unabashed Liberal's picture

Boomers became complacent (partly) because of misinformation and misdirection. Even today, many folks of all ages don't seem to be aware of how much the Dem Party propagandizes its Base, and even the progressive community at large. Especially, compared to the right.

Bear in mind, in the conservative talk show community, there are actually hosts who go against the Republican Establishment.

(Limbaugh famously lambasted John McCain for years--including when he was the Republican Presidential nominee.)

In our community, not so much. Sure, our talkers complain a lot, but I'm not aware of a single progressive talker who doesn't say (in the end)--gotta vote for a corporatist Dem 'cause of those dastardly Republicans!

Until we 'fix' that, I'm afraid that there will remain a large portion of the Dem Party Base that will be too timid to think outside the box--much less, vote for a true progressive (Bernie), or vote for a third party candidate if Bernie doesn't get the nomination.

OTOH, with blogs like C99P--there 'is' hope.

Wink

Glad you decided to join us!

Mollie
elinkarlsson@WordPress

Screenshot Of 'Barabas' -- Dual Photo From WP With Caption.png


Visit Us At Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD)

"I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive."
--Gilda Radner, Comedienne

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

A: They could have sex outside of marriage -- indeed, they could publicly cohabit -- without being driven from middle-class society
and
B: The women were able to go out and get jobs in all sorts of occupations formerly unavailable to them.
and
C: Most of the boomers found it easy to find work most of the time.

I think a lot of people who weren't around before 1970ish really don't grasp the seismic shock that the sexual revolution delivered to our culture. I think they don't grasp what it was like to live in a culture where:
A: You couldn't show a woman's belly button on TV.
B: Many (most?) women did not expect to enjoy sex.
C: People were expected to forego sex (or at least conceal their activities) until they were set in good jobs with good prospects, at which point they were expected to get married before sharing their lives with each other.
D: Contraceptives were available only to married people
E: If a young woman got pregnant, her middle class social status was seriously endangered.
F: Abortions were illegal, expensive and very dangerous.
etc.

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The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

G. To be divorced was a black mark for life
H. In 71 women doctors, lawyers, most professions ( except teachers and nurses) were rare.

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G. To be divorced was a black mark for life
H. In 71 women doctors, lawyers, most professions ( except teachers and nurses) were rare.

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mjsmeme's picture

But not every one tuned in, turned on, dropped out, and had crazy sex. Sure there were plenty of anti-war protests and love-ins, but there were also plenty of traditional mainstream kids that would never consider challenging the system (enough of them thought they were doing a good thing as they signed up to fight for Freedom), or having a mind-expanding experience, even if was only through meditation. And then there was religion, dumbed-down education, media propaganda, family pressure, and the PTB not into relinquishing an inch beyond letting folks have sex (as long as they were straight - and gone-wrong backroom abortions were still going on in the 70s). All of which are hard for people to disengage from cause brain-washing really does work; as the saying goes 'Give me the child for the first 7 years and I'll give you the man' (especially when its reinforced daily on the TV machine).
Ok, I'm a boomer, and have been trying to understand why this happened for decades, and that's one of my thoughts on why too many in my generation became less interested in working for a more inclusive and peaceful world (when it seemed we had the wind at our backs) and became more excited by the latest gadget and bigger whatever they could flash. Among other things I'm attracted to the 'the establishment has its tentacles in just about everything everywhere and will not give up without that bloody fight we all would like to avoid' theory, and consciously or not it's played a significant role in why apathy set in.
I'm still working on it.

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Alison Wunderland's picture

Ok, I'm a boomer, and have been trying to understand why this happened for decades, and that's one of my thoughts on why too many in my generation became less interested in working for a more inclusive and peaceful world (when it seemed we had the wind at our backs) and became more excited by the latest gadget and bigger whatever they could flash. Among other things I'm attracted to the 'the establishment has its tentacles in just about everything everywhere and will not give up without that bloody fight we all would like to avoid' theory, and consciously or not it's played a significant role in why apathy set in.

Many Boomers were never interested in changing things in the first place. And we Hippies were always a small slice of the pie then and now.

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Unabashed Liberal's picture

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

Zinman's picture

I have wondered why so many Super-Delegates were "pledged" to Hillary. Now I know. They were bought. Here is the story at the following link:

http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/04/01/how-hillary-clinton-bought-the-lo...

If this has been posted before, I am sorry, but perhaps more people will learn what happened with an extra post.

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Be a Friend of the Earth, cherish it and protect it.

Bisbonian's picture

That needs to be widely disseminated.

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

orlbucfan's picture

Great tune by Steely Dan.

I am a Boomer. I have voted and opposed the RWNJ all my life. I get a little fed up with reading that I'm a big part of the cosmik BS the young folks are facing now. I am actively campaigning for the Bernster down here in east central Floridumb. Yeah, I have always been a minority, politically. But reading this nonsense gets a bit old!!

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Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.

leftvet's picture

If that's how you took it, I'm sorry.

I know there are a lot of us Boomers out here who never lost the ideals of our youth, and who never stopped fighting for them. But as you say, we have been a minority.

If anything, I'm just disappointed that the promise we had, the power for positive change that was in our grasp, we never really took advantage of.

And in this election, despite what you and I and lots of folks our age believe in, it is a sad fact that the majority of those our age are voting for Hillary.

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Soldiers are required to do their jobs when politicians fail to do theirs

Raggedy Ann's picture

I thought we were making changes in our own way. After Watergate, I thought, there you go! The people investigated and justice was served! At least until Ford pardoned him. So, Vietnam ended, Carter was elected, and he put solar on the WH. We were stoked.

Then Iran happened and Reagan was elected and they started making us poor by pushing credit cards on us and we wanted to keep up with the Jonses, buying all the new gadgets that we purchased with our new credit cards; and then Poppy took us to the Gulf War; so we picked Clinton, who had an economic boom, yet destroyed it all at the end with Glass-Steagall repeal; then Bush was appointed, and 911 and all freedoms lost, along with the housing bubble; next came the promise of hope and change, which didn't materialize, so now we are putting our last effort into Bernie Sanders, and that's what happened to our promise. IMHO, of course.

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

Kent State and the returning of Vietnam Vets also caused many to become more inhibited with respect to protesting.

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Kent State and the returning of Vietnam Vets also caused many to become more inhibited with respect to protesting.

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For double post. Sluggish ipad..

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Zinman's picture

I am a Vietnam Vet. Many of us were protesters before we got sucked into the draft vortex and sent off to War. Many of us, including myself, rejoined the anti-war protests after we came back from the War.

Some historians think because so many of us became vocal opponents of the War that we hastened the end of the War.

I can't imagine how your claim that we inhibited protesting is true.

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Be a Friend of the Earth, cherish it and protect it.

Zinman's picture

I am a Vietnam veteran. I protested the War before I got drafted and sent to Vietnam, and I protested it afterwards. In my experience, Vets led opposition to the War, so I can't agree that we inhibited protesting. We validated opposition to the War.

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Be a Friend of the Earth, cherish it and protect it.

Zinman's picture

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Be a Friend of the Earth, cherish it and protect it.

leftvet's picture

It was the Vietnam vets who really carried the anti-war movement in the early seventies. The Winter Soldier Investigation, Dewey Canyon III, the Statue of Liberty takeover. These were some of the most powerful anti-war protests ever.

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Soldiers are required to do their jobs when politicians fail to do theirs

Bollox Ref's picture

...

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

Demonhype's picture

So the Hill folk scream when anyone says they might not vote for Hillary in November. "People will die and their blood will be on your hands--and I have no responsibility to maybe not alienate your vote and will continue to insult you and tell you you are not a Dem, while demanding that you support the Dems, because everything is your fault and the DLC is never at fault for anything!"

I don't buy the argument because...well, look at the data on income inequality and climate change, plus the only nominal advances made during Dem admins, which are never enough to roll back the earlier repub outrages. The Dems have been defining themselves as "not as bad as the repubs" for so long that I have come to believe that is why very little of value is done when the Dems win. They'll fight to keep from total destruction, but need to keep us hovering at one minute before midnight so we remain desperate enough to vote four them no matter what.

But this status quo can't last. Its not an equilibrium, as they seem to think. Its unsustainable, and if things don't change drastically, the consequences will be devastating. They already are, and getting worse.

What I'm saying is that, yes, if a repub wins people will die...but if Hillary wins, people will also die. The only chance we have to stop people from dying, in as much as its even possible, is to elect Bernie AND work hard to support him year round and not just during presidential election periods. Telling me that I "have to" vote for the establishment candidate, and I'm not allowing the DLC to hold my vote hostage like that anymore.

I'm not so much Bernie or bust so much as I'm Bernie or we're doomed, and there's no point in supporting the Dems anymore because the rot goes right through to the center and there's nothing left to salvage.

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enddrugtestingblogspot.com

Gee I always thought it was the greatest generation that was the problem. Their patriotism based on an incomplete understanding of who put the Allies over in WW2, was rabid. Reagan was their guy. The US could do no wrong. Now they are almost gone. That may be why suddenly its okay to talk about socialism and to say yes the US does bad things.

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thanatokephaloides's picture

Gee I always thought it was the greatest generation that was the problem. Their patriotism based on an incomplete understanding of who put the Allies over in WW2, was rabid. Reagan was their guy. The US could do no wrong.

FDR, Truman, JFK, and LBJ were "their guys", too. Don't forget that there were quite a few democratic socialists in that generation. The term they preferred was "New Deal Democrats", but it means the same thing. I know about this as I am related to quite a few of these.

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Bob Phillips's picture

It's long been my opinion that the Werhmacht was broken on the Red Army, whilst Winnie and FDR waited to pick up the pieces. Two birds with one stone if you will.

Is that what you mean?

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Doctor West's picture

...but I certainly understand how you all feel and won't try to convince you otherwise. (as long as you're at least voting down ballot) It seems not a day goes by in the primary that Hillary doesn't make it harder to call her the lesser evil.

For the sake of my embattled conscience, I hope to god Bernie gets the nomination.

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Zinman's picture

Bernie is the greatest and most memorable proponent of progressive ideas in the Democratic Party I can remember. I hope we can elect Bernie Sanders, as he is the best we have now, and the best we have had in a long time.

Hillary is no where nearly as great as Bernie in the firmament of Democratic candidates. She is actually next to the most corrupt and compromised of candidates I can remember of either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. Nixon was worse, but he was a Republican. Thank goodness that we have Bernie Sanders to carry our Democratic Party torch forward.

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