Update: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is Kamala’s VP choice! I thought Walter Kirn’s description of Walz was telling. Kirn, talking to Matt Taibbi, described Walz as a “county fair huckster,” a sort of “white hick” who balances the urban BIPOC Harris. Kirn and Taibbi speculated that Democrats are trying to outflank the Republicans and their choice of J.D. Vance, i.e. Walz is even more of a flannel-wearing Midwesterner, and he has more military experience to boot.
VP choices often don’t matter that much, until they do. Just look at Kamala. She basically didn’t matter until she did.
As Walter Kirn also noted, Democrats are now spectators in their own party. You don’t get to choose your president or VP candidates; you have no say; yet you’re expected to cheer those candidates selected for you by the DNC and big donors.
Hooray, Harris/Walz! We didn’t get to vote for you, we had no say in your nomination, but we love you anyway!
One thing in Walz's favor is that ~ unlike Biden, Trump, Obama, Cheney, Clinton, and Reagan ~ he was in the military.
And not only that, but he retired as a Senior Noncommissioned Officer, a Master Sergeant to be specific. It would be interesting to see how many other denizens of Swampland can or ever could say that.
LFG lol A progressive thinker I heard anyway for this apolitical guy maybe theres something there, and a bonus-- a real bonafide Veteran. From what I heard as once being a "Minnie Dak." myself when in the USAF Stationed up there in the Northern Tier States- Frozen North, Walz is well thought of, and done some great things in Minn...
Ray, that's a fair statement/question. While I'm sure you can easily understand the skepticism that abounds here and in many other progressive forums, it is indeed at least possible that Harris could, once in office, surprise us with a change of direction w/r/t foreign policy, war & peace, climate action, etc. But I wouldn't hold my breath. As is noted by many, her c.v. shows a strong thread of opportunism, yielding principles to keep the powerful happy, while the powerless are kept down, etc. Those attributes don't suggest one willing to confront power on behalf of the little people.
Thank you for the link to this article by Lisa Savage. At the end of it, there's a reference also to Margaret Kimberly, who is probably the clearest-eyed person writing about politics today.
Nobody in the Red or Blue Team is going to save us from what ails us. The politicians are just the puppets on stage. The mastermind puppeteers are the billionaires that actually install the puppets and drive the policies that are screwing the world over. Until the Red and Blue team voters, and the independents, realize this and join together, things will only get worse. Voters are again being played for fools by the puppeteers and their puppets on stage. Harris is just another puppet and she will do what she is told. Branding her as anything else is just gaslighting. Currently, nobody is focusing their attention on the billionaires, and that is just how the puppet masters like it.
As I mentioned, only people can do something about our problems. That is why there are two different news sources, one for the Red Team, and one for the Blue Team. If you want to keep the population divided and at each other's throats, you need to feed them opposing narratives that fuel anger. As long as voters are all mad at each other, they aren't going to pay any attention to the billionaires that control the Red and Blue team news outlets. So my suggestion is to stop hating the other team members, and try and get a dialog going over the billionaire's control over our government, news, universities, regulatory agencies, military and intelligence agencies. Organizing the public into a unified block is the only possible answer, because there are no superheroes who can take on the billionaires. This is why the billionaires spend so much time and money dividing us.
Trust me, Ms Bromberg: i stopped looking for a "savior" a long, Long time ago.
And i stopped being a "blind mass to manipulate" and a "dumb victim" even longer ago. Like a couple of days after 9/11.
So perhaps You answer the Question: Who do YOU think can stop the Fall of the American Empire and the End of the America Experiment? Anybody in particular on any particular "Team," Blue, Red, Green, Purple, or whatever?
"Who Will Save Your Soul" People living their lives for you on TV They say they're better than you and you agree He says hold my calls from behind those cold brick walls Says Come here boys there ain't nothing for free Another doctor's bill, a lawyer's bill Another cute free thrill You know you love him if you put in your will Who will save your soul when it comes to the power's now? Who, who will save your souls after those lies that you told, boy? And who will save your souls if you won't save your own? We try to hustle them, try to bustle them, try to cuss them. The Cops want someone to bust down on Orleans Avenue Another day, another dollar, another war, another tower went up, where the homeless had their homes So we pray to as many different gods as there are flowers But we call religion our friend We're so worried about saving our souls Afraid that God will take his toll That we forget to begin but Who will save your souls when it comes to the babies now? Who, who will save your souls after those lies that you told, boy? And who will save your souls if you won't save your own? Some are walking, some are talking, some are stalking their kill Got social security, but it doesn't pay your bills There are addictions to feed and there are mouths to pay So you bargain with the Devil, but your OK for today Say that you love them, take their money and run Say its been swell, sweetheart, but it was just one of those things Those flings, those strings, you've got to cut So get out on the streets , girls, and bust your butts Who will save your souls when it comes to the flower? Who, will save your souls when after those lies that you told, boy? And who will save your souls if you won't save your own? "Jewel Lyrics"
Ray: How the whole American, or North America Lifestyle is encapsulated in one Song by Jewel a Songwriter / Poet I put up there w/ the best...! Money its effects on people for example plus Corporations who say they are helping you, but really only themselves, how the media says you must be like the people on TV, the hypocrisy in the World, Religion and the security people search for in it, how everyone is so selfish in this world and egocentric thinking the World owes them as in entitled, people selling out for money... etc. etc. this Song is the real deal and Jewel knows the score having lived poor herself on the streets. You've got to save yourself in this life no one is going to do it for you... OK?
One widely reported issue with Harris is that she has no interest in policy; her staff has brought her position and policy papers that she never reads; she has then screamed at them for not prepping her after she displays her typical ignorance when questioned by reporters.
A President that has no understanding or interest in the policies on which governance or diplomacy are based is terrifying. We've seen that with the last and current imbeciles in the Oval Office. At least with Trump, it's eagerly reported that he knows nothing. Bill, as you noted, with her it will be "well, she's a daughter of immigrants".
I assume she's already begun her private speeches to the donor class with "nothing will fundamentally change". And a review of her VP choices all show politicians who support genocide in Gaza and war in Ukraine.
As I continue to believe, no one is coming to save us - or anyone else.
Totally agree. And an empty head towards policy is a strong sign that (to borrow a concept from Caitlin Johnstone) the woman has done no inner work. Blown to and fro by the wind that is by the donor class.
That is absolutely true. Read a comment by the late Gore Vidal: "It doesn't actually make any difference whether the President is Republican or Democrat. The genius of the American ruling class is that it has been able to make the people think that they have had something to do with the electing of presidents for 200 years when they've had absolutely nothing to say about the candidates or the policies or the way the country is run."
No doubt Bernie will be 100% behind this ticket, as he was in days of yore. As to "what do we know about . . . ? Well, Obama came up through the primaries, beating the ghoul, Hillary Clinton, and a Democratic convention, and what did we know about him? "Hope and change?" Just what was that, exactly? The only intelligent question ever asked by Sarah Palin, talking to an adoring audience of racist morons—but meant to be overheard—after a year of Obama was, "So, how's all that hopey-changey stuff workin' out for ya?" What Harris will stand for is utterly predictable right now: corporatism and crypto-fascism, forever wars, Russo- and Sinophobia, racism (against whom is slightly in doubt, but if I were black, I wouldn't be getting my hopes up; and for Muslims it should be a no-brainer), and Palestinian genocide. She is certainly no better than Trump. But people feel that they have to vote for one of those people, when in fact neither of them meets the minimum bar of not being "an evil". Under these circumstances—similar to every other U.S. Presidential election—people should either stay home, or vote for Jill Stein, or vote for someone else of their choice who stands for NONE of the things that Harris will predictably stand for. Until Americans of whatever stripe stop voting for what they perceive as the lesser of two evils and vote only for people who meet the minimum standards of human decency, the U.S. will remain in the clutches of the cabal that controls the American political duopoly and will live under the threats of nuclear holocaust, economic ruin, and the disgust of the greater part of humanity.
Your overheard line, “I don’t even know what that is, but I like it,” reminds me of a line a friend of ours overheard years ago while waiting in checkout line at the grocery store. "I can't feature how nothin' looks with anything till I sees it together." We all get to wait until we can "sees" Harris together with Biden policies before we can feature how it looks. Ain't gonna be good....
A story about Rudolph Bing of the Metropolitan Opera House. He was asked why his sopranos were so portly. He said unfortunately the ones who sing like birds eat like horses. And vice versa.
Well, if you tick all the right boxes, by-god, that's the important thing. (Just as true for team red.) Too bad I spent my career hiring for talent and integrity. What was I thinking?
It would be a more interesting race if the VP candidates were the Presidential candidates and the current Presidential candidates retired to private lives.
At this point, Democrats are more corporate-owned than Republicans and Libertarians. And Democrat voters suffer from a mass psychosis. No revolution will come from the left.
Oh no, the forces that will defeat finance capital are conservatives and independents. The people who wisely distrust this sham government and its sham "regulators" and its sham laws that apply only to those who cannot afford to defend themselves- these are the future and hope of America.
Oh, I think it's more just that different corporations / interests own the two sides; though in their wisdom of hedging bets, some corps invest heavily in both sides. The fossil fuel companies typically give the R's more, the banksters seem to more often favor the D's (but invest in both); and so on.
Hey Jg, I can't give you names, but I can say with confidence that the ruling class is diverse. It is NOT a monolith.
There is finance capital, that makes its money by holding back growth. It has an interest, pun intended, in people being poor.
There are other rich people who make their money off of ordinary people having money. Betsy DeVos is an example. I was told to hate her because of her involvement in charter schools. But do you know how she (or her family) made the fortune she now enjoys?
Tupperware.
A Tupperware magnet has an interest in Americans having money to buy Tupperware.
I think it's better to think about this in the gray area. We are so confused (because we are gaslit 24/7), we want clear answers. But life is messy. There can be rich people who make money off both Americans' consumption AND off their debt. So I'm sorry I can't answer your question, but I'm glad I saw it. We need to stop thinking about individual saviors. Any single person can be co-opted.
You and I, we need to work on waking our fellow Americans up. Life doesn't have to be like this. We've been lied to for so hard and for so long. There's many more of us than there are bankers. Just sayin.
I won't answer for Rachel here, but will say that many Libertarian views and the Think Tanks which influence them reflect the interests of funders like the Koch brothers - decidedly pro-corporate and anti-regulation. Very anti-government, when it comes to the interests of private concentrated capital, unless it is for corporate subsidies they want to maintain. But your 1st q., about who will take on finance capital (or other concentrated capital interests) is an important one. While I have no doubt that true (fiscal) conservatives might well oppose corporate welfare (in its many guises) etc., I can't think of any current pols who do so. (Rand Paul seems closer to or more capable of such a view than any, but I'm not very well versed on his views on that.)
Excellent cynical analysis. Now, the only element lacking is the equivalent of a Praetorian Guard for a truly imperial presidency. Does it already exist with the role played by the various security agencies in recent years? The U.S. “democratic” system has certainly found its counterpart in certain EU countries like Britain and Germany where there are governments that do not represent the interests of their respective countries. Neither here nor there do we have men or women of political substance - intelligence. The crisis of democracy is real and the danger is, in my opinion, not coming from the right but from the “progressive left.”
Karl, I agree until you get to that last sentence. Both Parties have become the same. Neither are voting the will of the US citizen. How many US voters approved the two wars we are involved in today? How many are interested in sending BILLIONS to these on going wars? Only BOTH PARTIES in Congress agreed to this. Never the US voter. Average Americans have a conscious.
How many US voters approved "The Forever War" after 9/11, upon which $8 TRILLION was put on Uncle Sam's credit card and piled on to America's Sovereign, National Debt?
Regarding my last sentence. Do you know which party (I am not talking about the people as such) is not supporting America’s endless wars? Do you know who is pushing the delivery of weapons to Ukraine and Israel in England, France and Germany? I would like to believe that Americans and for that matter Europeans had a conscience. Alas, reality doesn’t seem to support this notion. I do read American and European media accounts. That makes me sad.
Of course you know, Karl, and it probably doesn't need to be said, that there is no real "progressive left" either in power OR among those who support those in power. Yes... the media talking heads love to refer to Democrats as being on the 'left', and/or progressive (unless they're referring to the Manchins of the Party, in which case they call them "Centrists"). But we know well that term is so broadly and blindly used as to be meaningless in such usage. They label someone as "left" if they don't believe in lynching poor, black, or queer folk or if they actually think a woman deserves equal pay for the same work and that maybe military WMD should be proscribed from the hands of possibly unstable people.
True. In Germany the SPD and Greens who are currently in power presented themselves as “progressive/liberal”. All of their leaders, Scholz, Habeck refused military service as conscientious objectors and Baerbock was a vocal spokesperson for NOT sending arms to war zones. Now they are the most belligerent Russian haters and domestically have adopted repressive policies that are bordering on Fascism.
Yes, the situation in Germany now seems to me to be quite dispiriting. The Greens fell so far from the ideals of those who founded them.
I get occasional missives from Victor Grossman who has given a pretty discouraging picture about the effective disappearance or self-neutering of progressives generally, and the replacement of formerly progressive groups with political opportunists seemingly all too ready and willing to start WWIII and backing the Empire all the way to its inevitable sad end. It mirrors what has happened to Finland, Sweden, and other once-admirable or even enviable States.
One day in the not-so-distant future, if there are still by then thinking humans or any civilization in which analysis takes place, the current post WW II period will likely be seen as one in which the control over all information and communication was so completely concentrated into the hands of the governments and the powerful self-anointed elites who installed them that propaganda and brainwashing effectively had wiped out collective memory, logic, and even self-preservation drives; leaving only fierce tribalism and some vestigial symbols of civilization before completion of collapse.
I've begun to think that what I'm doing is only in small part an effort to change directions (while that's possible voluntarily); and that perhaps I and others are recorders of history for the benefit of any future anthropologists from any visiting civilization, or any remnants of this planet's civilization that might want to know 'what went wrong' and what they can learn from it to guide their future. This is quite a grim thought for some, I have to admit; but occasionally I have to step back far enough from the fray to get a more detached / scientific perspective.
Well, my dad was the mayor of Brockton in 1972, and ran for attorney general in 1982. He was an attorney, but he dabbled in politics and was very intelligent. That's just a little background.
Sounds positively heroic. She offers something for everyone. The clear-cut choice. She may hold the key to the end of my self-exile. So vote early, vote often.
Wow, everyone just cant wait to re elect Trump, im not naive, politicians are going to be politicians, I ll still take democracy over fascist autocracy anyday!
Every 4 years, like clockwork, the voters are cajoled, by folk on both sides of the culture-war-defined sides of an oligarchy-driven duopoly, that if they don't select "X", they will get "Y"; with Y of course representing the sum of all evil and X being at least somewhat better. Better or worse is defined relative to a few select, mostly culture-war issues, while those issues of most fundamental, existential importance are left off the discussion table altogether.
And in the level of remaining discourse, each side uses primarily ad hominem attack to drive home the threat; and reinforcing labels are thrown around so loosely as to become meaningless. Sometimes, they're used to project to the other side what one side is actually doing or advocating.
Take fascism, and authoritarianism, for example. Of course, those are applied by most MSM (except those sympathetic to him) to Trump. But if we actually care about democracy and the upholding of democratic principles of justice and liberty, why are so many so blind to what the supposedly more democratic face is actually doing? What about the steadily increasing attacks on a free press and freedom of speech?
In the persecution of whistle blowers like John Kiriakou and Ed Snowden, those who help publish their findings (like Julian Assange), the Security establishment's growing pressure on social media to take down factual posts that contradict that establishment's spin supporting coups and endless wars and genocidal ethnic cleansing by allies, along with aggressive efforts to cut off the livelihood of any such critics , to blacklist or otherwise deplatform them, attacks on the 1st Amendment have come mostly from the neoliberals and neocons among the Democrats over the last several years. All of course, justified using the deliberately deceitful smears about 'hate speech' or 'antisemitism' or 'threats to security' as cover. Not one of my Democratic or Dem-leaning friends EVER speaks about these things... but as a well informed, politically and policy-aware reader and occasional writer, I've experienced such things first hand.
Lastly, as to preferring democracy over fascist autocracy, Hey! I'm with you. But it begs the question, to what democracy are you referring? Are you referring to representative democracy where people get to choose their candidates? You and I don't count. Party elites make the choice- especially in the misnamed Democratic Party. That's been crystal clear and inarguable since 2016 (at the very least). It is that Party, by the way, which has been the most aggressive in using their existing power to prevent ballot access of third parties (such as the Green Party, in NY, for example). And when it comes to ceding control over electoral and policy politics, the Dems are no pikers... Bill Clinton and his Third Way / "New Democrats" made that official and the D's now compete with the R's for corporate and other oligarchic cash.
Perhaps what I'm suggesting is that maybe the black/white framing no longer fits, and it might be worth a bit more nuanced perspective on matters.
Update: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is Kamala’s VP choice! I thought Walter Kirn’s description of Walz was telling. Kirn, talking to Matt Taibbi, described Walz as a “county fair huckster,” a sort of “white hick” who balances the urban BIPOC Harris. Kirn and Taibbi speculated that Democrats are trying to outflank the Republicans and their choice of J.D. Vance, i.e. Walz is even more of a flannel-wearing Midwesterner, and he has more military experience to boot.
VP choices often don’t matter that much, until they do. Just look at Kamala. She basically didn’t matter until she did.
As Walter Kirn also noted, Democrats are now spectators in their own party. You don’t get to choose your president or VP candidates; you have no say; yet you’re expected to cheer those candidates selected for you by the DNC and big donors.
Hooray, Harris/Walz! We didn’t get to vote for you, we had no say in your nomination, but we love you anyway!
One thing in Walz's favor is that ~ unlike Biden, Trump, Obama, Cheney, Clinton, and Reagan ~ he was in the military.
And not only that, but he retired as a Senior Noncommissioned Officer, a Master Sergeant to be specific. It would be interesting to see how many other denizens of Swampland can or ever could say that.
LFG lol A progressive thinker I heard anyway for this apolitical guy maybe theres something there, and a bonus-- a real bonafide Veteran. From what I heard as once being a "Minnie Dak." myself when in the USAF Stationed up there in the Northern Tier States- Frozen North, Walz is well thought of, and done some great things in Minn...
He's a folk hero!
Amazing...! His wife vaguely looks like a younger Hillary...:/ :O)
Maybe a bad omen...
Lap dogs are not known for VISION.
Ray, that's a fair statement/question. While I'm sure you can easily understand the skepticism that abounds here and in many other progressive forums, it is indeed at least possible that Harris could, once in office, surprise us with a change of direction w/r/t foreign policy, war & peace, climate action, etc. But I wouldn't hold my breath. As is noted by many, her c.v. shows a strong thread of opportunism, yielding principles to keep the powerful happy, while the powerless are kept down, etc. Those attributes don't suggest one willing to confront power on behalf of the little people.
Lisa Savage reaches a similar conclusion about Kamala Harris. Check out her article here:
https://went2thebridge.substack.com/p/why-are-us-liberals-so-eager-to-be
Thank you for the link to this article by Lisa Savage. At the end of it, there's a reference also to Margaret Kimberly, who is probably the clearest-eyed person writing about politics today.
Nobody in the Red or Blue Team is going to save us from what ails us. The politicians are just the puppets on stage. The mastermind puppeteers are the billionaires that actually install the puppets and drive the policies that are screwing the world over. Until the Red and Blue team voters, and the independents, realize this and join together, things will only get worse. Voters are again being played for fools by the puppeteers and their puppets on stage. Harris is just another puppet and she will do what she is told. Branding her as anything else is just gaslighting. Currently, nobody is focusing their attention on the billionaires, and that is just how the puppet masters like it.
Zappa said, "Politics is the Entertainment Division of the Military Industrial Complex."
You are right on the MONEY! Real Americans must join together to see this clearly before it's too late.
Wake up America! Stop the blind infighting, or you'll never see clearly who is manipulating you
And so who You do suppose COULD save us, John? Anybody on the current American political stage?
Or has the "Decline" of The American Empire and Experiment ended, and the "Fall" has begun?
As I mentioned, only people can do something about our problems. That is why there are two different news sources, one for the Red Team, and one for the Blue Team. If you want to keep the population divided and at each other's throats, you need to feed them opposing narratives that fuel anger. As long as voters are all mad at each other, they aren't going to pay any attention to the billionaires that control the Red and Blue team news outlets. So my suggestion is to stop hating the other team members, and try and get a dialog going over the billionaire's control over our government, news, universities, regulatory agencies, military and intelligence agencies. Organizing the public into a unified block is the only possible answer, because there are no superheroes who can take on the billionaires. This is why the billionaires spend so much time and money dividing us.
Save yourself by waking up and becoming a force for awareness instead of a blind mass to manipulate.
Stop looking for a savior.
Stop being a dumb victim.
Trust me, Ms Bromberg: i stopped looking for a "savior" a long, Long time ago.
And i stopped being a "blind mass to manipulate" and a "dumb victim" even longer ago. Like a couple of days after 9/11.
So perhaps You answer the Question: Who do YOU think can stop the Fall of the American Empire and the End of the America Experiment? Anybody in particular on any particular "Team," Blue, Red, Green, Purple, or whatever?
"Who Will Save Your Soul" People living their lives for you on TV They say they're better than you and you agree He says hold my calls from behind those cold brick walls Says Come here boys there ain't nothing for free Another doctor's bill, a lawyer's bill Another cute free thrill You know you love him if you put in your will Who will save your soul when it comes to the power's now? Who, who will save your souls after those lies that you told, boy? And who will save your souls if you won't save your own? We try to hustle them, try to bustle them, try to cuss them. The Cops want someone to bust down on Orleans Avenue Another day, another dollar, another war, another tower went up, where the homeless had their homes So we pray to as many different gods as there are flowers But we call religion our friend We're so worried about saving our souls Afraid that God will take his toll That we forget to begin but Who will save your souls when it comes to the babies now? Who, who will save your souls after those lies that you told, boy? And who will save your souls if you won't save your own? Some are walking, some are talking, some are stalking their kill Got social security, but it doesn't pay your bills There are addictions to feed and there are mouths to pay So you bargain with the Devil, but your OK for today Say that you love them, take their money and run Say its been swell, sweetheart, but it was just one of those things Those flings, those strings, you've got to cut So get out on the streets , girls, and bust your butts Who will save your souls when it comes to the flower? Who, will save your souls when after those lies that you told, boy? And who will save your souls if you won't save your own? "Jewel Lyrics"
Ray: How the whole American, or North America Lifestyle is encapsulated in one Song by Jewel a Songwriter / Poet I put up there w/ the best...! Money its effects on people for example plus Corporations who say they are helping you, but really only themselves, how the media says you must be like the people on TV, the hypocrisy in the World, Religion and the security people search for in it, how everyone is so selfish in this world and egocentric thinking the World owes them as in entitled, people selling out for money... etc. etc. this Song is the real deal and Jewel knows the score having lived poor herself on the streets. You've got to save yourself in this life no one is going to do it for you... OK?
One widely reported issue with Harris is that she has no interest in policy; her staff has brought her position and policy papers that she never reads; she has then screamed at them for not prepping her after she displays her typical ignorance when questioned by reporters.
A President that has no understanding or interest in the policies on which governance or diplomacy are based is terrifying. We've seen that with the last and current imbeciles in the Oval Office. At least with Trump, it's eagerly reported that he knows nothing. Bill, as you noted, with her it will be "well, she's a daughter of immigrants".
I assume she's already begun her private speeches to the donor class with "nothing will fundamentally change". And a review of her VP choices all show politicians who support genocide in Gaza and war in Ukraine.
As I continue to believe, no one is coming to save us - or anyone else.
Totally agree. And an empty head towards policy is a strong sign that (to borrow a concept from Caitlin Johnstone) the woman has done no inner work. Blown to and fro by the wind that is by the donor class.
An "empty head toward policy" reminds me of both Trump and Biden. But when all You're doing is following orders and reading scripts, who needs a head?
That is absolutely true. Read a comment by the late Gore Vidal: "It doesn't actually make any difference whether the President is Republican or Democrat. The genius of the American ruling class is that it has been able to make the people think that they have had something to do with the electing of presidents for 200 years when they've had absolutely nothing to say about the candidates or the policies or the way the country is run."
Totally agree. Her policies have never been progressive, and it's ridiculous to think that she will change.
No doubt Bernie will be 100% behind this ticket, as he was in days of yore. As to "what do we know about . . . ? Well, Obama came up through the primaries, beating the ghoul, Hillary Clinton, and a Democratic convention, and what did we know about him? "Hope and change?" Just what was that, exactly? The only intelligent question ever asked by Sarah Palin, talking to an adoring audience of racist morons—but meant to be overheard—after a year of Obama was, "So, how's all that hopey-changey stuff workin' out for ya?" What Harris will stand for is utterly predictable right now: corporatism and crypto-fascism, forever wars, Russo- and Sinophobia, racism (against whom is slightly in doubt, but if I were black, I wouldn't be getting my hopes up; and for Muslims it should be a no-brainer), and Palestinian genocide. She is certainly no better than Trump. But people feel that they have to vote for one of those people, when in fact neither of them meets the minimum bar of not being "an evil". Under these circumstances—similar to every other U.S. Presidential election—people should either stay home, or vote for Jill Stein, or vote for someone else of their choice who stands for NONE of the things that Harris will predictably stand for. Until Americans of whatever stripe stop voting for what they perceive as the lesser of two evils and vote only for people who meet the minimum standards of human decency, the U.S. will remain in the clutches of the cabal that controls the American political duopoly and will live under the threats of nuclear holocaust, economic ruin, and the disgust of the greater part of humanity.
Your overheard line, “I don’t even know what that is, but I like it,” reminds me of a line a friend of ours overheard years ago while waiting in checkout line at the grocery store. "I can't feature how nothin' looks with anything till I sees it together." We all get to wait until we can "sees" Harris together with Biden policies before we can feature how it looks. Ain't gonna be good....
It's all about Marketing. Like selling soap.
With media coverage as soap operas
A soap opera without the high notes.
And with less attractive actors
A story about Rudolph Bing of the Metropolitan Opera House. He was asked why his sopranos were so portly. He said unfortunately the ones who sing like birds eat like horses. And vice versa.
Do I recall correctly that they were named "soapies" after Edward Bernays got soap manufacturers to advertising during daytime drama?
Reality-TV Soap Operas, at that.
Like the Navy ads--"A force for good in the world."
Well, if you tick all the right boxes, by-god, that's the important thing. (Just as true for team red.) Too bad I spent my career hiring for talent and integrity. What was I thinking?
It would be a more interesting race if the VP candidates were the Presidential candidates and the current Presidential candidates retired to private lives.
At this point, Democrats are more corporate-owned than Republicans and Libertarians. And Democrat voters suffer from a mass psychosis. No revolution will come from the left.
Oh no, the forces that will defeat finance capital are conservatives and independents. The people who wisely distrust this sham government and its sham "regulators" and its sham laws that apply only to those who cannot afford to defend themselves- these are the future and hope of America.
Oh, I think it's more just that different corporations / interests own the two sides; though in their wisdom of hedging bets, some corps invest heavily in both sides. The fossil fuel companies typically give the R's more, the banksters seem to more often favor the D's (but invest in both); and so on.
Rachel: Can You specify any specific "conservatives and independents" on the current political stage who will take on finance capital and defeat it?
And can You specify exactly which Libertarians are "corporate-owned"?
Hey Jg, I can't give you names, but I can say with confidence that the ruling class is diverse. It is NOT a monolith.
There is finance capital, that makes its money by holding back growth. It has an interest, pun intended, in people being poor.
There are other rich people who make their money off of ordinary people having money. Betsy DeVos is an example. I was told to hate her because of her involvement in charter schools. But do you know how she (or her family) made the fortune she now enjoys?
Tupperware.
A Tupperware magnet has an interest in Americans having money to buy Tupperware.
I think it's better to think about this in the gray area. We are so confused (because we are gaslit 24/7), we want clear answers. But life is messy. There can be rich people who make money off both Americans' consumption AND off their debt. So I'm sorry I can't answer your question, but I'm glad I saw it. We need to stop thinking about individual saviors. Any single person can be co-opted.
You and I, we need to work on waking our fellow Americans up. Life doesn't have to be like this. We've been lied to for so hard and for so long. There's many more of us than there are bankers. Just sayin.
Jeff,
I won't answer for Rachel here, but will say that many Libertarian views and the Think Tanks which influence them reflect the interests of funders like the Koch brothers - decidedly pro-corporate and anti-regulation. Very anti-government, when it comes to the interests of private concentrated capital, unless it is for corporate subsidies they want to maintain. But your 1st q., about who will take on finance capital (or other concentrated capital interests) is an important one. While I have no doubt that true (fiscal) conservatives might well oppose corporate welfare (in its many guises) etc., I can't think of any current pols who do so. (Rand Paul seems closer to or more capable of such a view than any, but I'm not very well versed on his views on that.)
Excellent cynical analysis. Now, the only element lacking is the equivalent of a Praetorian Guard for a truly imperial presidency. Does it already exist with the role played by the various security agencies in recent years? The U.S. “democratic” system has certainly found its counterpart in certain EU countries like Britain and Germany where there are governments that do not represent the interests of their respective countries. Neither here nor there do we have men or women of political substance - intelligence. The crisis of democracy is real and the danger is, in my opinion, not coming from the right but from the “progressive left.”
Karl, I agree until you get to that last sentence. Both Parties have become the same. Neither are voting the will of the US citizen. How many US voters approved the two wars we are involved in today? How many are interested in sending BILLIONS to these on going wars? Only BOTH PARTIES in Congress agreed to this. Never the US voter. Average Americans have a conscious.
How many US voters approved "The Forever War" after 9/11, upon which $8 TRILLION was put on Uncle Sam's credit card and piled on to America's Sovereign, National Debt?
Any?
Regarding my last sentence. Do you know which party (I am not talking about the people as such) is not supporting America’s endless wars? Do you know who is pushing the delivery of weapons to Ukraine and Israel in England, France and Germany? I would like to believe that Americans and for that matter Europeans had a conscience. Alas, reality doesn’t seem to support this notion. I do read American and European media accounts. That makes me sad.
Of course you know, Karl, and it probably doesn't need to be said, that there is no real "progressive left" either in power OR among those who support those in power. Yes... the media talking heads love to refer to Democrats as being on the 'left', and/or progressive (unless they're referring to the Manchins of the Party, in which case they call them "Centrists"). But we know well that term is so broadly and blindly used as to be meaningless in such usage. They label someone as "left" if they don't believe in lynching poor, black, or queer folk or if they actually think a woman deserves equal pay for the same work and that maybe military WMD should be proscribed from the hands of possibly unstable people.
Amen.
True. In Germany the SPD and Greens who are currently in power presented themselves as “progressive/liberal”. All of their leaders, Scholz, Habeck refused military service as conscientious objectors and Baerbock was a vocal spokesperson for NOT sending arms to war zones. Now they are the most belligerent Russian haters and domestically have adopted repressive policies that are bordering on Fascism.
Yes, the situation in Germany now seems to me to be quite dispiriting. The Greens fell so far from the ideals of those who founded them.
I get occasional missives from Victor Grossman who has given a pretty discouraging picture about the effective disappearance or self-neutering of progressives generally, and the replacement of formerly progressive groups with political opportunists seemingly all too ready and willing to start WWIII and backing the Empire all the way to its inevitable sad end. It mirrors what has happened to Finland, Sweden, and other once-admirable or even enviable States.
One day in the not-so-distant future, if there are still by then thinking humans or any civilization in which analysis takes place, the current post WW II period will likely be seen as one in which the control over all information and communication was so completely concentrated into the hands of the governments and the powerful self-anointed elites who installed them that propaganda and brainwashing effectively had wiped out collective memory, logic, and even self-preservation drives; leaving only fierce tribalism and some vestigial symbols of civilization before completion of collapse.
I've begun to think that what I'm doing is only in small part an effort to change directions (while that's possible voluntarily); and that perhaps I and others are recorders of history for the benefit of any future anthropologists from any visiting civilization, or any remnants of this planet's civilization that might want to know 'what went wrong' and what they can learn from it to guide their future. This is quite a grim thought for some, I have to admit; but occasionally I have to step back far enough from the fray to get a more detached / scientific perspective.
My dad told me something profound many years ago, and I have shaded on social media in the past and you may have even seen it.
A politician's job isn't to make things better.
It's just to not make anything worse.
Or to make things worse, and then promise a way to fix them? [Which inevitably makes things even worser.]
Well, my dad was the mayor of Brockton in 1972, and ran for attorney general in 1982. He was an attorney, but he dabbled in politics and was very intelligent. That's just a little background.
Sounds positively heroic. She offers something for everyone. The clear-cut choice. She may hold the key to the end of my self-exile. So vote early, vote often.
Especially Often.
the only sauage made in congress is made with corprate $$$$$, lobiest $$$$, MIC $$$$.
Whether you be a Dem or Rep it's $$$$ they answer too not us voters.
Vote them all out vote 3rd party. Vote Green. Please...for our kids and our kids kids.
Wow, everyone just cant wait to re elect Trump, im not naive, politicians are going to be politicians, I ll still take democracy over fascist autocracy anyday!
Every 4 years, like clockwork, the voters are cajoled, by folk on both sides of the culture-war-defined sides of an oligarchy-driven duopoly, that if they don't select "X", they will get "Y"; with Y of course representing the sum of all evil and X being at least somewhat better. Better or worse is defined relative to a few select, mostly culture-war issues, while those issues of most fundamental, existential importance are left off the discussion table altogether.
And in the level of remaining discourse, each side uses primarily ad hominem attack to drive home the threat; and reinforcing labels are thrown around so loosely as to become meaningless. Sometimes, they're used to project to the other side what one side is actually doing or advocating.
Take fascism, and authoritarianism, for example. Of course, those are applied by most MSM (except those sympathetic to him) to Trump. But if we actually care about democracy and the upholding of democratic principles of justice and liberty, why are so many so blind to what the supposedly more democratic face is actually doing? What about the steadily increasing attacks on a free press and freedom of speech?
In the persecution of whistle blowers like John Kiriakou and Ed Snowden, those who help publish their findings (like Julian Assange), the Security establishment's growing pressure on social media to take down factual posts that contradict that establishment's spin supporting coups and endless wars and genocidal ethnic cleansing by allies, along with aggressive efforts to cut off the livelihood of any such critics , to blacklist or otherwise deplatform them, attacks on the 1st Amendment have come mostly from the neoliberals and neocons among the Democrats over the last several years. All of course, justified using the deliberately deceitful smears about 'hate speech' or 'antisemitism' or 'threats to security' as cover. Not one of my Democratic or Dem-leaning friends EVER speaks about these things... but as a well informed, politically and policy-aware reader and occasional writer, I've experienced such things first hand.
Lastly, as to preferring democracy over fascist autocracy, Hey! I'm with you. But it begs the question, to what democracy are you referring? Are you referring to representative democracy where people get to choose their candidates? You and I don't count. Party elites make the choice- especially in the misnamed Democratic Party. That's been crystal clear and inarguable since 2016 (at the very least). It is that Party, by the way, which has been the most aggressive in using their existing power to prevent ballot access of third parties (such as the Green Party, in NY, for example). And when it comes to ceding control over electoral and policy politics, the Dems are no pikers... Bill Clinton and his Third Way / "New Democrats" made that official and the D's now compete with the R's for corporate and other oligarchic cash.
Perhaps what I'm suggesting is that maybe the black/white framing no longer fits, and it might be worth a bit more nuanced perspective on matters.