I appreciate your logical analysis and refusal to get caught up in emotional arguments. I'm a big fan of the work being done at openprimaries.org and independentvoting.org. I sat in on a zoom call with Jackie Salit and Thom Reilly, who were discussing their new book The Independent Voter. One thing that was said in the call was that the parties have managed to usurp a quasi-governmental role that they do not deserve and that weakens our democratic processes. Both parties are too cult-like and want lock-step behavior from their followers. I've seen this personally in the fight against Ballot Question 3, which will establish both open primaries and ranked choice voting here in Nevada. The democrats are against it just as much as the republicans. We must overthrow the two-party system state by state and these groups are moving forward in a way that might actually work in the long-term, if we have enough time.
'The Neocons and the Woke Left Are Joining Hands and Leading Us to Woke War III'
Elon Musk got in hot water again on Twitter—for proposing peace. On Monday, Musk proposed a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, for which he was denounced as a pro-Putin puppet by the Twitter mob that has formed to police the discourse on all things related to Ukraine.
The president of Ukraine himself, Volodymyr Zelensky, accused Musk of supporting Russia—even though Musk's company SpaceX donated Starlink to Ukraine's war effort at an out-of-pocket cost of $80 million. (Full disclosure: Musk is a friend and I am an investor in SpaceX.) Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Andrj Melnyk was less subtle, telling Elon to "f***k off," while David Frum tweeted without evidence that "Russian sources" had used Elon to float a "trial balloon" of a peace proposal because they're afraid of losing Crimea. Scores of blue-checks on Twitter followed their lead, ordering Musk to stay in his lane.
What matters in this story is not that Musk was told off, but rather, that a Twitter hive mind is using the same intolerant cancellation tactics that they use to shut down debate on domestic political issues in order to shape U.S. policy toward Ukraine. They are doing so by demonizing dissent, defaming opponents, and closing off as ideologically unacceptable any path to peace or even deescalation.
Retracting their call for diplomacy with Russia to end the Ukraine war, Congressional Progressives cave to the neocons.................................
This sort of argument is why we need ranked choice voting, where voters rank their choices, and candidates need a majority - not just a plurality - to win. If no candidate gets a majority on the first count, then the lowest-polling candidate is dropped out, and those voters' second choices are counted.
For those who like Michael Hudson's analysis of current events,
'Germany’s position in America’s New World Order'
Germany has become an economic satellite of America’s New Cold War with Russia, China and the rest of Eurasia....................
[...] Sometimes it is easier to understand today’s dynamics by stepping away from one’s own immediate situation to look at historical examples of the kind of political diplomacy that one sees splitting today’s world. The closest parallel that I can find is medieval Europe’s fight by the Roman papacy against German kings – the Holy Roman Emperors – in the 13th century. That conflict split Europe along lines much like those of today. A series of popes excommunicated Frederick II and other German kings and mobilized allies to fight against Germany and its control of southern Italy and Sicily.
Western antagonism against the East was incited by the Crusades (1095-1291), just as today’s Cold War is a crusade against economies threatening U.S. dominance of the world. The medieval war against Germany was over who should control Christian Europe: the papacy, with the popes becoming worldly emperors, or secular rulers of individual kingdoms by claiming the power to morally legitimize and accept them.
Medieval Europe’s analogue to America’s New Cold War against China and Russia was the Great Schism in 1054. Demanding unipolar control over Christendom, Leo IX excommunicated the Orthodox Church centered in Constantinople and the entire Christian population that belonged to it. A single bishopric, Rome, cut itself off from the entire Christian world of the time, including the ancient Patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople and Jerusalem.
This break-away created a political problem for Roman diplomacy: How to hold all the Western European kingdoms under its control and claim the right for financial subsidy from them. That aim required subordinating secular kings to papal religious authority. In 1074, Gregory VII, Hildebrand, announced 27 Papal Dictates outlining the administrative strategy for Rome to lock in its power over Europe...............................................................
That was all very interesting to me because I sent a Message to the Pope on ALL SOULS DAY, November 2, last Wednesday.
I'll post the whole letter here upon request, but I'll cite only 2 sentences from it for now.
While no one acknowledged receipt, I can't say definitively the Pope actually read the email, but obviously the Spirit that moved me to write the letter got to him directly, as you can see from this,
MESSAGE to the Pope November 2,
"You can see that END for yourself in this brief clip from the movie which could have been made in any other major American City. It is not random chance or coincidence it was made in Kansas City.
It is a SIGN from Almighty God to our Generations, this Material World has arrived at the PRECIPICE: https://youtu.be/q7J8eMyK1DI"
The Pope in Bahrain November 4, "First of all, one can be struck by an observation: after two tremendous World Wars, after the Cold War, "that for decades kept the world in suspense, catastrophic conflicts taking place in every part of the globe, and in the midst of accusations, threats and condemnations, we continue to find ourselves on the brink of a delicate PRECIPICE and we do not want to fall..." Poised on the brink... A graphic image of the absolute precariousness in which the whole of humanity finds itself living today in the face of the risk of a nuclear conflict with incalculable consequences.
MESSAGE to the Pope November 2,
"This is the 3rd Time writing to you in the hope you will take a more active, consistent and extraordinary role as the Vicar of the PRINCE OF PEACE"
The Pope in Bahrain November 5,
"He noted that, although this sounds like a contradiction, as "we often notice that the more power is sought, the more peace is threatened", the prophet announces the extraordinary news that "the Messiah to come will indeed be powerful, not in the manner of a commander who wages war and rules over others, but as the 'PRINCE OF PEACE' who reconciles people with God and with one another."
We've heard of ghost writers and then there are Holy Ghost writers! :-)
With the American Voter focused only on the Economy, the stuff in Voting Tomorrow, there may not be any Economy left ignoring this build up going on out of Public view?
'US Nuclear Forces Chief Says ‘the Big One Is Coming’
The head of US Strategic Command called the war in Ukraine a 'warm up' for what is to come.
The commander that oversees US nuclear forces delivered an ominous warning at a naval conference last week by calling the war in Ukraine a “warmup” for the “big one” that is to come.
“This Ukraine crisis that we’re in right now, this is just the warmup,” said Navy Adm. Charles Richard, the commander of US Strategic command. “The big one is coming. And it isn’t going to be very long before we’re going to get tested in ways that we haven’t been tested [in] a long time.”
Richard’s warning came after the US released its new Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), which reaffirms that the US doctrine allows for the first use of nuclear weapons. The review says that the purpose of the US nuclear arsenal is to “deter strategic attacks, assure allies and partners, and achieve US objectives if deterrence fails.”.................................................
THE EUROPEAN PROJECT IS NOW AT THE MERCY OF THE WEATHER by Adam Tooze
*** ~ This winter, Europe may be facing a crisis without any clear solution. ~ ***
Right now, the sobering truth is that THE FUTURE OF EUROPE HINGES ON THE WEATHER. It seems absurd. But WHETHER THE WINTER AHEAD IS COLD OR WARM WILL DETERMINE IF EUROPE GETS THROUGH THE NEXT SIX MONTHS WITHOUT MAJOR ECONOMIC, POLITICAL, AND SOCIAL STRESS.
We are in this situation because, thanks to the clash with Russia over Ukraine, EUROPE HAS LOST ROUGHLY A THIRD OF ITS REGULAR GAS SUPPLY. Much of Europe, particularly in the former Soviet bloc, relied on Russian gas for electricity generation, home heating, cooking, and industrial purposes. Germany and Italy, the largest and third-largest economies in the Eurozone, were also heavily dependent on Russian gas.
Weather has mattered in modern European history before. A freezing winter in 1946-47 brought Europe to a standstill and helped to trigger Washington into launching the Marshall Plan. But that was in the immediate aftermath of World War II, when the continent was in ruins. FOR EUROPE IN THE THIRD DECADE OF THE 21ST CENTURY TO FIND ITSELF AT THE MERCY OF THE WEATHER TRULY COMES AS A SHOCK.
On the ballot here will be RCV but only for local candidates. I assume for it to apply to state and federal candidates, state legislation is required. I'm off to write my state rep about getting that ASAP.
Dennis: In one of Your recent exhortations that America explore other political systems ~ such as the European parliamentary style or, especially, that “MMP” system that You Kiwis have ~ You referenced a claim that the US is “stuck with an 18th-century government in the 21st century.”
It doesn’t take being a professor at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs [or even just a non-credentialed political scientist] to know that the U.S. political system is from the 18th century.
All that takes is an even a cursory study of high school-level history of When and How the US Constitution came into existence and, particularly, WHO it was that brought it ~ and thus this Nation ~ into existence.
And being of the 18th century and who the Founding Fathers were, it is not at all difficult to see and understand that the American political system was and still is ~ above all else ~ an Experiment in 18th century white, European [predominantly Anglo] autocratic, patriarchal, oligarchic, plutocracy.
With just enough of a hint of Classical Liberalism and so-called “democracy,” and “republicanism” [whatever they are] thrown in to take the edges off. And it has been as such from its very beginning back in the ~ Yes indeed, Folks ~ 18th century.
That being the case, what do You think has a better chance of actually happening and thus making an actual difference in the Real World that is American politics today?
~ That the US changes its whole system of electoral politics to something modeled after New Zealand or any of those other “Top Five Democracies”? Or,
~ That voters write-in “None Of These Candidates” now, and work to have NOTC a mandated choice on every ballot of every federal election in 2024?
*** a Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex; a Surveillance-Secrecy-Security Panopticon; a Banking-Finance-Printing Press Web; and Big Oil and Energy, Agriculture and Food, Transportation and Shipping, Communications and Education, and Legal and Medical crony capitalist/corporatist Cabals and Cartels? ***
And do You think that makes any difference at all in how those Top 5 “democracies” are run and by whom?
[Note and just for grins: How many of those Top 5 are in NATO ~ or want to be ~ and are thus accomplices in America’s Cluster Fuck in Ukraine? Another feature of 21st century “democracy,” i guess, eh? And how does NZ fit into America's plans for a War with China?]
And finally: Does the total physical, geographical territorial size of the Nations enter into what form of government would work best? How do the Top 5 rank in terms of square miles to be governed as compared to the US? [One of the primary reasons America is ungovernable is that it is simply physically too Big].
And how does the size and the diversity of the Populations in those Top 5ers as far as Race, Religion, Education level, and Standards of Living compare to America’s? Do You think that makes any difference in what kind of political system might work better than others in those nations?
THE POLITICIANS WHO DESTROYED OUR DEMOCRACY WANT US TO VOTE FOR THEM TO SAVE IT
by Chris Hedges
*** ~ We should have walked out on the Democratic Party and mounted a serious opposition movement while we still had a chance. ~ ***
THE BIPARTISAN PROJECT OF DISMANTLING OUR DEMOCRACY, WHICH TOOK PLACE OVER THE LAST FEW DECADES ON BEHALF OF CORPORATIONS AND THE RICH, HAS LEFT ONLY THE OUTWARD SHELL OF DEMOCRACY. The courts, legislative bodies, the executive branch and the media, including public broadcasting, are captive to corporate power. There is no institution left that can be considered authentically democratic. THE CORPORATE COUP D’ÉTAT IS OVER. THEY WON. WE LOST.
THE WRECKAGE OF THIS NEOLIBERAL PROJECT IS APPALLING: endless and futile wars to enrich a military-industrial-complex that bleeds the U.S. Treasury of half of all discretionary spending; deindustrialization that has turned U.S. cities into decayed ruins; the slashing and privatization of social programs, including education, utility services and health care – which saw over one million Americans account for one-fifth of global deaths from Covid, although we are 4 percent of the world’s population; draconian forms of social control embodied in militarized police, functioning as lethal armies of occupation in poor urban areas; the largest prison system in the world; a virtual tax boycott by the richest individuals and corporations; money-saturated elections that perpetuate our system of legalized bribery; and the most intrusive state surveillance of the citizenry in our history.
In “The United States of Amnesia,” to quote Gore Vidal, the corporate press and the ruling class create FICTIONAL FEEL-GOOD PERSONAS FOR CANDIDATES, TREAT ALL POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS AS IF IT IS A DAY AT THE RACES AND GLOSS OVER THE FACT THAT ON EVERY MAJOR ISSUE, FROM TRADE DEALS TO WAR, THERE IS VERY LITTLE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS.
The Democratic Party and Joe Biden are NOT THE LESSER EVIL, BUT rather, as Glen Ford pointed out, “THE MORE EFFECTIVE EVIL.”
The way politics is practiced the party is more important than the person elected. Most votes, especially most important votes, are pretty much straight line party votes. The ballots themselves seem to be written up by the staff of the party leaders, although I'm guessing that other party members have input, as long as it's supported by more than one person.
I appreciate your logical analysis and refusal to get caught up in emotional arguments. I'm a big fan of the work being done at openprimaries.org and independentvoting.org. I sat in on a zoom call with Jackie Salit and Thom Reilly, who were discussing their new book The Independent Voter. One thing that was said in the call was that the parties have managed to usurp a quasi-governmental role that they do not deserve and that weakens our democratic processes. Both parties are too cult-like and want lock-step behavior from their followers. I've seen this personally in the fight against Ballot Question 3, which will establish both open primaries and ranked choice voting here in Nevada. The democrats are against it just as much as the republicans. We must overthrow the two-party system state by state and these groups are moving forward in a way that might actually work in the long-term, if we have enough time.
Love this analysis, Bill. As Spock would say, "eminently logical."
'The Neocons and the Woke Left Are Joining Hands and Leading Us to Woke War III'
Elon Musk got in hot water again on Twitter—for proposing peace. On Monday, Musk proposed a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, for which he was denounced as a pro-Putin puppet by the Twitter mob that has formed to police the discourse on all things related to Ukraine.
The president of Ukraine himself, Volodymyr Zelensky, accused Musk of supporting Russia—even though Musk's company SpaceX donated Starlink to Ukraine's war effort at an out-of-pocket cost of $80 million. (Full disclosure: Musk is a friend and I am an investor in SpaceX.) Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Andrj Melnyk was less subtle, telling Elon to "f***k off," while David Frum tweeted without evidence that "Russian sources" had used Elon to float a "trial balloon" of a peace proposal because they're afraid of losing Crimea. Scores of blue-checks on Twitter followed their lead, ordering Musk to stay in his lane.
What matters in this story is not that Musk was told off, but rather, that a Twitter hive mind is using the same intolerant cancellation tactics that they use to shut down debate on domestic political issues in order to shape U.S. policy toward Ukraine. They are doing so by demonizing dissent, defaming opponents, and closing off as ideologically unacceptable any path to peace or even deescalation.
https://www.newsweek.com/neocons-woke-left-are-joining-hands-leading-us-woke-war-iii-opinion-1748947
'Pro-war hawks have progressives on their Squad'
Retracting their call for diplomacy with Russia to end the Ukraine war, Congressional Progressives cave to the neocons.................................
https://mate.substack.com/p/pro-war-hawks-have-progressives-on?
This sort of argument is why we need ranked choice voting, where voters rank their choices, and candidates need a majority - not just a plurality - to win. If no candidate gets a majority on the first count, then the lowest-polling candidate is dropped out, and those voters' second choices are counted.
Impeccable logic, Captain. I mean, Lt. Col.
For those who like Michael Hudson's analysis of current events,
'Germany’s position in America’s New World Order'
Germany has become an economic satellite of America’s New Cold War with Russia, China and the rest of Eurasia....................
[...] Sometimes it is easier to understand today’s dynamics by stepping away from one’s own immediate situation to look at historical examples of the kind of political diplomacy that one sees splitting today’s world. The closest parallel that I can find is medieval Europe’s fight by the Roman papacy against German kings – the Holy Roman Emperors – in the 13th century. That conflict split Europe along lines much like those of today. A series of popes excommunicated Frederick II and other German kings and mobilized allies to fight against Germany and its control of southern Italy and Sicily.
Western antagonism against the East was incited by the Crusades (1095-1291), just as today’s Cold War is a crusade against economies threatening U.S. dominance of the world. The medieval war against Germany was over who should control Christian Europe: the papacy, with the popes becoming worldly emperors, or secular rulers of individual kingdoms by claiming the power to morally legitimize and accept them.
Medieval Europe’s analogue to America’s New Cold War against China and Russia was the Great Schism in 1054. Demanding unipolar control over Christendom, Leo IX excommunicated the Orthodox Church centered in Constantinople and the entire Christian population that belonged to it. A single bishopric, Rome, cut itself off from the entire Christian world of the time, including the ancient Patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch, Constantinople and Jerusalem.
This break-away created a political problem for Roman diplomacy: How to hold all the Western European kingdoms under its control and claim the right for financial subsidy from them. That aim required subordinating secular kings to papal religious authority. In 1074, Gregory VII, Hildebrand, announced 27 Papal Dictates outlining the administrative strategy for Rome to lock in its power over Europe...............................................................
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/57324.htm
That was all very interesting to me because I sent a Message to the Pope on ALL SOULS DAY, November 2, last Wednesday.
I'll post the whole letter here upon request, but I'll cite only 2 sentences from it for now.
While no one acknowledged receipt, I can't say definitively the Pope actually read the email, but obviously the Spirit that moved me to write the letter got to him directly, as you can see from this,
MESSAGE to the Pope November 2,
"You can see that END for yourself in this brief clip from the movie which could have been made in any other major American City. It is not random chance or coincidence it was made in Kansas City.
It is a SIGN from Almighty God to our Generations, this Material World has arrived at the PRECIPICE: https://youtu.be/q7J8eMyK1DI"
The Pope in Bahrain November 4, "First of all, one can be struck by an observation: after two tremendous World Wars, after the Cold War, "that for decades kept the world in suspense, catastrophic conflicts taking place in every part of the globe, and in the midst of accusations, threats and condemnations, we continue to find ourselves on the brink of a delicate PRECIPICE and we do not want to fall..." Poised on the brink... A graphic image of the absolute precariousness in which the whole of humanity finds itself living today in the face of the risk of a nuclear conflict with incalculable consequences.
MESSAGE to the Pope November 2,
"This is the 3rd Time writing to you in the hope you will take a more active, consistent and extraordinary role as the Vicar of the PRINCE OF PEACE"
The Pope in Bahrain November 5,
"He noted that, although this sounds like a contradiction, as "we often notice that the more power is sought, the more peace is threatened", the prophet announces the extraordinary news that "the Messiah to come will indeed be powerful, not in the manner of a commander who wages war and rules over others, but as the 'PRINCE OF PEACE' who reconciles people with God and with one another."
We've heard of ghost writers and then there are Holy Ghost writers! :-)
With the American Voter focused only on the Economy, the stuff in Voting Tomorrow, there may not be any Economy left ignoring this build up going on out of Public view?
'US Nuclear Forces Chief Says ‘the Big One Is Coming’
The head of US Strategic Command called the war in Ukraine a 'warm up' for what is to come.
The commander that oversees US nuclear forces delivered an ominous warning at a naval conference last week by calling the war in Ukraine a “warmup” for the “big one” that is to come.
“This Ukraine crisis that we’re in right now, this is just the warmup,” said Navy Adm. Charles Richard, the commander of US Strategic command. “The big one is coming. And it isn’t going to be very long before we’re going to get tested in ways that we haven’t been tested [in] a long time.”
Richard’s warning came after the US released its new Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), which reaffirms that the US doctrine allows for the first use of nuclear weapons. The review says that the purpose of the US nuclear arsenal is to “deter strategic attacks, assure allies and partners, and achieve US objectives if deterrence fails.”.................................................
https://news.antiwar.com/2022/11/06/us-nuclear-forces-chief-says-the-big-one-is-coming/
THE EUROPEAN PROJECT IS NOW AT THE MERCY OF THE WEATHER by Adam Tooze
*** ~ This winter, Europe may be facing a crisis without any clear solution. ~ ***
Right now, the sobering truth is that THE FUTURE OF EUROPE HINGES ON THE WEATHER. It seems absurd. But WHETHER THE WINTER AHEAD IS COLD OR WARM WILL DETERMINE IF EUROPE GETS THROUGH THE NEXT SIX MONTHS WITHOUT MAJOR ECONOMIC, POLITICAL, AND SOCIAL STRESS.
We are in this situation because, thanks to the clash with Russia over Ukraine, EUROPE HAS LOST ROUGHLY A THIRD OF ITS REGULAR GAS SUPPLY. Much of Europe, particularly in the former Soviet bloc, relied on Russian gas for electricity generation, home heating, cooking, and industrial purposes. Germany and Italy, the largest and third-largest economies in the Eurozone, were also heavily dependent on Russian gas.
Weather has mattered in modern European history before. A freezing winter in 1946-47 brought Europe to a standstill and helped to trigger Washington into launching the Marshall Plan. But that was in the immediate aftermath of World War II, when the continent was in ruins. FOR EUROPE IN THE THIRD DECADE OF THE 21ST CENTURY TO FIND ITSELF AT THE MERCY OF THE WEATHER TRULY COMES AS A SHOCK.
Continued at https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/11/02/europe-energy-crisis-eu-weather-cold/ [EMPHASES added.]
There is a Total Eclipse of the Moon tomorrow, which is also Midterm Election Day in America.
It will be interesting to see What and Who else gets eclipsed along with the Moon.
Details at https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/map/2022-november-8
On the ballot here will be RCV but only for local candidates. I assume for it to apply to state and federal candidates, state legislation is required. I'm off to write my state rep about getting that ASAP.
Dennis: In one of Your recent exhortations that America explore other political systems ~ such as the European parliamentary style or, especially, that “MMP” system that You Kiwis have ~ You referenced a claim that the US is “stuck with an 18th-century government in the 21st century.”
It doesn’t take being a professor at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs [or even just a non-credentialed political scientist] to know that the U.S. political system is from the 18th century.
All that takes is an even a cursory study of high school-level history of When and How the US Constitution came into existence and, particularly, WHO it was that brought it ~ and thus this Nation ~ into existence.
And being of the 18th century and who the Founding Fathers were, it is not at all difficult to see and understand that the American political system was and still is ~ above all else ~ an Experiment in 18th century white, European [predominantly Anglo] autocratic, patriarchal, oligarchic, plutocracy.
With just enough of a hint of Classical Liberalism and so-called “democracy,” and “republicanism” [whatever they are] thrown in to take the edges off. And it has been as such from its very beginning back in the ~ Yes indeed, Folks ~ 18th century.
That being the case, what do You think has a better chance of actually happening and thus making an actual difference in the Real World that is American politics today?
~ That the US changes its whole system of electoral politics to something modeled after New Zealand or any of those other “Top Five Democracies”? Or,
~ That voters write-in “None Of These Candidates” now, and work to have NOTC a mandated choice on every ballot of every federal election in 2024?
And as far as those Top 5 Ranked Democracies in 2022 ~ Norway, New Zealand, Finland, Sweden, and Iceland according to https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-the-state-of-global-democracy-2022/ ~ how many of them have any of the following as critically active players in their political systems?
*** a Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex; a Surveillance-Secrecy-Security Panopticon; a Banking-Finance-Printing Press Web; and Big Oil and Energy, Agriculture and Food, Transportation and Shipping, Communications and Education, and Legal and Medical crony capitalist/corporatist Cabals and Cartels? ***
And do You think that makes any difference at all in how those Top 5 “democracies” are run and by whom?
[Note and just for grins: How many of those Top 5 are in NATO ~ or want to be ~ and are thus accomplices in America’s Cluster Fuck in Ukraine? Another feature of 21st century “democracy,” i guess, eh? And how does NZ fit into America's plans for a War with China?]
And finally: Does the total physical, geographical territorial size of the Nations enter into what form of government would work best? How do the Top 5 rank in terms of square miles to be governed as compared to the US? [One of the primary reasons America is ungovernable is that it is simply physically too Big].
And how does the size and the diversity of the Populations in those Top 5ers as far as Race, Religion, Education level, and Standards of Living compare to America’s? Do You think that makes any difference in what kind of political system might work better than others in those nations?
THE POLITICIANS WHO DESTROYED OUR DEMOCRACY WANT US TO VOTE FOR THEM TO SAVE IT
by Chris Hedges
*** ~ We should have walked out on the Democratic Party and mounted a serious opposition movement while we still had a chance. ~ ***
THE BIPARTISAN PROJECT OF DISMANTLING OUR DEMOCRACY, WHICH TOOK PLACE OVER THE LAST FEW DECADES ON BEHALF OF CORPORATIONS AND THE RICH, HAS LEFT ONLY THE OUTWARD SHELL OF DEMOCRACY. The courts, legislative bodies, the executive branch and the media, including public broadcasting, are captive to corporate power. There is no institution left that can be considered authentically democratic. THE CORPORATE COUP D’ÉTAT IS OVER. THEY WON. WE LOST.
THE WRECKAGE OF THIS NEOLIBERAL PROJECT IS APPALLING: endless and futile wars to enrich a military-industrial-complex that bleeds the U.S. Treasury of half of all discretionary spending; deindustrialization that has turned U.S. cities into decayed ruins; the slashing and privatization of social programs, including education, utility services and health care – which saw over one million Americans account for one-fifth of global deaths from Covid, although we are 4 percent of the world’s population; draconian forms of social control embodied in militarized police, functioning as lethal armies of occupation in poor urban areas; the largest prison system in the world; a virtual tax boycott by the richest individuals and corporations; money-saturated elections that perpetuate our system of legalized bribery; and the most intrusive state surveillance of the citizenry in our history.
In “The United States of Amnesia,” to quote Gore Vidal, the corporate press and the ruling class create FICTIONAL FEEL-GOOD PERSONAS FOR CANDIDATES, TREAT ALL POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS AS IF IT IS A DAY AT THE RACES AND GLOSS OVER THE FACT THAT ON EVERY MAJOR ISSUE, FROM TRADE DEALS TO WAR, THERE IS VERY LITTLE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS.
The Democratic Party and Joe Biden are NOT THE LESSER EVIL, BUT rather, as Glen Ford pointed out, “THE MORE EFFECTIVE EVIL.”
Continued at https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-politicians-who-destroyed-our? [EMPHASES added.]
The way politics is practiced the party is more important than the person elected. Most votes, especially most important votes, are pretty much straight line party votes. The ballots themselves seem to be written up by the staff of the party leaders, although I'm guessing that other party members have input, as long as it's supported by more than one person.
The (good?) news is that either way a single vote won't decide the election. You pays your money you takes your choice, as they say.
Thank You, Bill. That states the whole matter in a very simple and straight forward manner.