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Lies And Hypocrisy


Jim R

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Cynthia:

 

Fear not...we're all here. And yes...I suppose one could logically compare the activities of our vice-president with those of Joe McCarthy, but IMHO these sort of historical matchups only go to prove that there are really no coincidences in life and we are all actors on the stage. The play doesn't change over time, only the actors and costumes do. And of course now the speed with which the plays unfold and infold is accentuated..and all is infused with unlimited aspects of misdirection and deception. Detach...detach...detach...simplify...simplify...simplify...but it's so difficult when love is involved.

 

flow.... :unsure:

 

 

Thanks Flow - I totally agree. The historical matchups, for me, are strangely comforting. Knowing that this is not uniquely bad/unbelievable/choose your adjective of dismay, allows me to better detach. It's not now or never... it just still is.

 

/off to read Julian of Norwich (I think?) All things will be well and all things will be well, and all manner of things will be well. Breathe... repeat :>

 

Godspeed cyberfriend, C

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Last week there was a TV interview with Barack Obama--how calm and articulate he was, commenting on the administration. I haven't read his latest book but it sounds admirable: The Audacity of Hope: thoughts on recovering the American dream.

 

At one point he said (if I recall correctly): "The president is entitled to his own opinions. He is not entitled to his own facts."

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Well of course, John Kennedy was a little younger and not that much more experienced than

Barack Obama would be. I think he has had a few more years in the Senate (Kennedy) and

was a veteran. (See how much lots of experience in the Senate and military service helped John

Kerry!).

 

Anyway, I was curious what people thought about the role Barack Obama's progressive

religious background might be??

 

I know this is changing the subject, but we all know that a lot of times we vote for the lesser

of two evils. I sure am this time for the House, but we have a very contested seat of a person who

a couple years ago was thought of as pretty much unbeatable. I sure don't like the Democratic

candidate that much more, but at least feel that she stands a chance. Anyway, if you think it's fun

to be in one of those pivotal districts-- hah! All the negative, nasty ads make you want to vomit. I'd be

perfectly happy to get rid of both of them.

 

 

Anyway back to my question?

 

--des

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Anyway, I was curious what people thought about the role Barack Obama's progressive

religious background might be??

 

Regardless of what he may want to do or seem to be, both the Demuplican and Republicratic parties are power machines...any real, meaningful social/political/economic reform will either be watered down and co-opted or destroyed out right as a threat to the Empire's economic and political dictatorship. It would be like trying to end the Viet Nam war by urging everyone to vote for the Democrats...even after protesters were beaten ouside of the Democratic Party Convention in Chicago in front of the entire country and the world. That is the real face of politics in this country. Everything else is public relations and window dressing.

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Regardless of what he may want to do or seem to be, both the Demuplican and Republicratic parties are power machines...any real, meaningful social/political/economic reform will either be watered down and co-opted or destroyed out right as a threat to the Empire's economic and political dictatorship. It would be like trying to end the Viet Nam war by urging everyone to vote for the Democrats...even after protesters were beaten ouside of the Democratic Party Convention in Chicago in front of the entire country and the world. That is the real face of politics in this country. Everything else is public relations and window dressing.

 

I agree with you, Russ. I think that both major parties are just tools for corporate interests and for the Empire. I also think that our entire political process is corrupt, and that the solution does not lie in faithful progressives throwing their lot in with one faction of the Empire's ruling elite.

 

As William Sloan Coffin once said, "A liberal is a person who thinks other people need help, and a radical is one who knows we're all in trouble."

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A NY TIMES / CBS NEWS poll shows that Americans are planning to vote for the Democrats by a 52-33 margin in Congressional races. This is the largest gap between the 2 parties in the history of this poll!

 

So, if the GOP retains control of Congress, there is *definitely something wrong with our election system.*

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While I agree that neither party is a voice for any kind of real change, and neither party should be purchased lock stock and barrel by people of faith-- this is the myth that the Christian right fell into,

I do still feel some strong reasons to vote Democratic, at least this time.

1. Counterbalance of dangerous behavior in the executive branch. (I think more likely to happen since we are now not right after 9/11.

2. Selection of judges. Right wing selection will affect the courts for years after the Republicans leave

office.

3. Change NCLB (No child left behind). This is a really bad law that is up for reconsideration. I feel it detrimentally effects thousands of kids in this country.

4. Counterbalance of neo-conservative voices on environment. Right now MOST Americans believe the message sent by the White House-- that there is a differing of opinion on global warming. This is confusing.

(BTW, I don't really think this is "conservative".) Mind you I don't feel anything will be done for awhile, but to do anything we have to have most of the population believign that something should be done.

5. Be able to talk about getting out of Iraq. (I didn't say we would get out, just be able to talk about it.)

 

Admittedly, these are modest goals. I don't think that this kind of discussion actually even belongs on the religious side fo this forum, as I think they are calculating in a certain way.

 

IMO, we have many structural problems with our whole system that are inherently undemocratic:

Power is centered in small towns and rural areas vs. large cities, even though most people live in cities;

We can never have a viable third party, the only thing a third party can do is bring up issues and act as a

spoiler; etc. Even though most people are independent, the country is run in a highly partisan way; etc.

 

--des

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What a great thread! I will vote for dems over reps but I have come to the conclusion recently that "it" (political issues at large) can't be about what we are told they are about. Many of the issues are too long-standing, too simple, and too unchanged over the course of several decades and changes of political party to be issues anyone is actually working on fixing. I think that the idea of a red herring applies. Wave Mark Foley around so we watch and slip the anti-civil rights (for anyone) right by, unnoticed. Most people never notice.

 

I read something this w/e about the '50s. I tend to think of that as a picturebook decade despite knowing about racial problems, gender discrimination, etc. What I hadn't grasped was the level of deceipt, lack of civil rights for anyone accused of communism (with or generally without evidence), and, perhaps much of the same unbelievable hudzpa we see now. They had the threat of communists held over much as we do terrorists. It looks much the same. I wasn't around then (I'm 39) any thoughts????

 

I also am totally torn between the idea and belief that God is and that the universe is on course - even if I don't understand it while still feeling like Don Quixote. I'm striving for detachment (in the Buddhist sense - not the apathy sense) and acceptance while maintaining my energy to do what I can and to figure out what that is. :blink:

 

I so appreciate all these posts. Knowing others are awake and paying attention is unspeakably valuable to me.

 

Hello, Cynthia and all!

 

I think the phrase went something like "those who don't remember history are condemned to repeat it." I don't recall who said it, but it seems to be true. We see throughout recorded history a repeated pattern of those in power abusing power and turning a blind eye to human rights and social justice; history is littered with stories of power mad emperors and dictators of every stripe. Two thousand years ago Christ saw it and commented on it, and here we are today with the same problems. And yet, as a society, we seem to find it impossible to fathom that such things might be real, that our own land might be heading down such a corrupt path. It saddens me immensely to see what is happening in my country today, but given what has happened historically, I won't say that I'm surprised by any of it. Exploiting one another seems to be one descriptive of the dark side of human nature.

 

As far as the universe unfolding as it should, I have a bit of a technical quibble on that one. The universe is unfolding on the basis of the input it receives, and has received, from all of us, and from all that has been before us. At any point we have the opportunity to choose ill or to choose well, and the universe will be affected by those choices and will respond to them. I would say that the universe is unfolding exactly as is prescribed by the input it has received to date. The future is wide open and wholly dependent upon what happens next.

 

As a student of Buddhism I have also watched this kind of discussion unfold countless times. I'd suggest that the notion of unobstructed, "perfect" flow as is often presented by students of mystical religions is probably more taoist/fatalist than this and fails to take into account the complexities of cause and effect or the role that choice/volition/action plays in the way things unfold. It's also a misunderstanding of what is meant, in this context, by "perfect". I'd suggest that things are "perfect" only in the sense that things perfectly follow the path prescribed by what has happened up to any given point in time. It might be a bit too simplistic to simply suggest that we create our own reality; it can also a bit narcissistic in that it ultimately brings one to the conclusion that nothing exists outside of the self.

 

I suggest it's probably more accurate to say that we create our own reality to the extent that we are able to influence things within our immediate area, which in turn influences the way the future takes shape, but we do not live in a vaccum. Our existence, and the choices presented to us, are conditioned by all that has come before. Within each moment we are able to choose, but our choices are limited. We cannot simply choose to, say, flap our arms and fly, but we can learn to build machines that do fly. Doing this, however, relies on the work and choices of those who came before.

 

Therefore, I find it much more meaningful to speak about co-creating our reality. Our actions affect the world around us, and the actions of others affect our world. The word that the Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh would use to describe this is "interdependence".

 

It is important to me that I understand this point: choosing to do harm will create harm. Choosing to love one another creates something different. As a Christian, I believe that God gave us the will to choose and wishes for us to choose well for ourselves and one another. A loving God, to my mind, does not manipulate but allows us the freedom to find our own best nature, as a parent would allow a loved child to find his or her own best way of being in the world. I believe that loving others is what Christ taught because that is the path to becoming a fully realized being, and the path to creating the most harmony in our little corners of the universe.

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The key to social and economic progress is a constantly inclusive and expanding system of democracy...citizen participation and decision making on all levels. I am a 100% believer in full democracy, not limited democracy where we just get to vote on a school budget or Candidate A or Candidate B. Why isn't the full federal budget published and available for all to see on-line? What's being hidden? Why can't we have a full running on-line Congrssional Record for all to see who proposed what, who voted for what, etc.? The same with committee meeting...fish bowl government. Now that's government of the people, by the people, and for the people, IMHO.

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Russ:

 

I'm with ya' bruddah. Not such a lengthy rant this time, but quality stuff nonetheless. Let's hope that some meaningful changes are coming.

 

If you're not already a listener, you should google Democracy Now.org and listen to the stream of Amy Goodman's daily newscasts. I believe that videeo is also available. She has exhibited consistent excellence for the past ten years and I have listened to her much of that time. Audio and video podcasts are also available for free at the apple music store. Her information is consistently weeks ahead of the usual news sources, and when the stories break big elsewhere it's amazing how right on her original findings turn out to be.

 

Keep the faith...flow.... :)

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Hi Lolly:

 

I don't believe that I've ever had the pleasure, but I recollect your name from about the time I joined last year. You are right on in your views. The universe is a bulk of time, light, and mostly darkness. Our consciousness and what we do with it determines future outcomes for ourselves and increasingly many other beings in the webbing of life forms. It is all such an intricate interconnectedness, and these days a lot of it is being destroyed and impaired because of thoughtless actions.

 

That doesn't mean that we should embrace apathy, but we should quietly accumulate the needed information and images so that when we act we do so on the basis of (excuse me for using this) thinking globally/universally and acting locally. Passing on kindness, good humor, and consideration is only the first step in really loving one's neighbors...be they human or otherwise.

 

So good to be reading your posts again Lolly.

 

Peace to you and yours...flow.... :D

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It has been said there is no difference between our two political parties.

 

choice vs eliminating abortion (such as the South Datoka initative)

Supreme Court nominations

Kyoto accords - global warmings

tax cuts for the wealthy

the minimum wage

stem cell research

environmental concerns (Bush has spent 6 yars trying to undo what Clinton did)

the war

investigations of wrong doing

what is taught in our schools (ie intelligent design)

torture

civil liberties

civil rights

equal rights for all or whipping the flames of hatred against gays and denying them civil unions

working in partnership with others in this world

response to terrorism by going after criminals or response to terrorism by waging losing wars in two countries

 

There are stark differences between the parties and it make a real difference which one holds the balance of power -

 

its important to our system of checks and balances that the Congress be of another party to bring balance to our government - it is contrary to reality to say there is no difference - very different things will happen with a Democratic Congress than with a Republican Congress -

 

yeah they are all alike on some things -- but not policy, not on the choices that will be made, the legislation passed, who gets appointed and who gets approved - there are stark differences -

 

Nadar said there was no difference between the parties in 2000 and he now had finally admitted that there are huge differences between what Gore presidency would have been like versus the Bush administration -

right now we need to change party control of Congress to put the check and balance in place

 

and everyone's vote make a difference - please vote everyone

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Amen.

 

 

Lolly,

 

Enjoyed your post. About that famous quote--what we have is an administration that does remember history (i.e. Viet Nam) and still condemns us to repeat it.

 

The least I can do is cast my vote for the democrats in my state (even though one of them supposedly wrote "sexist" novels :-)

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The key to social and economic progress is a constantly inclusive and expanding system of democracy...citizen participation and decision making on all levels. I am a 100% believer in full democracy, not limited democracy where we just get to vote on a school budget or Candidate A or Candidate B. Why isn't the full federal budget published and available for all to see on-line? What's being hidden? Why can't we have a full running on-line Congrssional Record for all to see who proposed what, who voted for what, etc.? The same with committee meeting...fish bowl government. Now that's government of the people, by the people, and for the people, IMHO.

 

I think you've put your nail on the head. The real problem with this country is a dearth of bona fide democracy, both economic and political. So much of what happens in our society is based on political and economic institutions that are not democratic. Our economy serves the interests of profits rather than human needs. We are powerless in the face of government and corporations. Both of the major political parties are part and parcel of this undemocratic system, and both parties serve the interests of big corporations. Radical economic and political democracy can only be brought into being from below; the duopoly of the two major parties will not bring it to us out of the goodness of their hearts.

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We are powerless in the face of government and corporations. Both of the major political parties are part and parcel of this undemocratic system, and both parties serve the interests of big corporations. Radical economic and political democracy can only be brought into being from below; the duopoly of the two major parties will not bring it to us out of the goodness of their hearts.

 

We are not powerless. Don't play the victim. We have the power. Don't be passive, or defeatist. Take the power, speak truth to power.

 

And to blame the two parties - wrong. Parties are made up of people, they are not things unto themselves. Made up of people. And the people who get involvbed, who vote, they detrmine who those people are.

 

No, you are not going to get "radical" changes. Nor should we. I am as left as it comes, but I dob't want the radicals of any kind to make the rules. It must be consensus. And to wait for ideological purity is to abdiacte one's responsibility in the present.

 

Major decisions are made by government and there are major differences in the people who are candidates of those parties.

 

Stem cell research? You better vote for people who will allow it - or you can vote for the people against it, or you can not vote which is the same as being against it. Same with whatever you favor.

 

Since I like to be involved in what decides my life, I have been active in one of the two parties. I have met a lot of people who serve high office - governors, senators, representatives, supreme court justices - and it isn't hard, get involved and you can meet those people too. And you realize they are people. They are not aliens. They are people. For example Senator Stabenow of my state is a warm, friendly woman who finds great joy in her daughter's involvement in the Methodist Church and who cares very deeply about things that I also care about.

 

Ys there is big corporate money out there that can call the tune - you have an ongoing corruption scandal now with the Republicans in Congress and the K Stret lobbyists. You can throw them out. Or you can bewail that they are all the same and do nothing. They are not all the same. They are not perfect. Nothing is perfect. To sit around and wait for perfection is like waiting for ideological purity, it is abdication, it is those who did not feed Jesus when he was hungry, did not give Jesus clothes when he was naked...

 

Because it is fact: who gets elected decides the spending priorities and where the money will go. You can look in your heart and vote your conscience, or you can do nothing. I happen to have no patience with the do nothing people. Change of heart cannot be done by politics but that is not for the government to do. The government can stop lynching, it can raise the minimum age, it can give health care to the poor, it can do many, many things.

 

And you get to decide, if you want to.

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We are not powerless. Don't play the victim. We have the power. Don't be passive, or defeatist. Take the power, speak truth to power.

 

And to blame the two parties - wrong. Parties are made up of people, they are not things unto themselves. Made up of people. And the people who get involvbed, who vote, they detrmine who those people are.

 

There are those who have power in our society--the corporate ruling class, and their patrons in the Democratic and Republican parties. And there are the powerless--those who live on minimum wage, or for that matter any of us who struggles to make a living. Power is not evenly distributed in our society. That is a simple fact of life here in America, just as it was the case when Jesus resisted the Empire of his own day. What the rest of us, the powerless have in opposition to them is our numbers, and the ability to have power if we want it. But that doesn't mean that we have power now.

 

Political parties do not act in a vacuum. The people who are in those parties, no matter how well meaning, have to play the game according to the rules. What we have is a system, and it is a system that is broken.

 

I agree completely that we the people, who don't have the power, need to speak truth to power. That is why I oppose so vigorously identifying myself with either of the two political factions that are part of the power elite in this country. The way we speak truth to power is by being voices of conscience who will serve as independent critics outside of the political elite, just as Jesus did--not by joining the political establishment ourselves. Only if we really democratize the system can there ever be hope for bringing on the Kingdom of God. That kind of democracy--political and economic--simply doesn't exist in the present system.

 

Here's a little trivia quiz. Which of the two political parties in my home state of California has done the following:

  • Accepted $1.7 million dollars in campaign donations from AT&T and then voted into law a telecommunications bill that AT&T wanted.
  • Held a party convention this year that was chaired by a paid lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry, who had worked to defeat a ballot measure last year that Big Pharma wanted defeated.
  • Allowed oil company lobbyists to pressure them to tie up in committee or otherwise kill various considered hostile to the oil industry.

If you guessed the Republicans, you would be wrong.

 

Meanwhile, the New York Times reported a few weeks ago that the Democratic Party has been trying to "out-right the right" (those were the exact words.) Reuters reported that "War on poverty slips from U.S. election agenda". Reuters also reported that "Democrats use strategy of ambiguity on Iraq" (a continuation of their 2004 platform that said that "people of good will disagree about whether America should have gone to war in Iraq", which is, to those of who have passionately rejected the war as a pointless exercise in death to pursue the interests of Empire, just plain wrong.) No agenda of a war on poverty, no agenda on immediately ending the war on Iraq, a party that is trying to "out-right" the right. If we are going to speak truth to power, then we must condemn the Democrats for their own sins just as we condemn the Republicans for theirs. We have no choice if we are to carry out a prophetic message.

 

I have quoted William Sloane Coffin before, and I will quote him again--"A liberal is a person who thinks other people need help, and a radical is one who knows we're all in trouble." I don't apologize for using the word "radical" in this context. The power belongs to the people indeed if they want it--not to an Empire and its stinking corruption of economic, social, and political dominance.

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Hello mysticalseeker,

 

Perhaps you mistake force for power. Power is invisible and available to all but Force cannot stand with or against it. Force begets Force and Power begets Peace.

 

Just a thought to contemplate

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Mystical Seeker, I see myself as one who speaks truth to power also. I also am first and foremost a spiritual person, whose political convictions grows out of spiritual convictions.

 

I am riding with the Democrats though because they do have a progressive wing. I will not go over all the differences that are real, Jack Twist just did an excellent job doing that already. The differences are enough for a starting point.

 

Back in the seventies I was in John Kerry's Viet Nam Veterans Agiasnt The War,writing for Wayne State Universities newspaper "The South End", living in downtown Detroit, actively involved in several working class and left wing political causes and waiting for the revolution. It didn't happen. The only revolution was the Reagan revolution.

 

If good people refuse to participate until the system is perfect and the Dems are perfect, we are sunk. The Reagan Revolution, did the job, Democracy is done, its over. "W" will finish the job, what the communists and Nazis couldn't do. the neo con Republicans did .We will be a totalitarian state, with a mock democracy for cover, and a brainwashed mass of drunken and doped up people..

 

The possibility for good is enormous right now for America. Lets make it happen.

 

Campaign reform has a chance with the Dems, there is no prayer with the Republicans. It is going to be a long hard struggle, but we have to do the right thing.

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The possibility for good is enormous right now for America. Lets make it happen.

 

Jim, I agree that we need to make good happen. But I also believe that it will never happen if we throw our lot in with the Democrats, the party that is trying to "out-right the right".

 

I understand what you're saying about the frustration with having seen how the hoped-for revolution never happened back in the 1970s. I think that this highlights the ultimate problem with having a social conscience in a world that is not on board with one's deepest aspirations. This creates, to me, a kind of existential anxiety for the activist. In the face of few possibilities for building the kind of world you want to see, what do you do? Knowing that failure lies in the short term future is daunting, it is like an existential abyss. But I am not willing to throw in the towel and give up believing in the need for kind of change that I think is required to build a better world. Like Camus's Sisyphus, I think we need to roll that stone back up the hill. To me it isn't a matter of mere "warts" for the Democratic Party; I see it as a fundamental problem with institutional structures that corrupt the whole process. Jesus didn't compromise with the Roman Empire, and I won't compromise with the American one either. I cited in my earlier message examples of how the Democratic Party has whored itself to corporate interests. I cannot accept this or make excuses for it.

 

Put another way, as I see it, the ultimate example of powerlessness is to say that "we have no choice" but to support the Democrats. And that is really what progressives who support the Democrats keep telling us. They tell us that the Democrats are all we've got, we have to support them because third party movements always fail, and so on. I look at the history of the party's collusion with corporate interests, its corruption, and I see a weak progressive wing that has no power or influence in the party as a whole. As for the progressive wing, how much of Kucinich's ideas were on the 2004 Kerry platform? Why wasn't single payer health care on the platform? Why did the platform say that it didn't matter whether you supported going to war in Iraq or not? Why did the platform say that it should be left up to the states to decide on gay marriage--oh, and by the way, when Kerry was asked about Missouri's referendum on gay marriage, he said that that he favored banning it? At the national level, the progressives in the party are simply swallowed up and spit out. Why does this happen? I think the answer lies in a corrupt system. Even the "good Democrats" are part of the political machinery; they know which side their bread is buttered on, they know where their funding and campaign apparatus lies, and they must be loyal to that machinery over and above any matters of principle. But, as Eugene Debs once said, "I’d rather vote for what I want and not get it, than for what I don’t want and get it". And one thing is sure--the Democrats are not what I want. And I think we will never get what we want if we settle. The problem with the Democrats is that they just keep moving to the right with every election cycle. And I wonder what it is about the political process that leads this to take place. Could it be that our institutions lend themselves to this process? How can we make our society more democratic?

 

To me, if Jesus refused to compromise with his Empire, then I would argue that perhaps it behooves us to follow his lead and refuse to compromise with our own Empire. That is why I will be voting for no Democrats in tomorrow's elections. I will condemn the Democrats for their sins just as I will condemn the Republicans for theirs. I feel that I owe that much to Jesus.

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As for the progressive wing, how much of Kucinich's ideas were on the 2004 Kerry platform? Why wasn't single payer health care on the platform? Why did the platform say that it didn't matter whether you supported going to war in Iraq or not? Why did the platform say that it should be left up to the states to decide on gay marriage--oh, and by the way, when Kerry was asked about Missouri's referendum on gay marriage, he said that that he favored banning it? At the national level, the progressives in the party are simply swallowed up and spit out. Why does this happen? I think the answer lies in a corrupt system.

 

Kucinich was a very bad messengr for his ideas, which for the most part were a tad conservative for me.

 

But I am also active in the Democratic party and was county chair in 2003-2004 and ran the caucuses in our county. People did not vote for Kuchinich. Let me add that big corporate entities did not vote. People voted.

I can rail about the influence of big corporations and I do, but change comes from making it happen. And so many people complained about Kerry who never bothered to get involved in the nomination process, we had 10 something candidates and you want to like the 2008 nominee, then vote in primaries or caucuses, send some money to the candidates of your choice. Maybe Kucinich would have done better had he had some money. Did you send some to him?

 

Since no Kuchinich delegates were lected, how could they write the platform? The playform reflected who got elected as a delegate.

 

I don't have the platform in front of me, but - having opposed this immoral war long before we invaded - I wouldn't put a plank in the platform that freedom of conscience is allowed. We don't oppose that which is wrong by dorbidding freedom of conscience.

 

And maybe Kerry is opposed to gay marriage. Maybe it is up to the states. Legitimate differences of opinions may exist. What did you do to influence the platform? Since anti gay marriage and anti civil union things have passed in 30 some states, and only church body is out there in favor of marriage equity, maybe the problem lies in the churches and not the politicians.

 

And let's put the end to this "I can't do anything, it all sucks, big corporate runs everything, its all corrupt." That is just wrong. Yes there is big money there and the corporations do it - and you know how that is fought? By the people taking control. The internet solicitation of funds has been fantastic for grass roots movements and political campaigns. In this election cycle, people have matched the corporate money pretty well which is why we may see great change tomorrow. We can fight back. How much have you gven for your causes, to make them happen politically?

 

Let's put it this way: if you favor universal health care, then you better vote Democratic tomorrow. The Democrats don't have it all worked it, but it sure won't come from a Republican congress. You want choice, you want the minimum wage raised, you want to end the upper tax bracket tax cuts, you want the war to end, you want decent Supreme Court justices who will throw Bush's torture and denial of haebus corpus out, you care about the environment, you vote Democratic because it will be decided in the political realm. The Democrats might not be perfect on any issue, but the movement in those directions will come from there. And unless they have a majority, the Republicans will set the agenda.

 

If there is a strong Democratic vote tomorrow, the national direction will change. God damn us all for our sin if we allow the current regime to get a boost out of tomorrow's vote, Bush will be unstoppable. I mean that God damn us if we shirk our responsibility to vote against torture by not supporting candidates who are opposed to it. In all of this: where are you?

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There is no point in having a platform whatsoever if it just boils down to "everyone can believe whatever they want to so we won't take a stand on the issue." That the Democratic Party platform on Iraq in 2004 took no position on the morality of the war in Iraq--which I considered to be the single most important issue of that campaign--and it was a travesty. To me, it epitomized what is wrong with the Democrats in a nutshell.

 

And let's put the end to this "I can't do anything, it all sucks, big corporate runs everything, its all corrupt." That is just wrong. Yes there is big money there and the corporations do it - and you know how that is fought? By the people taking control.

 

I couldn't agree with you more. I have never said that the people can't fight back against the corruption of the two-party system that rules the American Empire. On the contrary, I have said just the opposite. What I am arguing is that we cannot take back the system through means that involve being part of the corruption ourselves, or by becoming enablers or apologists for those who commit abuses. And that means being willing to speak truth to power regardless of which faction of the ruling elite--Democrats or Republicans--happens to hold power at the time. It means not being an apologist for a party when it commits abuses. In an earlier posting, I cited some recent examples of corporate whoring by the Democrats that have taken place in my own state. I do not believe we should stand silent when any party commits such abuses. To do otherwise is to lose one's way as an independent voice of resistance against the Empire and for the Kingdom of God.

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There is no point in having a platform whatsoever if it just boils down to "everyone can believe whatever they want to so we won't take a stand on the issue." That the Democratic Party platform on Iraq in 2004 took no position on the morality of the war in Iraq--which I considered to be the single most important issue of that campaign--and it was a travesty. To me, it epitomized what is wrong with the Democrats in a nutshell. I couldn't agree with you more. I have never said that the people can't fight back against the corruption of the two-party system that rules the American Empire. On the contrary, I have said just the opposite. What I am arguing is that we cannot take back the system through means that involve being part of the corruption ourselves, or by becoming enablers or apologists for those who commit abuses. And that means being willing to speak truth to power regardless of which faction of the ruling elite--Democrats or Republicans--happens to hold power at the time. It means not being an apologist for a party when it commits abuses. In an earlier posting, I cited some recent examples of corporate whoring by the Democrats that have taken place in my own state. I do not believe we should stand silent when any party commits such abuses. To do otherwise is to lose one's way as an independent voice of resistance against the Empire and for the Kingdom of God.

 

This is a solid statement against the illusion of social change through the two party shell game that we call the political system in this country. If social change can be ushered in through voting for the so-called Democratic Party politicians, please show me the names of all of the Democratic Party politicians that took an unwavering stand against South African apartheid? Did the Democratic Party denouce this 'KKK in Power' regime and stand firm against it and its international business supporters? The fact is the Democratic Party is the liberal wing of the Republican Party which is the conservative wing of the Democratic Party. Oh, NOW there's a problem with the war in Iraq! Oh, NOW the Democrats are having second thoughts about the war in Iraq! Where were they when Bush, the Empire's currnt CEO, began military action there? Where else...with all of the other Americans who love a good war! Please....I personally have fought in a war and am now solidly anti-war and have been politically active for many years working against the Empire's wars, against aprtheid, for women's rights, against racism, etc. When I ran for vice president of the student body at the University of New Orleans many years ago, I did so on the platform of 'US Out of Soth Africa!' while the other candidates played personality games...just what they learned from the American political system. Simply put, both liberal and conservative wings of the Empire's ruling party funtion as an illusion machine. The politicians for office will say anything to get elected and then go on to serve the ones who have funneled the money into their campaigns to get them elected. Certainly, there will be the occasional 'crumb' thrown out to the masses in the name of social progress. Honestly, now. How many Democrats voted AGAINST the military budget this year? Seems to be no problem funding the Empire's war machine, but, as pointed out on the NY Times on-line today, only 22 families have received financial aid to rebuild their homes 14 months after the hurricane disaster! Keep in mind that war is just politics in another form and it's plain to see where the priorities are in this country. Enough of this oil war! Bring the troops home NOW! End the violence! Feed the hungry and house the homeless! Anything less is a mockery of Christianity. As we said in the late '60s and we need to say again...PEACE NOW!

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