More fun in politics
Posted By Sika on October 18, 2006
Tuesday night there was a debate among the candidates for Cantwell’s spot in the U.S. Senate. Or wait, I mean among 3 of the 5 candidates. That’s right, Aaron Dixon, the Green candidate, and the independent candidate Robin Adair were excluded. What was the reason? Oh, that they didn’t have $1.2 million in their campaign funds. The other criteria that may be met to be included in the debate can be seen here. The Libertarian candidate, Guthrie, was able to come up with the money. He did this by mortgaging his house to the hilt and putting up his life savings. Aaron Dixon was arrested when he tried to come and participate in the debate.
So what does this mean? Well, it means that only people supported by the major, corrupt, political parties and people who have their own personal wealth can participate in the political process. While this has been understood to be a major factor in politics, very rarely has it been codified so blatantly.
Incidentally, Dixon’s campaign has raised twice as much as Guthrie’s has from sources other than the candidates themselves. Guthrie, at least, has enough integrity that he asked that Dixon and Adair also be included in the debate.
Sarah said that the reason why people are so quiet about the Bush regime; the ridiculously power grabbing politics; the certain and almost certain rigging of election results; the death and death and more death; the torture codified into law, allowing a president to define the entire country’s morality; the culture of fear that is perpetuated by those who want us to be worried about nothing more than price of gas and the black guy who is surely just waiting to rape us or steal from us; the civil liberties that are infringed upon in the name of fighting terrorism, the welfare given to corporations and the military machine at the expense of the American people; the leader of the free world playing his racist, religiously-prejudiced, I am god games, is because ultimately that they agree with the way things are.
So I put it to you, my LJ friends: Do you agree with how the State of the Union is being run? If you are, what keeps you happy? If you aren’t, are you loud and proud in your dissent? What do you do to make things better? Do you have ideas for those of us who are frustrated but don’t know what to do?
Flores Forbes today (thanks, Bea!) said that the only way we can change anything is to be organized. We don’t have the option of going back to the techniques of the 60s and 70s (for one thing, COINTELPRO had nothing on the Big Brothering available today). So how do you join your voice with others? Or do you?
edited to not misquote.
I said people agree with it, which is different than being happy or content with it. There’s a difference between willfully looking the other way while your representation is being a bully for you, and being happy about it.
And, I think everyone who was out for blood after 9/11 and was perfectly behind the war THEN who conveniently are upset about how it has gone down since then, gets to shut the fuck up and eat their breakfast cold. They got exactly what happens when you support war. What has happened during every administration in the US during every war we have taken a major part in? The same things happening now.
The atrocities happening now are not much different than what the US has been doing to people around the world, and here, for hundreds of years to people of color and to the lower classes. The current administration is just blatant enough to show their true colors, and to start stepping on the mid to upper classes right along with the rest.
People with privilege in the US have had a history of supporting that privilege, even if it’s only with their silence. How often do you hear people say they support the troops for giving us our freedom? You know as well as I do what our troops have been ordered to do, even just in our life times, to maintain that “freedom”.
And using our fear to control us? We’re so indoctrinated to play in to that, it’s not funny. Fear has been used to control the US population since the founding of the original colonies.
Rebellion has been part of our history, too. I don’t think only organized people count, in that effort. Even one single person living their lives in any way that counters the evils that be, influences the world around them. Being organized with lots of other people who have the same agenda is good, don’t get me wrong. But I think influencing hundreds of years of a culture of privilege gotten by violence is a multi-faceted process, and each person who does their part (even if it’s in their own way) is just as important as the other.
My current interest; finding an organized group of people who support my agenda. I’m not interested in just tagging along for the ride with just any old group speaking out. You have to admit that not everyone speaking out is necessarily trying to fix the problem in a manor you might condone.
My friends, are you willing to give up your comforts and your life to change this country? I am.
All you sisters and brothers out there sipping your morning Starbucks, and eating your McDonald’s breakfast, complaining about the horrible state of the world, I say, “Fight the power!” and “Keep on keeping on, my brothas!”
heh heh.
I’m no fan of the Bush administration or the Repbulican right wing. Didn’t vote for them. I ocasionaly vote for socialy liberal/moderate republicans, but on the whole I’m politicaly liberal to moderate.
I think it is a mistake to overly vilify our government, at least in so much as you actualy believe they are some kind of mustache twirling bad guys with a secret plan to stick it to the poor and become masters of the planet etc…
There are two problems…
#1. To defeat an enemy you must understand them. If you underestimate their strengths and political appeal you won’t be able to effectively counter them. Fighting straw men won’t win a political fight in the long run.
#2. It makes people in the middle look at you like you are nuts. They sympathise with some of the presidents sentiments and ideas. If you ridicule everything about them, and make exagerated characatures they think you are the fools out of touch with reality. Better to start out small, and then introduce facts in a calm and rational way.
Bush is a human being, just like all of us. Rich, ya. Privalaged, yep. But still human. Clearly not the brightest bulb in the chandaleer either. Chances are good he actualy believes in much of what he says and has intentions that are “good”. Surely he does favors for his political supporters because that is how you win office. You can’t get there without support and you get support by being supportive in return.
In America everyone has a vote and a voice. It is up to people to use that power to maximum effect. Too many just stay home or think “my vote won’t count”. This is especialy true among the poor or the lower middle class. They offer a lot of excuses about being hard to vote or confusing or coming up with stories about tampering or what not. Excuses. Its up to each of us to take the power we have and exercise it to our utmost. Anything less is your own fault. Not to say we can’t look out for eachothers rights, and demand that we be given our due. Ther is power in numbers and organizing. But ulitmately you can’t pull the dead weight of the listless masses unless they take some individual responsiblity.
The republicans have been winning not just because of the right wingers. It is an alliance of the right and the center. They are losing the center now because of the war. Some of the dim but active bulbs are seeing what many of us saw before, that Iraq was a bad idea or at least a badly botched one. At least heindsight is better than nothing.
Extreems don’t like compremising, but in a democracy you have to get some consensus going to do anything. You either need to have such a great argument you can bring people around (civil rights for example) or you need to form a coalition with the middle and make some comprimises to avoid the other side doing the same thing.
America is pretty tame. Read up on how many other countries do things in the world and you will find we are still on the liberal end of the world spectrum on many accounts. Bush and company have been pushing us rightward, but they are really only baby steps. We can push back pretty well if we are smart about it.
I’d join the radical organization for moderate thinking if there were such a thing. I tend not to fall in with leftist causes because I often find they are just as totalitarian in their ideas as the right can be.
And as to fear. Very good point. I think it is equaly the fault of people for being afraid as the fault of those who seek to scare us. Ive seen and known many who create phantoms out of thin air all too often. We all have to work at being brave despite our fears. I think sarah is a good example of that. But TV news media today really rankles me the way it essentialy sells fear like a horror movie to the nightly audience. Shameful.