Watching Out for Progressives Getting Co-Opted

This has happened many times before in American History. The people who previously wanted to progress away from cruel, evil system setups were too unaware of the appeasement and co-opting tactics coming for them from the ruling establishment to stop them in their tracks. So, the following conversation should not be mistaken for an anti-Bernie or anti-AOC clip, but rather as the kind of alertness we all must adopt, Bernie, AOC, you, and me.

Elected figures like Bernie and AOC walk a tightrope in the sell-out party they have been running in, not daring to run outside it because the artificial barriers against independents are so criminally high. I understand why they sometimes believe they must make compromises with the ruling ‘elites’ or adopt a staying-silent strategy on serious issues; but we – the people – are NOT walking this tightrope, and we must make sure not to be lured into spoiled mentalities or bad compromises out of blind loyalty, because once we shift into those gray zones, our champions must shift there, too, or even deeper into them, in order to not loose their footing. We must distinguish between their political survival tactics and our political needs. We must stick firmly to our goals, so that at one point or another, our champions in politics can do the same. So, here is that wakeful conversation that raises alertness but lacks the add-on I just added:

(Note: If the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for Graham Elwood and the title: “Will Bernie & AOC Sellout Progressives? — The Political Vigilante”)

Let there be no doubt: Bernie has won a special place in my heart he is unlikely to ever lose, even when I think he makes a wrong strategic choice (as, for example, I did when he endorsed $Hillary instead of forming a people’s party like Abraham Lincoln did in a similar situation; or when he failed to expose the DNC’s rigging of the 2016 primaries; and when he fell in with the Russiahhhgate BS in order to cuddle up with a zombie-like dumb-witted half of the “D”-party base and to delay being lynched by the corporate media). I’d also want him to speak out for Julian Assange, a free press, and free speech for all, and speak out more readily against regime change attempts and similar global U.S. terrorism. I also see Bernie and AOC as being only partly along the way of “socialism” and especially AOC needing to learn more in that field. I can understand her tightrope walk, as well. I still like her a lot despite this and that shortcoming, hoping she will keep growing in the correct direction. I do keep alert to when people like her and Bernie make mistakes or are drifting towards or even over the line that divides fighting for justice and liberty for all from working for the status quo. We, the people, must grow smarter, more alert, and more demanding as time goes by. Our nation was ruined when entire generations of Americans went to sleep. I can hear some of our nation’s founders spinning in their graves.

I know, the video shared above is not easy to stomach for some of us. We don’t want our political champions to be hurt with possibly inappropriate attacks on their street cred. The point I am trying to make here is different: not to claim that Bernie and AOC have sold out or are going to do so. Nor to debate what mistakes they have ever made. (We all make mistakes. It’s human.) Rather, my point is that we, the people, must stand firm on our position so that our champions can build their fortresses there rather than having to let themselves be pulled further and further away by the establishment forces who have developed great expertise in doing this over the centuries. We must stay on the alert and call back our champions when they range too far. We, you, I, and millions of fellow Americans, play a much bigger role than we usually realize. Bernie has been trying to make us understand this. It’s time we do.

P.S.: By the way, if this video gave you some willies, the coming Video Weekend will rather please you with some remarkably nifty videos coming up. Keep your eyes peeled. 😉

 

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Democracy Must be Learned

The probably biggest reason why we have no democracy in America, but merely the undermined and bought-up trappings thereof, is that most of us are complete amateurs in the area of the people’s rule and therefore do everything wrong. Read on!

Back when our founders created a democracy in our freshly born nation, they also declared that our country would need an informed citizenry if it were to keep its democracy.

An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people. ~ Thomas Jefferson

Video Weekend 04-14-2018 (11 videos)

Some videos I wanted to share for weeks kept slipping through the cracks (what with me having all sorts of existential battles to fight each week and day). Here they finally are, and then some. There’s a lot of bern in this compilation.

1. Inequality
2. Mentality
3. Party Corruption
4. Media
5. Foreign Policy
6. War

 

I. Inequality

To start, here is the full recording of the inequality town hall of Bernie Sanders which you probably have seen already somewhere (I think I may have shared at least a small clip from this already). More videos further below refer to it. If you want to (re-)watch or search through the whole event, you can do it right here:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Bernie’s Inequality in America National Town Hall – TYT Summary “)

• Note: Very important point: the top 10% (not just 1%) do well enough and therefore do everything in their power to block the 90% below them from doing better.
• Question: How are people who can’t get a job join a labor union?
• Note: 44% of homeless people have a job but get paid too little to afford a home.
• Good comment by Darrick Hamilton: Can we simply work hard and study hard and [thereby] adress inequality. The answer is no.
• 1:08:45: How ourcorrupt laws are written.
• Note: Another good point: the establishment not only rigs our elections and legislative process but also works on lowering our expectations so we let it all happen.
• Noteworthy phrases: people being cut out of the game, shaming the poor
• Nice quote from Bernie: ”… this 1% that wants it all and is prepared to step on everybody.”

Comment: Dubious (neo?)-liberals wooing progressive voters are always saying that they and we want equality of opportunity. I am not satisfied with that. I want a less cruel system. In fact, I want a system that is NOT cruel.

And here is the TYT summary:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Bernie’s Inequality in America National Town Hall – TYT Summary”)

… and Kyle Kulinski’s commentary:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Michael Moore: Dems Need To Be A Party For Workers“)

… and “The Rational National’s” commentary:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Bernie And Michael Moore Slam Corporate Media’s Failure On Poverty “)

Everybody is empathetic, a self-serving “conservative” says (except he, apparently, who places the “Free Market” god above compassion and solidarity that he believes we simply cannot afford): — It’s sometimes helpful to check up on the other side of the fence in our divided society. So, under this link you can listen to a well-to-do, comfortable-all-his-life GOP/libertarian supporter ignorantly philosophizing over economics and reinforcing the to him so convenient belief that helping the disadvantaged is simply not possible or will miraculously happen by itself through the profit-driven market which doesn’t give a rat’s tail about people’s misery. (btw, loosing abysmal jobs with slave wages is actually a good thing, not a bad thing, if we make it possible to replace them with better alternatives – and the example of McDonalds replacing people with machines happened actually in the context of McDonalds having had record profits; furthermore, Bill Gates created only a microscopic portion of “his product”, so why does he get almost all the profit? … Like many confused folks, this guy does get some points at least somewhat right, such as that rising student loans without university price regulations drives the prices for university attendance up (it’s only part of the story, though, as usual). For the same reason, by the way, a universal basic income or federal job program shouldn’t come without safeguards like rental price control to prevent rent usury that could undo any widened prosperity).

 

II. Mentality

People’s inside diseases result in a sick society. Meet the quasi-religious mentality at the top of our dungheap society pooping down on us below:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “The Religion Of Libertarianism“)

 

III. Party Corruption

Topics: a fool’s errand to run as an honest candidate inside a corrupt party; no law enforcement concern over Americans stealing elections from Americans (only Russian suspects of minor electoral shoplifting seem to matter), election officials who tear up ballots, immunity of white-collar criminals, corporate and government crimes being the biggest of all crimes by far, helping culture and society instead of only a few individuals, etc.:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “[106] Democrats Destroy Democracy, Banks Launder Money For Terr¤rists w/ Tim Canova“)

 

IV. Media

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Bernie Keeps Shíttíng On The Media & It’s Glorious “)

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Bernie Hammers Corporate Media: They Cover Stormy Daniels Instead Of Poverty!“)

If it doesn’t get too repetitive, here is a similar commentary by Mike Figueredo.

 

V. Foreign Policy

The “World Police” fosters dictatorships and war:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Bernie Stands Up To War Machine! Introduces Yemen Resolution “)

 

VI. War

An exact replay of last year’s media stunt[1] to legitimize yet another American war crime in the Middle East[2]:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “WEB EXCLUSIVE: Strikes In Syria – The Hard Facts (with Max Blumenthal)”)

Note: the U.S. Military Industrial Complex creates and supports Islamist terrorism (together with Saudi Arabia and Turkey). Are some eyes finally opening?

 

VII. Special Conversation

In this excellent conversation of two champions, Nick Braña from the Movement for a People’s Party talks with Tim Canova about leaving the “Democratic Party” and a lot more:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Tim Canova leaves the Democratic Party! Takes on Debbie Wasserman Schultz as an independent!“)

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Sharp Analysis of Running Independent

When we want necessary change and no more corrupt politicians, we get mocked and told that we’re showing up to a knife fight with a spoon. I say, when a true people’s candidate tries to run for office within a major party that cheats him out of the race, that is showing up to a knife fight with a spoon. Leaving such a corrupt party to run as an independent is picking up a gun, because either winning or being a “spoiler” will topple the corrupt party bosses who cheated the honest candidate that way (at least when he is running against one of of them). Mike Figueredo sees Tim Canova’s courageous move the same way:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Tim Canova Running as an Independent Against Wasserman Schultz”)

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Ending Note: It takes me at least 100 hours a month to research and write for this site and work on my book. Please widely share links to these articles or help in any other ways. Only together can we change this messed-up world. 🙂

Video Weekend 04-07-2018, Part B: Jimmy Dore (5 neat videos)

Last weekend, I featured Lee Camp a lot (including a “So, who is Lee?” segment sharing a more personal interview with him). This weekend, a lot of great Jimmy Dore videos piled up, most of which I didn’t have the time to include in yesterday’s video weekend compilation. To repair that, here are the ones I couldn’t include yesterday but would have liked to. They are some of his best. If you missed them during the last few days, I hope you have the time today to watch them. Enjoy! Especially #2 is superb!

 

I. Good one: Behold the lock-step march of the establishment’s propaganda-spewing Big Media monopoly, spiked with their script-reading talking heads (all massively overpaid so they won’t question their treacherous work). Jimmy reminds us how this propaganda army was enabled by Bill Clinton and the neoliberal Fake-Democrats, out to destroy the last vestiges of democracy together with their Republican buddies while pretending to protect it. The work of two corrupt political gangs… pardon me… “parties”:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Sinclair Media Nightmare Made Possible By Clinton & Democrats“)

 

II. Excellent one: Upsetting the apple cart. Tim Canova, who challenged utterly corrupt Debbie Wasserman Schultz in 2016 and – by all appearance – was cheated out of the race with election fraud just like Bernie Sanders, has left the “Democratic” Party to fight Wasserman Schultz from the outside since fighting from the inside was made impossible by the corrupt party bosses. This led to a really cool conversation with Jimmy Dore about our rigged elections (and the Russian phantoms) with some hard facts:

(Note: if the video linked above gets deleted, you may search the Internet for the title: “Tim Canova Leaves Democratic Party & Support Increases”)

The point: when retaking democracy from within the “Democratic” Party is impossible (because of systemic criminality in the party leadership), then the fight must be brought from the outside.  

The People’s Position Must be NO!

Once you realize how thoroughly our country’s system is rigged in all its aspects — the economy, the government, elections, and the corporate mass media — the only logical stance to take is to reject it.

As it turns out, we are getting played every second of our lives. At work we are being bossed around from the top with the virtual gun of financial ruin held to our head, and so we are forced not only to put up with abusive treatment and little to no say, but with shamefully low pay after having much of the value we create through our work stolen from us when it is swiped into the vaults of CEOs and shareholders (or single company owners in the case of non-traded companies).

When we pay rent, we are being made to finance the acquisition of real estate by our landlords, and when we pay a mortgage we are being made to enrich the banksters. When we seek help in a health crisis, we are being made to enrich doctors, insurance magnates, and the owners of drug companies and equipment manufacturers while our health is merely a second or third priority or no consideration at all. When we try to get a good education, we are forced to go into possibly lifelong debt only to never find a good job despite great qualifications.  

Interview with a Legend

Amazingly, not so long ago, we had a regime which dismantled our protections under the Bill of Rights, caused the death of at least a million of people by the violence of its war profiteering, ordered acts of abduction and torture, abolished due process, put us all under extreme surveillance, and generally raped our nation from the comfort of the White House for no less than two presidential terms without ever having been actually elected.

Give to the “Democratic” Party — What For?

It is raining demands to donate to the “Democratic” Party and their allied organizations (like MoveOn.org), and I keep asking myself: why the hell would I give them money? To finance yet another grand show of fake primaries?

I gave to Bernie Sanders last year, but – quite frankly – I was still a little naive back then, and didn’t pay close attention to whether I was contributing to his campaign directly or via the cheating DNC which raked in millions of dollars in donations by dangling Bernie in front of our eyes while it secretly installed Shillary as their November candidate. Just think of the civil lawsuit brought against the DNC about this fraud… The DNC crooks sent their lawyers into the courtroom to declare that it’s perfectly legal for the DNC to sit in back rooms, smoking cigars and picking their candidates, no matter what the voters want who gave them donations not realizing they were financing a complete charade.

Well, in that case, why would I ever let a penny of mine get anywhere near the DNC in the future?

Listen to me, “Democratic” Party leadership: When you dismiss me, I dismiss you. Good-bye and good riddance!

A political party which can just do anything with the money we give it, regardless of what we give it for, is not worthy of my support.

The same goes for the Republican Party, of course. When have we last seen a real people’s representative on their ballots? Only independents and third-party candidates are worth our support nowadays. The two corrupt political gangs have sold us out and denied us our constitutional democracy long enough. Time we take our government back from them, and then our economy from the robber billionaires for whom both major parties work and who hold us in wage slavery and poverty, aiming to not only own title on most of everything, but the whole world and us who live in it.

Addendum: To avoid misunderstandings, when worthy candidates (against all odds!) appear on the ballot with a “D” by their names, I may still vote for them if no better independent or third party candidates did make it on the ballot. Just don’t expect me to throw away my hard-earned and insufficient-for-a-good-life money on faked primaries. Nobody should do that. And to reiterate the other issue: I want a true people’s party, whether it comes about via an internal revolution within the “Democratic” Party or via successful launch and growth of a new party with built-in bottom-up democracy as opposed to the party duopoly’s anti-democratic top-down mind manipulation and chain of command.

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Reading Weekend 8-26-2017: The People’s Party Looms

Fork In The National Road: A New Progressive Supermajority Party Is Forming (HuffPost )

How will Senator Bernie Sanders react? Which path will you take?

The time is ripe. The Democratic and Republican parties, private political clubs, are not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution and do not represent the people who elect them, yet have a stranglehold on our electoral system. People are fed up. Hemorrhaging voters, the Dems and Reps are each down to around a fourth of the voters, already minority parties. Progressives — those who support minimum wage, social justice, strong environmental protection, 21st century infrastructure and universal healthcare and oppose corruption, invasive wars and corporate welfare — are meanwhile 66%, two-thirds of voters, the U.S. supermajority.

We as a people therefore stand at a fork in the national road.

The country’s Progressive supermajority could sweep every local, state and federal election if it united.

This weekend, I recommend taking a break from watching videos and suggest that we instead take the time to read a very worthwhile long piece for which a busy work week rarely leaves any time. Why? Because this is a really good piece, a great follow-up to my popular piece from last April: Is the Time Ripe for a New Party? The article I recommend, appeared a few days ago and has critical updates. It announces the upcoming People’s Convergence Conference and details why America is at the doorstep to forming a new party. It also gives a thorough review of Bernie Sanders and the 2016 election, including its rigged primaries, election fraud, corporate media collusion, and how the Clinton Camp got us the Trump presidency. It reviews the decades-long corruption of neocons and neoliberals, and how their Property Party with its two right wings (the Republican and “Democrat” wing) keeps us, the working people from having a say in our government. It’s all there. So, despite its length and a startling bunch of typos (which suggest there was no editor involved!), this article is worth reading. That it made it onto the Huffington Post is also enough of a miracle to make it a must-read.

Here is the link: Fork In The National Road: A New Progressive Supermajority Party Is Forming (HuffPost)

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We Want to Vote for Someone Who Is Not A Crook – And We Can!

All of us are sick of the rigged system, the corruption in high places, and the two corrupt main party candidates for president. It’s not surprising why: All prosperity flows to the top. Every year things get worse. More and more of us eek our way through life from the cradle to the grave without any hope. And just take a look at those main party candidates: