tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6998867759586853536.post4693317961777703252..comments2024-03-08T06:19:34.837-08:00Comments on Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox: #OccupyBernieSanders | Mickey Z. Cindy Sheehan's Soapboxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17978116636437776423noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6998867759586853536.post-87029679055712892812016-01-16T10:01:17.827-08:002016-01-16T10:01:17.827-08:00Liberalism is maintaining 'electoral college&#...Liberalism is maintaining 'electoral college' not one-person rule of election(s) and therefore, democratically elected. OLIGARCHS maintain plutocracy and that means 'military-Hegemony' rules militarily. The least five el Presidente's have been anarchists, or Oligarchs--one and all. Not one has halted any but the U.S. Constitution, for 'defense' purposes, since we have no defense here at home, being the aggressions against Humanity are 'offense'. <br /><br />The world's worst polluter is radionuclides: no clean-ups, and never answering why "socialism should be an offense against tyranny". Bernis smirks of ISO, and has liberalism of fecundity in purpose, inordinately he has never mentioned how he would formulate a peoples' willing socialism of coalitioning four u-s Socialist parties. for parity and not Green party parody!<br /><br />The Greens have never stood-up for replanting the demised deaths of black spruce forests in Alaska, and firs-p-Pines, white pines and Englemanii spruce Reforestrations in CO-WY. Medicare for all, any who have had payroll deductions should have been approved in 1961, but is usefulpolitical-stance for 18 years and older voters who constantly get succored into automatic responses of one-arty disparate "lack of ruling toward defending from any-and-alladionuclides"!<br /><br />Tyranny remains leadership offensive... Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09893916720968534520noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6998867759586853536.post-70210340279626618812016-01-15T09:34:41.223-08:002016-01-15T09:34:41.223-08:00I applaud both the words of Mickey Z and the respo...I applaud both the words of Mickey Z and the response by Nat. Truth is contained in both and I hope I can add a bit of such myself.<br /><br />To concentrate upon who occupies the White House is , in my opinion, to miss the real problems besetting our democratic institutions and thus our nation. The leadership of this nation has long since past from our elected officials and unto an oligarchical few who have used the power of money and influence to subvert our democratic processes to their own benefit and thus to the detriment of the vast majority of our citizenry.<br /><br />Does this mean that Bernie Sanders matters not? I think it does not. What it means, at least to me, is that the problem is complex and does not lend itself to simplistic one note solutions. Electing Sanders to the White House might engender a similar effect as did electing Barack Obama, much rhetoric and little else. It might see a battle royal commence between the Presidency and the Congress, if I have judged Senator Sanders correctly I would expect the latter.<br /><br />But what it will not do is resolve our myriad problems nor halt our slide into fascism, perhaps slow it a bit, perhaps not even that. Until and unless we the people understand the solution lies with us and not with any heroic figure we will continue to witness the US become as a third world nation, the jobs deserting us for cheap labor elsewhere, the money increasingly funneled to fewer and fewer, as well as a continual war for profit everywhere and in every form.<br /><br />In order to restore the power of the people we need to end the Citizens United distortion of democracy, we need to end the status of corporations as people and force these entities to pay their fair share as well. We desperately need sanity in the election process, a cost of over one billion dollars to compete for the Presidency is absurd and a tactic of control only. Ten million dollars to run for the Senate is a similar way of controlling our elected officials.<br /><br />Many nations, including our northern neighbor, have national elections taking weeks not years, costing a scant percentage of what we see spent here as well. In the interest of brevity ( aren't you glad) I will cease the list of other necessary remedies as I think all who read this know them well.<br /><br />\My point is that we must work, and work hard to restore a decent system to its original purpose, we must elect many more Bernie Sanders before we can truly make progress. More than the Koch Brothers, more than a corrupted Supreme Court, the illness that is killing our nation is a disaffected electorate removed from hope and to despairing to work for change.Doubledeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10628747161702225356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6998867759586853536.post-81534033579837887592016-01-15T04:57:37.213-08:002016-01-15T04:57:37.213-08:00These are all fair points, Mickey Z, and I appreci...These are all fair points, Mickey Z, and I appreciate you taking the time to spell it out. I agree with you on about 95% of your analysis, including the bankruptcy of the two-party system and the environmental-social destruction wrought by "our way of life," but what I don't quite follow is what your alternative is to electoral politics. <br /><br />"What are you doing -- each and every day -- to help bring down this global system of oppression and exploitation before there’s nothing left?" you ask. But has it ever occurred to you that there is no way of bringing down this system? I mean, it's been in place forever, so what makes you think it is ever going anywhere? <br /><br />And if there is a way to bring it down, what is it? I remember how many people put their hopes in Occupy, despite that movement's complete lack of strategic vision (failing to even issue any demands while it camped out in downtown parks), and all the while I knew, this was a flash in the pan, at best. <br /><br />"Building coalitions"? Okay, so we build some coalitions, what then? Do you really think that coalition-building is any match for true power? Do you even know what true power is? Let me tell you: true power lies in the halls of Congress, in the bowels of the State Department, on K Street and Wall Street, in the Oval Office.<br /><br />A bunch of crunchy hippies giving speeches in Zuccotti Park have no power whatsoever. People who have power are office-holders, members of Fortune 500 boards of directors, elected officials.<br /><br />None of this is to say that people should not organize and agitate -- they should. But it's not wise to discount the power of the presidency and pretend it doesn't matter who sits in the Oval Office. I have doubts whether Bernie Sanders can accede to that position given the nature of US electoral politics, and if he does make it whether he will be able to accomplish anything, but even a cynic like me can see how preferable that is to any of the other alternatives.<br /><br />If people want to put their energies into getting him elected, I say go for it. It's not like people are doing much else anyway.Nathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11342591948929518756noreply@blogger.com