As the presidential and congressional campaigns move toward their final destination -- Election Day -- this November, it is becoming abundantly clear that we no longer have two distinct political parties offering competing visions of how to address the needs of our country and its citizens. Instead, the GOP has morphed into a legislative arm of multi-national corporations, who have bought them out lock, stock and barrel -- not for the betterment of our society as a whole, but for the benefit of a small group of special interests and corporate elite. The Democratic party, on the other hand, offers little in the way of distinction from or resistance to the GOP, and while the Dems may still be thought of in some circles as the "Peoples Party" -- if only in fond memory -- they have more truthfully degenerated into merely the "lesser of two evils." Both parties have much work to do to regain the trust and respect of the American people.
That the Democratic Party is not denouncing from the rooftops the horrific legislative goals of the GOP is really quite stunning. Simply re-stating the GOP's agenda verbatim and clearly pointing out why they oppose it would likely deliver a clean sweep for Democrats in Congress and a second term for Obama on November 6. The Dems must remove their kid gloves before it is too late. They must stop pretending that there is no planned sellout of our nation by the GOP to the elite, monied 1%, who seek nothing less than to exploit the other 99% of us with impunity. Republicans openly seek to tear apart decades of American progress that created a strong, working middle-class and gave every American -- regardless of race, color, religion or social status -- the opportunity to achieve their goals and fulfill their dreams in their lifetime. Instead, Republican-sponsored legislation like deep tax cuts for the wealthy and de-funding of critical government agencies have threatened to turn America into a shell of what we once were, with a bleak future of diminishing prospects for our children and their children.
The Progressive Republican Party of Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln is long dead and buried. For the past 40 years, their crude replacements have conducted an unrelenting assault on our nation's democracy, values, humanity and rights, with a sickening greed and lust for power that has perverted our national discourse. Today, we are offered only two parties (if that) to represent us, when we need three or four, with clear differences in policy and purpose that offer real choice to voters. Yes, we have the Green Party and the Working Families Party, but they are mere specks on the radar screen, unable to establish a political presence with any muscle here in the US. How many people even know that the likely presidential candidate of the Green Party is Dr. Jill Stein? She is a remarkable woman who alone could have put any of the GOP presidential contenders to shame simply with her depth and breadth of knowledge on the issues of the day. Yet she is ignored, with little or no media coverage of her campaign and her clear Progressive vision -- a vision that likely frightens establishment Dems, too.
In this election year, we can expect more purging of voters across the country and more super PAC money thrown in by a small band of super-wealthy right-wingers, who will up the stakes as the months roll on with increasing numbers of attack ads featuring distortions and outright lies against Dem candidates. The sheer volume and ferocity of the assault against our President between now and November 6th will be unique in our history, and will lay bare the malevolence of the GOP. The Dems have little hope of competing with the unlimited money being generated by the super PACs, thanks to the Supreme Court's toxic Citizens United decision. The outrage has been so loud nationwide that the Senate is planning to hold hearings at the end of this month on an amendment to overturn this nakedly political ruling by the Court's conservative majority (so where was your willingness to change your mind then, Chief Justice Roberts?). This issue has finally reached the national consciousness, and we must act as a nation to rid ourselves of this scourge if we have any hope to survive as a democracy and salvage our Republic. In the past few days, President Obama has made phone calls from Air Force One to donors, suggesting the GOP could win both Congress and the White House -- a terrifying prospect. And for the first time in history, an incumbent president might not raise enough money to secure victory, and ominous possibility being expressed in fundraising emails both from Vice President Joe Biden and our president.
Today, some 1,300 federal lobbyists are out there plying their trade, influencing legislators and writing bills that shred regulations and gut our cherished safety net programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid that helped make America great among the world's nations. Members of Congress leave office to become lobbyists and lobbyists come in to become members of Congress and Presidential Cabinets -- a dizzying merry-go-round of corruption so blatant it astounds. The influence of these political hustlers is a major reason for the quagmire that is Congress, where forward movement is non-existent, even on critical legislation like President Obama's American Jobs Act, or proposals to fight global warming and even deal with the recent wild fires in Colorado. Since January, there have been 40,000 high temperature records recorded, yet the climate crisis continues to be ignored -- and even disputed -- by the GOP.
Republicans offer no solutions to a myriad of other issues, not the least of which is a trade agreement currently being negotiated behind closed doors, dealing with the Trans Pacific Partnership that will out-NAFTA NAFTA. 600 corporate advisors have been allowed to see a draft of the U.S. proposals, while the public denied access, according to Public Citizen. More control and power will be delivered to multi-national corporations, while stripping away yet more consumer protections and rights. And you can bet this agreement will not create new jobs for Americans at home, where employment numbers remain frozen at 8.2%, with a piddling 80,000 jobs added in June. Clearly our "recovery" continues to march to a slow beat. And for a real look at how far behind hard working Americans are in their pursuit of a rapidly fading American Dream, consider that 75% of the country earns $35,000 or less, workers income has increased only 7% since 1973, and 20 million in our nation earn $9,000 a year or less. These shocking facts were revealed on a recent Bill Moyers PBS program and were based on research by Peter Edelman, who worked with Robert F. Kennedy, in his superb book So Rich, So Poor. Meanwhile, corporate CEO'S and banksters are raking in more in compensation and perks than ever before.
With Republican governors conducting voter purges in battleground states and conservative super PACs running wild, the GOP appears to have all of the bases covered in their mission to re-seize control of our government. And let us not forget their in-house PR firm, Fox News -- those masters of fear and confusion that keep so many in our country misinformed. Opposing this juggernaut are the woeful Dems, who still don't even seem to know how to generate a basic, coherent message. The new advice from our President to his troops in Congress is "...go on offense." They certainly must, especially after the emboldening victory for the Affordable Care Act in the Supreme Court. A few days following the High Court's decision, House Dems raised $2.3 million in one day, their largest grassroots fundraising day in history, according to Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post. Meanwhile, the Romney campaign raked in $4.6 million in the first 24 hours following the ACA decision, and in the month of June, Romney raised a staggering $100 million.
Clearly, both campaigns have been energized, and both Obama and Romney are preparing to come out swinging come convention time. Here's hoping Obama lands a knockout punch with a narrative that galvanizes the nation. Tell the People the truth about the right-wing conspiracy and what America's future will really look like if the GOP gets a stranglehold on the House, Senate and White House. No horror movie plot could be more frightening.
I will end with a quote from one of our most celebrated Supreme Court Justices:
"We may have democracy, or we may have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." - Louis Brandeis, Associate Justice of The Supreme Court from 1916-1939
- with Jonathan Stone
 |
 |
|
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Electoral Votes (270 to win) |
332 | 206 |
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 65,899,660 | 60,932,152 |
| Percent | 51.1% | 47.2% |
| Democrats* | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Current Senate | 53 | 47 |
| Seats gained or lost | +2 | -2 |
| New Total | 55 | 45 |
| Democrats | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Seats won | 201 | 234 |
Clearly, we need a new electoral system that can incorporate third parties effectively. The only way to allow for third parties is to eliminate "strategic voting" - the reason people still vote for the "lesser of two evils"
I can only think of one solution, really: vote for a third party. Sounds silly, seeing as how pointless it is... but there's simply no other way. If enough people move their support from the establish duopoly to the third parties, they can be pushed into the spot-light, into the debates. If enough people are moving from the established parties, the sitting party may try to offer a compromise. And the only compromise that will do any good is to change the electoral system, at least in the house and senate levels, to a more proportional system, or an instant run off system.
Its unlikely either established party will do this unless their backs are against the wall. The only way to do that is to put the pressure up by supporting Greens (if you're liberal) or Libertarian (if you're a bit more conservative) - the two duopoly parties hardly work for anyones benefit, despite all their rhetoric. The remaining decent Ds and Rs should agree, if speaking candidly on their party...
There is a great deal to be dissatisfied with "Obamacare", but not for the reasons the GOP spews. How do we create a more informed population? It starts with caring about the state of our nation and that means an investment of time in searching out TRUTHS about issues.We cannot remain our own worst enemy.
Then one day the boss said he was tired of all the complaining and if we wanted to change it go right ahead. So all day people would tweak the temperature up or down and were satisfied that they finally had control. What they didn't know was that the boss had disconnected that thermostat, and the actual temperature was set by another one out of sight.
Our elections have become the public thermostat. They give the people enough sense of control to keep them satisfied even while they don't really have any control at all.
Obama didn't exactly have a lock on my vote before, but he completely lost me when he extended the Bush tax cuts. If that was what I wanted, I would have voted for McCain.
Yes, this tax cut extension awful. But this week O is now on the tax issue on the campaign trail. A hot potato.
President Obama has not been able to deliver on all his promises, and he has broken some important ones. However, without his leadership and political courage, we would still be wallowing in the most severe economic crisis since the 1930s instead of edging forward in uncertain recovery; the American auto industry would be a 20th-century phenomenon; Don't Ask, Don't Tell would still be the law of the land; children of illegal immigrants would be deported in business as usual; the meager gains of the Affordable Care Act would be beyond our societal reach for another generation; I could go on and on.
Progressives, if you want real change in November, I urge you not to vote for a third party candidate who will surely throw the election to the reactionary Republican Party--how did that work out for us all in 2000? Instead, get out on the street, help the Occupy Movement, get people registered and help get out the vote, do your own research and make intelligent and realistic choices on candidates from school board to President. To paraphrase Joe Hill, don't mourn (or whine), organize.
Agree to most of what you write. There are accomplishments with major sell outs thrown in however. yes, while bailing out the auto industry, but where was the bail out for hard working Americans? And please don't get me started on the failures of ACA, a major sell out to the health insurance industry. I see you are taking the position that something was accomplished.
Just wait until the states refuse to extend Medicaid and pay to insure those uninsured.
Yes a third party may muddy the waters and split votes but drastic change is needed in a system that offers little choice and is failing miserably. I totally agree that people need to become involved, better informed and most importabt VOTE.
We need a real Democratic party, for the people. Or a third party (which would make it a TWO party system again.)
Great post, Pearl!
We need a progressive party that would represent core Dem values. What the Dem party used to be.
Glad the post resonated with you.
"The Soviet Union had a single, entrenched, systemically corrupt political party, which held a monopoly on power. The US has two entrenched, systemically corrupt political parties, whose positions are often indistinguishable and which together hold a monopoly on power. In either case, there is, or was, a single governing elite, but in the United States it organizes itself into opposing teams to make its stranglehold on power seem more sportsmanlike. It is certainly more sporting to have two capitalist parties go at each other than just having the one communist party to vote for. The things they fight over in public are generally symbolic little token of social policy, chosen for ease of public posturing. The Communist party offered just one bitter pill. The two capitalist parties offer a choice of two placebos. The latest innovation is the photo finish election, where each party pre-purchases exactly 50 percent of the vote through largely symmetrical allocation of campaign resources and the result is pulled out of statistical noise, like a rabbit out of a hat. It is a tribute to the intelligence of the American people that so few of them bother to vote."
The integrity (what little there is left) of our political system and the corruption by money that has come to control every aspect of our political processes should be as clear to all as it is to you. The power of money and the constant forced quest for it, now enshrined by Citizens United and SCOTUS, controls our candidates, campaigns, the media, elected reps, all legislation, and even our courts; one party tells us to our face they represent the rich and powerful and the other does much the same behind our backs while speaking soothing words to our face; both are delivering lies and deceit rather than truth in any meaningful measure.
Unless we face the truth that when a very small minority controls the greatest percentage of wealth in our nation by far, and that great wealth is viewed as "free speech", we will continue down the road to de facto Fascism/Corporatism and the effective disenfranchisement of the vast majority of Americans. Our republic and now quaint notions of one-person, one-vote democracy and the Common Good are made an obscene mockery by rampant greed and corruption; the power of money alone to control our legislative process to further advantage that greedy minority; ideas and non-partisan leadership now long dead.
Thanks for contributing in clear terms to my post. It all boils down to removing da money which has bred this awful corruption in our political system.From the bottom up is the only way to remove that black shroud engulfing our nation. It won't happen from the top down for sure.