where progressives network
Democrats moving to the "Center", or Fascism growing?
It amazes me that so many self described "Progressives" also label themselves as pragmatists and fall in line with the Democratic-corporate-party line that we must compromise or move to the "center" and vote for a "lesser Evil" and not "waste our votes" (on someone that "can't win") all in the name of "winning".
Jesus the Christ (of 2000 years ago fame) was crucified by a majority and subsequently hailed as savior by a majority post mortem. Now I don't preach the words of any religion. But this is a perfect analogy for the stifled attempts to right a wrong society by the likes of true heroes such as Ralph Nader and Dennis Kucinich.
Kucinich has attempted to run "from within" the decayed and fouled system. And he has found his efforts hamstrung by the corporate interests time and again. The Dem party propels (allows) his candidacy to take hold in a single congressional district, where he will be one diluted voice amongst 450 or so others in the US congress. An easy way for the party to appear supportive to progressive candidates while simultaneously stifling their voices of tangible, humanist change.
"Here Dennis, you can run in the primary" And despite polling at 50-70% in many national opinion polls, we will cease asking you questions in the nationally televised debates. Eventually un-inviting you from the debates entirely, citing our "clean hands" as the debates are conveniently held by private corporations over which we have "no say". Oh, and if you choose to pursue the matter, the Party will be funding your adversaries in your little home town Congressional race.
Now Nader takes the other tack. Nader works his way up from blue collar nobody through the old boy system, graduates from Harvard with a law degree and immediately takes on corporate greed and hubris.
GM can't "afford" life saving seat belts in it's cars and pressured Chrysler and Ford to follow suit" Nader writes an investigative book on the matter, takes 'em to court and wins. Against the best paid, giant of a legal team in the country.
Ralph fights tirelessly, undaunted against greed, waste, environmental degradation, human rights violations, consumer protection fraud and on and on for over 40 years without involving his ego, without living lavishly on his settlements and reinvesting each public and financial gain into his fight for Justice.
So, when no actual Progressive candidates survive the two-party gauntlet to get into the Presidential election, he throws his hat and the weight of his humanist track record into the fray and runs for the highest office himself.
Initially, his efforts to run for President were admittedly half hearted and announced as a "non campaign" and a vote for "none of the above". His intention was to educate the American voters that they didn't have to vote for the "lesser Evil" and that they could hold the feet of corporate-stooge Politicians to the fire. This 'half' effort was easily swept aside by a (at the time) moderately under control media and a twin party system that spent most of it's time inflating the minor differences between themselves instead of championing the true uplifting values of either party.
So after seeing the futility of a halfway run for office in '96 and viewing that the choices for 2000 were slimmed down to "anybody but a Progressive, Green or Humanist", Nader decided to put forth a genuine effort. Backed by myriad Celebrities that had the fortitude to step off the party stage and back their own true 'Democratic' beliefs, Nader jumped into the mix, visiting each State, innumerable Cities and educating countless citizens in the ways of Government as idealized by the Constitution of the U.S.
Being outside the two party system makes one even easier to relegate to a non candidate. In a Nation that sees almost every issue as two sided, from two-team sports matches, "Good guy vs Bad guy" movies, "Good and evil in the Bible, 'pros and cons', yes or no, black or white and "which of the two parties are you for?" it was easy to take a candidate that wasn't backed by the financial muscle, media reach and solid standing of one of the two leviathan parties and hold them outside the door of every Nationally televised debate and frame them as a "spoiler" or other such nonsense label.
Nader has been working outside of politics as a "Citizen Activist" for two generations and has failed to break the Republican/Democrat sound barrier and reach the American people. This, despite his announced and well demonstrated positions falling well in line with the majority of national opinion polls on national and international polices.
In the 2000 Presidential election it has been well documented that the Republican party rigged very many aspects of that election and were responsible for a uniquely close and truly unfair election. To which the Democrats, loyally, claimed the election went to the Republican Candidate, not due to fraud or the fact that their uncharismatic "centrist" candidate couldn't even carry his home state but due to the fact that a third candidate running represents an effort to "ruin" or "spoil" the election, further embedding in the minds of Americans the perceived need of a two-candidate-only election paradigm.
So, despite having the pulse of the people, a rock-solid track record and running in a time of great tumult and need to make a hard left turn politically, truly Progressive candidates can't substantially gain the backing even of "progressive" voters.
It is time for a re-thinking of the way we do business in almost every way.
Instant run-off elections.
Single-payer, not-for-profit National health care for all.
Diplomacy, communication and Peace long before a very last resort of War.
Drug rehabilitation in lieu of addict-filled prisons.
Government owned Federal Reserve system.
Strong consumer protections in place in:
Economic Markets
Manufacturing
Food production
These are just a few of the things that more and more Americans are realizing that we need.
And the things that the Naders and Kucinich's have been trying to bring to the table for decades.
History has taught us that either we reinvent both our Government and Economic models or try and survive a bloody revolution on the streets of the world.
As for me, I've got to get back to my Playstation II that I bought back when I had a job.
Jesus the Christ (of 2000 years ago fame) was crucified by a majority and subsequently hailed as savior by a majority post mortem. Now I don't preach the words of any religion. But this is a perfect analogy for the stifled attempts to right a wrong society by the likes of true heroes such as Ralph Nader and Dennis Kucinich.
Kucinich has attempted to run "from within" the decayed and fouled system. And he has found his efforts hamstrung by the corporate interests time and again. The Dem party propels (allows) his candidacy to take hold in a single congressional district, where he will be one diluted voice amongst 450 or so others in the US congress. An easy way for the party to appear supportive to progressive candidates while simultaneously stifling their voices of tangible, humanist change.
"Here Dennis, you can run in the primary" And despite polling at 50-70% in many national opinion polls, we will cease asking you questions in the nationally televised debates. Eventually un-inviting you from the debates entirely, citing our "clean hands" as the debates are conveniently held by private corporations over which we have "no say". Oh, and if you choose to pursue the matter, the Party will be funding your adversaries in your little home town Congressional race.
Now Nader takes the other tack. Nader works his way up from blue collar nobody through the old boy system, graduates from Harvard with a law degree and immediately takes on corporate greed and hubris.
GM can't "afford" life saving seat belts in it's cars and pressured Chrysler and Ford to follow suit" Nader writes an investigative book on the matter, takes 'em to court and wins. Against the best paid, giant of a legal team in the country.
Ralph fights tirelessly, undaunted against greed, waste, environmental degradation, human rights violations, consumer protection fraud and on and on for over 40 years without involving his ego, without living lavishly on his settlements and reinvesting each public and financial gain into his fight for Justice.
So, when no actual Progressive candidates survive the two-party gauntlet to get into the Presidential election, he throws his hat and the weight of his humanist track record into the fray and runs for the highest office himself.
Initially, his efforts to run for President were admittedly half hearted and announced as a "non campaign" and a vote for "none of the above". His intention was to educate the American voters that they didn't have to vote for the "lesser Evil" and that they could hold the feet of corporate-stooge Politicians to the fire. This 'half' effort was easily swept aside by a (at the time) moderately under control media and a twin party system that spent most of it's time inflating the minor differences between themselves instead of championing the true uplifting values of either party.
So after seeing the futility of a halfway run for office in '96 and viewing that the choices for 2000 were slimmed down to "anybody but a Progressive, Green or Humanist", Nader decided to put forth a genuine effort. Backed by myriad Celebrities that had the fortitude to step off the party stage and back their own true 'Democratic' beliefs, Nader jumped into the mix, visiting each State, innumerable Cities and educating countless citizens in the ways of Government as idealized by the Constitution of the U.S.
Being outside the two party system makes one even easier to relegate to a non candidate. In a Nation that sees almost every issue as two sided, from two-team sports matches, "Good guy vs Bad guy" movies, "Good and evil in the Bible, 'pros and cons', yes or no, black or white and "which of the two parties are you for?" it was easy to take a candidate that wasn't backed by the financial muscle, media reach and solid standing of one of the two leviathan parties and hold them outside the door of every Nationally televised debate and frame them as a "spoiler" or other such nonsense label.
Nader has been working outside of politics as a "Citizen Activist" for two generations and has failed to break the Republican/Democrat sound barrier and reach the American people. This, despite his announced and well demonstrated positions falling well in line with the majority of national opinion polls on national and international polices.
In the 2000 Presidential election it has been well documented that the Republican party rigged very many aspects of that election and were responsible for a uniquely close and truly unfair election. To which the Democrats, loyally, claimed the election went to the Republican Candidate, not due to fraud or the fact that their uncharismatic "centrist" candidate couldn't even carry his home state but due to the fact that a third candidate running represents an effort to "ruin" or "spoil" the election, further embedding in the minds of Americans the perceived need of a two-candidate-only election paradigm.
So, despite having the pulse of the people, a rock-solid track record and running in a time of great tumult and need to make a hard left turn politically, truly Progressive candidates can't substantially gain the backing even of "progressive" voters.
It is time for a re-thinking of the way we do business in almost every way.
Instant run-off elections.
Single-payer, not-for-profit National health care for all.
Diplomacy, communication and Peace long before a very last resort of War.
Drug rehabilitation in lieu of addict-filled prisons.
Government owned Federal Reserve system.
Strong consumer protections in place in:
Economic Markets
Manufacturing
Food production
These are just a few of the things that more and more Americans are realizing that we need.
And the things that the Naders and Kucinich's have been trying to bring to the table for decades.
History has taught us that either we reinvent both our Government and Economic models or try and survive a bloody revolution on the streets of the world.
As for me, I've got to get back to my Playstation II that I bought back when I had a job.
Comment
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Comment by Alan Wasdahl on February 23, 2009 at 9:40am -
Thank you for this very good article. The first time I ever heard of Dennis Kucinich, was during a press conference held by PBS (this was years ago). All of the other candidates were speaking "corporate talk," I became frustrated just having to listen to this crap. I was just about ready to change the channel, then, I heard Kucinich. One issue after the next, he was saying all of the right things. It made me stop and take notice. I turned up the volume, I listened intently, and after his speaking for about 5 minutes, he had won my respect as a man of character and integrity. This was a genuine candidate of the people - I paused and then realized, he obviously won't stand a chance in getting any real corporate media attention. That was my introduction to Dennis Kucinich. I knew instantly that he was the real deal and simultaneously knew he didn't ever stand a chance.
Ralph Nader I have known of and admired for decades. If either the two political parties were genuinely concerned the well-being of the people — then why wasn't Ralph Nader ever approached by them to head up a task force on corporate abuse, health care, or practically any issue of social importance? Instead we have industry insiders at the heads of governmental agencies supposedly looking out for our best interests?
I agree, with your assessment, "It is time for a re-thinking of the way we do business in almost every way". But not only in the issues that you listed; after all, Ralph Nader often would talk about the majority issues - being the issues that a majority of the American people were in favor of. A majority of the American people were against NAFTA and the exportation of jobs and entire industries. An overwhelming majority of people were against the Wall Street/Banker/Financial bail out. And I'd imagine that an overwhelming majority of people would be against the privately owned Federal Reserve. So, a lot of people are already in agreeance — otherwise these would not be "majority issues." Therefore, what we have to re-think, is how do we overcome a corrupt system that is not responsive to the overall needs of it's people. This is what needs to be addressed.
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