They say there hasn’t been any change during the first
term of President Barack Obama, and I have to disagree. They say that hope and change were futile and
this President was a facilitator for creating a docile, sleepy populace, and
again, I have to disagree. Personally,
I’ve seen the change. I’ve seen the way
I’ve approached the whole idea of politics, politicians and the entire process
of getting what we want out of the only government we have to work with. I acknowledge this as change and this change in me
gives me hope.
The election of President Obama in 2008 was like turning
the lights on 400 hidden cockroaches. By the inauguration in 2009 you had elected officials meeting and vowing to make this man a one term president. Now we all know the richest families of this nation had turned this experiment in
democracy into an oligarchy—plain and straight.
Their successes didn’t occur because they were so smart, rich and
powerful, their power simply depended on our apathy. Their efforts for dominance, in the last 40
years specifically, were successful because the majority of US stopped paying
attention to, and engaging in, our politics.
Their power comes from being able to control media, commentary and yes,
activism—an activism that stops just short of solutions. Between misinformation, oppression and white
privilege, our energies have been channeled into rhetoric and a false awareness
that allowed some to vocalize their egos instead of giving the People a true voice. Why would we continue to push for the apathy
that gave these people dominance in the first place?
Things have changed so much for me; even the progressive
movement has come into scrutiny. Because
of all I’ve become aware, the far-left’s willingness to risk a Romney
presidency gives me pause. That they
haven’t truly figured out the matrix by now, for me, diminishes their credibility. That they would risk my freedom for some
high-browed principle that puts no food on the table is beyond me. Harsh?
Admittedly. But that’s what it
boils down to. This election is a first
step towards the America we’ve envisioned or the final step towards the fascism
we’ve all predicted. Sure, it can be
said this President is the lesser of two evils.
What else is new? This system is
indeed broken; always has been. It is
unfair and imperial and parasitic and should be demolished. Reformatted.
Rebooted. None of this can happen
if we are outside of this system and President Obama is no savior in this
regard. We have to get our hands
dirty. We have to understand the process
so we can change it. Standing on the
sidelines and complaining feeds this system.
Anyone considering themselves a champion for the poor, who does not
recognize that the middleclass are the poor and that the poor are now the
destitute, haven’t been paying attention and is merely feeding their own egos
by espousing this type of ineffective resistance. A person perched upon a heap of dung promoting
a tired, ineffective rhetoric becomes ego driven leader of excrement. As the heap grows, the louder they speak,
shit still stinks. Sometimes I have to
wonder for whom these people are working?
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not disparaging anyone’s effort. The proliferation of information is integral
to this process and I’m not asking that anyone remain silent. I have great love and respect for anyone that
tries to mobilize, educate and empower the people. I have great respect for people who use their
bodies in protest and dedicate their lives to effecting change. I adore people who spend their little dollars
to make sure I’m not marginalized. I
support truth in all forms. I love these
people for speaking it. I’m one of those
people so truly, sincerely; thank you and nice working with you. I’m
just saying that knowing our history, their history, the history of the system
is only the beginning. We have to learn
from what has already occurred and from what I’ve learned, we have a choice to
either revamp this system or shut it down.
New thought? Not at all, but which
option is more probable? It has to be either/or, not a smidgen of both. For
instance, in recent history we’ve seen how the protest has been completely
sidelined, and by the same token, we see the hordes of people still willing to
imbibe in this system of elections. People
are more apt to engage the machine, so what do we do? Do we set unrealistic goals where everyone in
America has to be progressive, radical, altruistic, vegan, atheist, and forego
everything we deem counter-revolutionary in order to effect change? Or, do we take over the machine? Do we spend even more decades in simply being
contemptuous of the system without a working strategy? This may make for millions in book sales and
punditry, but this is obviously proven unproductive as far as true progress is
concerned. We need time and a succinct
approach. For instance, we’ve had the
Occupy movement and now we need to supplement that, or the next one, with a
ground movement. We’ve got to come out
and engage the citizenry so they can understand what an Occupy is really all
about. We need to actually learn from
the Civil Rights Movement and work this new movement like a political
campaign. We need soap boxes on the
corner and to knock on doors. Unless we
are prepared to engage in a movement that looks like a presidential campaign, we
will continue to lose ground and find ourselves fighting battles that activists
before us have already fought and died for. Until we realize we need to back our
protesting bodies up with concrete legislation, we relinquish our sway with
politicians to corporate lobbyists. As
it stands, we’re not ready for any of that.
With a Romney Presidency, we will never get ready.
In my opinion, the next four years are pivotal. “They” are winning in turning back the clock
on the major accomplishments of our ancestors.
The national republican effort to suppress the vote should automatically
make everyone want to come out and vote.
No one, however anti-political should suggest or promote not voting in
such a climate. Knowing the history of
this country and voter suppression…man if voter suppression in 2012 does not
make you determined to vote just for GP…
I have no words. I have no words,
because that means that no matter what these 400 families try to pull, say for
instance; heeding Rand Paul’s assertion that ‘certain’ parts of the Civil
Rights Laws are unconstitutional or that States’ rights should always trump
federal mandate, says many people would stand by and watch anything go down while
taking a principled stance on the sidelines of those voting. Any horrid thing could be overturned and
enacted and then they’ll say “See” and “Told you voting meant nothing.” I don’t see this type of protest as
strength. It just makes us
invisible. I don’t see accusatory
elements ticking off atrocities as superior.
It just relegates us to pontificating.
All I know is that I have to vote because Emmett Till died for my right
to vote. Four little girls died at the
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church because people organized the vote at this
location. Fannie Lou Hamer was severely
beaten and disabled because of her efforts.
My heart breaks for them to date. Just
yesterday people were relegated to chanting, “Let us vote.” How can you turn your progressive back on
that? I have to vote. Only this time, to vote President Obama, to put
this President back in office is to put this President in the position to put
up or shut up because I’m on to this system now and he should be on to what it is the majority of
the people in this country really want. My
job isn’t done the second I pull the lever and merely pointing out his faults and the faults of the system is no longer
satisfying for me. Being aware of the “lesser
evil” philosophy doesn’t make me smarter, more effective, or less naïve than
anyone else. If this President says I
must make him reactive, then it behooves me to do so. It should behoove you to do so. I see no possibility of anything progressive being accomplished under
a Romney administration.
The System is tangible, workable; if only we use it. Sure, the more we use it, the more they try
and change it but they risk making the system vulnerable with each turn. “They” make mistakes when they change they rules. “They” are forced to show their
true face and the masses have been taking notice. That there are people, whose names I now
know, whose affiliations aren’t cloaked behind the occultist specter of the
Illuminati but revealed as think tank, Senator, Congressman, Judge, lobbyist,
media figure and corporation is a change for many. We can now see how the Heritage Foundation
and Koch Brothers created the Tea Party.
We can see how Alex Jones’ rhetoric simultaneously bash and protect banks
and corporations. We can see how Romney
unabashedly lies while Fox News corroborates each lie he utters. We’ve watched the Drudge Report pick and
choose anti-Obama related headlines however uncorroborated with facts. We’ve seen supposed Lefty media call a lying
Romney’s first debate performance a win.
We see the true strength of racism in how republicans rally their
constituency to vote against their own interest. We’ve seen the ineffectiveness of so-called progressive
leadership and how they’ve been reduced to complainers and whiners and are used to control the masses as effectively as Glen Beck--willingly
or unwillingly. Most importantly, we’ve
learned that if we relegate our political involvement to simply voting for a
president every four years, we end up with Scott Walker, Michelle Bachman, Jan
Brewer and Rick Scott, among others. These
oligarchs and their minions are against unions, have continually widened the
wealth gap and are not opposed to a failing economy to keep us hopelessly
indebted. They control the media, the
activism, elections and elected officials.
They control lobbyists that create laws that their corrupt politicians
institute on a state and federal level. They
would suppress your vote, your choice, your earning and learning abilities and
ultimately, your freedom. They have
rewritten history as we watched powerless to stop them. Doesn’t that at least irk you enough to vote their
main faction out of office?
I don’t fear "them," I see an out. It
isn’t that they are all powerful and omniscient it is simply that they are organized in contrast to
our disorganization. This makes them effective. We can be too. This twisted matrix they’ve created is now
revealed and would suffer a powerful blow simply by re-electing President
Obama. Will President Obama wave a magic
wand and shut down all military bases, make everyone rich and end sexism,
racism, militarism and corporatism? Of course not. First off, we see Presidents do not have that
power. They don’t have the power to
institute and fund legislation on their own.
That is the nature of the Constitution where there are checks and
balances. Ultimately, whom we elect on
the state level, to Congress, the Senate and which president we allow access to
SCOTUS appointments are all on the People of the United States. We need to begin to take this process
seriously. And yes, it is a two party
process. There are the Democrats and then,
there are the Republicans. Face it. Progressives need to choose a party and
co-opt it. We need to change the national
dialogue and expose people to our ideas on a global level. We need to elect more progressives as State
and Local representatives and petition the President to sign our legislation on
a federal level with a newly-formed State and Local momentum. That is the ideal. That is a foreseeable future in my
opinion. For now, we can see who this
President really is. Will he be the
liberal Senator or the same Centrist President in his second term? Will he remain the corporatist some of you
call him? Will his reelection and our
election of a supportive Congress and Senate make him change course? Don’t you want to find out? We know what direction Mitt Romney will take
the country. Reagan and the Bushes before him already set the pace. Don’t you want to find out
exactly what President Obama means when he says he wants to take us Forward?
We don’t know what a President Obama in a second--unfettered, no holds
barred--presidential term would give birth to. Here is
what we do know. As it stands, we know
this is a president that believes in war.
He believes protecting “American Interests” by any means. He believes in the NDAA and all that it
entails because he signed that while no one was paying attention. We
also know that he believes in education, healthcare, tariffs, job creation, Global
Warming, Social Security, Medicare, women’s issues, LGBT issues, immigrant
issues and yes, even the problems facing Blacks specifically. He also believes in reforming Wall Street and
regulating corporations. Some say he
could have done more, but no one can say, with the obstacles he’s faced, that
President Obama hasn’t done a damned good job.
I don’t think we’ve seen the extent of his leadership. Granted, his efforts have not been in lock
step with the Progressive ideal; what else is new? No
president before this one can be deemed perfect. I
say we take advantage of our similarities though. We have a multitude of issues to be
addressed. If the fockery of foreign
policy is beyond his reach or willingness to reform, then let’s concentrate on
domestic issues. Let’s continue to
concentrate on Stop and Frisk, because no other administration deigned to do
so. Let’s concentrate on the school to
prison pipeline, because again, no other administration has ever given a
care. Let us focus on the reinstitution
Glass-Steagall. Let us focus on doing
away with NAFTA and bring jobs back to America and allow other countries
to feed their own people. Let’s focus on
getting rid of Citizen’s United and push for lobbyist restriction. Let’s get the money out of politics
altogether. Let’s make education more
accessible and affordable, if not gratis, and do away with the federally
supported for-profit college industry. Let’s
support this President when he wants to do things like do away with corporate
subsidies. Aren’t there hundreds of ways
we can work with this President? I really
don’t want to talk about what he won’t do or hasn't done.
I want to work with him on what he will do within the next four
years. I want to utilize this time to
create a foundation, a platform from which a true progressive movement can
spring. So vote for Change and Hope or
stay home and vote for Romney.
