Divided We Fall
May 3, 2008 by Fran
The Democratic infighting, and the lengthy process is only making McSame’s job easier.
The sniping and the division must cause him to smile a grinchy smile.
This rant in in response to a post on Siren’s, to a piece about some voter’s choosing “None of the Above” - unhappy with the presidential offerings.
I guess that hit a nerve with me because, any move that gives the Reich wing a possible, remote hint of an advantage is not worth it to me. This is NOT an attack on the writer, but the concept of that strategy.
I want regime change- I wanted it 8 years ago, and I want it more than ever— now!
The idea of writing in *none of the above* candidates, is, in my opinion, a line of thinking that inadvertently winds up helping McSame & the republicans. There is a snarky part of me that feels like if no candidate fits the bill- is not good enough for said voters, then why don’t the dissatisfied run for office, if they think their standards & platform are superior? It seems like a cop out to just declare no candidate is good enough.
I can understand the dissatisfaction, so then I feel compelled to ask the dissatisfied- what are you DOING about it?
It is too easy to just declare no one is good enough & vote none of the above. I know some of my friends would answer the system is broken- and I agree. The press “Kuciniched” candidates- shut them out, silenced their voices- even went to court to assure they could uninvite a viable candidate from a debate, based on their own freedom of press. It really pisses me off & needs to be fixed.
In the end–someone will get this job & we will be living under their rules and philosophies. One of these candidates will be doing the deciding about this war in Iraq, if we should continue the illegal occupation, and wars in general and the direction of this country. One of these candidates will either stop the criminal behavior in the White House, or perpetuate the rogue high crimes & disregard of International laws.
We’ve seen how bad & wrong it can go. Are we going to give up trying? Are we willing to allow more of the same?
But if I consider the extreme opposite- the lack of supporting a viable (albeit not perfect) candidate, will prevent any semblance of Regime change.
I’d like to have that open conversation where the heart of the matter is–Do you WANT the party that has tortured, done illegal occupations, prisoner abuse, denied habeus corpus, violated our constitution, and a host of other high crimes & misdeneanors to continue to be at the helm? Are you willing to risk more of the same?
Because for me, I see this as being a critical juncture.
I can answer that question with a F**k NO!
I don’t even have to give it much thought, because I think about it every time the newest atrocity is hurled at us, and they seem to come at a breakneck speed. We have lived with the “atrocity de jour” program for quite some time now, maybe we have just become desensitized to it? To me it seems like a “none of the above” vote equates to a “let someone else decide”, and it feels like apathy. Even if one could name a littany of reasons why any particular candidate does not fit the biil for them, but not voting for someone, you are helping the candidate whom you could produce the longest list of conflicts with- yes that means you may as well be voting for McSame. Although the other candidates may indeed fall short of your ideals, the glaring worst candidate on the roster gains an advantage from your no vote.
Our decider has lead us into a bankruptcy- both financial and moral that will take a very long time to get out of. And even if we have a changing of the regime at the presidential level, the new boss will have one hell of a mess to deal with, as so many things in this country are imploding.
It pisses me off that armchair critics are willing to hold such high standards, they would not vote for or against a candidate that they actually wind up helping the gawdawful candidate.
What kind of standard is that in the long run?
I will season this impassioned rant by saying I hate the 2 party system & I hate the helter skelter way in which our major elections are run- including the psychotic Super delegate crap, as well as the electoral college, and unauditable vote counting machines.
I favor gutting the system & revamping much of it including perhaps having a rotating primary vote schedule, maybe in some kind of geographic order, scrap the caucus, no double dipping, as well as only allowing real debates, with actual debate formats (at least high school level), that are required to air on public airwaves.
Still that being said, I am a realist.
In the here & now we have X Y X candidates, as well as 3rd party candidates. I’ll have to admit in the past I have wanted to vote for 3rd party candidates, but in major elections, have felt it would only help the worst candidate- which I realize perpetuates the 2 party “system” (broken as it is), but I felt most compelled to vote against the worst candidate who I thought would do the most harm.
On the flip side, I have to also say I loathe the Reich wing crimes, and I feel so strongly about stopping that
criminal behavior, I must step up & support a candidate who is intelligent, and has a real chance to beat the opponent, and most importantly, get us off the horrific path we are on.
There is no perfect candidate out there, my friends, (ugh! using that term makes me gag!!!) if you wait for the perfect candidate, chances are they are never going to surface. You could spend an entire lifetime waiting! I figure there will never be a politician that totally agrees with all of my key issues & perspectives.
There are going to be tradeoffs~ always. I absolutely encourage everyone who is dissatisfied to roll up their sleeves and do what they can to fix the problems. There are so many problems, it feels like a daunting task. But please don’t let the immoral minority, Reich wing continue to have their way.
So in conclusion- the big picture, as I see it, is that the whole government has had a total system failure.
If our check and balance system was functional, we would have had a successful Impeachment a long time ago.
Downing Street memo- capturing the pre meditated plan to invade Iraq before ultimatums were issued & the United Nations go-it-alone declaration was made by the decider.
If not that, surely there would be serious repurcussions for the human rights abuses at Abu Ghraib prison.
Americans would never stand for torture, or secret prisons.
Guantanamo Bay remote prison, lack of due process, and rampant abuse and human rights violations, would not exist.
We would demand that the Constitution be upheld.
NONE of the above?
Since Congress failed us- with a majority in both the House & Senate, and no chance of Impeachment on the table, it is up to us- We the People, to make the change that needs to happen.
I for one can’t stand to have more of the same- the man who proposes another 100 years of war in Iraq should have a snowballs chance in hell of making it to the White House.
It seems so clear to me. Divided we fall.
Everybody knows this is Nowhere ~ Neil Young Cover band
Fran, I appreciate you posting this and I even appreciate that you don’t agree with me. Seriously.
Generally speaking, as a Libertarian, I vote third-party, most of the time and many times I am beat about the head and face using the exact same arguments that you have used. But, your arguments are precisely why I have a) run for public office against members of the other two parties (literally putting my time and money where my mouth is) b) actively campaigned and supported other third party candidates. You can call it apathy, if you like, but my pocketbook and my hours of campaign trail wandering would beg to differ with you.
This is the first election in a long time where I didn’t feel any kind of allegiance with any candidate, not even in my own party. I believe that None of the Above is no less a “viable” candidate than a third party candidate (although, you and others would argue it’s a waste anyway).
Maybe I’m too cynical or jaded, but I can’t stomach voting for a candidate that I would vote for if the if they were the last candidate on earth, so I would rather vote “none of the above”. People may consider it a cop-out, but I consider it a cop-out that people would rather vote for one of two bad candidates, just because they have a (D) or an (R) besides their name.
If I had a dollar for every voter who said that they would vote for third party candidate but…then I would have easily been able to finance a more winnable campaign of my own.
I’m a little tired of people calling me apathetic while they are still willing to vote for the status quo. How is that initiating change any more than how I choose to vote?
I have put my money and my time where my mouth is so I proudly stand by my post. But, I do appreciate your opinion. On this we will have to respectfully disagree.
Dizzy Dezzis last blog post..My Candidate: None Of The Above
Oh Dizzy~ I was afraid this might happen.
I want to point out the line in this post
This is NOT an attack on the writer, but the concept of that strategy.
I really am not attacking you personally. I did not know you had run and make other exrtaordinary efforts to make the changes. I totally respect that you walk the walk & are not just an armchair talk the talker.
No matter what I write about, in the end you have the write to vote whatever damned way you please- and so does everyone else.
But I have to say, the same puppeteers who manage George are teh same who will manage McSame.
The thought of them still running the show makes me want to wretch.
You are one US family with your loved one doing multiple tours of duty in Iraq. So having repugs continue to do more of the same is most likely much more personal and dire/real than other Americans whose “sacrifice” for the war is to have to shell out more money at the pump.
I don’t mean to be disrespectful or judgemental.
You are in the thick of it, so maybe that is why I find it more surprising that you are not in more of an avid offense of more of the same. I’m trying to understand that.
We all have our reasons for making the chioces we do.
But there are a lot of people out there who are logging more time watching Idol American, or triped up on IF they could handle a woman or black person to be president- totally forgetting the vile and unthinkable crimes the republicans are doing.
My State’s primaries are this month. Those conversations are flying, and for me, the absulote disdain of the current status quo drives me.
I can only deal with the here & now, and the candidates at hand, and I can’t stand more of the same.
Respectfully, Fran
frans last blog post..Divided We Fall
Fran, I didn’t think you were attacking me personally (trust me, I got a lot nastier and very personal attacks to my post. Yours, I felt was 100% respectful, which is why I posted a link to your post in regards to my post over at Hypocrisy.com…a way to show some idiots how to respectfully continue a discussion).
And, except where we disagree on how to vote, I pretty much agree with the rest of your post. I am worried sick that with the infighting in the Democratic party right now, all that ammo will be used against the actual nominee and catapult McSame into the White House. I can’t tell you how that keeps me up at night. I honestly wish this whole sordid mess was over with, I just hope and pray that Americans can pull themselves away from American Idol long enough to pursue a much more worthy and worthwhile cause, namely, saving this country and our future from McSame and his ilk.
Maybe, because of being active in politics and having actually had discussions and rubbing palms with true politicians (I was merely a citizen who was running for office in hopes that I could make a difference), I have a very big brick wall in my way of voting for a candidate that gives me the willies! I actually lost to a candidate who was accused of assaulting and stalking his girlfriend. They got married before the election and despite all the news that has surrounded that turmoil, the media made like it was no big deal and this guy sailed into office. Even his Democratic opponent, who seemed like a nice enough lady from our chatting over coffee, didn’t get nearly as many votes as he did. After that, I started losing my stomach for politics, although I stayed very active in it for 5 more years.
Maybe because I have lost the stomach for it, I can’t bring myself to vote for anyone, but I still feel the need to cast my vote for issues. And, while I’m at it, I write-in “nota” when I fill out my ballot.
I was really feeling your ideas for other ways to vote besides what we are dealing with now. And, maybe, if we had run-off voting, I would be more likely to vote for Democrat in a top slot because my (L) candidate might have a better shot, as well.
I think I found my topic for next week…
In any case, I thought NOTA was worth the discussion, whether anybody agrees with me or not. I appreciate that you did take the ball and run to continue the discussion. If it appears that I took it personally, it might be because the rude name-calling that I had to deal with in comments on another blog so I apologize if my response came off a little heated.
Dizzy Dezzis last blog post..My Candidate: None Of The Above
Ya know ladies..I still don’t know wtf I am going to do about the general election..and seriously it depends on the candidate. Hillary is a major pain in my ass, but for the love of Buddha, she has to be better than Weathervane McCain..and I am stubborn..I hate people that actually have the nads to say they would vote for McCain instead of Hillary.
I mean come on..wtf? WTF???? Just keep your tired asses at home then people…if you can’t leave that section blank..keep your stupid ass at home on election day.
Dusterellas last blog post..Oh hell yeah….
Dear Diz Dez~ I love that we can have this conversation, diagree, but still reamain civil & respectful. I certainly do understand that the whole political scene is tainted. The amount of money needed to be in the game, that fact corporations give money because they want to buy politicians, to be in the race at the highest level really involves a certain level of corruption.
I was chatting at the weekly peace vigil with some friends, floating the idea of the None of the above vote.
These folks have really supported Kucinich, have been registered as Green Party members, and not at all wearing the blinders of the 2 party system.
Cara said she changed her party affiliation to Democrat for the (May) primaries for two reasons.
• How much she does not want McSame & or the republicans in office.
• She does not want Hillary at the helm either.
She said it is a lessor of two evils scenario for sure,
and the worst evil is just really not at all acceptable.
Really, that is where I am at as well. The same puppet strings that manipulate Bush (let’s face it- he is not the brains in this operation!), will be the same strings that run McSame. It would not surprise me at all if he wound up having some of the same cabinet members & staffers.
I want the illegal occupation to stop.
I want the troops out of Iraq & Afghanistan ASAP.
I don’t want anyone even toying wih the idea of having another war, because we are in the neighborhood (Iran).
I really like the mention of “saving this country”- because more than an election, this feels like we are trying to pull what’s left of democracy out of the fire, and salvage the constitution..
(Some would argue it’s already not a democracy it is a representative republic).
I can understand having lost the stomach for the political scene, but I hope you can take some pepto bismal shooters enough to make sure we all don’t have to stomach more Reich wing atrocities.
frans last blog post..Divided We Fall
If there were a real, viable, progressive alternative, I’d vote for him or her in minute. Since the reality, is that absent a revolution, (and I wouldn’t wish that on us either), the viable (in terms of being electable) candidates, from the two dominant parties make it a Hobson’s choice.
Being naturally skeptical, in then thinking about my vote, I tend to think about it in terms of who is the lesser of the evils. Looking at it that way, then I have to conclude that I must vote for Obama.
Thinking about my misspent youth, now that I have some maturity in both experience and years, I want to have hope and aspirations of a better world for us, I want to show that we have become a better people and have cast aside racism and prejudice, and that line of thinking leads me to conclude that I must vote for Obama.
Being totally pragmatic, while it might be indicative of character and higher moral and political ideals to vote for “none of the above”, I would be cutting off my nose to spite my face, as it would be a vote wasted, if in the resulting election one of the “worser” of the evils ends up being elected.
I want to give Barack Obama, and those who will work with him the opportunity to show that we are still a decent, honorable, humane, giving nation of people, an opportunity to lead us out of the nightmare of the last seven odd years, to restore the authority of our Constitution and the wishes of our founders.