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02/02/08

12:10:00 am, Categories: Voices, 925 words

Sitting Out the Election

Mary Pitt

It looks as if the 2008 Presidential campaign may be over at my house. I am considering what other things I can find to do in order to be busy on election day. The choices have been winnowed down until I can find no reason for hope with any of the remaining candidates. I realize that there is much fodder for the talking heads on television as the pseudo rivalry continues but I have now lost interest.

So Rudy bowed out in favor of John McCain. Big deal. Rudy wasn't going anyplace anyway and he would have been a disaster in the White House. The great loss was John Edwards. With the withdrawal of Dennis Kucinich, he was the last best hope for any chance for the common man to receive any real consideration in the future policies of our government.

It is reminiscent of the summer months in television entertainment. All that we have to anticipate is a choice among reruns. On the Republican side, we are left with a Southern Baptist preacher who would prefer that we return to the dark ages, with witch-burning and stocks in the public square. Then there is John McCain who has nothing more to offer than the old men on Memorial Day, stuffed into their uniforms and trying to look as if they are ready to take the next hill. In addition, of course, there is the son of "what's good for General Motors is good for the country". We can choose our reruns between the forties, the fifties or of the Puritans at the Salem witchcraft trials.

It is little better on the Democratic side. Now that Obama has been favored by the Kennedy family, we can look forward to living again in the sixties, to being inspired by eloquent speeches of hope and progress only to be faced with another war for another "good reason". In order to be just a bit more current, we could boost Hillary Clinton and get more rhetoric about lifting up of the poor which will not happen because of the same knuckling under to the opposition that disappointed us in her husband and that she, herself, has so ably demonstrated during her time in the Senate.

Of course, there is still time for a third party to take shape and get sufficient footing to provide a choice in November, ideally Edwards and Kucinich at the head of a Progressive Party, but it is not likely since the establishment candidates have already sucked up all the money available for their campaigns. We are faced once again with the spectacle of our White House once more being up for auction. As President Bush again tries to prop up a dying economy by donating more borrowed money to the taxpayers while ignoring the plight of the truly needy and the Fed cuts interest rates so we can borrow even more, as the Middle East, the Orient, and Europe devalue and debase the dollar and we owe ever more of them to those same entities, we find ourselves facing the same fate as out parents and grandparents suffered at the end of the Hoover administration.

Nothing short of a total overhaul of the government in the manner of Franklin Delano Roosevelt is going to correct the mess that George W. Bush has made of our government and none of the remaining candidates appear to have the intelligence and the drive to do what must be done to save the nation from it. Senator Clinton can't seem to make up her mind whether we should withdraw our troops from Iraq immediately or whether we should leave a large contingecy there to "protect our embassy", that sprawling, fortified monstrosity that contractors built at great expense for no conceivable reason. Barrack Obama says that he wants to bring the troops home "as soon as possible" but hasn't voiced any plans for what might happen next. Of course, the election of any of the Republicans means eternal war in the hope that the fiscal mess will not catch up with us.

It's time to plow up the back yard for a vegetable garden and order tomato plants to put in the flower beds in the spring. It's going to be a long time before stability is restored to this benighted land. I cast my first Presidential vote in 1952 for Eisenhower and have voted dutifully in every election since, even if I had to hold my nose while voting for the lesser of two evils. But now I am old and I am tired. Why should I get in a snit because the rest of the country is more interested in the squabbling children playing at debate? If the youth of today are willing to choose those who will be in charge of their future by a remake of "An American Idol", is it not their right?

My generation had ambitions to leave to our children a free nation with honorable leaders in a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, living peacefully with equality. It is saddening to find that this ambition is not to be and, unless someone is elected who is able to restore the rights and freedoms which we have lost. I will spend election day sitting at home with a tall cold drink!

-###-

February 2, 2008 The author is a very "with-it" old lady who aspires to bring a bit of truth, justice, and common sense to a nation that has lost touch with its humanity in the search for societal "perfection."

8 Voices

Comments, Pingbacks:

Comment from: PFT [Member]

Seems Nader has indicated he might make another run, not that he has any chance. I agree though, the candidates left are a choice in what color fascism we want, red or blue, hard or soft. It's all over except the fat lady singing. Our equivalent of 1933 will soon arrive, but instead of FDR we will have someone who more closely aligned with the devil on the other side of the ocean, and he was financed by the same powers who choose who can be in the running for President today. So it is not surprising that we are leading the world to the same fate. History repeats.

02/02/08 @ 01:30

Comment from: h4gov [Member]

Sadly Mary is not as "with it" as she imagines and just does what the masters of the economy want her to do, not participate, as nearly 50% of the nation does. The primary grind is designed to make you give up. I'm sure the masters would just as soon not have to have elections at all, they could call it consensus. Her comment about FDR indicates a severe lack of knowledge about our history as well. The problem seems to be the childish notion that her responsibility and moral obligations end with going to the voting booth, nothing could be further from the truth. There are other options, I offer only this: get involved in helping the green party win ballot lines, support the GP candidate and become a poll worker ready to help our candidate and party challenge the continuing election fraud in this country. The Green Party candidate will be pursuing the fraud as being a candidate gives one the standing in court to bring suit. While this option too may seem a bit David and Goliath, we should not concede our governance to the elite so easily. I think this is in part due to the schooling that Gatto has described that trains our children to be dependent on the experts and the leaders of society without any critical thought. I say if you don't want to vote, fine, but at least go to the polls and smash a computer voting machine or something. Make yourself useful.

02/02/08 @ 11:51

Comment from: Jesse Hemingway [Member]

I had my, fuck it all moment about two weeks ago. Here is my take; first the republicans’ candidates raise the class of crack whores to main stream profession and complete acceptances as pillars in their community.
Now the democrats first how could anyone vote for Hillary Clinton when she and her husband knew Saddam Hussein had no WMD’s. That screams of who she really is; her failure to attempt to stop this disaster makes you the only fool to consider her as a legitimate choice.
Barrack Obama for me the jury is still out; I will do more research, if the election process is a rigged as it appears to be then it will be a matter of time to understand which corporations are backing him.
I have no faith it the democrats they have no record none of them can look me in the eyes and say we stop George W Bush at any request he submitted; the democrats are just as guilty as the republicans.
So I say fuck it, it’s a Fucking joke and an insult to all that really care.

02/02/08 @ 12:19

Comment from: unity1 [Member] · http://www.infonews.co.nz/profile.cfm?id=584

I don't live in the US but I have woken up to the fact that people everywhere, my own country included, are locked into some sort of two party trance where the devil you know is better than voting for independents or green - these are considered 'wasted' votes - YOU DO HAVE A CHOICE - heres a truth, we, thats all of us are the ones that keep this sorry mess continuing - we are divided and conquered - the old MO has worked and successfully so for decades - we could stop it right now if only we were NOT divided - if only we could UNITE together for a common purpose - our own freedom - yet that doesn't even factor into the consciousness of so many of us saddly.

heres the idea - only you can make it happen or not as the case may be - UNITE together, pledge to use your vote as a stratgety - not voting is a cop out and they don't care, despite the fact that its been rigged for years, people can by pass this by uniting together and pledging to vote GREEN or INDEPENDENTS en mass - you do have a choice VOTE THEM BOTH OUT by voting in unity green or independents - its not about the green party or the individual independents per sae the objective here is to VOTE BOTH PARTIES OUT !! this gives you an opportunity a window of time to change everything without the dems or the rethugs - it would be a bloodless coup, a huge revolution - but alas....sigh....humans are stuck in the two party trance and no matter how many freedoms they seem to loose the divide and conquer rule has become so ingrained nothing will change them from their course

NOT voting as this writer implies is one way, its predictable of course, they count on that which is why they have the voter purge lists - you don't have much time to moblise - your common destiny and that of the rest of lies in the choice you make at this election

02/02/08 @ 18:58

Comment from: Jesse Hemingway [Member]

Join the IRA

Independent Radicals of America

The people without a legitimate political party representation.

02/02/08 @ 22:33

Comment from: rj [Member]

I don't think that Mary Pitt, who wrote this article, and the people who have posted their comments so far really appreciate the sheer scale of this problem. The electronics used to tally the election results are protected by secrecy laws. Now there is no way that the voters or their independent organizations can verify the results of an election at any level, local or federal. Please stop for a moment and consider the VAST implications of this. -The short of it is that the electorate (the American people) is not in charge (anymore / if ever it was). It also means that the US no longer is a republic. (It never was a democracy.)

The rigging of all these elections -the systems for this, in terms of electronics and administration, is now so entrenched and widespread, that no matter who people vote for, the end result will be whatever the dark forces intended.

If people stayed home, the elections would be harder, eventually even impossible to rig. Compulsory voting would not solve this problem for the dark forces.

One of the commentators (h4gov) suggested that the fascists "would just as soon not have to have elections at all". I couldn't disagree more. -Elections have been and will continue to be the most effective way of controlling people -as long as they can be manipulated (this has always been the case), and now in recent years they can even be electronically rigged. This latest "feature" is new, in historical terms, and opens up another era entirely. As long as people believe that voting is meaningful and that the counting of the votes essentially is honest, they will continue to be silent, obedient and accepting of the "system" -and above all- they will continue to be good consumers. For this to be so, it is sufficient that people believe in the honesty of the voting systems. The actual facts are unwelcome. People fear the facts. They are very afraid of them. They do want to believe in the essential honesty and integrity of their leaders. THEY WANT SECURITY MORE THAN FREEDOM. They do not want to be too different from the rest of their important reference groups and from people who are important to them. They are in denial. The dark forces know this.

Finally, let me just remind you of a comment from The People's Voice / Net News dating back to November 2006:

The candidate who "wins", does so "because Big Money and the government behind the Government already have created the election results that they want and they will tailor the exit polls correspondingly as well. The campaign is in itself a major propaganda effort aimed at persuading the voters that their votes count. It is not important at all what they vote for. The important thing for the government behind the Government is that the voters be present at Election Day. The voters have nothing to do with the particular result. They just have to be present at Election Day and go through the motions of "voting" in order for the charade to go on. The "election results" HAVE BEEN PREPARED IN ADVANCE, WILL BE ELECTRONICALLY PUMPED INTO THE VOTING SYSTEMS AND WILL BE PRONOUNCED AS "THE VOTE OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE". People will believe this. -But the true vote of the people WILL NEVER BE KNOWN."
rj

02/03/08 @ 01:03

Comment from: unity1 [Member] · http://www.infonews.co.nz/profile.cfm?id=584

rj - yes I agree with you - my thinking has been that given that millions are poured into campaigns who in their right mind is going to leave the deciding vote up to we the people, the rabble ? No one - nothing personal mind, its just business - big business - this of course raises the question that when enough people realise it beyond doubt - then what? - do we continue the facade - or do we rebel - now thats an interesting question

And of course it follows that once people begin to realise there is no real democracy per sae, the domino affect might just kick in and we will discover there is really no UN as such and that everything is controlled from behind the scenes by the elites who pick and choose what happens or not in this world - its easy to see who these people might be - follow the money - the bankers, big oil big pharma - big business

when I was little skulls and cross bone symbols meant pirates or toxins, either case the pirates have taken over everything and we the people still don't get it - are we ignorant or do we have a form of innocence a trust that we are constantly being asked to exhibit by 'trusting' our 'leaders'
ho hum

02/03/08 @ 01:45

Comment from: rj [Member]

unity1,
You raised this question: "when enough people realize it beyond doubt - then what? - do we continue the facade - or do we rebel". I agree with you. This IS an interesting question! Very much so!

I guess nobody knows for sure what would happen, but I find the first part of your question more interesting. Here's mine for you: -WHAT would it take for "enough people" to realize it?

It seems to me that the answer is that what it would take is that the elite(s) took away peoples sense of security, their homes and material possessions and plunged them into abject misery and hopelessness. Looking back over the centuries of revolts and revolutions, it seems to me that it is only when people's misery and despair have reached such a "critical intensity" (cf. 'critical mass' / 'hundredth monkey effect'), that people loose their fear and see no option other than to revolt. If at all they get to this point, their gains will nevertheless INEVITABLY be short-lived and everything will settle into some newer form & shape where the old elite(s) will come out on top anyway. Dismal? Depressing? Absolutely!
rj

02/03/08 @ 02:46

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