But honestly. The polls show the majority of people in this country are against the Iraq war. I’ll assume (without any empirical evidence) that largely applies to my FB friends. So, why vote for a War candidate? I’m afraid that we often let the media write history for us, rather than remembering what had actually happened.
By that, I mean we have had (except possibly Carter?) nothing but war presidents since WW2. Lest we forget one of the most famous leaders (who was of course shut up, because people largely shutdown when they are left leader-less) in our country, he said:

The greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own country. – Martin Luther King Jr.

But I’m not the best spoken or most thoughtful, so check out this video which touches on social movements and the future of our country.

Don’t be mistaken. just look at recent history. Hussein asked us if we had any problems with us going into Kuwait, we said it wasn’t any of our business, then boom — Gulf War, Colin Powell, GBush Sr, et al, pounded him. Gulf war (“Desert Storm”)
So then Clinton decides he’s very unhappy with Iraq having Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), so convinces Saddam to abandon his weapons. But he doesn’t believe Saddam, so he imposes sanctions on Iraq. Several reputed organizations have reported that ~567,000 Iraqi children died under these sanctions, Clinton’s Secretary of State, when asked about this on 60 minutes, said “the price is worth it.”
Later, Bush got into office, and the Democrats authored and sponsored a resolution of war against Iraq because of these WMDs that they said they didn’t have, and Bush happily signed and went along. Rumsfeld, Powell and more pushed it, including lying to us, and THE UN!
All the names I have just mentioned Should GO TO JAIL. I didn’t mention Clinton’s bombings of Iraq, Somalia, Kosovo, Congo, Afghanistan and more. Nor did I mention Bush Sr or Jr’s other bombing/military escapades. Do I need to? How many wars is too many? What’s your breaking point? Do you have one?
When will we listen to a visionary like MLK?

Obama and McCain have talked sternly about Iran and its nuclear program. (for YEARS)
(Yes, India, Israel, NKorea, China, and others have nuclear programs.)
Obama has pushed for troops in Pakistan, more in Afghanistan, and IN THE USA. (Look it up, or talk to soldiers — restationed from Iraq HERE. To guard against civil disobedience, demonstrations and unrest.)
All these things have been done.

What else do they need to do, to say, to push, to support? Ironically, despite Clinton’s militarism, he shrank the military a bit. But Obama and McCain remain committed to increasing the size of the military.

We have had decades long bans on offshore oil drilling, new nuclear power plants, and have been fighting the pollution of coal-fired power plants since RN’s Clean Air Act (among other legislations) AT LEAST.
Obama and McCain have supported removing all of this regulations.

Are you really going to vote for them? Are these things you really support?
If so, you’re buying the corporate line, not the scientist or researcher’s views/papers/research on the implications of ANY of this.

The economy, you say?

Reagan is often blamed for much. He had this trickle-down economics theory, saying that if you cut the taxes on the richest people/corporations, people would prosper.
So now we have a faltering economy. The government waits months and months, and does nothing about it. Nothing about the foreclosures. The unemployment. etc. All of a sudden Bush says “Let’s bailout!” Obama and McCain say “Great!” (along with the Democrats, the Republicans were mostly against it. Ironically?)

Let’s not forget that this was tried in ~1931, and resulted in the Great Depression. The only thing that brought us out? Massive infrastructure projects, FDR’s — giving jobs to PEOPLE.
This bailout though? It’s a clear message — helping out the bankrupt wall street gamblers, because if they’re helped, the economy’s helped. How’s that? Trickle down.
This makes sense because..?

And I’m not even advocating anything here, ironically. Maybe we should help people with their home foreclosures. It sure as hell would have been a LOT cheaper than $700 BILLION. But if we don’t, whatever. People get burned. Corporations get burned.
Somebody learns a lesson. (One hopes).
So I could see reason of someone saying “let’s not help people who are failing economically,” but it’s hypocrisy to say “Let’s help corporations that are failing because of their greed.” It’s ridiculous. It’s unfair. It’s bankrupting our country — destroying our economy.

Patti Smith sings, “Awake from your slumber.”
Please. This is crucial. The time is now. We need to stand up.

Don’t waste your vote on corporate candidates that don’t stand for you or your issues.
Make a stand.
Slavery ended, people of color and woman got the right to vote, and many many other great things happened in this country because people took to the polls and VOTED For candidates that represented their issues. Slowly, the country changed, and the big institutions/corporations/

© Ajay for Californication meets Tranpacificism, 2008. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008, election, McCain, Mckinney, Nader, Obama, politics, war

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