April
2, 2006, Volume 13 Nr. 40, Issue 208
Democrats,
liberals, and "progressives": There they go again. Jozef
Hand-Boniakowski
In a recent give and take email with
a liberal, "progressive" Democrat in Vermont, I discovered
what Democrats really feel about people who vote for third party
candidates, and especially what they feel about Ralph Nader.
2006 is, after all, an election year, and we, the people, must
elect Democrats to "take our country back".
No? The talk-show hosts say so, especially Air America Radio,
so it must be important. The exact line from the email that I
received is,
I feel it is because people voted
for Nader who not only have I lost all respect for, but I think he
has a huge ego and now I honestly hate him as much as I hate Bush.
There you have it. Liberal,
"progressive" Democrats hate Ralph Nader as much as they
hate George W. Bush. Perhaps, some therapy is in order, as
hate is a self-destructive emotion if left unchecked. It also
does not win elections. I'm not, however, surprised at
this outpouring of Democratic venom, as liberals and so-called
progressives prefer to blame the loss of elections on everybody and
everything, except that is, on the lackluster, uninspiring, boring,
bumbling, stumbling, and problematic campaigns of their own
candidates. Democrats prefer to blame their presidential
candidates' ineptitude on others, such as Ralph Nader and the people
who voted for him and his platform. Liberal,
"progressive", Democrats fail to place the responsibility
for getting G.W. Bush and Dick Cheney elected where it belongs, that
is, onto the people who actually voted for George W. Bush and Dick
Cheney at the polls. The elections of 2000 and 2004 were both
the Democrats to lose. And, they lost them both. The
reality of the Democratic Party's electoral losses are compounded by
its inability to accept responsibility for them. Democrats
prefer the blindness of hatred over the reality of their own
failures. It was not Ralph Nader's fault that 62,040,606
people voted for Bush and Cheney in 2004. But, damn you Ralph,
anyway!
I have some advice for liberal,
"progressive", Democrats. Stop blaming Ralph Nader
for John Kerry's crappy performance at the 2004 polls. Stop
blaming third parties. Stop blaming the people who voted in
step with their conscience for 3rd parties. Stop blaming
people who did not vote, believing that elections are fixed or
manipulated by big money. They are. Start working for
democracy instead! Imagine! The educated, wealthy, well-healed,
Heinz ketchup fortune, two-time Purple Heart recipient, candidate
John Kerry, was unable to defeat a candidate who stumbled over his
own words, and who could not prove participating in his military
service. John Kerry lost to a candidate that had his inept
lines supposedly pumped into his ear via a hidden radio device
during the "debates". Way to go John! I
am sorry, but I have no sympathy for liberal,
"progressive", Democrats whose candidates do not enthuse
and whose ideas are much like their opponent. Ralph Nader was
not the problem in the 2000 election. It was Al Gore who won
the election and then rolled over and played dead, and the
Democratic Party played dead along with him for seven
years. Ralph Nader was not the problem in 2004
either. John Kerry was. And Ralph Nader is not the
problem now. The problem was, and is, the Democratic Party,
and its candidates, like John Kerry, who try to out-Bush George
Bush. John Kerry voted for the Iraq war. That makes him
no better than his opponent. John Kerry turned his back on his
antiwar veteran comrades. He smote his buddies, the Winter
Soldiers, in an attempt to win the election. Shame on
you John. Democrats prefer practicality, and it doesn't matter
much if it comes in the form of betrayal. How does such
betrayal make John Kerry any different than George W. Bush?
Brian S. Willson states it clearly in his "Dear John"
letter to John Kerry. See: http://www.counterpunch.org/willson1015.html
See also a pictorial comparison of Kerry and Bush at my
website: http://www.metaphoria.us/Kerry_Bush_viagrated.html
And the Democrats will do it again with Hillary Clinton in
2008.
Dear Democrats, If you hate Ralph
Nader or third parties, then I suggest you have a whopping big
problem. The problem is not going away. Your inability
to build coalitions and your casting blame for your electoral losses
reinforces my contempt for those who call yourselves
"progressive" and liberal. You fail to pursue the
real problem which is neo-liberalism. Nor do you care much to
investigate the root causes of our systemic problems, vis-à-vis
class consciousness. That is why I am no longer much
interested in the charade of your electoral politics, nor of your
cult-like campaigns, nor Bernie Sanders. I am not interested
in Howard Dean, who publicly repeatedly favored war but somehow was
painted in your own minds as "the anti-war
candidate". I am sickened by the disgusting attitude
liberal, "progressive" Democrats have toward Ralph Nader,
third parties, and free thinkers. As for Ralph Nader having an
ego? This is the kettle calling the pot black. Give me a
break. Democrats would like us to believe that Ralph Nader has
a BIG ego, but that John Kerry does not. Or, that Bernie
Sanders does not. It's as if Democratic candidates and those
they support are somehow immune to the ego exigencies of political
campaigning and candidacy. Hillary Clinton has no ego?
If Hillary Clinton becomes the Democratic Party candidate for
president in 2008, there isn't a snowball's chance in hell I will be
voting for her.
Dear Democrats: How dare
liberal, "progressive", Democrats call someone like Ralph
Nader a spoiler? What do you have against democracy? Yet
when Bernie Sanders ran his early campaigns, the arguments against
him being called a "spoiler" were aplenty. Shame on
liberals. Shame on "progressives". Shame on
you for giving Democrats the credibility they do not deserve.
The Democrats are part of the same corrupt, wealthy, corporate
cabal, the same gangsters that have taken over the country.
They are the ones that empowered the executive branch to launch an
illegal war, even though aware of the many lies and pretenses
presented to the world. The rich, ruling elite always have
their way at the expense of the working class. When was it
ever any other way? Howard Zinn reveals the corruption well in
his book, "The People's History of the United
States." To believe that Democrats offer anything other
than more corruption is buying into the lie.
Dear Democrats: I'll tell you
this. If liberals and "progressives" continue to
alienate the disenfranchised by continuing to blame Ralph Nader, or
some other 3rd party candidate or party, or my vote for them, or for
not kissing Bernie Sanders', or some Democrats' behind, I will
respond by working harder for the alternative parties. Let us
remember, that it was the Democrats that gave G.W. Bush and the
Republicans everything they wanted. It was the Democrats who
let the impostors into the White House. It was the Democrats
who allowed and approved lying to Congress and the nation. It
was the Democrats who sanctioned subverting the Constitution.
It was the Democrats who voted for the misnamed USA PATRIOT
Act. Ralph Nader didn't do any of this.
Here in Vermont, representative
Bernie Sanders, the darling pseudo-Democrat, is running for the US
Senate. Vermont's "independent" and
"progressive" had to be shamed into supporting
representative John Conyers' resolution on impeachment hearings.
Recently, Bernie Sanders imported Democratic Senator Barack Obama to
give his campaign a boost. Way to go Bernie, as Barack Obama
is already supporting Bush's next war in Iran. (http://www.antiwar.com/frank/?articleid=4521).
Shame on Bernie Sanders for his comments on impeachment. His
comments the day after four Vermont towns voted for impeachment
implied that impeachment talk is "impractical" with the
Republicans in control of House and Senate. By choosing
practicality over justice, Bernie, and his fellow Democrats, are
saying that prosecution for breaking the law must wait for the jury
to be gerrymandered. What system of justice is this? The
Democrats could have filibustered the Supreme Court nominations, but
they chose not to take a stand. And now, they choose to let
their colleague, Senator Russ Feingold, wither on the vine with his
censure motion, even though they know that there is more than ample
evidence for censuring George W. Bush. The people of the
United State are ahead of the Democrats on censure and
impeachment. The Statesman.com reports that, "
A poll by the nonpartisan American
Research Group found that 46 percent of Americans support
censuring Bush for authorizing wiretaps of Americans without
obtaining court orders, as part of the administration's effort to
fight terrorism. (Poll dates: March 13-15, 2006).
A Zogby International poll conducted
Jan 9-12, 2006, found that 52% agreed with the following statement:
If president Bush wiretapped
American citizens without the approval of a judge, do you agree or
disagree that Congress should consider holding him accountable
through impeachment.
The Democrats are projecting
themselves as saviors in the elections of 2006 and 2008.
Hardly. Watch for more Nader-like bashing. It's one of
the few things Democrats do well.
Yes, I will vote for Ralph Nader, or
someone else whose views and ideology are like my own, if the
Democrats offer me no viable option. I will vote for third
parties again if their issues are my issues, and if they speak what
needs to be said. That is what democracy is all about.
Or are Democrats that in name only?
Once again, an electoral cycle us
upon us and the peace and social justice movements are being
co-opted by the diversion called elections. And once again,
Democrats will dish out and get more of the same. And, should
their candidate(s) not win, they will blame everyone and everything
except themselves. We are in this sad state of affairs today
because election after election we succumb to the fraud of duopoly
politics, i.e., a two party system that will always be the same if
we keep playing the same game over and over again. And
Democrats are one-half of that problem. |