Tag: Political Alternatives

Independents, The Lie That Just Keeps Giving

Opinion from the frustrated mind of Chuq

The election is just around the corner….so do you support Trump?  Maybe Clinton?  Does that make you an independent?  Nope.  A “populist”?  More accurate than independent….

Source:42% of Americans Ditch Two-Party System, Say Government is Biggest Problem – The Anti-Media

Here in the US we have this magical group…..a group that can make marvelous things happen……(a pipe dream of the media’s invention)…..they are the “independents”.

It is an election….this time it is for 2016…..and there will be poll after poll after poll after……it is endless……and the media will once again set off selling that there are a large group that does not approve of either party and they will be labelled as “independent”……and that is a snow job!

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The independents that will make the difference in this election as they have in the past (according to the MSM) are not independents.  These people are more like a centrist than independent.  Even “undecided” would be more accurate.

What makes me say such a thing?

If they were truly independent then they would be looking for political answers outside the prevalent 2 parties that control the American election process.  In other words third parties would be more popular in our process…..in case you have missed it….they are NOT!

To call oneself an independent would imply that the person is open to different ideas for solving problems….that would be a lie also.  Most “independents” have set ideas in their head and NO amount of rational argument will ever change those closed minds.

Most of the so-called independents are nothing more than disgruntled Repubs or Dems…….and when it comes time to vote they will inevitable cast their vote for the Dems or the GOP…..what part of that is independent?

These people are fooling themselves to seem to be more pragmatic….but in reality they are nothing more than a Repub or a Dem…..plain and simple.

Last national election I attempted to raise this subject, 27 June 2011 post…….

Source: Centrist Vs Independent | In Saner Thought

To me those that claim to be independent are people that are not happy with their party of choice…..most are one issue voters who grasp at a single situation to define their political ideology or join the echo chamber of the daily headlines.

The only alternative these people ever consider is which party best describes their issues……once again…….always within the 2 party system…..they seldom ever consider a true alternative.  For all their bitching and moaning and they cannot get past one party or the other……the sound of a fury that signifies nothing!

Why the popularity of the term “independent”?  The media!

The media has the American voter believing they are independent if they go against their party line……it is a con job!

And then there are those that strut around proud to be an “independent”….yet when someone disagrees with them they are bleeding hearts or deniers or ….well you get the idea…..what part of that is independent thinking…..sounds more like the batcrap crazies they quote…..not an independent.  These are the same bottom feeders that troll the scum of the news and look for stories that can feed their hatred and bigotry…..makes no difference that most of these stories are out of context or just plain made up…..but as long as it feeds their brain it is truth and NO amount of logic or rationale will change that for them.

There are few TRUE independents in American politics…..just people that lie to themselves to convince themselves that they are truly the change the country needs…..in reality they are the same as they ever were……just are gullible toads and afraid to admit it.

INDEPENDENT…..MY ASS!

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A New National Progressive Movement

This election has shown something that I have been saying for the last decade or so……this country needs a true progressive party as part of the process……

I wrote about it in 2008 after the election of Obama and again in 2010 after the disastrous mid-term elections…..but read them for yourself…..

https://lobotero.com/2010/11/12/how-about-a-new-bull-moose-party-2/

And then later this one……

https://lobotero.com/2016/04/27/is-it-time-from-a-change/

Bernie’s candidacy is showing that there is a growing need for a true progressive party….the Dems are just neocon lite……progressives have nothing to vote for……. but anyone but a Repub…..

As Sanders fights for a California primary season finale, activists look ahead.

The sun was hot. The shade was sparse. Yet they kept coming. For three-plus hours on Wednesday morning, several thousand Bernie Sanders believers of every stripe—college students cutting class, older retirees and labor activists, parents with teenage kids—wearing every imaginable Bernie pin, tee-shirt and baseball cap packed the dusty field at the Santa Clara fairground near San Jose, California. They more than eagerly awaited his arrival.

“He’s the best candidate ever,” one man blurted out. “Feel the Bern! Feel the Bern!” people spontaneously chanted. The sound system played Bob Marley, Neil Young, John Lennon and Steve Earle, who growled “The revolution starts now…” As they waited 1960s folk superstar Joan Baez took the stage and sang, “The opposition candidate is stirring up a fuss. She’s got the billionaires, he’s got us…”

Source: A New National Progressive Movement Is Emerging in the Shadows of the Sanders Campaign | Alternet

Teddy got it Right in the early 20th century…..the trouble is we let his plans slide to the back burner….it was more important to elect one of the 2 parties….be damn for the people and the country……

Time to revive the Bull Moose Party……Bernie has started the movement now let’s not give it away……

Check it out and let me know what you think….should we be happy with the 2 party system or should we start a new party that will put the country and the people first?

Time for the people to step up and do the RIGHT thing!

Democratic Primary Makes Clear: A Populist Revolution is Coming

This election, 2016, the newest term that the media is using ad nauseum is …..populist.

Trump has tapped in the is movement on the Right, according to the MSM and Bernie is doing so from the Left….

Again according to the media the country has found a new respect because of their anger with the way the government does business….

So is there a new “populist revolution” on the horizon?

And the answer is……..

The influential economist Thomas Piketty is the most recent trans-Atlantic observer to note that the “incredible success of the ‘socialist’ Bernie Sanders” is indicative of a deeper, populist movement that’s brewing across the United States.

Source: Democratic Primary Makes Clear: A Populist Revolution is Coming | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

Why Is Bernie So Popular?

For some time now the media has been asking that very same question…..they cannot grasp the reason why someone who fights special interests and refuses PAC money could possibly be getting the crowds he, Bernie, is getting.

The MSM answer to this phenom is that he is the anti-Clinton candidate or that he was just in the right place at the right time for all the anger the voter is having over our political process……there is a wealth of other possible reason for his popularity.  All I can say is that if the journalists had been reading IST this whole time I have answered that exact question with a poll that they were too good to pay attention to when it came out……

What poll would that be?

I did a short post back in 2009 that answers their question…….

Source: Many Americans Prefer Socialism | In Saner Thought

Bernie is talking about the issues that the American people care most about….he is not playing the same game as the GOP with their accusations and blame……

But check it out for yourself……

14 things Bernie Sanders has said about socialism – Michael Kruse – POLITICO.

If the American people stay angry and keeps on message and does not fall prey to the attacks….then the possibility of a better government is just a vote away.

The problem is….the longer Clinton is exposed to the public the more her numbers slide…….

Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, took a nosedive in a new Reuters poll released four days before the first Democratic primary debate, the Hill reports. Clinton lost 10 points in just five days, dropping from 51% on Oct. 4 to 41% on Friday. According to Newsweek, Clinton’s loss amounted to gains for Bernie Sanders (28%) and Joe Biden (20%), who has yet to say whether or not he’s even running. The Hill points out Clinton’s slide in the poll comes amid ongoing coverage of her personal email account and Benghazi. But it’s not all bad news for Clinton. Despite dropping 10 points overall last week, her lead over Sanders actually increased over what it was in September, according to Newsweek.

There is a good possibility that her slide is thanks to the news cycle and the fixation on her by the media…..that bids well for Bernie……as long as she is the news story du jour then Bernie’s star will shine.

There are some news sources that paint a better picture of Bernie….the media and the little dictator of the DNC, Wasserman-Shultz and are doing all they can to make Clinton the nominee…..but Bernie is popular where he should not be popular…..

Source: The media’s lying to you about Bernie Sanders: This is why a socialist can win the Fox-loving red states – Salon.com

I wish that I could say that the prospect of Bernie getting the nomination looks good ……….I am not optimistic…….I feel the American people will dumb it down and vote for tweedle dumb or tweedle dumber for prez……sad……we have a chance at some real change and we will blow it….like always.

All said…I still Feel The Bern!

Elections In Name Only

You know I have been analysis for about 40 years and at one point I had high hopes for this country……different people of varying ideologies would run for office and the people would show some genuine concern for the fellow Americans…..they would listen and then decide who was best for the country and vote for that person…….but the 90’s brought my optimism to an end.

To be truthful….I have become disheartened with the whole system……the country is NO longer the most important thing……instead the voter picks an issue and everything they do revolves around that issue……no longer is the subject of politics anything but the selfish ramblings of ego-centric individuals…..no longer is society and its people important but rather some emotional dribble that does not move this country forward…..

As much as I am disappointed in my fellow Americans….I still drag myself up and look everyday for that ray of hope…..so far that ray is hidden from view by the personalities that lie and cheat to gain a seat at the table of power….

And that table of power is the government…….no longer is there a grand scheme for moving us forward….but rather individual ego trips…..say the most outrageous things and you are assured massive coverage……that is NOT the way to move a country forward…..but it is a great plan to move the individual forward….and there is the problem.

These individualistic ego trips have turn the country from a majority rule to one of plurality….no longer is there a two party system….more like a 3 party system……at least in the House…and the Senate is not far behind……..“On paper, the GOP currently has 245 members, but when 50 feel they can walk away from their leadership on any given day, it’s really a plurality, not a majority,” Politico notes.

“The House, then, is not controlled by one party but better understood as a playing field for at least three: the party on the right, the dominant Republican core in the center, and the left represented by the Democrats. The challenge is to build alliances among these three to get to the 218 votes needed to move legislation. This coalition approach may seem a blow to Republican pride but it could also be liberating for John Boehner since it brings him back to the role he often forgets: Speaker of the House.”

I have heard some people voice optimism in the 2016 elections…..that we can find our way out of this minefield that is slowly choking the life out of our system…….BOLLOCKS!

2016 will be the same game…..theatrics, hysterics, lies, misinformation and more insulting rhetoric…….in other words…..same song, different year.

Nothing we do in 2016 will change anything…..that will happen when someone wakes up to the games and the disrespect for the American people….and that cannot happen as long as the voter enables the morons to run and win.

Pick One From Column “A”

Inkwell Institute

Subject:  Governance/Political Philosophy/Conservatism

Paper #17

I want to be fair to the conservative movement….I have spent much time explaining and the like on Liberalism and now I want to do the same for the Conservs…..

There has been many arguments in the press, on discussion forums, among political pundits about the ideology of the people…..for this paper I will zero in on conservatives.  I am sure that they are feeling left out of the dialogues and God forbid that I have the wrath of the Right come down on me.

So you are a conservative?  Which type of conservative would that be?  I know, I know….HUH?

Let us step into the “way back” machine…my time machine to the days of high adventure….the Age of Enlightenment and one Edmund Burke, who has be called the Father of Conservatism…..He accepted the liberal ideals of private property and the economics of Adam Smith, but thought that economics should be kept subordinate to the conservative social ethic, that capitalism should be subordinate to the medieval social tradition and that the business class should be subordinate to aristocracy.  A short definition but one that explains the movement…..and there are a wealth of variants to conservatism…..we have religious conservatism or Libertarian conservatism or fiscal conservatism and on and on…but those are the most prevalent in these times.

Let us look at some of the doings within the conservative movement…..first of all there are a few common beliefs within the conservative movement…..Tradition, Human Imperfection, Organic Society, Hierarchy and authority and Property…..first of all you will ask what is an organic society, right?  Human being are dependent and security seeking creatures that cannot exist outside of the boundaries of a society, that people desperately need to belong and seldom separate themselves from society.

The two most outstanding belief systems within the conservative movement are the “pragmatic” conserv and the Libertarian conserv…..the “pragmatic conserv believes in traditionalism, social duty, moral responsibility, natural order, a ‘middle way’ economics and a qualified welfarism……..to the contrary a Libertarian conserv believes in radicalism, egoism, meritocracy, self-help, economic rights, market order, Laissez faire economics and anti-welfarism……

And then there is the insurgent “New Right”, to which the Christian Right is a piece of the action, is more concerned with the what we shall call authoritarian populism with principles of social order, public morality, law and order and national identity……this type of conservatism seems to be the conserv movement most politicians are trying to project in the US…while it has its good points but by NO means reflects a true conservative way of governance.

That is enough said…..oh Hell….there is NEVER enough said……

The Tea Party: An Analysis

Inkwell Institute

2010/2012 Elections

I for one have been a bit of a critic of the whole Tea Party movement….not because of their agenda but rather some of their tactics…..to me, lies are just that LIES…it is not a political tactic….why?…if they lie about one thing, how can they be trusted to be truthful about the whole thing?

I recently observed a Tea Party thing on Tax Day…..if you have never been to one of these I suggest you give them a try……if for no other reason than the amusement……

I observed that their were two types or camps, if you will within the Tea Party movement……one part is the ones carry signs and spouting  mottoes, like Don’t tread on me or no taxation without representation or….well you have heard them as well…..the other “camp” is the ones that are truly fed up and are approaching it in an intellectual and logical way….these want limited government, end the Fed, etc……I guess if you subscribe to the “camp” theory then there is the Palin camp and the Paul camp……

Palin-ites are the neocons that embrace emotional issues like abortion, pray in school, morality, so forth, what has been called “traditional values”……Paul-ites are the ones that think government is doing too much, responsibility, limited taxation, and does not embrace a rigid set of social morals…..

The one common belief or issue or whatever you would like to call it is…ANGER!  Each faction expresses their anger differently……..but make no mistake…the American people are angry….but the question should be…how angry are they?  If you watch FOX news then you would be more likely to believe that they, the people, are close to storming the castle gates with pitch forks and torches…..personally, I do not think they are that angry, at least not at this time……the media, all the media, is covering the Hell out of anything the Tea Party does…….not because it is such a dynamic movement, but rather because they missed the boat a year ago when the protests first started…..they are trying to make up for their past oversight to the point that they are making the movement more important than it really is…

The best analysis of the Tea Party movement will come in the mid-term election this year….we will then see just how angry the American people are….we are told that the people have little faith in Washington and that the Congress sucks and the two parties have little confidence….if all that is true then the Tea Party should make a difference in the upcoming elections….personally, I think the American people will revert back to the old reliable,  Dems and Repubs…….Why?  Because they ARE angry just not with their politician……it is always the other guy that is at fault…..

It’s “Tyranny Of The Majority”!

Professor’s Classroom

Subject:  American History/Political Science

Paper #10

Tyranny of the majority was coined by de Tocqueville in his study and book, “Democracy In America”.  A difficult political term to define….but I will try to explain it a bit……this is one of those terms in politics that takes thought and interpretation……depends where you stand, politically and who you are talking about…….

Tyranny of the majority, used in discussing systems of democracy and majority rule, is a criticism of the scenario in which decisions made by a majority under that system would place that majority’s interests so far above a dissenting individual’s interest that the individual would be actively oppressed, just like the oppression by tyrants and despots.

And then there was the Federalist #10 written by James Madison:

No. 10 addresses the question of how to guard against “factions,” or groups of citizens, with interests contrary to the rights of others or the interests of the whole community. In today’s discourse the term advocacy group or special interest group often carries the same connotation. Madison argued that a strong, large republic would be a better guard against those dangers than smaller republics—for instance, the individual states.

But first, in case there is any confusion, the Federalist Papers were a bunch of editorials written by founding fathers that were in support of a strong central government during the debate over the “new” Constitution.

What can we say about this subject?

If you are old enough to remember your Civics class….what was the major theme of the class?  America is Great and majority rule….right?

Okay that is out of the way…….now let us look at any given public traded corporation……it takes a majority of the shareholders to pass any issue that confronts the operation of the company….That is call ‘Majority rules”! Then why when a majority, a simple majority, of 51% a bad thing….I was taught that the majority rules….is it rue or not?

Can Government Be Co-Oped?

Is there an alternative to the bureaucratic nightmare that is Washington?  I was hoping that I could find an answer like government co-operatives or co-ops……I researched and thought about the possibility and this is what I came up with after many days of headaches and coffee……

After many, many hours of thought and research….my answer to the question….NOT a chance!  I was hoping that I could find an idea that could have help save a dying system…..dying politically…….

There is a close, but NO cigar when it comes to a government co-op–Syndicalism is a type of economic system proposed as a replacement for capitalism and state socialism which uses federations of collectivized trade unions. For adherents, labor unions are the potential means of both overcoming economic aristocracy and running society fairly in the interest of the majority, through union democracy. Industry in a syndicalist system would be run through co-operative confederations and mutual aid. Local syndicates would communicate with other syndicates through the Bourse du Travail (labor exchange) which would manage and transfer commodities.  (thanx to wiki for the definition)

In syndicalism at its core is direct democracy where all levels of government are elected and hence subject to a recall if they are found to be derelict in the duties…..that is from the top down to the lowest entity….it may be distasteful to some, but if you want to have control over your government again…..a bitter pill sort of thing….

I know…but Professor it is a type of socialism…..yes it is….but it is more equatable than some of the systems we have today…..this could lessen the effect that bureaucracy on government…lessen but nothing can eliminate it…it is a beast with little control….

I am sorry but after abusing my brain trying to find an answer to the growing problem of bureaucracy…I have NOT found a suitable way to control or end the reign of terror….the bureaucrats…..

I give myself an “A” for effort but the Cuban eludes me….dammit!  Sorry Quin, I just cannot see a way around all the crap of bureaucracy……