Injustice 2008

I’m watching the poll numbers – but ignoring the debates – and seeing Obama’s numbers rise and McCain’s fall.  No one seems to be paying any attention to Bob Barr except as a novelty item in the Style Section, not the A (News) section.  I see “Saturday Night Live” crucify McCain as some sort of senile idiot, while Obama is some man of pure reason and ethics.  Yet I see plenty of McCain stickers in my neighborhood, which should be solidly Obama territory.

My buddy Dave hit the nail square on the head.  The Republican Party is beholden to what he refers to as the Bush Crime Family (BCF).  In 1988, with Ronald Reagan’s second term ending, the field was wide open for GOP candidates.  Among them was Bob Dole, who had served in the trenches as senator from Kansas and was even Ford’s running mate in 1976.  But the powers that be in the GOP, the party machine, decided to give the nomination to George Herbert Walker Bush (Bush I).  Eight years later, in 1996, with Bush I no longer an appropriate candidate, they threw the bone to Dole and let him run against the immensely popular Bill Clinton – with predictable results.

And history repeated itself.  In 2000, the GOP had a very capable – and electable – candidate in John McCain.  Indeed, the Democrats were worried McCain would win the nomination, because they knew he would crush Gore.  There would have been no goatfuck in Florida, it wouldn’t have been close.  And who knows what McCain might have done on 9/11 and after?  Probably something much better than Bush II.

So now it’s 2008, and the GOP threw the bone to McCain, putting him up against the immensely popular Barack Obama, 8 years after his own popularity had peaked.  He is not the same man now as he was in 2000.  And I can see he is going to lose, big time.  He does not deserve this.  The GOP has used and abused McCain, and spit him out.

On a darker note, several other things are clear:

1.         The GOP has its own best interests at heart, not those of even its rank and file members, those of the soldiers, or those of the country at large.  Our soldiers are simply pawns in a chessboard to be used and thrown away.

2.         The GOP shamelessly exploits the sincere patriotism of all the Americans who support it out of a misguided belief that the party represents traditional American, capitalist values.  It doesn’t.  It represents the corporatist, even quasi-fascist values of corrupt big business, companies asking for subsidies and handouts and not expecting to compete fairly in the marketplace.

At this point, I need to make something “perfectly clear”.  The Democrats are NOT the answer.

1.         If the Republicans are slammed for appealing to “fear”, the Democrats appeal another base emotion: greed.  Vote for us, they claim, and we’ll take from everyone richer than you and give to you.

2.         Yet look at the facts: many of the same big corporations who donate to the GOP, also donate to the Democrats, covering their butts either way.  Maybe the GOP is in bed with Big Business, but so are the Democrats (it’s a very big bed).  Too many politicians on both sides owe too much influence to the same interests which plague the other.

3.         The Democrats claim to be looking out for the middle and lower classes, but do very little to assist these groups – it’s all just smoke & mirrors to attract votes.  When I hear yet another “populist” politician like Obama talk about sticking up for the little guy, I have to laugh.  Haven’t we heard this before??  Lies, lies, and more lies.  The Republicans have no monopoly on deceit.

 With Barack Obama we have at best another politician who will tell us what we want to hear; at worst we have a socialist who really does intend to take from the rich and give to the poor (and we saw how well Comrade Lenin did that).  The Democratic Party machine represents its own interests and those of a minority of its own special interest groups such as unions and teachers.  We won’t get any improvement in education, for example, despite the Democrats’ claims that THEY support education and that it’s “their” issue, because the Democrats insist on supporting a corrupt and ineffective public school system and oppose vouchers – and these same Democratic politicians send their OWN children to private schools!  Likewise, the Democrats continue the war on drugs, and they oppose 2^nd Amendment rights, among other unacceptable positions.  Why are our two choices fascism and socialism?  Why not capitalism? The system will not change so long as pro-capitalist Americans identify with the Republicans out of fear of the socialist Democrats, or the lower classes mistakenly vote Democrat due to some misguided belief that the Dems are looking out for their interests and not their own.  We need a third party.  Now.

This is why I support the Libertarian Party.  It is the closest we have to a Capitalist Party.  Yes, I know it “has no chance”.  Bob Barr is not an ideal candidate - he’s somewhat of an asshole, and wasn’t particularly popular even when he was in Congress.  And the geniuses running the party refuse to pick celebrity candidates – to the extent there are any who want to run on their ticket – out of some misguided fear of being labeled wacky and not taken seriously, so they pick complete nobodies and lack the resources to compete effectively against the major parties.  The party screwed up big time by shunning Jesse Ventura, who could have been the first Libertarian governor.  But I will support it anyway, and vote Libertarian across the board, in every election.  We have to fight, each time, every time, until we have a Libertarian congress and President.  Maybe not in my lifetime, but who knows.