Carl,
I've just finished listening to Chris Hedges and Robert Reich on Democracy
Now. You asked for thoughts on their debate. It was a frustrating
experience, lisstening to them. On one level, I guess I felt like they were
both correct. On another level, I thought that Chris Hedges has a much
clearer picture of where we are and what is happening. However, He doesn't
tell us what he thinks we can do, if anything, to improve things. It's all
very well to talk about building a movement for the future. But Reich's
point, and Ben Jellis' point, during the first hour, were about the
consequences of one's actions in real time, immediately, right now. Does it
make sense to ignore Trump, or any other Republican extremist who might
actually win, because the Democratic Party is so corrupt? But Hedges was
correct when he said that all this horrible stuff would happen, regardless
of who becomes President. It's clear that the TPP will pass. And Sanders
must know that. It isn't even in the platform, as meaningless as that is,
because the fix is already in. Obama wants it. That means that it was
decided a long time ago and all of this protesting it is just a pretense.
And that means that, as Hedges said, our democracy is just a pretext. So
it's a question of how many people will be hurt how badly if Trump becomes
President or if Clinton becomes President. Do we even have control over
that?
Miriam
