Bob,
I disagree with you about people in prison voting. I think everyone should have
the vote, including those in prison for violent crimes. I don't think we can
say that the person whose crime is defined as violent, is necessarily the one
who should receive the greater punishment. One needs to look at what motivated
the particular action and also, at the resulting harm of that action. We talk
about physical violence with horror while excusing people in offices whose
actions destroy the quality of life, or the actual lives, of people every day.
The stroke of a pen or a computer key is not nearly as upsetting as a gun shot
or a knife wound or the explosion of a pipe bomb, but horrible results can
occur from decisions made in board rooms or in courtrooms or in the White House.
As for voting, I don't see how having Biden or any other corporate Democrat as
President, would improve the lives of Americans, and it certainly wouldn't
improve the lives of people in the rest of the world. The corporate and
military elites who run the country, will continue doing so. There's a glimmer
of a chance that if Sanders or Warren were President, they'd bring in people
who would make some economic and social changes that would help. But given the
power of the forces opposed to any change that would actually involve some
redistribution of wealth and power, I doubt it. I'd vote for Sanders or Warren,
even with all the drawbacks. If neither of them is the Democratic candidate,
I'll choose a symbolic candidate, most probably the Green Party candidates for
whom to vote. To those angry Democrats who say that I'm handing the vote to the
Republicans, my response is that the Democrats stopped being the party of the
people when Bill Clinton became President. Probably, they stopped when McGovern
lost.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx On Behalf Of Bob Hachey (Redacted
sender "bhachey" for DMARC)
Sent: Sunday, July 21, 2019 1:07 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Trump May Be a White Nationalist, but American
Racism Is Bipartisan
Hi all,
I agree with a good bit of Paul Street here. But Sanders lost me when he said
that even the likes of the marathon bomber has the right to vote while in
prison. IMHO, anyone imprisoned for violence upon another person should lose
that right while in prison and regain it upon release. I am no fan of Biden,
but I'll hold my nose and vote for him in the general if for no other reason
than to prevent Trump from winning a second term.
No doubt about it, there is plenty of both racism and hipocricy on both sides.
How many recall how the democrats were in bed with the KKK during the 1920's or
how southern democrats used to be known as dixicrats?
Now for the blatant free speech hipocricy coming from the right? While
conservatives rightly deride the left for its limitations on free speech in the
name of political correctness, look how they now support Trump in his attempts
to shut down the free speech of the four members of the "squad." If they
thought that all of Trump's criticisms of the Obama administration were OK
during the 2016 campaign, then why are they so upset about what folks like AOC
and Ayana Pressly have to say regarding his administration?
Two things I am sure of:
1. we are getting closer and closer to civil war.
2. we have gone very far away from the civil and respectful discourse that
should be at the heart of American democracy.
Bob Hachey
