Nope, I don't agree.
Just one example, if the founders of our country simply wanted to stop
paying taxes to the King of England, they could have set up their own
monarchy and not bothered with the Constitution with its checks and balances
and that Bill of Rights.
Another example, Hitler and the Nazis did not go to war to benefit
billionaires, but because of their racial doctrines.
And resource wars are not wars to benefit billionaires, since resource wars
were fought long before Capitalism was invented.
No, this is not evidence, it's political posturing.
Evan
-----Original Message-----
From: Miriam Vieni
Sent: Friday, November 23, 2018 9:36 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] RE: [blind-democracy] Re: [blind-democracy] Re:
[blind-democracy] Re: [blind-democracy] Re: [blind-democracy] Re:
[blind-democracy] Midterm elections: Democrats’ ‘blue wave’ falls short
Um, have you noticed the statistics on how many people have been killed in
our war on terror? That war is being wged for the benefit of billionaires.
Add on the numbers killed in the first world war and in the wars of conquest
that our country has waged like the Spanish American War. Actually, look
back to the Revolutionary War. Its purpose was so businessman would stop
paying taxes to the king of England. Whatever propaganda is fed to the
public, our wars are waged for the benefit of Business, and not the workers,
but the owners, the share holders, these days, the billionaires. If you look
closely, you'll find that there were even economic reasons for the second
world war, the "good war". And when Obama decided to pivot to Russia and
China, why do you suppose that was? Why are those countries considered our
rivals? It certainly has nothing to do with their autocracies. It has to do
with our country's wish for economic dominance. And who benefits from that?
Billionaires.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Evan Reese
Sent: Thursday, November 22, 2018 11:03 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: [blind-democracy] Re: [blind-democracy] Re:
[blind-democracy] Re: [blind-democracy] Re: [blind-democracy] Midterm
elections: Democrats’ ‘blue wave’ falls short
Okay, given the Asimov quote in your signature, I have no doubt that you
have solid evidence to back up your claim that:
"there are millions of people around the world who are killed in the
billionaires' pursuit of greater profits."
I look forward to seeing that evidence.
Evan
-----Original Message-----
From: Roger Loran Bailey (Redacted sender "rogerbailey81" for DMARC)
Sent: Thursday, November 22, 2018 8:37 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: [blind-democracy] Re: [blind-democracy] Re:
[blind-democracy] Re: [blind-democracy] Midterm elections: Democrats’ ‘blue
wave’ falls short
I don't think they would hesitate to kill you if there was a profit in it
for them. You might want to consider whether you will defend yourself if it
comes to that. After all, there are millions of people around the world who
are killed in the billionaires' pursuit of greater profits.
_________________________________________________________________
Isaac Asimov
“Don't you believe in flying saucers, they ask me? Don't you believe in
telepathy? — in ancient astronauts? — in the Bermuda triangle? — in life
after death?
No, I reply. No, no, no, no, and again no.
One person recently, goaded into desperation by the litany of unrelieved
negation, burst out "Don't you believe in anything?"
Yes", I said. "I believe in evidence. I believe in observation, measurement,
and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I'll believe anything, no
matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and
more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the
evidence will have to be.”
― Isaac Asimov
On 11/19/2018 3:17 PM, Evan Reese wrote:
Nope, not a billionaire, I simply don't use the word "enemies" to
describe people who have more money than I do.
The word "enemies" is used for people one wants to go to war with, i.e.
kill. If you're into that, then count me out.
Evan
-----Original Message----- From: Roger Loran Bailey (Redacted sender
"rogerbailey81" for DMARC)
Sent: Monday, November 19, 2018 3:09 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: [blind-democracy] Re: [blind-democracy]
Midterm elections: Democrats’ ‘blue wave’ falls short
Oh? You are a billionaire?
_________________________________________________________________
Isaac Asimov
“Don't you believe in flying saucers, they ask me? Don't you believe
in telepathy? — in ancient astronauts? — in the Bermuda triangle? — in
life after death?
No, I reply. No, no, no, no, and again no.
One person recently, goaded into desperation by the litany of
unrelieved negation, burst out "Don't you believe in anything?"
Yes", I said. "I believe in evidence. I believe in observation,
measurement, and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I'll
believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is
evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however,
the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be.”
― Isaac Asimov
On 11/14/2018 8:46 PM, Evan Reese wrote:
Your class enemies perhaps, not mine.
Evan
-----Original Message----- From: Roger Loran Bailey
Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2018 8:12 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ; Evan Reese
Subject: Re: [blind-democracy] Re: [blind-democracy] Midterm elections:
Democrats’ ‘blue wave’ falls short
If you know anything about Socialist Action you will realize that the
author of this article is not advocating that the Democrat party be
run in any way. That is the business of the Democrats. Rather, the
author is pointing out that the Democrat party is just generally not
in the interests of the large majority of the population at all. That
is, the Democrat party is a party of our class enemies.
_________________________________________________________________
Isaac Asimov
“Don't you believe in flying saucers, they ask me? Don't you believe
in telepathy? — in ancient astronauts? — in the Bermuda triangle? —
in life after death?
No, I reply. No, no, no, no, and again no.
One person recently, goaded into desperation by the litany of
unrelieved negation, burst out "Don't you believe in anything?"
Yes", I said. "I believe in evidence. I believe in observation,
measurement, and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I'll
believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is
evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is,
however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be.”
― Isaac Asimov
On 11/9/2018 2:32 PM, Evan Reese wrote:
Quoting the article in part:
"But the candidates within the Democratic Party “big tent” ranged
widely in their views—from Democratic Socialists of America members
to conservatives like party hack Joe Manchin in West Virginia—who
shamefully voted for Brett Kavanaugh to join the Supreme Court...."
Now I don't like Kavanaugh at all, but I hope the author doesn't
think that only people with a narrow range of views should be
elected, as beginning the sentence with the word, "But", implies.
That doesn't sound like a very intelligent way to run a party or a
government. That's what's happening to the Republican party. I do
not want the Democratic party to become a mirror image of that. We
are talking about the House of Representatives after all. And
whatever I think of many other peoples' views, there are a wide
range of views out there. The House is supposed to represent those
views, not be a forum for a narrow set of them.
Again, quoting the article in part:
"Evidence that the “blue wave” did not flow significantly to the
left can be seen in the fact that a quarter of the Democratic Party
candidates in the Nov. 6 election have a background in the CIA, the
military, the State Department, or national security...."
The fact that a quarter of them had such backgrounds is a problem?
Does the author mean to say that only people ignorant of such
matters should be elected? If the fact that only a quarter of them
had such backgrounds is a problem for him, that would seem to be
what he's saying. Again, that doesn't sound like a very intelligent
way to make decisions. Whatever one's positions on matters of the
military, the CIA, the State Department, or national security might
be, it seems hard to justify ignorance as a good approach to making
decisions about matters involving them. Ignorance is Donald Trump's approach to running things.
I hope this author isn't advocating a similar approach for Democrats.
Evan
-----Original Message----- From: Roger Loran Bailey (Redacted sender
"rogerbailey81" for DMARC)
Sent: Friday, November 09, 2018 11:24 AM
To: blind-democracy
Subject: [blind-democracy] Midterm elections: Democrats’ ‘blue wave’
falls short
https://socialistaction.org/2018/11/07/midterm-elections-democrats-b
lue-wave-falls-short/
Midterm elections: Democrats’ ‘blue wave’ falls short
/ 2 days ago
Nov. 2018 Ocasio Cortez (AP)
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the Democratic Socialists of
America, was elected to Congress on the Democratic Party ticket.
(AP)
By MICHAEL SCHREIBER
“This is the most important midterm election in the modern history
of this country,” said Senator Bernie Sanders, and many politicians
and pundits agreed. President Trump spoke similarly during his
week-long campaign tour, aimed mainly at shoring up Republican
candidates in so-called Red States. “Everything we have achieved is
at stake,” Trump declared to his cheering admirers.
After the election, however, the mood quickly subsided; there was no
evidence that substantial changes had come onto the political landscape.
For one thing, the hoopla that Democrats had drummed up to create a
mighty “blue wave” produced merely a ripple of elected candidates.
In a Nov. 7 news conference, in fact, Trump boasted that his
campaign rallies had “stopped the blue wave.”
The Democrats’ lackluster finish came despite the fact that they had
received the bulk of Wall Street donations. The securities and
finance industry backed Democratic congressional candidates 63
percent to 37 percent for the Republicans, according to the Center
for Responsive Politics.
Of course, the Democrats did succeed in winning a majority in the
House for the first time since 2011, and made gains in many
relatively affluent suburban districts that had leaned Republican in years past.
And here and there, a few rookie Congress members were elected who
consider themselves to be “progressives” or even “democratic
socialists.” More women, LGBTQ people, and people of color than ever
before were elected on the Democratic ticket.
But the candidates within the Democratic Party “big tent” ranged
widely in their views—from Democratic Socialists of America members
to conservatives like party hack Joe Manchin in West Virginia—who
shamefully voted for Brett Kavanaugh to join the Supreme Court. The
crook Bob Menendez was also reelected as a Democratic U.S. Senator
from New Jersey, despite having been censured by the Senate Ethics
Committee for accepting bribes from a wealthy businessman.
Evidence that the “blue wave” did not flow significantly to the left
can be seen in the fact that a quarter of the Democratic Party
candidates in the Nov. 6 election have a background in the CIA, the
military, the State Department, or national security. They included,
for example, Elissa Slotkin, who won a congressional seat from
Michigan’s Eighth District. Slotkin is a former CIA operative in
Iraq, who also served as Obama’s Iraq director on the National
Security Council. Later, she worked at the Pentagon, looking into drone warfare, “homeland defense,”
and cyber warfare.
All in all, despite the addition of a few “progressive” Democrats to
Congress, the complexion of U.S. politics has changed very little
since the election. The policies of the capitalist Democratic Party
have not been altered one iota from the pro-corporate, pro-war,
anti-environmental ones of the past.
The social issues that the Democratic Party candidates addressed in
their campaigns were exceedingly narrow. “Medicare for All” was a
central plank of the Democrats this year, though we can expect that
the proposal will be watered down; as under Obama, the needs of the
insurance industry will have to be catered to before the proposal
ever reaches a vote in Congress. The Democrats also spoke about
repairing the country’s roads and bridges—always a safe bet at
election time—but ignoring the need for efficient mass
transportation and the use of renewable fuels.
Major issues of an international scope were ignored, such as climate
change and out-of-control environmental pollution, and pouring more
money into the military (most Democrats in Congress supported this
year’s $716 billion military budget). Likewise, questions such as
the sanctions against Iran, trade wars with China and other
countries, and the endless U.S. wars in Afghanistan and the Middle
East were virtually absent from the platforms of Democratic candidates for Congress.
Moreover, important domestic issues such as raising the minimum wage
to be enough to live on; the right to low-cost housing; securing the
rights of women, immigrants, and LGBTQ people; and stopping police
violence against people of color generally received no more than a
nod by the Democrats.
A referendum on Trump
The main issue that the Democrats ran on was simply “stop Trump.”
CNN and AP VoteCast polls on the eve of the election both showed
that close to 70% of voters hoped to send a message to Trump with
their vote; about 26% to 28% of the respondents were for Trump, and
38% to 40% were against. Trump readily agreed that the election was
a referendum on his administration. He told potential voters in
Mississippi, “Pretend I’m on the ballot.”
The Republicans held onto their “strongholds” in rural districts and
in areas of discontented white workers who had voted for Trump in 2016.
Accordingly, the Republicans increased their edge in the Senate and
won several key governor races. In general, right-wing and
Trump-supporting politicians were elected, while more mainstream
Republicans did not do as well. In a Nov. 7 tweet, Trump
acknowledged the fact, saying, “Those that worked with me in this
incredible Midterm Election, embracing certain policies and
principles, did very well. Those that did not, say goodbye!”
One loyal Trump supporter who followed the formula, Marsha
Blackburn, was elected to the Senate from Tennessee. “I’m going to
work with President Trump all of the way to build that wall,” she
affirmed to voters. A Blackburn commercial started with a shot of
the immigrant caravan crossing Mexico. “I’m going to stop the
criminals who are going toward our border,” Blackburn stated in a voice-over.
In order to rally his supporters in the weeks leading up to the
election, Trump relied almost exclusively on scare tactics, using
racist descriptions that are commonly employed by the ultra-right.
Trump described the Central American migrants traveling through
Mexico as “invaders” and “terrorists,” and he endorsed a campaign ad
that likened them to Luis Bracamontes, an immigrant who had been
convicted for killing two police officers.
Polls showed that the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme
Court was a key issue for Trump supporters in the election. Only a
month before the election, Trump spread the conspiracy theory that
people protesting Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination (“elevator
screamers”) were being paid for by billionaire George Soros—a figure
who is frequently denounced in anti-Semitic literature.
In the South, with its long history of injustices against Black
people, racism was merged with anti-immigrant prejudices in
Republican messages against the Democrats. In Georgia, Trump said
that Democrat Stacey Abrams, a Black “progressive” running for governor, was “unqualified”
for the office, and that she “would turn Georgia into a giant
sanctuary city for criminal aliens, putting innocent Georgia
families at the mercy of hardened criminals and predators.” The
National Rifle Association in Georgia put out a message, “Defend
yourself. Defeat Abrams.” And ABC News reported that a robocall on
behalf of her Republican opponent, Brian Kemp, called Abrams a “negress.”
Should socialists work within the Democratic Party?
The elections reflected the broader polarization that has taken
place in the United States during the last few years, brought on in
part by the dissatisfaction and alienation that working people feel
toward the status quo in capitalist society. Some workers and
middle-class people, often in “rust-belt” districts that have seen
better times, have been hoodwinked by the anti-immigrant and racist messages of the right wing.
But likewise, there is no doubt that the reactionary pronouncements
by Trump and the right have had an electric effect in mobilizing
people in opposition. The last two years have seen massive rallies
in the streets against Trump’s policies.
Unfortunately, at the present time, working people have no authentic
voice in the political arena except in the streets. Some socialists
mistakenly adhere to the idea that it might be possible to change
the pro-big business nature of the Democratic Party by working
within it, or that it might be possible to break a “left wing” (such
as Bernie Sanders
supporters) out of the party. But both scenarios are merely wishful
thinking.
Similarly, it is a deadly illusion to think that revolutionary
socialists can be elected to public office and work for significant
social change when using the ballot line of the capitalist
Democratic Party—always a “lesser-evil” trap for the unwary. History
has repeatedly demonstrated that the former party of the Klan, White
Citizens Councils, and Southern slavocracy serves the ruling class elite unfailingly.
That this “graveyard of all fighting social movements” can be
considered a vehicle for advancing working-class interests is
preposterous. In general, when “progressive” or “left” candidates
run as Democrats, the party hierarchy forces them to align their
positions with those of the mainstream, not the opposite.
Consider Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the member of the Democratic
Socialists of America (DSA) from the Bronx, who was just elected to
the House as a Democrat. At first, the party leadership viewed her
with suspicion, but after winning the primary vote, she became a
celebrity, the subject of talk shows—and even Barak Obama endorsed her.
Accordingly, the DSA enlisted Ocasio-Cortez to travel to California
to raise money and support for other “left” candidates running in
the Democratic Party. We can expect, too, that the Democratic Party
leadership will use her services in selected and “safe” locales as
an opportunity to refurbish the party’s image when it suits their needs.
They understand that Ocasio-Cortez and other DSAers are fresh faces
who can attract young people and activists with new energy into the
party—and thus channel dissident voices into the double-talking
capitalist mainstream. Sanders played a similar role in 2016,
shepherding the unwary first into his campaign and then into Hillary
Clinton’s.
At her acceptance speech on Nov. 6, Ocasio-Cortez told supporters,
“We can make change … We are here, and we are going to rock the
world in the next two years … This is not the end. This is the beginning.”
But real change will never be achieved from within the Democratic Party.
The beginning of a new day for working people in the United States
will arrive when they construct their own party, one that operates
not only at the ballot box but in workplaces and in the streets, and
with a revolutionary program to enable the working class to take
political power in its own name and abolish the rule of the capitalists.
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November 7, 2018 in Elections, Trump / U.S. Government.
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