I'm writing elsewhere but I care passionately about this topic.  Here is what I had to say this morning: https://liveonearth.dreamwidth.org/1413541.html

Listening to the media reports about Trump and Clinton, I understand the frustration of the majority of voters.  Most of us know that the "establishment" politicians, like Clinton, are part and parcel with the corporatocracy that has made our two party system a joke.  The two parties are simply different faces of the same government which is beholden to big business and rich investors.  While the Democrats make more of an effort to care for the most impoverished, neither side is actually effective at reducing poverty.  The Republicans assert that the poor are not helped by a free ride, and this may be true.  It is true that during the Great Depression here in the US, people got healthier.

Trump, on the other hand, is not part of the "establishment" except in so far as he is rich, and he is stupid enough to become their tool, just as Shrub did.  His daily empty statements, like what I just heard that he "will win" 95% of the black American vote, are lunacy.  There is no way that he is getting 95% of any vote, except perhaps of those white male voters who are angry and desperate enough to commit suicide but would rather have someone else do it for them.  I understand the line of thought that says "crash this train", that is to say, destroying our corporatocracy is the first step toward building something new.  This is more the approach of libertarians who understand that big business will not be dethroned by small measures.  Electing Trump would be a drastic measure that could crash this train, except for the fact that the corporate Republican powers will feed his ego and narcissism and keep him busy and distracted by giving him televised glory while they run things.  In other words, it won't work.  Electing Trump will not derail the corporate train.

The Libertarian and Green candidates are relatively attractive in this election.  Unfortunately the Libertarians appear to be almost as "estalishment" as Clinton, see Gary Johnson's positions here.  Jill Stein of the Green party is a physician and one smart cookie, and she actually makes the most sense to me of any of the candidates.  She knows that our two-party system is broken, and she addresses that question and others with a raft of information instead of party lines or defund-it-all ideology.

I do not know what it would take to persuade a majority of voters to choose third-party candidates, but I pray that I live to see it.  At this moment it appears to me that Clinton will win because so many people are terrified of the specter of a Trump presidency.  His racism, bogus claims and impetuous thin-skinned personality are enough to disqualify him for all but the most blindered of voters.  It is true that if he were elected the Republican party would attempt to control him, but we all know that he would be more likely to push the nuclear button than any other president in living memory.  While it bears discussing why we refrain from using nukes, just as it bears discussing why we can't as a society afford freeloaders, we might want to discuss it very well before we hand any control to a tool such as Trump.

I am sure I've mentioned it before, but it is my belief that in order to build a majority that can beat both established parties, we need to build a bridge between the far right Libertarians and the far left Greens.  When this happens we might actually wrest our democracy back from its service to business.  It would be heralded as a great crisis, just like the Brexit vote, but don't believe everything you hear in the news.  A reduction in our GDP might be good for us.  More unemployment is not an entirely bad thing.  We Americans need to get back to the project of taking good care of ourselves and our dear ones, building community, and being real people face to face with other real people.  This wealthy life of internet and automobiles has created a Great Satan that is making us sad.

** first use of tag: green party

If you don't want the culture clock turned back to the 50's, you better muster the guts to get registered and turn out to cast your ballot.  Else the progress we've made in terms of tolerance and social justice will be undone, by Rump and his old white guy fans.  You may not like Hillary much better, but that doesn't matter.  Vote.  Vote for anybody.  Vote for a third party.  Vote for someone you actually agree with.  Vote for Hillary to be sure Rump doesn't get in.  Vote against destruction, because a Trump presidency will not only finish off the Republican party, but it will also devastate the American Dream.  Be a part of the process and keep the old white guys from making you irrelevant and thoughtlessly destroying any good relations we have with other nations.

I'm not talking about the ignorant rebels who've been co-opted by corporate Republican interests and convinced to vote against their own best interests.  I'm talking about those Tea Party thinkers who know that our government is run by and for big business (not "the people"), and would like to do something about it.

This is what I've been talking about.  The possibility that the left wing and the right wing could reach around the back of the government bird and strangle the business creature that is riding on its back.

*first use of tag: Bernie

For example, a cursory scan of the TV and internet news continues to tell me today that Carson is winning hearts and minds, that he is the most popular Republican candidate for president.  The one who keeps impressing me is Rubio, not because he's spotless, but because he is taking the high road and sounding sharp while he's on it.  My partner finds him frightening, considers him to be the most dangerous of the lot because he has a chance of winning.  I don't know what to think of him and wish the media would focus on Rubio, Paul, etc more and less on tRump and cARSon.  Oh well, I don't care about it enough to really study on it, just impressions here.

According to the Oregonian yesterday, there are 15 million illegal Mexicans in the US today. The announcement today is that Obama will issue work permits to some 800,000 young illegals instead of deporting them. The older folks are still getting deported, but the young will be... assimilated? Perhaps. Once they have a work permit, and they can be in this country under the light of day, they may decide they want to stay and seek citizenship.

( ruminationsCollapse )

Ron Paul is not about to throw in the towel, and feisty when told he should "do the decent thing" and drop out of the race:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/03/ron-paul-i-am-trailing-but-the-race-isnt-over/


Also, he predicts that the Supreme Court is likely to support "Obamacare":
http://newsok.com/ron-paul-court-will-rule-obamacare-constitutional/article/feed/364122

And here's one on what he is and is not doing.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/where-is-ron-paul-mondays-trail-mix/2012/03/26/gIQAI5VnbS_blog.html