Ryan Ruminates

      A couple days ago I podcasted the Thom Hartmann show. The topic eventually got to Ralph Nader and his run – once again – for president. There were only a couple callers who called up to talk about this recent development, but they both shared the same view; we live in a two party system and no matter how you feel about it, that’s just the way it is. If you vote for a third party you are wasting your time, if you run as a third party candidate you are worse than the enemy because you are taking away votes from one side or the other. Today there was an article by William Hartung in which – while not as harsh – he said basically the same thing; Ralph Nader might cause a Republican to get elected. Ralph Nader (and anyone else who is running anywhere as a third party) is being blamed for giving the 303,000,000 USers more than two choices. No one thinks to blame the Democrats for pandering to the centrist voters or the Republicans for not being anything like the conservatives they are supposed to be; it’s the third parties fault. Have we really become that accepting of doing what we are told, of going with the flow because “that’s just the way things are and we can’t do anything to change them”? The Republicans have had the White House for the past 7+ years and have gotten us into a war that is costing hundreds of thousands of lives and almost a trillion dollars, they have brought us to the verge (if we aren’t already there) of collapsing the economy, and they have widened the gap between super rich and ultra poor. The Democrats took over both the House and the Senate almost seventeen months ago, but have been unable to win any staring contests with Bush or his cronies. Despite this, despite the insanely low approval ratings for “both” parties, the majority of us still get angry when we are offered another choice. I do not believe that Ralph Nader will win the Presidency, I believe that he will take away votes from the Democratic nominee, but that does not mean he should not run- even if it’s just to send a message. We need to start small – state Senates, Congresspeople, Mayors and Governors – before we can ever dream of having a viable third party candidate on the national level, but in order to start small we have to accept more than two options. As long as we continue to listen to the media (who tear down both parties and yet scoff at a third) and the Serious People (to borrow a term from Glenn Greenwald) there will never be real change in this country.

One of the most pressing issues in the world for the past hundred years or so is abortion. Whether we are pro or anti-choice I think we can all agree on the fact that the lower the amount of abortions, the better. Under our current administration, schools are encouraged to teach abstinence only birth control techniques; Planned Parenthood gets more money if they do not perform abortions, and anyone who mentions condoms in schools are forever shunned. On the opposite end of the spectrum are countries like the Netherlands (or the US under Bill Clinton) who teach kids that they should wait to have sex, but understand that this is not always the case; therefore they hand out condoms in school and teach the children truths about how one gets pregnant. The main difference between these two approaches to sexual education is the former (abstinence only) results in a considerably higher abortion rate. When kids do not have access to condoms and proper education they have just as much sex (maybe even more) as when they do have access; the only difference is that they are not protected. It’s all about education, just like almost every other issue that the US faces today; unemployment, drug addiction, jail population, a Republican in the White House, violence, and so on can all be traced back to the education one receives. I – and many other people (much more eloquently than me) – have said it millions of times; the education system in this country is fucked up. When someone like George W Bush can go to Yale, but a much more intelligent poor child from the middle of the country is in high school but reading at a 2^nd grade level, something is wrong. When the richer the schools, the more money they get, something is wrong. When the US – as a whole – is not doing anything to change this, something is seriously wrong. I don’t know what the answer is; I just know that there has to be a way to change. Maybe it is through people with knowledge using their free time to volunteer in inner-city schools, maybe we need some politicians who are going to start giving more money to schools who need more money, or maybe we need to somehow circumvent the system and start setting up schools on our own. No matter what the answer, things are not going to change until we change them.

I have been studying nonviolence – first as a theory and now as both a historical reference and a way of life – for a little under a year now. Every time I ruminate for long periods of time about it, I begin to think about Palestine. Here is a situation in which nonviolence is really their only choice; they are outnumbered, outgunned, and out supported and when they use any sort of violence they are met with ten times as much. They fire a small rocket over the border that doesn’t even reach its destination and the response is armed tanks shooting at whatever is moving and blockades on their food, oil, and water. When the world starts asking questions, Israel responds by saying that their security is at risk due to the rockets maybe one day reaching something (and the suicide bombers) and most of the world accepts this. However – I kept telling myself – if the Palestinians would organize in some sort of a nonviolent way, Israel would have nothing to say if they responded with violence. A couple of days ago a number of Palestinians formed a human fence along the Palestine-Israel border (they wanted to cover the whole border, but not enough people showed up) and spent the entire time of the protest being peaceful and singing songs. Israel called out their army and military police, but were unable to do anything besides talk shit. They made insane claims, such as “It’s absolutely clear that among them will be people with explosive charges, there will be those among them who will be ready at any moment to blow up the border fence. Suddenly there will be a big hole in the fence somewhere, there will be explosions, injured soldiers, and the mob will stream into our territory. If that happens it will be the end of the state of Israel.” An Israeli MP said this; none of it came true and the Palestinians made a huge point. If they use their press to report on the small success of this mission – and most importantly, the zero casualties – and then plan for another human fence next week, the numbers and the attention will be bigger. Sooner or later this could grow into a movement, eventually Israel will use violence, and in time the world will see the truth. This is asking a lot – practicing nonviolence in the face of such a huge oppressor requires a lot more work and restraint than being violent – but history has proven it is possible and history has proven that it works.

I have had trouble deciding who to vote for in the upcoming presidential election; and if I should even vote at all. Since I don’t have a television, I haven’t been able to watch any debates or speeches by any of the candidates. Sure, I see little quote here or there on youtube and the likes and I read articles where I learn what the writer thinks, but I haven’t done any real research. Just knowing that in order to raise between fifty and one hundred million dollars per month some corruption has to be involved makes me not want to put my energy behind Clinton, McCain, or Obama. The other night however, I watched the Austin, Texas debate between Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama and was quite blown away by the latter. He is the first politician I have ever seen who does not seem at all like a slimy, robotic machine (like Hilary Clinton obviously is). His answer to the first question (about holding diplomatic talks with Raul Castro) blew me away; where Hilary’s was obviously based on talking points. Seeing this made me want to backhand anyone who uses “experience” as the reason for supporting Hilary Clinton. George Bush has experience, Donald Rumsfeld had experience, Dick Cheney had a ton of experience; where did all of this get us? There are still things (besides being owned by corporations) that disgust me about Mr. Obama; like the fact that he wants to put more troops in Afghanistan and is against the Iraq war not because it is an unnecessary war, but because it wasn’t well thought out and consequently is not going well. The question for me has become whether to look past this and accept his as the least corrupt, least political of the three candidates or refuse to vote for any of them, knowing that nothing I do inside of that little box in November is going to make a difference compared to what I can do on the streets.

      Despite the fact that I’m torn on whether or not to vote for this man, I am disgusted beyond belief at the tactics that the right wing is already using. Bill O’Reilly threatening to lynch Michelle Obama (doesn’t he realize the significance of lynching? It wasn’t something that went on thousands or even hundreds of years ago; many black people alive today had parents or grandparents who were actually lynched right here in the United States of America) just shows – again – his vast ignorance and racism. However, what annoys me the most is the attackers who are calling him a Muslim and/or un-American because he refused (which isn’t even true) to salute the flag. The worst thing is when these right wing bloggers and other hacks call him by his middle name – Hussein. However, the more I think about it the more I can’t really blame people like Ann Coulter for playing on people’s stupidity and fear, I can’t help but blame the stupid, fearful people who are allowed to cast a ballot. There are people – a lot of people, mostly scattered throughout the middle and southern parts of this country – who know absolutely nothing about Mr. Obama, save that his middle name is the same as the bad guy who used to head Iraq (the bad guy who, many people still believe, was behind the 9/11 attacks and had weapons of mass destruction) and that he might possible be a Muslim (which he is not). These things are enough for a high percentage of the voting public to be not just disgusted, but angry and hateful towards Mr. Obama. I think the part of me that wants to cast a vote for this hopeful man wants to do it just to do my part to offset all these goons.

Maybe the majority of us have woken up; not on all issues of course, but maybe we are finally starting to understand that most politicians – but especially today’s Republicans – are outright fear mongering liars. There is a new ad that the Grand Old Party has put on our airwaves; it has scary music, quote from in-the-know politicians, and a countdown till we are all blown up because the Democrats let the Protect America Act expire. I try to be a compassionate person and tell myself that we are all human beings who want to live happy lives without suffering; it’s just that some of us have been mislead. It isn’t watching this commercial that makes me think differently (I think these Republicans – and even some Democrats – either have been fooled into thinking the way they do or are blinded by the money), it is the fear I have that some people are going to buy it. There are some 24 watchers who are on the fence about the whole telecom immunity thing, who are going to watch this commercial and decide that it is correct, we are in grave danger and it is the fault of the Democrats. Never mind that the bill that lets wiretapping continue has not really expired, never mind that the person who let the Protect America Act expire is actually George W Bush; there is a commercial that has scary music and a countdown, and that means that we are all in grave immediate danger. Maybe it’s because I live in the mountains now, maybe it’s because I have been trying to see things with a more open, humanistic mind, but I feel like the majority of people are not going to fall for the trickery of the right wing this time.

As soon as we see a human being – any human being – as being less than ourselves, it becomes very easy to oppress them. This is what is going on in (among other places) Guantanamo Bay Prison, where too many people (too many defined as any) have been kept behind bars and tortured for too long (too long defined as any amount of time) without any charges. Now the government has decided that they will send the alleged masterminds (forget that Bin Laden guy) of the 9/11 attacks to trial, and seek the death penalty. Let’s assume for a second that these three men are truly the people who planned out and made sure that the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon happened; it should have been pretty easy to charge them six years ago. It should be pretty easy now to go to trial, present the evidence (which should be quite bountiful after all the money we have spent on investigations) and find them guilty. However, it is starting to come out that these trials are rigged, that members of the prosecution (who also happen to be part of the defense which both confuses and bothers me) are saying that a not guilty verdict or an acquittal cannot be tolerated. This is not just being reported by a few left-wingers in some liberal rags; there are insiders who have stepped down from their high positions who are now coming out with the purpose of making the truth universally known. However, these are Muslims, these are brown people from a country that we are at war with; if they didn’t actually plan the attacks, they probably know who did, so who cares if they have to be hung in place of someone else; it will make us all feel better. The trial will probably last somewhere around six months, taking us right up to election time. Somehow the media will cover the guilty verdicts as meaning the past five years, hundreds of billions of tax dollars spend, and hundreds of thousands of deaths have all been worth it. The final part – the part where we all fall for it, despite having months of warning – is still up to us.

      Let’s have a little refresher course on how our system works; we have a government that is run by the people for the people. That means that even the people who are not actually actively participating in the government still have a right to know what is being done both to them and in their name. When – for example – there is reason to suspect that the person that the people elected president is spying on US citizens without warrants or reason, it is the job of the Congress to perform an investigation. When it comes out that the spying was so illegal that hardcore right wingers threatened to resign if it didn’t stop, there should be no hesitation for Congress to act. Not only the members of Congress, but also Governors, Mayors, City Councils, the media, bloggers, and basically everyone who cares about our nation. Yet here we are, years after the public and members of the group we pay to investigate found out about this illegal spying, and nothing has been done. As Glenn Greenwald points out in the above linked to article, if this were going on in a country like Russia, North Korea, or Iran the entire US government would be up in arms.

Most of my life I had accepted the fact that there was a centralized national government that made and passed the laws and pretty much controlled the life of most every day people. While I was always against the people who directly interfered in my life – like the police or even some teachers – I never thought about the corrupt bunch of scoundrels in Washington DC because I didn’t see them. When I started to pay attention to politics – to watch news channels, read books, and spend hours in the morning reading every newspaper and blog I could get my hands on – I became so disillusioned by my government that I thought it should be completely abolished. Part of me still believes in anarchy, believes that given enough time people will be able to control their own lives, but I’m starting to think that things should be somewhere in the middle. Arthur Silber (returning from quite a long sickness) wrote a blog today from an imaginary standpoint twenty years from now; an old person telling his or her grandkids about the 2008 elections, about how less than 5% of the US population voted, the winner was barely elected, never showed up to be sworn in, and things worked out anyway. He obviously writes it much better than I do, but the point was that things worked themselves out, people are not complete idiots and are able to survive without a central government. The abolishment of all government would surely – in 2008, the way things are now – lead to complete chaos, so I am in no way hoping for that (yet). However, if each state were to become somewhat autonomous, in charge 100% of itself and its people, would things fall apart or would they become better? If the governors formed some kind of UN (with Hawaii and Alaska becoming autonomous and the other countries that the US has taken over, either returned to their right owners or becoming autonomous themselves) that met once a month to decide all national issues (threats to the nation, water sharing, and so on) what would happen? This is all I have to say right now – and it probably did not come as clear as I wanted – but I think it is a very good idea and I will be working on it.

      As if the elections of 2000 and 2004 didn’t prove that our votes in national elections don’t count, how about what is going on in the Democratic primaries right now? Although I do not understand completely what a superdelagate is (and there isn’t even a wikipedia article yet) or why it is up to them to choose the democratic nominee no matter what the voters say, from what I have read it appears to be pretty corrupt. The way they vote is determined by two things; their whim and how much money each candidate has ‘donated’ to them over the past few years. Neither of these factors should be what picks the next nominee for the Democratic Party. Even though Obama has gotten more votes and won more states, as of now Hillary Clinton has received more of the superdelegates votes. If we needed another clue as to how biddable the democratic voters are- the Republicans do not have superdelegates.

      Fidel Castro, leader of Cuba for the past forty-nine years, has finally yielded power by announcing that he will neither “run for” nor accept the presidency after the upcoming elections. Power is expected to go to his brother Raul, but the real question is what will the US do? There have been numerous attempts on Fidel’s life along with a strangling embargo for the past forty something years. Even though we have troops all over the place and are involved in two unwinnable wars, will we still try – once again – to take over the small island? Only time will tell, but one thing is clear; our opinion – the opinion of the people – will not play a part.

Yesterday afternoon – after reading a couple headlines – I had to go outside and make sure I wasn’t dreaming. I touched a couple trees, kicked a cat to see if the bite would hurt, and tried to smell the air that was blowing in from the cow slaughtering plant. I came back inside, sure that I was fully awake, and re-read that the House Democrats had refused to pass the Senate version of the Protect America Act. That heroic act, combined with George Bush’s refusal to extend the deadline, means that it has expired. If you want to read more about what all this means, and how much bullshit the president and his cronies are spewing this morning, read Glenn Greenwald; my point is something different. Something that I had been thinking about and had been made clearer to me when I got another update a few minutes later saying that House Democrats (with Republicans walking out, en masse) decided to hold Josh Bolton and Harriet Miers in contempt for refusing to respond to subpoenas issued a few months back. What I realize is that the more political experience a person has, the more corrupt they become. It is true that there are some corrupt city council people as well as some honest Senators, but for the most part that is not how it works, and it’s probably because of money. In order for one to run for city council, one needs upwards of a few thousand dollars, while – at the other end of the spectrum – Barack Obama spend over thirty million dollars in the past month to run for his parties nomination for president. In order to raise a couple thousand dollars, one can send out mailings, shake people’s hands, and even get volunteers to go door to door. However, if one needs thirty to forty million a month for over a year, $20 contributions from the old lady down the street just aren’t going to work. While our representatives in the house are not exactly corruption free, we have just seen proof that they are still more pure than their counterparts in the Senate.

      As if to prove my point, Arthur Silber wrote a blog (or, rather, quoted from a few articles) about Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama, contributions and superdelegates. It seems that in the past year or so, both of the major Democratic candidates for presidency have donated almost a million dollars to the superdelegates who will decide who gets the nomination. A lot of people came out and voted during this primary season, and one of the main reasons that I heard was because it made them feel like the actually are making a difference; in a presidential election it is hard to see one vote making a difference, but when it’s a couple hundred people in a high school gym, one is actually able to see what one’s vote does. The fact that the superdelegates votes have coincided with the amount of money they received from Obama and Clinton shows that A- in order to run for president every ounce of honesty has to be eliminated and B- our votes mean absolutely nothing.

      As if we need to be reminded why we – as a country of three hundred million people – require at least a third party, it appears that the Republicrat controlled Senate will pass a bill giving the Telecom companies retroactive immunity for the laws they have been breaking for the past seven years. The argument is not whether or not the companies actually broke the law, because one can argue that when the president of the United States of America asks someone to do something in the days after the country was attacked (even though there may be proof that this warrantless wiretapping was going on before 9/11) it should be done. However, to give someone or some company complete immunity in the middle of investigations as to whether or not something illegal was done is about as blatantly corrupt as our system gets. The Democrats in the Senate have been bending over backwards to appease the man who they were elected to hold accountable, and yet most people who consider themselves well informed will go to the polls (or fill out their mail in ballot) in November and vote for Democrats. Why? Because they are still better than Republicans; they are the lesser of two evils. If someone offered you two choices – they could stab you or shoot you – which would you choose? Most people would pick the stabbing, since it – like the Democrats – would probably hurt less than the shooting, but is that the right choice? If the person given that option had even an inkling to the amount of power she or he possess, they might realize that there is a third, fourth, and maybe even 100^th choice; they can opt for neither, fight back, run, call for help, and so on. In the case of voting for the lesser of two evils, people rationalize it by saying that voting for a third party is throwing away one’s vote- that’s perfect, that’s what the two-headed snake that has always been in power wants you to believe. When we went to the polls in record numbers for a midterm election in 2006, we did it with a purpose. We didn’t go because of taxes, women’s right, or the declining infrastructure; we went because we believed things like the Iraq war and USers being spied on were wrong and the only way to change them was to elect the opposition. Here we are over a year later and the Democrats are doing more to assure that these things continue than the Republicans ever did- is that not throwing away your vote?

      When President Bush – with the much-needed assistance of the Democratic Party – increased troop levels last year, it was only supposed to be for a short period of time. Now, realizing that violence is down because we have more troops, and putting the level back at what it was would also shoot the violence to where it was, he has decided that withdraws will be put on hold. There are one hundred and thirty thousand living breathing human beings (not counting the mercenaries) that belong spread throughout the US, but are instead in a strange land shooting and killing brown people for no reason. Each of these one hundred and thirty thousand young men and women have friends, spouses, and families at home who are being effected by the ‘surge’. Each of those family members and friends have other people around them who are being effected by them and so on, until – whether we realize it or not – we are all feeling the effects of the war. Both Obama and Clinton are giving speeches saying they disagree with this Bush/Gates/Petraeus tactic, but are offering no real vision of what they would do. Third party candidates are the only ones with nothing to lose and therefore have to courage to say that they would do everything in their power to cut off funding and force the troops to return home. Neither Clinton nor Obama have said this; in fact, when either of them talk about withdrawing troops, they do not mean all troops. At least McCain is honest enough to tell us that if he is elected president, the war will continue and we will have our brothers and sisters over there for at least another four to eight years.