This may be the most important election of all time.

[tarheelsunc]

Just think about it.

Mitt Romney is a man who told 47% of Americans "go f*** yourself."

Many of the people who will vote for him believe President Obama is a Marxist Fascist Muslim who was born in Kenya who wants to destroy America to get revenge for colonialism, because a few paranoid conspiracy theorists put it out there.

Our Vice President has one of the best debate performance of all time, but the media won't even declare him the winner because he was in awe of his opponent's constant lying.

Mitt Romney does NOTHING but lie in his first debate, and he is declared the winner on the spot.

Mitt Romney argues with the debate moderator about the rules, the moderator does nothing to stop Romney from having his way.

Mitt Romney, former CEO of an investment firm that bought good American companies, sent their jobs overseas, destroyed the companies, and sold off the remains, is considered qualified to be president based on his business experience.

Mitt Romney served for 4 years as a state governor. He was such a poor governor that his approval rating was below 40% at the end of his term and he "retired" because he had no shot of ever being reelected.

President Obama consistently pushes legislation aimed at improving the economy, some of which include policies advocated for by Republicans. The Republicans shoot the legislation down without giving it a single thought, because they don't want him to get credit for doing anything.

People then say Obama has done nothing while he has been in office, even though the obstructionism of Congress is unprecedented in world history.

President Obama advocated rescuing the auto industry, going against heavy opposition. The bailout was a smashing success, yet Mitt Romney, who said "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt," can be called a car guy on national television without anyone even questioning it.

Mitt Romney's campaign slogan is "Believe in America." He shows his strong belief in America by betting against it and stashing his wealth in Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, and China.

Mitt Romney on the campaign trail fiercely hates China and says the President must stand up to them. Yet he outsourced thousands of jobs there, has his aforementioned investments there, and wrote in his book that President Obama was wrong for opposing Chinese-made tires from entering the country.

Mitt Romney accuses President Obama of lying several times during the debate, this coming from a man whose entire life is built on a lie, who wants you to believe he's this All-American guy who loves this country. He wants you to believe his ancestors were being "persecuted" when the government got tired of them breaking polygamy laws. He has a different set of policies everywhere he goes because he just tells everyone what they want to hear.

The Republicans pass voter ID laws to combat "liberal voting fraud," yet hire companies that deliberately cheat, destroying Democratic registrations, purging valid Democrats from the rolls, and register fraudulent Republicans who supposedly live at gas stations.

I don't think we fully understand the magnitude of all of this. 50 years ago, such a candidate would probably have been prevented from even having a shot at office based on even one of these things I have mentioned. The Republicans, media, and the Romney campaign have brainwashed a lot of Americans into buying the crap they are selling. They get away with this, because no one is opposing them. They control the media's power of persuasion. They control the Supreme Court by and large. They control Congress. They have essentially made our President and Senate powerless. They nearly destroyed our financial reputation by holding the debt ceiling hostage. They lie, lie, lie again and make it sound to the common person like all of the problems they have deliberately caused are President Obama and his liberal friends in the Senate's fault. I can't even begin to think of what this country will be like if they take the presidency. They have perpetually tried to sabotage the government to get what they want, and people let them get away with it. Their poorly-disguised goal is one-party government, where corporations are people and people are ants.

We can't let them win. We absolutely cannot. If they win now, I honestly fear America as we know it will cease to exist. This party is very dangerous and they'll be even more dangerous the more power they get. This is how so many governments became corrupt, because morally bankrupt people take advantage of the system and the ignorance of a large amount of people for their own personal benefit. This election is about much more than the Democratic party, it's about much more than President Obama, it's about our very future as a free nation.

[Raster]

1. Unfortunately, I must agree. This election is not only for the future of this country...

...but also for it's heart and soul. This election is about whether we as an American people can rise to meet the challenges facing our nation and our planet, and do so in a fashion that advances all of humanity, not just the rich and powerful.

[Bucky]

2. No, 2004 was the most important election. It solidified the changes Cheney wrought.

This election is just about whether we really want to keep on cleaning up the mess or do we wanna take a break and see if trashing the living room again will make things better. There really aren't that many choices about what needs to be done. I said it back then and I repeat it today, the first quarter century of the 21st century will be about cleaning up George Bush's mess, no matter who the president is.

[demwing]

5. not with Romney

If you think Bush left a mess, Romney will treat America like one of Bain's conquests. Strip our retirements funds, sell off our assets, ship all the jobs to third world countries, collect million dollar bonuses, and then blame us for being too lazy.

[mzmolly]

14. 2000 was, actually.

Then 2004.

[Raster]

31. Unfortunately we can't do anything about 2000 or 2004 now. But we can do something about....

...2012. What we do NOW decides whether this country continues down the hideous path chosen for us in 2000 and reinforced in 2004.

2008 solidly pissed off the 1% and their sycophants. Imagine, the audacity of Americans legally and lawfully electing a person of color, and one that was not willing to play their game.

No, 2012 is the most important. If we cannot hold the line, we can kiss the dream of heath care for all goodbye.

If we cannot hold the line, we will probably see the SCOTUS remade into an arch-conservative body that will further codify the rights of corporate entities and reduce the rights of human beings.

If we cannot hold the line, we will see women further relegated to chattel and brood-mare status.

[dkf]

32. Yes 2000 was most important.

It sent us down the absolutely wrong path. Such a travesty.

[tarheelsunc]

15. That may be true, but the more set in those policies set in, the more permanent they are

We can undo a lot of the damage in 4 more years, though far from all of it. With 8 years of a Romney presidency, this nation could become unrecoverable.

[dkf]

33. It set us on a path for unavoidable austerity.

We can't fix it without a lot more pain.

[cthulu2016]

3. 1860, 1932, 2004, 1980, 2008, 1968...

[Bucky]

12. I'd reverse 1932 and 1860 on that list. I'd replace 2008 with 1912.

The Civil War was gonna happen eventually. It was important, but the South had been talking itself into going its own way for 12 years beforehand. The choice in 1932 however was a true choice and point of divergence in American values. It was in many ways a validation of the path the country set out on in 1912 when the electorate made it clear that the Progressive Movement represented the country's future. All three candidates had some claim to representing the Progressive tradition. That set the stage for all the remaining debates for the next hundred years--including the debates that we're having this year. As for 2008, despite the winner's race, the vote seemed to be a choice to pull back to the old status quo in American politics away from the dangerous excesses of the neocon's retooling of Imperialism. It was, I'd argue, a conservative choice that rejected the more radical proposals of the Republicans.

[cthulu2016]

23. True, but the election itself was so significant in 1860

I always consider it the most important election because the civil war started in direct response to the election, rather than being a policy of the man elected. The union was dissolved before inauguration day.

So it was something of a dual election/referendum.

[mzmolly]

19. 2000 ...

eom

[Bucky]

27. Disagree on two counts

First, the "winning" candidate did't actually win. The outcome didn't represent what the people wanted. Second, Bush didn't run on what he actually intended to do as president. Oh, The Onion and most DUers saw through his bullshit, but a significant minority of his voters really thought they were getting a compassionate conservative pledging a humble foreign policy.

In 2004 he was running as a known quantity and the electorate was making an informed choice. Bush won that one square, if not entirely fair. That was the country making a real decision, even knowing what Bush was capable of. That seems to matter more than the accidency of 2000.

[mzmolly]

35. I don't understand which point makes 2000

less important, though.

[CTyankee]

4. I want this election to break the back of the far right wing takover of the Republican Party.

I am hoping that it will. Fervently...

[Bucky]

10. It won't. If they lose, they'll blame it on Mitt running as a moderate.

They're ideologues, fanatics. Nothing will unlatch them from their ideas except a truly righteous drubbing. They won't be getting that this year. The best thing to weaken them will be for the economy to recover under Obama (plus the Democrats growing some more stones when it comes time to fighting them).

[Risen Demon]

6. People will always accept the iron fist

So long as it wears a velvet glove.

The republican party backers are so jacked up right now that they'd hire John Wayne Gacey to babysit their children as long as he wore a crucifix around his neck.

[Democratopia]

7. I agree. A pathological liar in the White House

He would DENY tens of millions of Americans the healthcare coverage that Obama's team has worked so hard for.

He would tell women what they can and can't do with their bodies.

He would tell gays what they can or cannot do.

He would privatize social security and wash his hands of those who are most in need.

He would end safety-net programs for children, the unemployed and the sick.

Meanwhile he would give massive tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires.

He would pass the burden to the middle classes and the poor.

He would be a disaster internationally and probably start a war against Iran.

He would remove environmental regulations and end green initiatives.

He would give the big banks, big oil and big pharm free reign to do as they please.

He would INCREASE the debt by spending two trillion more of defense and reducing tax revenue.

He would slow down the pace of recovery with austerity measures, as seen in the UK.

And after undoing all of his predecessor's hard work, he work blame Obama when his policies screws up the economic recovery.

[lunatica]

8. I agree and have believed we've been witnessing a slow coup.

Every since Bush was selected by the Supreme Court the actual implementation of the coup started. It had been planned and in the works since Reagan. PNAC (Project for the New American Century) laid it all out. The wars were started to begin to establish the military single Superpower empire they envisioned in this project dreamed up as a think tank.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century

The reason Romney is talking about a bigger military and making war statements is because Dick Cheney is his adviser. Your worry isn't misplaced.

[Democratopia]

9. Exactly.

And in the PNAC document written a year before 9/11 it talks of creating a military base in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is a blueprint for world domination and states that a weapon that could "target specific genotypes" would be a "politically useful weapon."

In other words, a weapon that could kill based on race. Co-authored by Jeb Bush and Paul Wolfowitz. These people are extremely dangerous.

[tarheelsunc]

20. I honestly didn't know Cheney was behind his military talk

I saw on the Rachel Maddow show a graphic that shows the military budget skyrocketing and I just couldn't believe that, it would more than double in the next few years according to it. If Cheney is behind it, then that explains it a lot.

And I thought the domestic policies were bad. I hadn't even really got around to considering the international ones.

[Doctor_J]

11. Nah. We thought that 4 years ago

we won, handily, and not that much has changed, the country has moved to the right (again), and the election is a dead heat. Your last phrase has been uttered about every election for at least 20 years. Should Obama and the Dems scrape out a win, they will be harassed, threatened, impeded, and lied about by 99% of Big Media. Nothing of substance will get done, and in 4 years we'll face an even more hostile electorate and media.

it IS possible that if the Repukes steal another election and ram through some more fascist, corrupt Justices, the real Americans will finally get fed up and start fighting back, but I doubt it.

We'll know that some real change is on the way when a few hundred Hate Radio outlets blow up. Until then the trajectory won't change much.

[Bucky]

13. People say that EVERY election. I'll bet they even said that in 1956.

People are idiots. I don't know why we even allow them to vote.

[mzmolly]

18. Actually much has changed.

eom

[tarheelsunc]

21. Just because we are facing obstructionists does not mean we should concede making progress

People have to come around eventually, when you entangle yourself in a web of lies, your only option is to tell more until that blows up.

[Doctor_J]

28. Been hearing that one since Pigboy came on the air too

still waiting for Hate Radio and Fox to blow themselves up

[mzmolly]

16. It's one of them. 2000/2004 and 2008

were all very important as well, in OUR time. I am not commenting on all time, personally.

Nice post. K and R.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

17. There's no "may be"

It IS the most important election of all time. This. Is. WAR.

[marions ghost]

22. well said

it couldn't be a more critical election. They can't WIN it, but if they steal it...

Yes Nov 6 is a clear choice--up or down.

[We People]

24. SO true, and I think about this a lot. And it's not just Romney we should focus on, either.

With every presidency they've managed to sow more seeds of political and economic disaster like a time bomb set to go off when they lose. They've gotten more brazen about it and are sometimes barely concealing their corruption. I was just thinking of how Karl Rove & Co. are ready to pick up where they left off before and did a quick search. This article has probably already been posted here but I missed it, and in case anyone needs reminding:

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/11623-karl-rove-assembling-the-death-star-to-american-democracy

[B Calm]

25. Great post!

[TrogL]

26. You missed one

There's another thread going about a Rolling Stone article saying his tax evasion strategies are likely felonies.

[liberalmuse]

29. It is - no doubt.

I was not all that politically aware when Reagan was elected and not even old enough to vote, but I sensed a turning point, and not for the better. Then I remember witnessing all the "greed is good" memes in the '80's and my heart sank. I am ashamed to say I didn't even vote until after the day I realized I couldn't bear the thought of Bush I in office another term. He was such a thin-skinned whiner. And Cheney's gloating about "smart bombs" and the war had disgusted me. This man was actually "getting off" on national tv from bombing people. True war porn.

My first vote was for President Clinton, and I've never missed an election since. I became an activist and started protesting when the 'pubs were trying to impeach Clinton. It was such a good feeling knowing that others were as outraged as I was by Clinton being set up by the Republicans. I knew when I'd heard, "I did not have sex with that woman" that something had happened, but I supported Clinton and recognized that he was likely the best President I'd seen in my lifetime.

2008 was BIG. It was proof that Americans did have a heart and soul. 2012 is HUGE. This is where we decide if we want to move forward, or become the most hated nation in history (and I am including 1940's Germany in this). Yes, this election is the most important election in this nation's history, because what we decide on November 6th will define who we are and where we are going. I choose O and Joe. My mantra of late is that I refuse to be in any other universe than in the one where President Obama gets a 2nd term. That seems weird, but when the USSC made their awful "Bush vs Gore" decision, I remember exactly where I was and felt like I was on the wrong timeline. Never. Again!

[liberalmuse]

30. And I'm going to say this right now.

President Obama is the best two-term President in my lifetime. Clinton was good, but Obama is better.

[dkf]

34. Nope. Clinton was better.

I honestly think the economy would be a lot stronger under Clinton. Sorry.