Elections are for Suckers, by Robert Scheer

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

Let’s just dip our fingers in purple ink and pose for photos now that voting has the same significance for us as it had for those Iraqis who got conned into thinking they were participating in some grand democratic experiment.

Our own elections, the ones our government has modeled for the world, are a hoax. What other word should we use to describe this year’s presidential election, whose outcome will turn on which party’s super PACs gets the most generous bribes from billionaires? The Republicans, enabled by decisions of a Supreme Court they still control, were the first out of the gate and are far more culpable in destroying our system of popular governance. But the Democrats, no less committed to winning at any cost to political principle, have now jumped in. . . .

Full editorial: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/02/09-6#comment-2049739

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[SunsetDreams]

1. Guess I'm a sucker then

Interesting for someone who is railing against the use of Super Pacs permitted by the Supreme Court decision, only seems to be railing at the Democrats. At least he acknowledges that the debacle was made possible by a Republican controlled Supreme Court.

Also interesting coming from someone who supported Rand Paul's 2010 bid for Congress.

Support of Republican Candidate for Kentucky Senate
In the October 1, 2010, episode of the radio show "Left, Right and Center", Scheer, a self-described Liberal, expressed support for Rand Paul, son of former Libertarian presidential candidate Ron Paul, in his bid for the 2011-2016 Kentucky Senate seat

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

Who's afraid of Rand Paul? by Robert Scheer

Rand Paul: All of Us Are Corporations

PAUL: Corporations are collections of people. I think we’re all corporations. To say we’re going to punish corporations like they’re someone else. All of us are corporations.

How Does Robert Scheer Feel Now?

I can understand the confusion for some Americans who do not understand what Baby Paul's beliefs really stand for. The media does a terrible job when it comes to explaining the positions our politicians take. And they are even worse when someone like Poppa Paul takes the podium because they either don't spend the time researching a fringe type figure, are afraid to expose their views publicly, or feel it's not worth the effort to do so.

...

I understand his frustration absolutely at what has happened since the 2008 election, but Scheer is either too angry to think straight or he's being played for a sucker.

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/how-does-robert-sheer-feel-now



Oh and I find it really disturbing that he blames the financial meltdown on Clinton:

The Democrats Who Unleashed Wall Street and Got Away With It

That Lawrence Summers, a president emeritus of Harvard, is a consummate distorter of fact and logic is not a revelation. That he and Bill Clinton, the president he served as treasury secretary, can still get away with disclaiming responsibility for our financial meltdown is an insult to reason.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-scheer/the-democrats-who-unleash_b_1249110.html

Once again he reserves his ire for a Democrat and not GW...wow

Does Citizens United need to go in the dust bin? Absolutely, it should never have happened. Unfortunately thanks to the Supreme Court which already leans Right, it is now law. The Democrats while not happy with that law, are playing by the rules that are now set in place. Do I like the fact that Obama is playing by the rules, in this case? NO, but I realize it is necessary. He needs to win re-election...if for no other reason than to prevent a true takeover of the Supreme Court that will last decades to come, and you will get even more disastrous decisions like Citizens United. It's already 5-4. A few of the Justices will be retiring soon, or worse die while on the bench. They are not spring chickens.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

2. Thank you for your well researched post...

... I certainly can't disagree with you that Scheer is particularly tough on Dems here. It sounds to me like he doesn't see the good alternative he'd like to see to the Republican party and is justifiably angry about it.

That said, I must admit the two party puppet show propaganda does work on me, at least to a degree -- I absolutely find the GOP candidates much scarier than Obama. Still, I'm sorry to say I think this cartoon summarizes our two party system especially well these days:



It may be we can still change things working within the system, I don't advocate giving up on it, but I do think we need to be open minded about exploring alternatives that might require stepping outside it. MLK taught us how at great sacrifice to himself, we should not forget his lessons.

[woo me with science]

3. K&R

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

4. There was some insightful commentary...

... appended to this editorial at commondreams:

CD poster, PaulK:

I'm not a nihilist. I believe in democratic elections.

I just don't believe in rigged elections. I don't believe in black box computerized voting machines rigged to go violently Republican if the election is anywhere near close. I also don't believe in the two candidate version of elections, where both candidates are already bought and the third candidate is the "spoiler" that no one dares vote for.

It's incumbent on ourselves, as citizens, to design and to run our own fair elections.

It would be nice to identify exactly where and when the computerized American election thieves are going to strike next, to watch the movements of the expected election felons day and night, to take careful polls as evidence of wrongdoing, and to identify ways of redesigning election equipment to stop insider fraud.

However, we also need a confession of the citizens that our elections are rigged by huge money, which causes huge government graft, in a positive feedback cycle.

I can name two clear avenues to a less corrupt government. First, if you elect ten times as many government officials then you dilute their power. Then a typical bribe won't buy what it used to buy. Ten times the representatives might mean a lowering of the power of money to 1/20 of its former power.

Second, proportional representation elections crush the power of money to rig those elections. Electing nine city council members instead of one mayor flattens the power of big money to maybe 1/100 of its former strength, in my opinion.

Do you want to be a nihilist? Go get a copy of "angry birds", stick your nose in a screen and don't bother us. Do you want to be a citizen.