2012 US General Election Discussions: Start to Finish

[dreadgeek]

Originally Posted by Vanessa Emma Goldman

or as i prefer to call them: Greedy Old Patriarchs!

unfortunately, the Demos are not much better especially when it comes to taking bribes from, and then being indebted to, Big Corporate Capitalism. i voted for Ralph Nader in 2000, took a lot of crap for it from other left of center people, and so held my nose and voted for Demos at the top of the ticket (USA President or Michigan Governor depending on the year). and i continue to be horribly disappointed, both by President Obama and by former Michigan Governor Granholm.

so once again i am debating whether to keep voting for the Evil of Two Lessers Democrats, or just say to hell with them and vote strictly for Greens, Socialists, or other real progressives who do not take bribes from the top one percent. and i am leaning heavily towards the Green/Socialist/other real progressives option. yes, i know, they probably won't win and maybe Repubs will end up winning. but even when Demos do win, it seems like the real winners end up being the Greedy Old Patriarchs.

I had, largely, stopped voting Democratic in the 90s. I did vote for Clinton in '92 (my first ever vote for a Democrat, I voted Republican in 88 and would have done the same in 84 had I been 18) but in '96 and 2000 I voted Green. IF the GOP were not complete enthrall to a radical pseudo-libertarian ideology that covered up some theocratic memes, I would probably vote for a third party. The problem is that, at this point, the choice is no longer between the lesser of two evils but between a feckless but generally well-intentioned party (the Democrats) and an effective but generally malevolent party that appears, taking them at their word, to be trying to bring about a plutocratic theocracy.

It is not that I think the GOP elites--the old-money elites--want a theocracy. I don't believe they do--a robber-baron plutocracy but not a theocracy. The GOP base, on the other hand, does want a theocracy. If the GOP elites had the same relationship to their base as the Democratic elites have to theirs, that might not be so worrisome. The problem is that the relationships are fundamentally different. The GOP elites fear their base, the Democrats hate their base. Ultimately, this means that in the long run the GOP will try to substantially appease their base by moving their agenda down the road a bit while the Democratic party will try to simply convince their base that they are on their side while not actually trying to move the agenda anywhere.

Cheers
Aj