I Vote With My Feet

Wiggle your Big Toe

Back when I was young, I was a big fan of Sears.  I liked Craftsman tools, I bought my appliances there, home products... I spent a lot of money at Sears.  I even had a Sears credit card.  

I was doing OK back then, even had an excellent (844) credit score.  Despite my best efforts, I was a week late on a $10 payment one month.  My good friends at Sears decided that was reason to ding my credit.  

OK... fine... but because of their decision, I paid off my account and haven't stepped foot in a Sears store in over 40 years.  I voted with my feet.  I'm sure Sears didn't notice.

Corporations today are far more ruthless.  We've seen Wells Fargo openly defrauding customers just this week.  Should their customers continue to trust Wells Fargo?  Um... FUCK NO!  They should vote with their feet... and find a different bank... perhaps one that doesn't use fraud as their business model.  I recommend looking into employee-owned credit unions over big banks if possible.  And let's be frank here... banks are doing a lot more than defrauding their customers.

I wrote about the use of attack dogs at the NDPL recently.  Private corporate security unleashed dogs on citizens to protect a corporate-owned pipeline.  Wells Fargo, Bank of America and others fund the pipeline (and the dog attacks).  I don't support banks who fund corporations that do this to citizens.  So, for me, this is another opportunity to vote with my feet. 

Now, I'm sure I don't have any reason to suggest or suspect that my choice to vote with my feet, as an individual, is going to bring down a huge corporation (the subsequent huge decline in Sears sales notwithstanding)... but this election has woken up a large block of people who are fed up with corporations and their deceitful actions.  And if they ALL vote with their feet, there is going to be hell to pay!

This election, voters are voting with their feet!  There is no question - many Republicans left the Republican party... even former Republican Presidents... and Demexit was the official title of the Democrat party exodus.  Voters don't want what they're being offered.  Even loyal customers are turned off by this election.

The key to voting with our feet is organizing... and this is what the corporations are showing us they are intent to prevent.  The media is, of course, involved and we've seen how Google has started influencing politics around the world simply by rigging its search priorities.

So how do other large blocks of voters organize?  One attempt has been under the flag of Our Revolution - run by former Sander's campaign manager Jeff Weaver.  Another has been Wolf Pac - supported by The Young Turks.  The problem with both of these is that nobody is quite sure if the direction they are going is the same direction our feet are taking us in November.  We're voting with our feet... 

Between now and November, voters need to decide which way their feet will take them.  Are they fed up with corporations buying politicians?  Are they fed up with corporations running prisons?  Running our elections?  Are they fed up with racism and Islamophobia?  Of the murder of people of color by police?  Are they fed up with student loan debt?  Denial of health care?  Denial of a decent living wage?  What are voters fed up with?  Where are our feet taking us?

For me, the answer is not going to be found within the two-party system.  And the current "organizers" I mentioned above seem to want to bring change from within that system.  My feet are skeptical... and they can't wait to run from both Democrat and Republican parties... (Sorry Jeff and Cenk).

I guess we will have to see how this plays out... but for the moment, I'm leaning toward third-party candidates.  I'm leaning away from incumbents.  I've come out of my coma... I've wiggled my big toe... and I'm ready to VOTE WITH MY FEET!  Who's with me?

Whose Revolution?

I tuned in to the Our Revolution broadcast.  I couldn't help but wonder... wait... WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?  Are these the "Bernie supporters" we have come to know and love?  The more I watched, the more uncomfortable I became at how subdued the audience appeared.  What happened to the "Bernie, Bernie, Bernie" chants?  Nobody cheered... but more importantly, NOBODY BOOED.  




This had every appearance of a controlled event. More like a Hillary Clinton event, if you ask me. The "Bernie crowd" that represented "Our Revolution" resembled paid SEAT FILLERS!  And it isn't as if they needed to fill a stadium.  This was more of a Clinton-sized crowd.  No signs... no cheers... No love... WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?

I listened intently, at first.  I realized I was hearing the "What this campaign is about" stump speech - with the YUGE difference being the word "is" (by any definition) was replaced with the word "was".  Although I was watching live, I knew, by that point, I could safely drift into the kitchen and grab a snack without missing too much.  I thought I noticed a few people in the audience nodding off at some point too. 

Today's octogenarians will be tomorrow's grass roots - Jeff Weaver

Maybe the news of Our Revolution's staff walking out at the hiring of Jeff Weaver had already hit the ears of this crowd.  The idea that Jeff was going to use dark money to fund TV advertising (for you millennials, TV is a little rectangular propaganda advertisement delivery device. It's a little like like a FireTV except you can't interact with it - so you have very limited content which is supported by corporate advertisers and, not surprisingly, you can't shut off advertisements.).  Jeff must be thinking octogenarians of today will be the "grass roots" of tomorrow.

Follow the Favors

Bernie plugged on, however, and he finally got to the part I was waiting for... his endorsements.  I know I already felt a little silly hanging in there, waiting for yet another moment when Bernie could do something that would help me not give up on him.  I was waiting for him to come out STRONGLY in support of Tim Canova who he says he supports and who is running against Bernie's own nemesis... Debbie Wasserman Schultz.  This endorsement at the launch of Our Revolution was a NO BRAINER... Bernie had the opportunity to show us he isn't in Hillary Clinton's pocket.  Schultz cost not just Bernie but ALL OF US the primary.  She circumvented democracy.  Bernie's support for Hillary Clinton now extends to DEBBIE FUCKING WASSERMAN SCHULTZ.  That, to me, was the final straw.



So, no endorsement directly for Tim Canova... Bernie did endorse five other candidates who are part of "Our Revolution".  Among them, Russ Finegold, who wouldn't have lost his seat that he held for 12 years in the first place if he didn't so strongly embrace Obamacare.  Tim Canova, on the other hand, running against Debbie Wasserman Schultz is the type of revolutionary candidate "Our Revolution" is supposed to be supporting - not long-seated Democrats who were voted out by the people.  Bernie could have even named SIX endorsements that night.

I keep looking at the pictures of the Our Revolution people and keep wondering... WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?

Sadly, for many of us, it appears "Our Revolution" isn't really OUR revolution.  And that's really OK.  The "Our Revolution" people aren't revolutionaries...  

And OUR revolution already has a home.  I want to work with THESE people.  People who will crash the floor of the Democratic National Convention and peacefully protest.  THOSE are the revolutionaries and they aren't interested in how many TV ads Jeff Weaver can buy.

OUR REVOLUTION IS A GREEN REVOLUTION

And so, my fellow revolutionaries, hang in there and don't be discouraged. There are many of us who are not falling for the "lesser" revolution that involves embracing Democrats at low levels.  There is a "greater" revolution and we all know it.  It is a revolution based on INTEGRITY.  It has declared that Enough is Enough... and we are not willing to wait for OUR REVOLUTION to happen.  The entire House is up for re-election THIS year.  WE can make OUR revolution, OUR voices, OUR votes felt THIS YEAR... not after Hillary has had a few years to silence us.  The time for the REAL revolution is NOW. 

Voting for the Unknown Known

We'll never know what he knows...

"There are known knowns.

These are things we know that we know.

There are known unknowns.

That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know.

But there are also unknown unknowns.

There are things we don't know we don't know." - Donald Rumsfeld

A wise friend once said to me "You're not often right, but you're wrong again!" Hopefully, I'm going to be right about something for once.  Let's see if we can follow my alethic logic*.

Mr. Rumsfeld left out the one possibility that I am advocating for in this election... the unknown known.  The unknown known is something we don't know we know.

"The unknown known is something we don't know we know" ...  "The unknown known is that we have an alternative to Clinton and Trump" 

OK... I'm quoting myself here trying to be dramatic.

And I'm here to say EXACTLY what that "unknown known" is which will save us from the known known - that is that neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump have the support of the people.  The unknown known is that we have an alternative to Clinton and Trump.  

Impossible, you say?  Third parties don't have a chance?  It's a two-party system?  Are you trying to get Trump elected.  Are you trying to get Hillary Elected.  It HAS to be one or the other... Right?  

What if I told you this is not true.  

Here's what my logical brain is telling me.  The mainstream media isn't covering this election properly... If they were... people would know that the ENTIRE HOUSE is up for re-election in 2016.  Wait what?  Didn't you know this?  If not, why not?  Yes... EVERY SEAT in the House is up for grabs.  Some Senate seats too, but for this conversation, the Senate is unimportant... Sorry Mitch...

OK, fine, but what does that mean with regard to defeating Trump and Clinton?  I'm glad I asked... 

You may have heard a number being tossed around... 270.  That's a "magic" number.  It is the number of electoral college votes one of the candidates needs to receive in order to be President of the United States.  If that doesn't happen (and remember, we have 5 candidates in the race, able to pull votes from Clinton and Trump)... the election is thrown to... <drumroll> ... The HOUSE... NOOOooo... not the House that is sitting today... the NEW HOUSE will decide who our next President will be.  And the new House doesn't have to choose between Clinton and Trump.  There are, again, 5 candidates running.  So voters can actually ENSURE that neither Trump nor Hillary are President.  And here's what that will take:

First, you may have noticed the media has mentioned that the Koch brothers are diverting attention (money) to down-ticket races and not contributing to Trump.  Why is this?  And if the Koch brothers are focusing on down-ticket races, maybe we should too.  
Bernie Sanders, after all, is also pushing down-ticket candidates... and it is starting to look more and more like this could very well be more important in the PRESIDENTIAL election than we know.  That is part of our unknown known.

Now that we know what was unknown, let's take a look at the significance of a disgruntled electorate and a 100% vulnerable house.  

First and foremost, can the electorate ensure that neither Trump nor Clinton attain the necessary 270 electoral votes?

I consider the following states as fertile for possible third-party upsets on the Republican side: AZ - 11, GA - 16, MO - 10
On the Democrat side, third parties could upset in MI - 16, WI - 10

Additionally, I'm not so sure CA is automatically Clinton's - but I'm probably sticking my neck out.  A lot of people I know are angry about being disenfranchised by Democrats.

Other states that could show strong showings for third-party candidates are CO - 9, FL - 29, IA, 6, NC - 15, NH - 4, NV - 6, OH - 16, VA - 13.  If any of these states don't go for Clinton or Trump, we could be looking at neither candidate achieving 270 electoral votes.  Nothing is a sure thing in this election.  Try it out here...

So, it is becoming apparent, to me at least, that the election could be headed for the House.  And, if the big-money corporate interests have their way, their own candidates will retain their seats.  IF...  

And so... to ensure their candidate wins, corporations will throw lots and lots of MONEY into the campaigns of their candidates.  They will run attack ads and fill the air waves with the praises of their corrupt candidates.  And THAT, my friends, is EXACTLY how we will know who to vote for in down-ticket races.  Because the unknown candidate will be known to the voters.  This is the candidate who we've never heard of - or have heard a lot of unsubstantiated nonsense about.  

We would rather vote AGAINST the enemy we know... the INCUMBENT... the name that has been drilled into our heads in every political ad this season (and previous ones).  I'm not suggesting, of course, that voters vote blindly.  I'm suggesting they take a real close look at the unknown candidates on the ticket - and consider voting for them.  Big money will shove their candidates in our faces... Mainstream media will do its best to hide the facts from us too.  But this election, the one thing that was unknown before is known now.  This electorate has the numbers to change the world... and we don't have to limit ourselves to starting at the bottom.

All these seats could be filled with NEW people in 2017.  Those people could select our NEW President.

WE can elect a NEW HOUSE in 2016.  NO INCUMBENTS... Clean sweep.  The NEW House will determine the next President.  If we select the right people to the new House, they will select the right President for US! 




* Alethic Logic : The modal logic of necessity and possibility and contingency.

Bernie Sanders is NOT Rocky!

I understand Bernie Sanders is out of the running... But...

I refuse to believe I am the only one who thought about this.  We were in PHILADELPHIA for crying out loud. For over a year, stadiums were filled with the chants BERNIE, BERNIE, BERNIE...  Hey, maybe I'm older than most Bernie supporters, but it sure reminded me of those old movies... ROCKY, ROCKY, ROCKY... 

And damn it... in EVERY one, Rocky was down... no chance... no hope... And then... Somebody always snapped him out of it... and we ALL heard that bell... and the fanfare... and we knew ROCKY was back in the game.  And there was no doubt in anybody's mind that Rocky was going to kick some ass... Russian ass if necessary.

Sure, Bernie was down... the fight was rigged... they wanted him to take a dive... and still... we never gave up... BERNIE, BERNIE, BERNIE... 

Any minute now, we were SURE Jane was going to whisper into Bernie's ear and tell him it was OK for him to WIN!  

And then the DNC happened... Day after day... we waited for Jane... we waited, and waited... we wanted to hear that damned bell and the fanfare that would let us know we were still in this to WIN. 

The bell never came... white noise machines made sure nobody heard any fanfare.  Still we rallied... BERNIE, BERNIE, BERNIE.  

"They cheer for HIM" somebody at the DNC was overheard snarling...