Dustlawyer
Dustlawyer's JournalIt's not just about their profit! GE for example, makes more money using their network
as a propaganda machine and a tool to influence politicians (access to airwaves) than they do off of advertising. All of them do to one extent or another.
These are OUR AIRWAVES they use under license from US! Publicly Funded Elections (PFEs) would take away the billions in campaign ads, not an insignificant amount, but more importantly, it would severely curtail their ability to buy our politicians. Funny, only one Presidential candidate is backing PFEs, Bernie Sanders.
PFEs attack the root cause of most of our problems and would be the biggest step in returning Representative Democracy. It would allow us to bust up the oligarchies in banking and the media, stopping most of the propaganda. It would allow for a total reallocation of our tax dollars to things we need, education, environment, infrastructure, etc.
Feel the Bern!!!
Let's pass a law banning any dissemination of the name, background, and motivation
of any mass shooter. Whatever some sick individual(s) would want to be publisized about his crime, whether for fame, or advocation of a certain point of view, be it religious, racists, homophobic or some other such crap, let's make it illegal.
WE DONT NEED TO KNOW!!!!
I don't want anything this person wants to happen as a result of their crime to succeed. I would think that even the NRA would approve (I think).
Would you support such a law?
Just got axed from the $HRC$ group for posting a sarcastic comment.
I admit it was sarcastic, but I was making a point. I did not make a personal attack on anyone there, but I felt I had to do it. You see, they were all trying to justify all of the money she has raised with all of the expected arguements. "It's UNFORTUNATE that it takes a lot of money from campaign donations and Super Pacs, but..." or "it's naive to think of running for POTUS without taking corporate money because, you know, the clown car Republicans all have their own billionaires..."
"Unfortunate" "the others are doing it," please! I had to point out that Hillary with her name recognition would do fine on what Bernie is raising. She could still pick and choose her interviews that she gives, getting free publicity anytime she wanted. She didn't need corporate money to win, but she wanted it! They act like our campaign system is dirty, but what can we do?
Positive change doesn't just happen, you have to take some risk. Do they think the Founding Fathers said, "Hey, this thing with England sucks, but what can we do?" Hillary is a creature of our corrupt political system. She knows all of the wealthiest people in the world. She knows that she has to give a Quid Pro Quo for the money she is collecting, and it will be at OUR EXPENSE! That right there should be enough to tell you that she doesn't really give a shit about us!
I also have a problem with these groups, the HRC group, Bernie group... Do we really want an area where like minded people only can discuss what they already agree on? I am a Bernie supporter 100%, and I do like to hear from other like minded people, however, I am not adverse to someone else making an arguement about something I may not agree on. Example, some have a problem with Bernie's stance towards guns. I would not get upset at some HRC supporter making this arguement if that's what they did. I may learn something I didn't know before. I do mind snark and personal attacks, just not arguments on the merits. To be honest, sarcasm may have crossed the line anyway, but it was the best way that I could point out what they were doing, which was making a lot of excuses for Hillary taking more bribe money than anyone else in this election. They were clearly defensive about it, but we're trying to act like everyone does it and there is nothing that can be done to stop it. It's galling when they act like we are powerless to oppose the corruption of campaign bribes when we have someone who IS DOING IT! Bernie would be a lock for POTUS if all Democrats decided that this was the election where we could return to Representative Democracy instead of going deeper into fascism.
Despite being here at DU for several years, the Bernie Group is the first group I have joined. Is it an official rule that you cannot argue against the candidate of a group if done respectfully and limited to an issue? I want to know if my being banned from commenting in the HRC group for violation of the rules, or was it because I struck a nerve?
My explanation of Democratic Socialism to people about Bernie's approach.
This is something many of you have seen before, but I find it useful to counter RW attacks on Bernie's label as a Democratic SOCIALIST!
In America, we bailed out the Big Banks and tried austerity for the people. In Iceland they bailed out the people and arrested the Big Bankers. Their economy kept doing well and we went through another Great Depression! The people come first, not corporations. Corporations are not people over there, they are corporations.
The truth about the Gulf oil spill.
Be sure to watch this weeks episodes of the Ed Schultz show on MSNBC. We met with Ed and his producers and let them interview several of our BP Gulf oil spill. Ed was shocked that even he did not know that BP has been lying about everything. Most victims have yet to be paid and BP sprayed the Corexit to sink the oil out of sight, knowing the harm to the sea life it would cause. Must see!
Www.msnbc.com
I gotta rant on the pension cuts in the funding bill, it made my 77 year old mom cry!
My dad worked for Bethleham Steel for 30 plus years, long hours, stressful and hard, but he was lucky because he dearly loved his job. The company went belly up right before he was to retire. He had given his best years, and by that time his health was starting to go. The the big shots did something that would soon become all to familiar, they stole the pension money and left! My dad's $1,100 a month went to $50! Fifty lousy bucks! He tried for two years to get a job, even joining a group called "Forty Plus" which tried to help older Americans to get another job. He practiced at interviews, he wrote and rewrote and rewrote his resume. The man could do calculus in his head and anything could be done with his slide rule, but no job. They sunk all that they had to by a muffler shop that had been losing money and he turned it around. I quit my job as a young attorney to save the business after his third hear attack. They eventually sold it, but his medical expenses ate up the bulk of their money.
My mom is a very proud, tough lady, who has lived on her own since his death. She has recently had to move in with me because, even though her house and car were paid off, she doesn't get enough to live on. That $1,100 is the difference!
I came home tonight to find her crying because she heard that her $50 a month was being cut by a third in this spending bill. Really? Has it come to that? All so some 1% SOB can have more! The next time some idiot yells that America is the Greatest country in the world I may just slap them!
I had disagreed with the leaderless part of OWS. It needed someone to express what the movement
was about and why. Also, it had way too many issues to be effective. Most of the things they were complaining about stemmed from the same root problem, the buying of our Representatives. In other words, institutional, legalized corruption! Don't get me wrong, OWS did a ton of good and exposed some of how far they are willing to go to protect their control over our government and the media.
My thoughts on what we need to do, while fairly general, are a good start. There are many of us out their with different skill sets that could refine my basic suggestion and add in ideas to maximize our effectiveness.
It will take massive support from the 99% in the form of protests, donations to Bernie's campaign, and letters to politicians and the media. To start to build a necessary coalition to be large enough to have an effect, I was thinking, why not engage the groups that are fighting their own, independent battles for women's rights, immigration, environment/climate change, LGBTV, militarization of police, GMO crops... and obviously, financial reform to name a few. They are all fighting the symptoms of this legalized bribery and making little headway because of it. There is definetely strength in numbers.
We can also try to make some inroads to the dark side and try to recruit Republicans, Tea Party members, and Libertarians. Many of them do not like having money from corporations deciding their fate either. Just tell them George Soros or some Hollywood elites will be buying their Representative! Lol.
For the protests, I was thinking that we start by appearing at campaign events with signs showing that politician's most recent campaign financial report and ask, "What do you have to do in return for the $$$?" and similar messages. We tell the rest of America what they already know, but give them specifics of just how much money, or junkets, or ALEC sponsored bills they introduced. Put the corruption right out front and name names!
We offer them the solution, Publicly Funded Elections and an end to campaign contributions and the revolving door. We get the politicians to sign our pledge to fight for these things in return for our money and support. If we have a lot of people, we will get a lot of politicians. They will go with whatever looks likely to keep or get their butts in office!
I am sure that here on DU are members of many of these other organizations fighting for the issue closest to their hearts. They can help recruit their organization, the PTB can no longer keep us divided because they have finally gone to far! The trick is convincing others that we can actually do this, they already know about the corruption. Open for suggestions on that one, but that is where Bernie will have to come in and help in a big way. If he would approach the leaders of these groups and help to bind us together we can do this, I am convinced! Besides, what have we got to lose.
Lastly, once we have a full head of steam we drop the big one and insist that the politicians bust up the banking and media oligopolies. That is when the real shit will hit the fans!
I have a suggestion!
I agree with the OP. I have tried myself to convince people here at DU to attack the root problem that causes most of our problems, including this one, torture. I even set up dates to mobilize protests, asked people here to help spread the word. To actually do something more than complain here. I was told by one that he agreed, but that many here including himself would do nothing because they didn't think anyone else would do anything. He was absolutely right!
I know that our election system, which openly invites corruption with legalized bribery of our elected officials needs to be radically changed. We need to get rid of campaign contributions, a Super PACs, the revolving door, and institute Publicly Funded Elections (PFE's). Everyone already agrees that Washington is totally corrupt, but when you tell them that Democrats are too, they take A LOT of corporate money now, they deny it is true! "Not Obama!" "Not Hillary!" Yet we see that Wall Street is above the law. The media and banking oligarchies lie, steal, manipulate... Yet there is zero talk of reigning them in or busting them up, with the exception of a few Democrats and one Independent. The courts, both Houses of Congress, the Executive Branch, the banks and the media are all working for the same people (corporate people)!
Bernie Sanders has said that PFE's and getting rid of campaign contributions is his number 1 issue. He is contemplating a run for POTUS, but waiting to see if there will be enough support from us to be able to compete with all of the money and power that will be allied against him. Unfortunately, he will not get what he needs to save us from our own apathetic, disillusioned, and lazy selves. We will support the lessor of two evils, again, which means we will vote for the PTB's Democratic candidate instead of their Republican bogeyman. They own both so what do they care! We believe that the next Democratic President will help to set things right everytime! We act just like an abused spouse who believes their abuser's promises to "do better!" We go back time and again and will not vote for the a guy like Bernie who stands for what we want because he is not "electable" and we cannot have a Republican President or the world will end!
Meanwhile, the media will pump us up with BS because the Courts of Appeals said that it is ok to lie to us. Like a little kid at a Harlem Globetrotter's game, we will believe that all the posturing in Washington is real! That they really are different, even down below the surface. Problem is, for some reason Democratic politicians have congenital defects in their spines that make them spineless! It can't be that they are being paid to throw the fight, oh no!
Bush and Cheney lied us into war for their oil company and MIC friends, with help from Democrats and Republicans alike, as well as the media which played us like a fiddle! So go ahead, flame me! Don't do anything but read stories, offer opinions, and bitch, but don't tell me you care when you are not willing to do what you can to change this before it gets too late, if it's not already. Send more Democrats to Washington and act surprised and outraged when they sell us out. Be grateful when they throw us a social issue bone even while they are forgiving JP Morgan from stealing our money again. Meanwhile, my Lemming ass will be fighting all the way to the cliff!
Horse shit! Ask yourself why Bill Clinton did what he did what he did. Ask yourself why they cut
back on grass roots politicking in favor of campaign ads. It's the campaign money!!! They have been bought off and now represent donors/plutocrats, not working folks! Stop deluding yourself with 3rd parties which will never be able to compete under their rules. You know what their rules are, $$$$$$$$$!!!
Until we make campaign contributions illegal we will continue to be abused like a battered spouse! And like a battered spouse, we keep going back because they promise they will be and do better!
WAKE THE HELL UP!
K&R!!! +1,000,000,000!!! This is what I have been talking about for the last 3 years!
I would add one thing to the emphasis on local change, I believe we build our consensus locally, but we join to fight nationally. We focus on one small, but all important area for the fight for all the marbles. We attack the root of the problem where corporations gain their control over our government. That is their ability to legally buy our politicians and judges. As Bernie Sanders says, it is the number one issue, and I believe it has to be to the exclusion of all other issues, Publicly Funded Elections! Outlaw campaign contributions! That is it. If we could get a very large and committed movement going, we would attract politicians who would see that their prospects of getting and staying in office would be better if they joined and helped lead the masses in this effort. Local work, by itself will not work. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce already plows large amounts of money down to the local levels.
Other than backing Bernie, I don't know how to motivate and organize people to do this. I have tried here at DU and even here among Progressives few believe or were committed enough to join this fight. They would rather come here and bitch about the symptoms created by the corruption than get off of their asses and do something.
Plus, there is a very large number that say we "must back Hillary or Republicans will get the White House." They are afraid to risk it for the kind of dramatic change that is imperative. Many fool themselves, like I did with Obama, that he was going to be this transformational President. Hillary is part of the big money class, they have been her friends for years. She will sell us out much like Obama has. This article does an excellent job of explaining this, we keep doing what we have always done, we will get what we always got! I for one will not play that game anymore! Sure if Bernie runs as a Democrat and loses to Hillary, I will vote for her before a Republican. If he runs as an Independant I will vote for him all the way! He is the only national figure that gets it and that makes him someone to rally around. It will take millions of committed people and there will be violence directed at us from all sides, but this, in my view is the fight for our very survival! Climate Change will not be addressed in any meaningful way unless we do this and win. If you care about your pet issue, jobs, environment, inequality, NSA... you must put them aside and join this fight. If we win we can then fix these other issues, otherwise we all lose!
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Member since: Wed Jan 9, 2008, 11:31 AMNumber of posts: 10,514