A group of scientists went to God and said, "We don't need you anymore. We've learned how to make life from dirt, just like you did." God said, "That's very interesting. Why don't you show me how you do that." The scientist then bent down and started scooping some dirt toward himself. God exclaimed, "Hey, what do you think you're doing?" The scientist said, "I'm getting some dirt ready." God said, "That's my dirt. You create your own."
Monday, August 29, 2016
Good story
Robert Reich: What About "After Trump"?? GOOD QUESTION!
So sad what has happened with the rise of Trumpism--- the rocks have been turned over to reveal all the bigots who once had to deny their racism (even to themselves), but are now out in the open, basking in the light of their "hero" -- and, by their behavior, showing the darkness within themselves. Demagogues always rule by fear and intimidation, and Trump appeals to the ultra-conservatives in our population who respond to that kind of leadership. In contrast, Robert Reich is one of the most intelligent and compassionate men of our time. We need to listen to him:
EXCERPT: According to one source, Trump's rationale is that, "win or lose, we are onto something here. We've triggered a base of the population that hasn't had a voice in a long time." (Yes, the bigots and bullies who are always afraid their "rights" are being taken away)
Triggered indeed. Many of them angry and bigoted before his campaign, Trump supporters have only become more so under his tutelage.
The poison has even seeped down to America's children. A Southern Poverty Law Center survey of 2,000 school teachers recently found Trump's campaign producing an "alarming level of fear and anxiety among children of color" and inflaming racial and ethnic tensions in the classroom. "Teachers have noted an increase in bullying, harassment and intimidation of students whose races, religions or nationalities have been the verbal targets … on the campaign trail."
After Trump
by Robert Reich | August 29, 2016 - 8:48am
I recently got a call from a political analyst in Washington. "Trump is dropping like a stone," he said, convincingly. "After Election Day, he's history."
I think Trump will lose the election, but I doubt he'll be "history."
Defeated presidential candidates typically disappear from public view. Think Mitt Romney or Michael Dukakis.
But Donald Trump won't disappear. Trump needs attention the way normal people need food.
For starters, he'll dispute the election results. He's already warned followers "we better be careful because that election is going to be rigged and I hope the Republicans are watching closely, or it's going to be taken away from us."
His first campaign ad, released last week, features an image of a polling site with the word "rigged" flashing onscreen less than two seconds after the spot begins.
Trump won't have any legal grounds to stand on – this election won't be a nail-biter like 2000 – but his goal won't be to win in court. It will be to sow enough doubt about the legitimacy of Hillary Clinton's election that he can continue to feed paranoia on the right.
A recent Pew Research Center survey shows even now, 51 percent of Mr. Trump's supporters have little or no confidence in the accuracy of the vote count nationally. That's a big change from supporters of the defeated Republican nominees in 2004 and 2008.
Reportedly, Trump is also considering launching his own media network. He's already hired two of the nation's most infamous right-wing fight promoters – Roger Ailes, the founder and former CEO of Fox News, and Stephen Bannon, the pugilistic former head of Brietbart News – who'd take to such an enterprise like alligators to mud.
According to one source, Trump's rationale is that, "win or lose, we are onto something here. We've triggered a base of the population that hasn't had a voice in a long time."
Triggered indeed. Many of them angry and bigoted before his campaign, Trump supporters have only become more so under his tutelage.
The poison has even seeped down to America's children. A Southern Poverty Law Center survey of 2,000 school teachers recently found Trump's campaign producing an "alarming level of fear and anxiety among children of color" and inflaming racial and ethnic tensions in the classroom. "Teachers have noted an increase in bullying, harassment and intimidation of students whose races, religions or nationalities have been the verbal targets … on the campaign trail."
Most likely to remain after Trump are the economic anxieties Trump exploited. Globalization and technological displacement will continue to rip away the underpinnings of the bottom half of the population, creating fodder for another demagogue.
The real problem isn't globalization or technological change per se. It's that America's moneyed interests won't finance policies necessary to reverse their consequences – such as a first-class education for all the nation's young, wage subsidies that bring all workers up to a livable income, a massive "green" jobs program, and a universal basic income.
Hillary Clinton hasn't proposed anything remotely on this scale, and House Republicans (who will almost certainly remain in power) wouldn't go along anyway.
After Trump, our politics seems likely remain as polarized as before – but divided less between traditional right and left than between establishment and anti-establishment.
Trump will leave the GOP sharply split between its corporate donor class and its working class. Clinton will preside over a party divided only somewhat less dramatically between its own donor class and an increasingly vocal progressive base.
Which raises an intriguing, if unlikely, scenario. What if Trump's authoritarian populists join with progressive populists to form an anti-establishment third party dedicated to getting big money out of American politics?
The combination could prove an invincible force for wresting back the economy and democracy from the moneyed interests.
It's not impossible. This has been the strangest election year in modern history, partly because such a large swath of Americans – Republicans, Democrats, and Independents – have concluded the system is rigged in favor of the privileged and powerful.
Trumpism will continue after Trump loses. The open question is whether anything good can be salvaged from its wreckage.
Friday, August 26, 2016
God Bless Charles Blow Who Says the Truth about Trump and his Supporters
How refreshing it is to hear the truth, FINALLY, on cable TV news. Charles Blow said it plainly and clearly. Trump is a bigot and anyone who supports him is part of that bigotry. PERIOD.
See this amazing interchange at the following link:
I hope other journalists will take Charles Blow's lead and begin to state the TRUTH plainly and clearly, instead of mincing around as most of the journalists do. It is time to call it what it is. BIGOTRY.
Saturday, August 13, 2016
In This Election No One Wants to Utter the Name: Voldemort BUSH
Oh YES! I have wondered about this, too. NOBODY mentions BUSH/CHENEY and WHY the Middle East is in such a mess today!!!! Hillary doesn't want to mention Bush because she voted for the invasion of Iraq. Trump won't mention Bush because he doesn't want to be tainted by that name (not that it would matter at this point -- Trump himself is a Giant Taint on the Republican Party all by himself), and the pundits on TV and in the papers won't mention Bush because most of them were FOR the war. Nobody wants to be reminded of the BIG ELEPHANT in the living room and how they allowed him to s--t all over the place while praising him back in the day. And so, we don't hear the name of Voldemort Bush in this election cycle... except when someone very intelligent and perspicacious brings it up and shouts, "Hey, REMEMBER HIM???!" while rubbing all those noses in the truth, as in the following article by William Rivers Pitt:
EXCERPT:
This flame-decked train wreck has been a long time coming, and the GOP has nothing to blame but itself. Begin with the serial defections from the Democratic Party after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, augment with Nixon's "Southern Strategy" to promote racism and xenophobia within the party base, and then inject that strategy with steroids under Reagan by embracing right-wing fire-and-brimstone evangelical Christianity. Lose a war and collapse the economy in the middle.
Despise the immigrant, demonize the Other. Spend eight years howling THERE'S A BLACK KENYAN MUSLIM TERRORIST COMMUNIST SOCIALIST FASCIST MAN IN THE WHITE HOUSE, YOU GUYS, EVERYONE FREAK OUT, season to taste with millions of guns and the paranoia they pack, put it all in a bag and shake it, and what you get when you crack the seal is Donald Trump: a racist, sexist, xenophobic fool who doesn't know that he doesn't know anything, surrounded by a growling herd of loyalists.
The Invisible Man: George W. Bush and a Hole in History
by William Rivers Pitt | August 13, 2016 After Donald Trump blew into his dog saxophone and invited "Second Amendment people" to assassinate Hillary Clinton before she could appoint any judges, American politics went into China Syndrome meltdown mode in a way not seen since Preston Brooks beat Charles Sumner very nearly to death in the well of the Senate, 160 years ago almost to the day. Republicans who had endorsed Trump immediately fled en masse to Outer Mongolia to become anonymous yak herders, and witnesses reported seeing House Speaker Paul Ryan climb a large oak tree while muttering, "I hate this job, I hate this job, there's no place like home, I hate this job."
This flame-decked train wreck has been a long time coming, and the GOP has nothing to blame but itself. Begin with the serial defections from the Democratic Party after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, augment with Nixon's "Southern Strategy" to promote racism and xenophobia within the party base, and then inject that strategy with steroids under Reagan by embracing right-wing fire-and-brimstone evangelical Christianity. Lose a war and collapse the economy in the middle.
Despise the immigrant, demonize the Other. Spend eight years howling THERE'S A BLACK KENYAN MUSLIM TERRORIST COMMUNIST SOCIALIST FASCIST MAN IN THE WHITE HOUSE, YOU GUYS, EVERYONE FREAK OUT, season to taste with millions of guns and the paranoia they pack, put it all in a bag and shake it, and what you get when you crack the seal is Donald Trump: a racist, sexist, xenophobic fool who doesn't know that he doesn't know anything, surrounded by a growling herd of loyalists.
There's a missing page to this recipe, one that has been deliberately deleted like a classified email from The Book Of Days. Trump runs around blaming Secretary Clinton for the state of the economy while arguing in tandem that Clinton and President Obama created ISIS out of thin air. "He's the founder of ISIS," Trump said on Wednesday. "He's the founder of ISIS. He's the founder. He founded ISIS. I would say the co-founder would be crooked Hillary Clinton." The corporate "news" media lap it up because it's "good television," and even his most ardent opponents fail to say the one missing word.
Bush.
Noam Chomsky explained the phenomenon best, and it is remarkable to watch it unfold in real time. According to Chomsky, the most effective way to control a populace is to severely limit the parameters of debate, but have the debate within those hedged parameters be vigorous so people think something of worth is actually taking place. Hence, they shout and stomp about responsible budget priorities without ever discussing the bloated "defense" budget, because that topic has been deemed off limits. Likewise, they shout and stomp about ISIS and the economy without ever mentioning George W. Bush, because he is simply too embarrassing to too many people sitting behind important desks with a lot to lose.
Think on it. Even with his towering hubris, Donald Trump knows better than to bring up Bush, but instead will lay the whole mess on Obama and Clinton regardless of the incoherence of the argument, because it's red meat for the base. Clinton wants no part of having Bush in the discussion because it underscores her craven Iraq War vote and its calamitous consequences. The corporate "news" media? Forget it. They hauled water for him like Gunga Din in the name of ratings and advertising dollars, and are now slicked to the elbows in innocent blood. Best not to bring all that up. Eight long years have been summarily erased.
Here's the thing, though: Like many of us, I remember. They can ignore it all they want, but I was there and I wrote it down every day. I watched two towers explode while Bush was "protecting" us, watched two foolish wars collapse into a bloodbath of folly as the Treasury was looted, watched the budget surplus be given away to rich people by way of ruinous tax cuts, watched lawfully produced subpoenas be ignored by the highest office in the land, watched torture become mainstream, watched the dark wings of total surveillance unfold over the nation entire, and watched Dick Cheney say the Vice President was not part of the Executive Branch because he didn't want to give his official papers to the National Archive as required by three different laws.
More than that, I remember plastic sheeting and duct tape, and an administration all too happy to peddle fear to lubricate the rails toward its goals. I remember a cowed populace being told to watch what they say, I remember terror alerts popping like firecrackers whenever the administration found itself in political hot water, I remember the serial lies, and I remember the adoration of the Republican base poured upon a strongman president who gave no damns for decorum or due process. George W. Bush and his crew trashed the economy, trashed Iraq and by proxy Syria, created ISIS by disbanding the Iraqi army and walked away with money falling out of their pockets.
Fear and hatred are powerful elixirs, and George W. Bush trained the nation well to imbibe them, and thus accept what he foisted upon us for personal gain. He is one page in a recipe that is more than 50 years old, and none of the people who pushed that poison want you to remember him. Trump is no mystery, no anomaly. He is the culmination of decades, the perfect avatar of the effort.
They don't talk about Bush. Why? So they can avoid taking responsibility for Trump, and all he represents.Friday, August 12, 2016
Conservative legal scholars would rather have a liberal SCOTUS than Trump as President
Conservative Legal Scholars Prefer A Liberal Supreme Court To A President Trump
"The court is important, to be sure — but not nearly that important."
By Michelle Fields
Conservative legal luminaries distancing themselves from Donald Trump could potentially undermine one of the few remaining threads tying him to the GOP establishment.
Some Republicans have argued that conservatives skeptical of Donald Trump should vote for him anyway, if only to prevent Hillary Clinton from nominating liberals to the Supreme Court. But the right's leading legal scholars reject that idea: the risks of a President Trump would outweigh his influence on the high court.
"The only glimmer of hope in the Trump fiasco" is the list of 11 judges the candidate put forward as suitable Supreme Court nominees, said Richard Epstein, a Hoover Institution Fellow and professor at both New York University School of Law and the University of Chicago Law School. But that is based "on the questionable assumption that a man of his mercurial temperament and intellectual ignorance will keep to his word," he said.
Even if a President Trump did honor that promise, "influence on the courts take time, and foreign affairs and domestic crises come up immediately," Epstein said. And that's not a risk the highly respected conservative legal scholar thinks is worth taking. "He is wholly unfit to deal with either of these two areas. In all other matters he is deficient," Epstein added.
Trump has a terrible record on constitutional issues.
In May, Trump's campaign released the list of judges he would consider nominating to fill the vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. It was an attempt to appease conservative critics (though he later said he reserved the right to nominate someone not on the list). The list included six federal appeals court judges that then-President George W. Bush appointed and five state supreme court judges Republican governors selected. Conservatives in the media and in Congress roundly praised Trump's list. Yet many right-leaning legal scholars tell The Huffington Post that, as important as the Supreme Court may be, it does not override all other issues when considering his candidacy.
"The Supreme Court—and judicial appointments more broadly—is probably the single best reason to vote for Trump," said Ilya Shapiro, a senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute. "But even then, there's a lot of uncertainty. How hard would Trump push to get a nominee confirmed? What would he do if his first choice were rejected? Would he make a 'fabulous deal' to trade judicial appointments for other priorities?"
"Trump put out a genuinely excellent list of potential appointees, but how much can we trust that list?" Shapiro continued. "Even Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, who were committed to appointing principled originalists and textualists, made mistakes; how would a president who knows nothing about the Constitution and thinks that judges 'sign bills' fare?"
These conservative legal luminaries distancing themselves from Trump has the potential to undermine one of the few remaining threads tying the candidate to the Republican establishment. For some senators, it may give an additional push to allow consideration of President Barack Obama's nominee to the court, Merrick Garland, based on the belief that he would be better than any potential Clinton pick.
Trump, however, remains confident that skeptical Republicans will inevitably vote for him out of concern for the ideological makeup of the Supreme Court.
"Even if people don't like me, they have to vote for me. They have no choice," Trump said in July. "Even if you can't stand Donald Trump, even if you think I'm the worst, you're going to vote for me. You know why? Justices of the Supreme Court."
The idea that it makes sense to trade a single justice for all of Trump's terrible baggage ... strikes me as thoroughly preposterous.
Some conservatives, like radio host Hugh Hewitt, agree with Trump. Hewitt, who himself teaches constitutional law, argued in July that voting for Trump is a no-brainer because, "It's the Supreme Court, stupid." He suggested that if conservatives have "any doubts at all," they should "take a course in con law."
"If Hillary wins, the casebook you use to do so will simply be a history book, not a guide to how the Supreme Court should decide things based on precedent," he wrote in his column for The Washington Examiner.
Prominent theology professor Wayne Grudem, of the Phoenix Seminary in Arizona, made a similar point. He wrote that a Clinton presidency would lead to an America that would, "no longer be ruled by the people and their elected representatives, but by unelected, unaccountable, activist judges who would dictate from the bench about whatever they were pleased to decree."
But many of the country's top right-leaning legal scholars ― the people who understand the importance of the Supreme Court more than anyone ― just don't find that argument compelling.
"The court is important, to be sure ― but not nearly that important," said retired Temple University Law School Professor David Post, who now writes for the conservative website the Volokh Conspiracy. "With all due respect to my colleagues who might feel differently, this one strikes me as a no-brainer." The next president might end up only filling a single seat on the court, Post said. "The idea that it makes sense to trade a single justice for all of Trump's terrible baggage ― his bullying, his ignorance, his appalling tendency to shoot his mouth off without thinking, and all the rest of it ― strikes me as thoroughly preposterous," he added.
Ilya Somin, who teaches law at George Mason University and also blogs for the Volokh Conspiracy, argues that a Trump presidency might even be worse for the courts than a Clinton one.
"Trump has a terrible record on constitutional issues," he said. "He seeks to gut freedom of speech and constitutional property rights, and undermine constitutional constraints on executive power even more than Bush and Obama have."
"Moreover, over the long term, a Trump victory increases the likelihood that the GOP will become a big-government xenophobic party hostile to civil liberties and opposed to most constitutional constraints on government power ― much like the far-right nationalist parties of Western Europe, whose platforms are very similar to his," he continued. "Such a party is likely to do far more to undermine the Constitution than even a Hillary Clinton victory."
Epstein believes that most of his fellow legal scholars aren't buying the argument that conservatives must support Trump for fear of Clinton's potential Supreme Court nominees.
"I am beginning to think that my views are now mainstream among serious defenders of any version of the conservative or classical liberal traditions," Epstein said.
Trump as a Batman Villain, But Sadly, He's Real
Everything Burns: Gotham in the Age of Trump
by William Rivers Pitt | August 12, 2016 - 7:45am
I've been jokingly calling Ted Cruz a Batman villain for a while now because the comparison seemed to fit so well, right down to the features of his face: the taut planes of his cheeks, the vulpine peaks of his ears, the hollowness in his eyes that makes him look like a shark even as he smiles. In recent weeks, however, it has become clear that Donald Trump is the true Batman villain in this race, and not just because he won the GOP nomination by breaking all the furniture in the room, or because he dog-whistled his supporters to assassinate Hillary Clinton.
Consider Trump in the context of the old, terrible '60s Batman TV series. Here's a villain with gross orange facepaint, a truly stupid live-ocelot-on-his-head hairdo, an astonishingly outsized sense of self-importance. It would not at all surprise me if, not long from now, Trump went off on one of his blundering rants and the cartooned words BAM! PHIZ! GOMP! TWEE! started appearing after he drops his silly little verbal bricks. Trump and Adam West would have made boon foes in the age of bell bottoms and Nixon.
He's even got the better name for the gig: Trump! What can you do with "Cruz," really? He'll "Cruz to world domination"? That sucks. When Evil Villain Donald pulls off one of his stunts, at least he can say, "You've been Trumped! Mwah ha ha ha ha!" Hell, even The Penguin had a catchphrase of sorts. Kind of a necessary ingredient, yeah? There is also this: Cruz has a plan. Granted, it's Dominionist right-wing gibberish, but it's a plan. Trump, on the other hand, has no plan. Like, at all. He's traffic on I-95 at quitting time, all mad speed and no pattern and lots of broken glass.
I'm a fan of Christopher Nolan's rendition of the Batman film franchise, and especially of Heath Ledger's astonishing turn as The Joker in The Dark Knight. The films themselves are the absence of camp, deadly serious, as if Jason Bourne put on a bat suit, and Ledger's Joker is the stuff of legend. In Dark Knight, Bruce Wayne's stalwart sidekick Alfred tried to explain The Joker to his master. "Some men aren't looking for anything logical like money," he said. "They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn." Later, when The Joker ignites a towering pile of gas-soaked cash with a lit cigar after killing half the people in the room, he says, "It's not about the money. It's about sending a message. Everything burns."
That's Trump to the letter, sitting in the dark with his smartphone, the glow of the screen illuminating the diabolical look on his face as he tries to figure out how to wreck stuff in 140 characters or less. His aides should have snapped his thumbs off a year ago. He doesn't want to be president. He wants to nuke Europe, sell missiles to Japan, purge Muslims and Mexicans from the land and make women respect and adore him because these aren't tiny hands so stop saying that -- but he doesn't want to be president.
This isn't a campaign. It's just another reality TV show titled "Everything Burns." Note well, Hollywood: Reality TV and Donald Trump are what happens when you don't pay your writers.
So if Trump doesn't want to be president, what happens if he makes it to the White House? As always, the genuinely important part is The Crew. The candidate for president doesn't govern; the hundreds of people who slither through the door after victory do that. George W. Bush didn't wreck the country; he hired the people who did. Donald Trump has been peddling this preposterous billionaire-populist nonsense since his campaign began, but the announcement of his economic team tells you all you need to know about where he's coming from:
The advisory team of 13 men -- and no women -- reflects a wide range of people from the higher echelons of American finance, including hedge fund managers and real estate investors. The median net worth of Trump's official economic advisers appears to be at least several hundred million dollars. Trump's outsider crew at times conflicts with his message of economic populism. He has painted Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton as the candidate of Wall Street, but his team is filled with hedge fund managers, bankers and real estate speculators.
Trump's pitch has always been, in part, what you might call trickle-down expertise: The most successful members of the business worlds, the titans of the 1 percent, know what it takes to save to save the middle class. The advisers reinforce that idea. Trump also takes economic advice from several people who aren't listed in Friday's release, including Arthur Laffer, the former Reagan economist who is the godfather of supply-side economics; Larry Kudlow, a financial commentator who is a Laffer disciple; and Trump's own children, including his daughter Ivanka.
Laffer, Kudlow and Ivanka. Those three could wreck an economy if they were 10 miles down a mineshaft with no candles and a bad map. Trump himself delivered on Monday one of the most vapid economic speeches in human history. It was like watching a rat terrier try to do math inside an activated blender, and this is the guy who is going to hand-pick a national economics team? He should stick to the stuff in his wheelhouse: Yelling at houseplants about how hot it is in here, making tiny little circles with his thumb and forefinger, and making promises his hairdo can't keep.
Yeah, Gotham is in pretty deep trouble. Everything does burn when enough heat is applied. We could light the Bat Signal, I guess, but no one is coming to the rescue. This mess we have to clean up ourselves.Wednesday, August 10, 2016
Tuesday, August 09, 2016
New movie with Meryl Streep: Florence Foster Jenkins - should be a good one
Listen to the real Florence Foster Jenkins sing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMu9PKWthLE
She has often been called the "worst singer in the world." A flibberty-jibbet society matron, she thought of herself as the equal of famous operatic sopranos. Upon receiving a legacy fortune in her 50s, she launched herself into a singing career and "entertained" thousands, no doubt in an unintended way. Listen and hear for yourself why people would want to pay to hear her sing (often wearing diaphanous, flowing costumes decorated with tinsel and angel wings attached to her back). Give yourself a break from Trump and Clinton and uplift your spirits. She's given me my laughs for the week/month/year. (~ .~) I feel sorry for her challenged accompanist whom you can hear over and over trying to return her to somewhere near the true notes, without avail. Reviews of the movie now coming out with Meryl Streep as Florence have been excellent -- it's said that Streep gives a great imitation of Florence's voice.
Read more about the real Florence at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Foster_Jenkins and an article at: http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/going-out/film/florence-foster-jenkins-worlds-worst-7666091 with tidbits about her life.
Sunday, August 07, 2016
Love this guy's observations -- same as mine
The kinder, gentler, doomed Donald Trump
And so it becomes necessary for Trump to destroy his campaign to save it. How fitting that this madman would redeploy the catastrophic logic of a half-century-old misadventure. And yet, he has little choice. Call it the Trump Paradox: It is necessary for him to discard (temporarily; more later) his old strategy of multiple train wrecks and instead behave more like a traditional, party-unifying presidential candidate — to embrace, that is, the wicked "establishment" — even though his revised behavior risks devastating much of the anti-establishment support he has.
On the stump, Trump is now stiffly reading from notes and woodenly throwing in the towel in his domination struggle with "elitist" pols and mechanically praising the likes of RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, the GOP saint of autopsies and inclusiveness. He is — yawn — applauding "the wisdom of Ronald Reagan's big tent within the party. Big, big tent. Remember?"
Such as seating for Democrats. Hey boys and girls of Wisconsin, how many of you are out there tonight? — which he asked last night. I was watching, and I heard or rather didn't hear what the NY Times didn't hear: "Hardly anyone made a sound. Mr. Trump, looking unimpressed, offered that he did not need Democrats anyway."
Well, so much for that tack. This is why comedy plays tour the backwater provinces before opening on Broadway. If a joke flops, it gets stricken from the script.
As for merely unifying Wisconsin Republicans? There was another sort of comedy awaiting Trump. In an open letter to his fellow GOPers, the speaker of the state's House of Representatives announced that he's "embarrassed that [Trump is] leading our ticket." The speaker was, from there, even more aggressive in his disapproval. "As Donald Trump has said stupid things and been rude to so many people over the past year, I usually chalked it up to inexperience and the spotlight of an incredibly hostile press. But since the convention, his lack of judgment has got to concern even the most ardent Trump supporters."
Party unity was also looking a bit shaky in Ohio. Just as Wisconsin's speaker and the U.S. speaker were hoping that Trump "doesn't keep doing things like this" — meaning acting like Trump — Gov. John Kasich was telling CNN "that he was considering voting Democratic for the first time." Well hell, if Republican Kasich had been at Trump's Wisconsin rally, he could have hooted and raised his hand when the nominee asked how many Democrats were out there.
Still, the real key to GOP unity, as we all know (and as Trump has had to be reminded), is a scorched-earth campaign against the diabolical Hillary Clinton. And there, Trump laid it on as thick as his brain. Yesterday his pop guns were blazing, charging that Clinton is "pretty close to unhinged," she is "unbalanced," she is "unstable," she is "dangerous," she is a "pathological liar," as president she would destroy "this country from within," she is "death, destruction, chaos and weakness" themselves.
And (my favorite) in an Obama-Derangement redux, The Donald charged that Hillary would be a powerful tyrant of insufferable impotence: "In one way she's a monster. In another way she's a weak person. She's actually not strong enough to be president."
But here's the thing. Such is the rancid raw meat so loved by the base. Yet Trump, in Wisconsin, was reading this garbage from his notes — carefully, slowly, studiously. This just wasn't the old Donald. Earlier in the day there was the occasional "Kill her!" or "Lock her up!" at his Iowa rally, however Trump's Wisconsin audience last night seemed — sounded — oddly subdued, disappointed no doubt that the Swaggartlike madman they once loved was morphing into a rather conventional Episcopalian pastor. The obligatory hatred of Pure Clintonesque Satanism was there; the animated passion was not.
And it was absent by design. To save his campaign, it had become necessary for Trump to destroy it. The upside? I am profoundly skeptical that Trump can sustain his restraint. Within days, he'll be back to saving his campaign by destroying it the old way. Because he just can't help himself.Saturday, August 06, 2016
An Important Message from Bernie Sanders
Of all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these: It might have been. Sigh. However, Bernie is right. To prevent a Trump presidency, we must vote for Clinton. We can console ourselves that Bernie's strong candidacy did get a few progressive ideals into the Democratic platform (it remains to be seen how many will be honored in a Clinton presidency, but that's another story for the future when We, the People will have to hold her feet to the fire with our votes). In this election, Clinton is our strongest protection against a sociopathic narcissist demagogue. Right now, we have to make sure Donald Trump NEVER GETS NEAR THE WHITE HOUSE OR THE SUPREME COURT. His ignorance/arrogance are staggering. He is bringing down the Republican Party and would do the same thing to our nation and the world, if given the chance.
I Support Hillary Clinton. So Should Everyone Who Voted for Me.
by Bernie Sanders | August 6, 2016 - 8:38am
The conventions are over and the general election has officially begun. In the primaries, I received 1,846 pledged delegates, 46% of the total. Hillary Clinton received 2,205 pledged delegates, 54%. She received 602 superdelegates. I received 48 superdelegates. Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee and I will vigorously support her.
Donald Trump would be a disaster and an embarrassment for our country if he were elected president. His campaign is not based on anything of substance — improving the economy, our education system, healthcare or the environment. It is based on bigotry. He is attempting to win this election by fomenting hatred against Mexicans and Muslims. He has crudely insulted women. And as a leader of the "birther movement," he tried to undermine the legitimacy of our first African American president. That is not just my point of view. That's the perspective of a number of conservative Republicans.
In these difficult times, we need a president who will bring our nation together, not someone who will divide us by race or religion, not someone who lacks an understanding of what our Constitution is about.
On virtually every major issue facing this country and the needs of working families, Clinton's positions are far superior to Trump's. Our campaigns worked together to produce the most progressive platform in the history of American politics. Trump's campaign wrote one of the most reactionary documents.
Clinton understands that Citizens United has undermined our democracy. She will nominate justices who are prepared to overturn that Supreme Court decision, which made it possible for billionaires to buy elections. Her court appointees also would protect a woman's right to choose, workers' rights, the rights of the LGBT community, the needs of minorities and immigrants and the government's ability to protect the environment.
Trump, on the other hand, has made it clear that his Supreme Court appointees would preserve the court's right-wing majority.
Clinton understands that in a competitive global economy we need the best-educated workforce in the world. She and I worked together on a proposal that will revolutionize higher education in America. It will guarantee that the children of any family in this country with an annual income of $125,000 a year or less – 83% of our population – will be able to go to a public college or university tuition free. This proposal also substantially reduces student debt.
Trump, on the other hand, has barely said a word about higher education.
Clinton understands that at a time of massive income and wealth inequality, it is absurd to provide huge tax breaks to the very rich.
Trump, on the other hand, wants billionaire families like his to enjoy hundreds of billions of dollars in new tax breaks.
Clinton understands that climate change is real, is caused by human activity and is one of the great environmental crises facing our planet. She knows that we must transform our energy system away from fossil fuels and move aggressively to energy efficiency and sustainable energy.
Trump, on the other hand, like most Republicans, rejects science and the conclusions of almost all major researchers in the field. He believes that climate change is a "hoax," and that there's no need to address it.
Clinton understands that this country must move toward universal healthcare. She wants to see that all Americans have the right to choose a public option in their healthcare exchange, that anyone 55 or older should be able to opt in to Medicare, and that we must greatly improve primary healthcare through a major expansion of community health centers. She also wants to lower the outrageously high cost of prescription drugs.
And what is Donald Trump's position on healthcare? He wants to abolish the Affordable Care Act, throw 20 million people off the health insurance they currently have and cut Medicaid for lower-income Americans.
During the primaries, my supporters and I began a political revolution to transform America. That revolution continues as Hillary Clinton seeks the White House. It will continue after the election. It will continue until we create a government which represents all of us and not just the 1 percent – a government based on the principle of economic, social, racial and environmental justice.
I understand that many of my supporters are disappointed by the final results of the nominating process, but being despondent and inactive is not going to improve anything. Going forward and continuing the struggle is what matters. And, in that struggle, the most immediate task we face is to defeat Donald Trump.
Thursday, August 04, 2016
Wonder why Trump supporters can't be deterred in their love for Trump? Here's the answer.
As the author says, "Of course these explanations do not apply to all Trump supporters. In fact, some are likely intelligent people who know better, but are supporting Trump to be rebellious or to introduce chaos into the system. They may have such distaste for the establishment and Hillary Clinton that their vote for Trump is a symbolic middle finger directed at Washington." But it's very possible the explanation below applies to MOST Trump supporters. One who was interviewed by a cable network journalist said he would vote for Trump even if he murdered someone--and even more so depending on who the person was whom he murdered. And there you have it, from the mouth of a devoted Trumpster and Tea Party member who is working hard to make sure Donald Trump has his finger on the nuclear button.
A neuroscientist explains what may be wrong with Trump supporters' brains
By Bobby Azarian
There's no doubt that Donald Trump has said many things that would have been political suicide for any other Republican candidate. And almost every time he made one of these shocking statements, political analysts on both the left and the right predicted that he'd lose supporters because of it. But as we have clearly seen over the past year, they were dead wrong every time. Trump appears to be almost totally bulletproof.
The only thing that might be more perplexing than the psychology of Donald Trump is the psychology of his supporters. In their eyes, The Donald can do no wrong. Even Trump himself seems to be astonished by this phenomenon. "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK? It's, like, incredible."
Senator John McCain, who has been a regular target for Trump during his campaign, has a simple explanation for his unwavering support. "What he did was he fired up the crazies."
While the former Republican presidential nominee may be on to something, he doesn't exactly provide a very satisfying scientific explanation. So how exactly are Trump loyalists psychologically or neurologically different from everyone else? What is going on in their brains that makes them so blindly devoted?
- The Dunning-Kruger Effect:
Some believe that many of those who support Donald Trump do so because of ignorance — basically they are under-informed or misinformed about the issues at hand. When Trump tells them that crime is skyrocketing in the United States, or that the economy is the worst it's ever been, they simply take his word for it.
The seemingly obvious solution would be to try to reach those people through political ads, expert opinions, and logical arguments that educate with facts. Except none of those things seem to be swaying any Trump supporters from his side, despite great efforts to deliver this information to them directly.
The Dunning-Kruger effect explains that the problem isn't just that they are misinformed; it's that they are completely unaware that they are misinformed. This creates a double burden.
Studies have shown that people who lack expertise in some area of knowledge often have a cognitive bias that prevents them from realizing that they lack expertise. As psychologist David Dunning puts it in an op-ed for Politico, "The knowledge and intelligence that are required to be good at a task are often the same qualities needed to recognize that one is not good at that task — and if one lacks such knowledge and intelligence, one remains ignorant that one is not good at the task. This includes political judgment." Essentially, they're not smart enough to realize they're dumb.
And if one is under the illusion that they have sufficient or even superior knowledge, then they have no reason to defer to anyone else's judgment. This helps explain why even nonpartisan experts — like military generals and Independent former Mayor of New York/billionaire CEO Michael Bloomberg — as well as some respected Republican politicians, don't seem to be able to say anything that can change the minds of loyal Trump followers.
Out of immense frustration, some of us may feel the urge to shake a Trump supporter and say, "Hey! Don't you realize that he's an idiot?!" No. They don't. That may be hard to fathom, but that's the nature of the Dunning-Kruger effect — one's ignorance is completely invisible to them.
- Hypersensitivity to Threat
Science has unequivocally shown that the conservative brain has an exaggerated fear response when faced with stimuli that may be perceived as threatening. A classic study in the journal Psychophysiology found that conservatives have a stronger physiological reaction to startling noises and graphic images compared to liberals. A brain-imaging study published in Current Biology revealed that those who lean right politically tend to have a larger amygdala — a structure that is electrically active during states of fear and anxiety. And a 2014 fMRI study found that it is possible to predict whether someone is a liberal or conservative simply by looking at their brain activity while they view threatening or disgusting images, such as mutilated bodies. Specifically, the brains of self-identified conservatives generated more activity overall in response to the disturbing images.
So how does this help explain the unbridled loyalty of Trump supporters? These brain responses are automatic, and not influenced by logic or reason. As long as Trump continues his fear mongering by constantly portraying Muslims and Mexican immigrants as imminent dangers, many conservative brains will involuntarily light up like light bulbs being controlled by a switch. Fear keeps his followers energized and focused on safety. And when you think you've found your protector, you become less concerned with remarks that would normally be seen as highly offensive.
- Terror Management Theory
A well-supported theory from social psychology, called Terror Management Theory, explains why Trump's fear mongering is doubly effective.
The theory is based on the fact that humans have a unique awareness of their own mortality. The inevitably of one's death creates existential terror and anxiety that is always residing below the surface. In order to manage this terror, humans adopt cultural worldviews — like religions, political ideologies, and national identities — that act as a buffer by instilling life with meaning and value.
Terror Management Theory predicts that when people are reminded of their own mortality, which happens with fear mongering, they will more strongly defend those who share their worldviews and national or ethnic identity, and act out more aggressively towards those who do not. Hundreds of studies have confirmed this hypothesis, and some have specifically shown that triggering thoughts of death tends to shift people towards the right.
Not only do death reminders increase nationalism, they influence actual voting habits in favor of more conservative presidential candidates. And more disturbingly, in a study with American students, scientists found that making mortality salient increased support for extreme military interventions by American forces that could kill thousands of civilians overseas. Interestingly, the effect was present only in conservatives, which can likely be attributed to their heightened fear response.
By constantly emphasizing existential threat, Trump creates a psychological condition that makes the brain respond positively rather than negatively to bigoted statements and divisive rhetoric. Liberals and Independents who have been puzzled over why Trump hasn't lost supporters after such highly offensive comments need look no further than Terror Management Theory.
- High Attentional Engagement
According to a recent study that monitored brain activity while participants watched 40 minutes of political ads and debate clips from the presidential candidates, Donald Trump is unique in his ability to keep the brain engaged. While Hillary Clinton could only hold attention for so long, Trump kept both attention and emotional arousal high throughout the viewing session. This pattern of activity was seen even when Trump made remarks that individuals didn't necessarily agree with. His showmanship and simple messages clearly resonate at a visceral level.
Essentially, the loyalty of Trump supporters may in part be explained by America's addiction with entertainment and reality TV. To some, it doesn't matter what Trump actually says because he's so amusing to watch. With Donald, you are always left wondering what outrageous thing he is going to say or do next. He keeps us on the edge of our seat, and for that reason, some Trump supporters will forgive anything he says. They are happy as long as they are kept entertained.
Of course these explanations do not apply to all Trump supporters. In fact, some are likely intelligent people who know better, but are supporting Trump to be rebellious or to introduce chaos into the system. They may have such distaste for the establishment and Hillary Clinton that their vote for Trump is a symbolic middle finger directed at Washington.
So what can we do to potentially change the minds of Trump loyalists before voting day in November? As a cognitive neuroscientist, it grieves me to say that there may be nothing we can do. The overwhelming majority of these people may be beyond reach, at least in the short term. The best we can do is to motivate everyone else to get out to the booths and check the box that doesn't belong to a narcissistic nationalist who has the potential to damage the nation beyond repair.
Bobby Azarian is a neuroscientist affiliated with George Mason University and a science writer. His research has been published in journals such as Cognition & Emotion and Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, and he has written for The New York Times, Scientific American, Psychology Today, Slate, The Daily Beast, and The Huffington Post.Wednesday, August 03, 2016
The Illusion of Matter - fascinating article on quantum physics
Keeping an open mind is very important as science discovers new information through research. Some would like to shut it out and stick with the old ways of thinking, even when the old beliefs have been superceded by new discoveries, proven by evidence that cannot be refuted. Denial is one way of dealing with fear. How will the unknown ever become known if fear shuts down new information, without allowing further investigation? The following article tells of discoveries in quantum physics that give entry into an understanding of the physical body as patterns of energy, which can lead to medical treatments that affect those energy patterns toward healing, such as are used in homeopathy and acupuncture. For those of a curious nature, the following article gives an intriguing peek into the true nature of our world, as revealed by quantum mechanics.
There is a principle which is proof against all information, which is proof against all arguments, which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance; that principle is contempt, prior to investigation. --Herbert Spencer
http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/12/05/the-illusion-of-matter-our-physical-material-world-isnt-really-physical-at-all/
The Illusion of Matter: Our Physical Material World Isn't Really Physical At All
Niels Bohr, a Danish Physicist who made significant contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory once said: "if quantum mechanics hasn't profoundly shocked you, you haven't understood it yet." Quantum physics has left scientists all over the world baffled, especially with the discovery that our physical material reality, isn't really physical at all. "Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real." It seems philosophers of our ancient past were right, our senses really do deceive us.
Again, our physical material reality really ISN'T physical at all. The meaning, significance and implications of these findings within our quantum world have led to a plethora of ideas and theories, some of which lay inside the label of "pseudo-science." This article will present scientific evidence that clearly show the connections between consciousness and what we call reality and how these can no longer be denied. It will also ponder the implications of this knowing, and how this realization plays an important role in the potential transformation of our planet, at a time when we need it the most.
Scientific understandings change continuously throughout human history. Old "knowings" are constantly dismissed as we come across new ones. Even with our current understanding about the laws of physics, it could have some loopholes, especially with the recent disclosure of the black budget. We now know that trillions of dollars are going towards projects that the human race knows nothing about. Other phenomenon, like zero-point energy, extracting energy and heat from electromagnetic zero-point radiation via the Casimir force have shown to be correct and conclusive -for more information on these sources, please click here. (1)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13) Some of these ideas threaten our current understanding of physics, but how can we even have an understanding of physics when what we call 'matter' isn't even real? How can we understand it if when we observe an atom at its tiniest level the behavior of that atom changes? The quantum world is definitely a weird one, and it's safe to say that we don't understand it, but we do recognize the significance and potential it has to help transform our world. We are starting to recognize that non-physical properties govern the universe, and we are turning our attention towards consciousness and the role it plays with regards to the physical make up of our reality.
The notion that the atom was the smallest particle in the universe fell with the discovery that the atom itself is made up of even smaller, subatomic elements. What was even more shocking was the revelation that these subatomic particles emit various "strange energies."(0) Proponents would argue that the findings within quantum physics only apply and are significant at the subatomic level, but to those I say, are we not all existing at the subatomic level? When we observe ourselves and our physical environment at the smallest level, are we not made up of atoms? Are we not made up of subatomic particles? Are we not what we observe?
At the turn of the nineteenth century, physicists started to explore the relationship between energy and the structure of matter. In doing so, the belief that a physical, Newtonian material universe that was at the very heart of scientific knowing was dropped, and the realization that matter is nothing but an illusion replaced it. Scientists began to recognize that everything in the Universe is made out of energy.
Quantum physicists discovered that physical atoms are made up of vortices of energy that are constantly spinning and vibrating, each one radiating its own unique energy signature. Therefore, if we really want to observe ourselves and find out what we are, we are really beings of energy and vibration, radiating our own unique energy signature -this is fact and is what quantum physics has shown us time and time again. We are much more than what we perceive ourselves to be, and it's time we begin to see ourselves in that light. If you observed the composition of an atom with a microscope, you would see a small, invisible tornado like vortex, with a number of infinitely small energy vortices called quarks and photons. These are what make up the structure of the atom. As you focused in closer and closer on the structure of the atom, you would see nothing, you would observe a physical void.(0) The atom has no physical structure, we have no physical structure, physical things really don't have any physical structure! Atoms are made out of invisible energy, not tangible matter.
It's quite the conundrum, isn't it? Our experience tells us that our reality is made up of physical material things, and that our world is an independently existing objective one. Again, what quantum mechanics reveals is that there is no true "physicality" in the universe, that atoms are made of focused vorticies of energy-miniature tornadoes that are constantly popping into and out of existence. The revelation that the universe is not an assembly of physical parts, suggested by Newtonian physics, and instead comes from a holistic entanglement of immaterial energy waves stems from the work of Albert Einstein, Max Planck, and Werner Heisenberg, among others.
Despite the findings of quantum physics many scientists today still cling onto the prevailing matter-oriented worldview, for no good reason at all. As mentioned earlier, these scientists restrict quantum theory's validity to the subatomic world. If we know that matter isn't physical, how can we further our scientific discovery by treating it as physical?
Despite the unrivaled empirical success of quantum theory, the very suggestion that it may be literally true as a description of nature is still greeted with cynicism, incomprehension and even anger. (T. Folger, "Quantum Shmantum"; Discover 22:37-43, 2001)
What Does This Mean?
What does it mean that our physical material reality isn't really physical at all? It could mean a number of things, and concepts such as this cannot be explored if scientists remain within the boundaries of the only perceived world existing, the world we see. Fortunately, many scientists have already taken the leap, and have already questioned the meaning and implications of what we've discovered with quantum physics. One of these potential revelations is that "the observer creates the reality."
A fundamental conclusion of the new physics also acknowledges that the observer creates the reality. As observers, we are personally involved with the creation of our own reality. Physicists are being forced to admit that the universe is a "mental" construction. Pioneering physicist Sir James Jeans wrote: "The stream of knowledge is heading toward a non-mechanical reality; the universe begins to look more like a great thought than like a great machine. Mind no longer appears to be an accidental intruder into the realm of matter, we ought rather hail it as the creator and governor of the realm of matter. (R. C. Henry, "The Mental Universe"; Nature 436:29, 2005) (14)
We can no longer ignore the fact that our beliefs, perceptions and attitudes (consciousness) create the world.
... The possible influence of human consciousness on the behavior of physical or biological systems has been subject to rigorous research and documentation for a number of years by several researches. Many of the experiments that use the role of human consciousness and how it affects our physical material world have been done so under the Department of Defense and military agencies, thus remaining classified -hidden science kept from the eyes of the mainstream public world. (3)One example of this is the 24-year government-sponsored program to investigate ESP and its potential use within the Intelligence Community. This operation was called STAR GATE , and most of its research and findings remain classified to this day. (4) Another example is the research conducted by the CIA and NSA in conjunction with Stanford University. (5)(6)(7).
Personally, I am compelled to believe that much of the science that deals with the "weirdness" of the quantum world, and many of its technological applications remains within the realm of the classified world. A world so secretive that it could be thousands of years ahead of the mainstream world.
What Level Of Consciousness Do You Operate From?
Now that we've established that our physical makeup is one that is not physical at all, where do we go from here? We are atoms, made up of subatomic particles, that are actually a bunch of energy vibrating at a certain frequency. Us, these vibrational beings of energy exhibit consciousness, which has been shown to manifest, create and correlate to our physical material world. The next question to ask ourselves is: what level of consciousness/ state of being do we individually, and more importantly, collectively operate from?
Studies have shown that positive emotions and operating from a place of peace within oneself can lead to a very different experience for the person emitting those emotions and for those around them. At our subatomic level, does the vibrational frequency change the manifestation of physical reality? If so, in what way? We know that when an atom changes it's state, it absorbs or emits electromagnetic frequencies, which are responsible for changing it's state. (15) Do different states of emotion, perception and feelings result in different electromagnetic frequencies? Yes! This has been proven. (8)
The non-physical world is weird, isn't it? The fact that material substances (matter) appear out of thin air, with lots of evidence to point to consciousness as that which is creating it, is pretty intriguing. One minute we are holding a physical object in our hand, like a coin, and then the next minute we realize that if we were to focus in on the coin's material substance with an atomic microscope, we would see that we are actually holding nothing.
The best we can do for now is understand that the human race must operate from a place of peace, a place of cooperation and understanding. We must realize that we are all interconnected, that we can solve our problems here easily, given the fact that we have a number of solutions. The only way we will be able to implement and utilize these solutions is through a shift in consciousness. The world is indeed waking up. My soul knows the significance of these findings, it is difficult for the mind to explain. Hopefully I did a decent job.
Related CE Article: 10 Scientific Studies That Prove Consciousness Can Alter Our Physical Material World
Sources:
Lipton, H Bruce. The Biology of Belief. United States: Hay House INC. 2008
(1) http://pre.aps.org/abstract/PRE/v48/i2/p1562_1
(2) http://media.noetic.org/uploads/files/PhysicsEssays-Radin-DoubleSlit-2012.pdf
(3) http://www.fas.org/sgp/eprint/teleport.pdf
(4) http://www.lfr.org/lfr/csl/media/air_mayresponse.html
(5) http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_10_1_puthoff.pdf
(6) http://www.princeton.edu/~pear/pdfs/1979-precognitive-remote-viewing-stanford.pdf
(7) http://www.lfr.org/lfr/csl/library/AirReport.pdf
(9) http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v457/n7226/edsumm/e090108-01.html
(10) http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=darpa-casimir-effect-research
(11) http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A%3A1012369318404
(12) http://www.disclosureproject.org/docs/pdf/OutsideTheBox-TedLoderPaper.pdf
(13) http://pra.aps.org/abstract/PRA/v39/i5/p2333_1
(14) http://henry.pha.jhu.edu/The.mental.Universe.pdf
(15) http://www.files.chem.vt.edu/RVGS/ACT/notes/notes-electronic_structure.html
One example of this is the 24-year government-sponsored program to investigate ESP and its potential use within the Intelligence Community. The final report was released in 1995, and the CIA concluded that a statistically significant effect had been demonstrated in the laboratory. This operation was called STAR GATE, and most of its research and findings remain classified.(3) The Department of Defence suppressed a large amount of data from this 24 year study. – See more at: http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/11/18/psychokenesis-science-fact-not-fiction/#sthash.xccXoedz.dpuf
Robert Reich Speaks Truth about the DNC and establishment politics
Oh, how different it could have been with Bernie Sanders at the top of our ticket, instead of another round of the Clintons. A real clean up of the Democratic party could at least have been started. Now we will have to endure 4 to 8 more years of the same old skullduggery that has always accompanied the Clintons and their Wall Street-owned ilk.
I am feeling like Martin Luther King these days -- At my age, I may not live to see any major changes initiated at the top level where they are so needed, but Bernie has started a revolution that will build from the grassroots and the local level, demanding and making the changes that will eventually reach the top. We hope. Desperately--for the sake of our children and grandchildren. This planet is awaiting real leadership to address the most important issues like climate change being accelerated by human actions--a looming disaster that will affect (and is already affecting!) all life on Earth.
Why the Shake-up at the Democratic National Committee Is Doomedby Robert Reich | August 3, 2016
I am feeling like Martin Luther King these days -- At my age, I may not live to see any major changes initiated at the top level where they are so needed, but Bernie has started a revolution that will build from the grassroots and the local level, demanding and making the changes that will eventually reach the top. We hope. Desperately--for the sake of our children and grandchildren. This planet is awaiting real leadership to address the most important issues like climate change being accelerated by human actions--a looming disaster that will affect (and is already affecting!) all life on Earth.
Why the Shake-up at the Democratic National Committee Is Doomed
The shake-up at the Democratic National Committee after an embarrassing breach of its email system continued Tuesday with the departure of three senior officials.
But purging the DNC of top officials won't remedy the DNC's problems. Those problems aren't attributable to individuals who didn't do their jobs. To the contrary, those individuals probably fulfilled their responsibilities exactly as those jobs were intended to be done.
The DNC's problems are structural.
The Democratic National Committee – like the Republican National Committee – has become little more than a giant machine designed to suck up big money from wealthy individuals, lobbyists bundlers, and corporate and Wall Street PACs.
As long as this is its de facto mission, the DNC won't ever be kindly disposed to a campaign financed by small donations – Bernie's, or any others. Nor will it support campaign finance reform. Nor will it be an institutional voice for average working people and the poor. It won't want to eliminate superdelegates or support open primaries because these reforms would make Democratic candidates vulnerable to non-corporate interests.
What's needed is structural reform. The DNC has to turn itself – and the Democratic Party – into a grass-roots membership organization, with local and state chapters that play a meaningful role in selecting and supporting candidates.
And it has to take a lead in seeking public financing of campaigns, full disclosure of all donations, and ending the revolving door between government and the lobbying-industrial-financial complex.
Unfortunately, I doubt this will happen. Which is why no number of purges of individuals are going to make the DNC the kind of organization that serves the public interest. And why we're going to need a third party, or a third force, to pressure the Democratic Party to do what's right by America.
Posts
