If I understand this correctly, Bernie Sanders’ strong showing resulted in the Democratic Party awarding him five selections to the Party Platform Committee. His hope was to influence the party to include a more progressive platform for the Democratic nominee (Hillary Clinton) to run on.
Of course, we all acknowledge that the designated party platform is not worth the paper it’s written on. Once the election is over and the president takes office, the platform and its promises to the people disappear from the ongoing narratives.
But, if nothing else, the platform demonstrates the party’s awareness and recognition of the people’s needs and desires and projects a sense of wanting to address these issues.
So, how did the Platform Committee perform in St. Louis last weekend where it met? Despite the five Sander’s appointments to the committee, proposals for universal healthcare, a $15 minimum wage indexed to inflation, ending Israel’s occupation of Palestine, a carbon tax, opposition to the anti-consumer Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and fracking were rejected.
There was no mention and probably no discussion of the U.S.’s never ending imperialistic wars and the conversion of our society into a police state with police being armed with military weapons. Confronting Israel about its on-going settlement expansion into Palestinian territory as well as its occupation of Gaza didn’t appear to make it to the drawing board.
Instead, there were the usual vague declarations made by the Democrats about supporting public education, looking out for working people, Wall Street reform, etc., etc., etc.
This is how the Democratic Party sells itself as the party of the people . . . verbalizing concerns about the welfare of the people while they are indebted to and represent the ruling class. It is also what makes them more dangerous. The Republicans tell us straight forward that they are the party of the elite while the Democrats disarm us with statements and promises of hope and a better life for working people. A statement I read on Facebook several weeks ago, tells it all: “Donald Trump will slap you in the face, Hillary Clinton will stab you in the back.” That, my friends symbolizes the difference between the Democrats and Republicans.
The question is, how is this platform different than any other past platforms when Bernie was not running for the presidency? This is a platform made in heaven for Hillary Clinton and offers the same as usual BS.
Still, Bernie will offer his support for Hillary and probably convince some of his followers to vote for her in order to stop Trump.
It is also worth mentioning that the other “progressive” Democrat, Elizabeth Warren has offered her undying support for Hillary. This is the same Elizabeth Warren who has taken on Wall Street and the banksters. Yet, she finds enough common ground with Hillary, the darling of Wall Street and the banksters, to come out in support of her candidacy for president.
Voting is nothing more than participating in a group masturbation . . . at the climax, you haven’t accomplished very much other than momentary, fleeting excitement. To continue to vote in this corrupt system is to offer credibility and legitimacy to the process which is rigged and corrupt.
People have asked, “What can we do?”
Instead of voting, it is time to become actively involved. This means joining and organizing with others, taking to the streets to tell the ruling class there will no longer be business as usual until the demands of the people are met.
They have done it in France and forced the police to ask that they stop demonstrating. Millions of French people shut down much of France because their government was preparing an austerity program that compromised workers rights, pensions, wages, etc. The workers organized and said, “No way, Jose.”
Working people have the power . . . it is we who teach the children, provide public transportation, pick up the garbage, put out the fires, and serve the public in many different and crucial ways. It is also the worker who makes it possible for the capitalists to earn their enormous profits. We have the power to say “NO MORE” as they have in France. We just have to recognize that power.
There are many progressive organizations in the U.S., each with its own turf, fighting its own limited fight. But, in so doing, we are missing the most important fight of all. Whether you are anti-war, part of Black Lives Matter, in support of gay rights, for universal health care, for reproductive rights, support BDS, the environment, etc., the main enemy and the one we always ignore are those of the capitalist ruling class. These are the people who control our lives and our government and dictate policy, policy whose goal is world domination. These are the same people who have sponsored continuous class warfare.
The Occupy Wall Street movement was the one that began to unfold and focus on the real threat to our lives. It had the potential to transcend all the various agendas in the progressive community and focus us on the main problem . . . the capitalist and the profit motive, the source of most of the world’s problems.
The ruling class controls what we hear on radio, what we see on television, and what we read in newspapers and magazines.
Why do I raise this issue? While the people are focused on this election, what we are told and what we are purposely not told about what’s happening in the world continues.
Oliver Stone, a well known producer and director of films, has brought to the screen two very important and relevant films . . .”Ukraine on Fire” and “Snowden.”
“Ukraine on Fire” is a documentary film that deals with the U.S. supported overthrow of the democratically elected Viktor Yanukovych government in the Ukraine. Yanukovych’s government was replaced by one dominated by neo-Nazis. What is happening in Eastern Europe has the potential to involve us in a hot war with Russia. The mainstream media has fulfilled its assignment and has demonized Russia as the aggressor while the U.S. and NATO have brought 30,000 troops and heavy armaments along Russia’s border. Stone offers another view of the situation in his documentary.
This is a film that Stone had to make and finance outside the U.S. because he couldn’t get funding from U.S. investors. Why? Because the content of this film would contradict the narrative about Russia and the Ukraine that permeates our government and the corporate media. This alternative view of what’s happening in our world is not for public consumption in the U.S.
Snowden, on the other hand, is a biographical political drama directed by Stone. Again, he was forced to film and finance the film outside the U.S. working with foreign investors.
It is not only the production of these films that has been problematic, but we can anticipate that there will be problems of distribution once the films are complete and ready for the public to see.
The censorship that is imposed on us by the government and corporate America is prevalent. We live in a police state that controls what we are allowed to know and what we aren’t. And still, our focus is on this irrelevant election, one in which either candidate will continue the corporate agenda and we, the people, will continue to be nothing more than pawns to be discarded once we are no longer needed.
Dave Alpert has masters degrees in social work, educational administration, and psychology. He spent his career working with troubled inner city adolescents.
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The Democratic Party’s ‘progressive’ agenda
Posted on July 5, 2016 by Dave Alpert
If I understand this correctly, Bernie Sanders’ strong showing resulted in the Democratic Party awarding him five selections to the Party Platform Committee. His hope was to influence the party to include a more progressive platform for the Democratic nominee (Hillary Clinton) to run on.
Of course, we all acknowledge that the designated party platform is not worth the paper it’s written on. Once the election is over and the president takes office, the platform and its promises to the people disappear from the ongoing narratives.
But, if nothing else, the platform demonstrates the party’s awareness and recognition of the people’s needs and desires and projects a sense of wanting to address these issues.
So, how did the Platform Committee perform in St. Louis last weekend where it met? Despite the five Sander’s appointments to the committee, proposals for universal healthcare, a $15 minimum wage indexed to inflation, ending Israel’s occupation of Palestine, a carbon tax, opposition to the anti-consumer Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and fracking were rejected.
There was no mention and probably no discussion of the U.S.’s never ending imperialistic wars and the conversion of our society into a police state with police being armed with military weapons. Confronting Israel about its on-going settlement expansion into Palestinian territory as well as its occupation of Gaza didn’t appear to make it to the drawing board.
Instead, there were the usual vague declarations made by the Democrats about supporting public education, looking out for working people, Wall Street reform, etc., etc., etc.
This is how the Democratic Party sells itself as the party of the people . . . verbalizing concerns about the welfare of the people while they are indebted to and represent the ruling class. It is also what makes them more dangerous. The Republicans tell us straight forward that they are the party of the elite while the Democrats disarm us with statements and promises of hope and a better life for working people. A statement I read on Facebook several weeks ago, tells it all: “Donald Trump will slap you in the face, Hillary Clinton will stab you in the back.” That, my friends symbolizes the difference between the Democrats and Republicans.
The question is, how is this platform different than any other past platforms when Bernie was not running for the presidency? This is a platform made in heaven for Hillary Clinton and offers the same as usual BS.
Still, Bernie will offer his support for Hillary and probably convince some of his followers to vote for her in order to stop Trump.
It is also worth mentioning that the other “progressive” Democrat, Elizabeth Warren has offered her undying support for Hillary. This is the same Elizabeth Warren who has taken on Wall Street and the banksters. Yet, she finds enough common ground with Hillary, the darling of Wall Street and the banksters, to come out in support of her candidacy for president.
Voting is nothing more than participating in a group masturbation . . . at the climax, you haven’t accomplished very much other than momentary, fleeting excitement. To continue to vote in this corrupt system is to offer credibility and legitimacy to the process which is rigged and corrupt.
People have asked, “What can we do?”
Instead of voting, it is time to become actively involved. This means joining and organizing with others, taking to the streets to tell the ruling class there will no longer be business as usual until the demands of the people are met.
They have done it in France and forced the police to ask that they stop demonstrating. Millions of French people shut down much of France because their government was preparing an austerity program that compromised workers rights, pensions, wages, etc. The workers organized and said, “No way, Jose.”
Working people have the power . . . it is we who teach the children, provide public transportation, pick up the garbage, put out the fires, and serve the public in many different and crucial ways. It is also the worker who makes it possible for the capitalists to earn their enormous profits. We have the power to say “NO MORE” as they have in France. We just have to recognize that power.
There are many progressive organizations in the U.S., each with its own turf, fighting its own limited fight. But, in so doing, we are missing the most important fight of all. Whether you are anti-war, part of Black Lives Matter, in support of gay rights, for universal health care, for reproductive rights, support BDS, the environment, etc., the main enemy and the one we always ignore are those of the capitalist ruling class. These are the people who control our lives and our government and dictate policy, policy whose goal is world domination. These are the same people who have sponsored continuous class warfare.
The Occupy Wall Street movement was the one that began to unfold and focus on the real threat to our lives. It had the potential to transcend all the various agendas in the progressive community and focus us on the main problem . . . the capitalist and the profit motive, the source of most of the world’s problems.
The ruling class controls what we hear on radio, what we see on television, and what we read in newspapers and magazines.
Why do I raise this issue? While the people are focused on this election, what we are told and what we are purposely not told about what’s happening in the world continues.
Oliver Stone, a well known producer and director of films, has brought to the screen two very important and relevant films . . .”Ukraine on Fire” and “Snowden.”
“Ukraine on Fire” is a documentary film that deals with the U.S. supported overthrow of the democratically elected Viktor Yanukovych government in the Ukraine. Yanukovych’s government was replaced by one dominated by neo-Nazis. What is happening in Eastern Europe has the potential to involve us in a hot war with Russia. The mainstream media has fulfilled its assignment and has demonized Russia as the aggressor while the U.S. and NATO have brought 30,000 troops and heavy armaments along Russia’s border. Stone offers another view of the situation in his documentary.
This is a film that Stone had to make and finance outside the U.S. because he couldn’t get funding from U.S. investors. Why? Because the content of this film would contradict the narrative about Russia and the Ukraine that permeates our government and the corporate media. This alternative view of what’s happening in our world is not for public consumption in the U.S.
Snowden, on the other hand, is a biographical political drama directed by Stone. Again, he was forced to film and finance the film outside the U.S. working with foreign investors.
It is not only the production of these films that has been problematic, but we can anticipate that there will be problems of distribution once the films are complete and ready for the public to see.
The censorship that is imposed on us by the government and corporate America is prevalent. We live in a police state that controls what we are allowed to know and what we aren’t. And still, our focus is on this irrelevant election, one in which either candidate will continue the corporate agenda and we, the people, will continue to be nothing more than pawns to be discarded once we are no longer needed.
Dave Alpert has masters degrees in social work, educational administration, and psychology. He spent his career working with troubled inner city adolescents.