Re: [blind-democracy] The mothers of the movement

Good Friday Morning, Miriam.
Of course your points are well taken. Looking at Clinton and Trump,
there is no contest as to which one will do America more harm. As for
International well being...well, it's a toss up in my book. Certainly
I hear the cry that Trump would set about unraveling the last bits of
democracy still clinging to our Constitution. So I hope that Clinton
wins. But it is no longer my nation. It is the American Corporate
Empire. And even with Hillary Clinton at the helm, it will not put
working class needs near the top of their list. Nor will women's
needs, nor person's of color, nor forgiving the debt we've allowed to
be placed on the backs of our youth. All of these issues will be
talked up, schmoozed, and then, with sad puppy dog faces, we'll be
told that they must wait until we have taken care of the Great Big
Terror trying to take away our freedom.
On Democracy Now this morning, Kshama Sawant gave a compelling
defense of the need to put our efforts into building a strong grass
roots independent movement. The woman who debated her, and I'm sorry
I have forgotten her name, gave an equally compelling argument for
supporting Clinton.
Personally, I feel that Kshama Sawant sees the fallacy of continuing
to attempt to reform a Party that has become a part of the problem.
Do I feel that I, and my family could survive a Trump presidency? Not
at all! We, Cathy and our children and grand children, are the very
people who would be crushed by the chaos that Trump would bring in.
But Clinton can only promise to, "go slow", with social programs.
This will mean that my family, along with so many others, will go down
slower than under Trump. We're really very much like the frog in the
boiling water. We are coming close to the boiling point, and it will
be so much easier if we don't know it until it's too late. But my
bottom line is that this contest is not one to be won by Working Men
and Women, or People of Color, or all the others we hear so much
about. There are only platitudes from both sides, at this time.
My heart is with working class folks, and I cannot participate in an
election that pits a crazy man against a War Hawk.
There are many good people competing for other offices, who deserve my
support. And there is that new Third Rail on the Road to Democracy, a
People's ground swell.

Carl Jarvis

On 7/29/16, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
> It was Bill O'Reilly, who said that the slaves who built the White House
> were well fed. Amy Goodman, during the program, quoted Abigail, who? , who
> said they were staarving and poorly clothed.
>
> Miriam
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Carl Jarvis [mailto:carjar82@gmail.com]
> Sent: Friday, July 29, 2016 12:31 AM
> To: blind-democracy@freelists.org
> Cc: Miriam Vieni
> Subject: Re: [blind-democracy] The mothers of the movement
>
> Since this Democratic Convention was all about Hillary Clinton, everyone
> who
> climbed the podium and took the mike understood that they were promoting
> Hillary Clinton for president. In fact, I was deeply moved by the mother's
> stories of their murdered children. At the time I did not think of the
> purpose behind showcasing these three very moving accounts. Could it have
> been an effort to connect with the Black vote? Since I did not hear of any
> family members of the murdered police officers being featured, I can only
> assume it is the Democrats effort to smooth over the hard feelings of
> Hillary's past support of legislation that wound up expanding our private
> prisons, and filling them with Black and Brown slave labor.
> As an aside, I understand that the slave laborers who helped build the
> White
> House, were well fed and well housed, which, if true, is in stark contrast
> to the food and medical care our current prison slaves receive.
> But back to the convention. It's a showcase of all the imagined
> accomplishments of the Democrats, led by the fearless and well qualified
> leader, Hillary Clinton. Watching the acrobatics and manipulative antics
> was embarrassing. But even worse were some of the pandering speeches.
> Still, there were some very thoughtful discussions on democracy now, which
> is something that did not happen during the Trump Reality Show.
> I am still troubled by the numbers of political leaders who continue to
> make
> this a battle between Clinton and Trump, with no discussion about the
> failure of the two parties to meet the basic needs of the American People.
> I could agree with people saying that we need to support the
> Democrats...including Clinton, and build the Progressive Movement to a
> place
> where it can force the president to lean to the Left. But too many of them
> are doing exactly what they claim they are not doing, making this a
> negative, lessor of two evils. I have heard Trump described in such crazy
> terms that he comes up looking like Satan, with the red suit, horns,
> pitchfork and forked tail. Donald Trump is no more of a monster than is
> Hillary Clinton, a charge both sides are making of the other. In fact,
> these two ambitious people are struggling for the Brass Ring, for the sake
> of winning. If they truly loved their country, and if they wanted to raise
> the standard of living, and bring back that Great American Dream, a job, a
> home and a family, they would be discussing issues. They would be
> proposing
> community involvement. They would lay out plans to bring back jobs, to
> demand a living minimum wage, show us how they propose to lower medical
> costs and include All Americans. They would stop the blood suckers who are
> forcing our children into debt before they even have a college degree or a
> job. They would announce how they plan to fully fund our Veterans
> Hospitals.
> We know for a fact that Donald Trump has no plans. If he did, he would not
> need to repeat phrases like, "Trust me!", or, "I'm going to make America
> great again!"
> Great? Which year was that? Do you mean, Mister Trump, the 1880's to the
> 1920's? Those wonderful years, if you were White, Male and had a wealthy
> daddy. Working Class families never lived in that "Great America" you
> speak
> of, Mister Trump. Black families never lived in that America of Plenty.
> Indians, Chinese, Japanese, Mexicans, Jews, and so many of the starving
> immigrants from Ireland and Europe never enjoyed a minute of that Greatness
> you boast about.
> It's a bare faced lie. It's time we called it what it is, White Supremacy.
> Donald Trump represents a last mass effort for White men to hold onto
> power.
> And if Hillary Clinton really believed some of the progressive stuff she
> spouts, she would chew up Trump and spit him out.
>
> Carl Jarvis
>
>
>
> On 7/27/16, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@optonline.net> wrote:
>> Now that I've listened to Democracy Now, and heard the mothers of
>> murdered young black people talk at the convention, my response is
>> that this was a cynical use of people who have endured unspeakable
>> tragedy, for Hillary's benefit. I remember hearing Sandra Bland's
>> mother on Democracy Now after Hillary had contacted her. Hillary
>> already knew she was running for the presidential nomination. Perhaps
>> her campaign had begun. I'm not sure. But it was obvious that she
>> cultivated a relationship with this grief stricken woman so that she
>> could use her in her campaign. These women were props in a well
>> planned show. Interestingly, I noted that many of the Sanders
>> delegates who were interviewed during the first hour of Democracy Now,
>> were African American. During the campaign, the mass media kept saying
>> that Bernie wasn't doing well with black people. But he sure had a lot
>> of black delegates that we never heard about.
>>
>> Miriam
>>
>>
>>
>
>