By Marc Ash
[Editor’s note: Talk about an “enthusiasm gap”? Here’s a leading proponent of the Democratic Party, who cannot decide what he thinks about Joe Biden at this late date. I think they don’t have a prayer.]
hould Joe Biden become the eventual Democratic Party presidential nominee, and it seems highly likely that he will, I fully intend to vote for him. Under no circumstances would I consider voting for Donald Trump. I should take a moment to say that the moral and constitutional urgency to remove Trump from the Oval Office is extreme. Which means that sitting the election out is out of the question.
That having been said, I am struggling with the notion of formally endorsing Joe Biden. The draconian steps to which the Democratic Party and their major media benefactors went to defeat the Sanders campaign raise deep fundamental, political, social, and constitutional concerns. The destruction of the Sanders campaign was not just undemocratic, it was anti-democratic. Is that worse than Trump’s naked assault on democracy?
I believe the Democratic form of anti-democracy, while less apparent at first glance than Trump and his Republican enablers’ full-frontal style, is actually more likely to succeed and do more damage in the long run. The Democratic approach is more cleverly packaged and marketed and therefore will generate less resistance.
#AssassinationAttempt (15 June 2020) with Mike Bara in Seattle while Dean Ryan relocates from LA. Mike breaks an attempt to assassinate the President at the State of the Union. Pelosi was to poison him with her handshake and Pence was waiting in the wings. https://t.co/SBnWnAcmE4
— James H. Fetzer (@JimFetzer) June 16, 2020
It is significant that despite all this, Bernie Sanders has rather wholeheartedly endorsed Joe Biden. He is even signaling optimism that Biden may be open to progressive initiatives. The question that does not address is if the party went to those lengths to defeat the most popular democratic candidate, what will they do with power if they get it?
It isn’t even about Bernie Sanders, who I deeply respect and admire. It is about the progress we progressives have dedicated our lives to achieving. Progressive politics is not a cult of personality, it’s a cult of policy. Progressives actually do pay attention to what elected officials do in office and have a clear agenda for what needs to be done. We want leaders who will fight, really fight for social and economic justice, equality, the environment, voting rights, and a foreign policy that does not depend on military might.
For the record, the real source of tension between the Democratic Party and progressives is not electability. Electability is a colossal red herring the Democrats drag out every election cycle to convince voters that they can’t have the policies they want. The real source of tension is reform. A central focus of Progressive politics is getting the money out of the political process. That’s where the rift between the Democrats and progressives occurs. That’s why Bernie Sanders had to be taken down.
Joe Biden, Eyes Wide Open
Since Joe Biden rode a wave of African American voter support to the nomination let’s start there. There is an awakening across the nation to the issue of police violence against black people. Long overdue in the eyes of the black community and social justice advocates. Be aware that throughout his career, Joe Biden has been staunchly pro-law-and-order and pro-cop. If the past is prologue, President Biden will say all the right things, but make sure America’s finest will have everything they need and more to maintain law and order. He will not be a champion for meaningful police reform.
#KillingAmerica (16 June 2020) with Mike Bara in Seattle while Dean Ryan relocates from LA. Democrats and Globalists are resorting mass murder on the Summer Solstice (21 June) across major cities in the US and the world, which they will blame on Trump. https://t.co/aEp03PGaT4
— James H. Fetzer (@JimFetzer) June 17, 2020
On foreign policy, you can expect Biden to move swiftly to repair the very significant damage Trump has done to US relationships with its traditional post-WWII allies. On the other hand, you can also expect a return to good old American interventionism in the affairs of other nations, with all the geopolitical complications and harm that has historically entailed. US global influence is big business, and Joe Biden will be there for them.
On labor, Joe Biden is a prototypical old guard, corporate-friendly Democrat. That camp of Democrats has held power and influence during the longest decline in the fortunes of the American worker since the Great Depression. Yes, you can draw a straight line between the old guard corporate friendly policies and the decline of the American worker.
On the environment: Biden’s apparent deep concern for the state of the environment seems sincere at this stage. That can perhaps be taken at face value. Compared with Trump’s chainsaw assault on environmental policy, Biden is likely to be far better. But there is a caveat – if Biden really tries to implement environmental policies that have a meaningful impact, he’ll quickly find himself answering to the corporations the Democrats serve, and that might not go so well.
The Vice-Presidential Pick
This is where we find out who Joe Biden intends to be as President. It will be the first material, official action he takes in the presidential process with the potential for consequences.
The VP candidates garnering the most attention right now are, in alphabetical order, Stacey Abrams, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren.
With Minnesota at the epicenter of a massive international uproar over police violence and racial equality, Amy Klobuchar would seem to be an unlikely pick. Wrong place, wrong time. (Update: This is now moot. Klobuchar has withdrawn her name from consideration.)
#DesperateDemocrats (17 June 2020) with Mike Bara in Seattle while Dean Ryan relocates from LA. Trump has offered proposals for registries of bad cops and other measures, which Democrats attacked without seeing. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) really wants to dump MPD. https://t.co/7qnY56DVYM
— James H. Fetzer (@JimFetzer) June 18, 2020
Stacey Abrams proved to be a passionate and inspirational advocate for voting rights during her gubernatorial bid in Georgia. But her only adversary was a right-wing Republican who was clearly trying to suppress Democratic, specifically African American, voter turnout. What will Stacey Abrams do when she is confronted with a Democratic Party hierarchy that tells her to go slow because her passion for the voting rights issue might politically damage Democratic candidates in swing states. Smart money says she’ll be a team player and go slow.
Kamala Harris proved to have more than enough backbone and savvy during Senate hearings on the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, and later during Attorney General William Barr’s appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee, to make a very capable vice president. She too, however, should be regarded as a reliable Democratic Party team player.
It bears noting that before becoming the junior senator from California, Harris was the state’s attorney general. Her no-nonsense, razor-sharp questioning style was a clear demonstration of her law enforcement toolset. Kamala Harris can do the job of VP, but her role as VP might be more passive and less influential than she is accustomed to. Should she be appointed United States Attorney General and confirmed by the Senate, she would have vastly greater power, something she has the experience to wield with effectiveness.
That leaves Elizabeth Warren. Warren is the pick of progressives. If Sanders is right and Joe Biden truly seeks a partnership with the party’s overwhelmingly progressive base, nominating Warren would give him instant credibility and go a long way toward defusing tensions over the perception that Biden was picked by the party and its broadcast allies, not the voters.
Again, take note: Warren is likely to think and act far more independently than the other leading VP candidates. She has a strong anti-corruption streak and the credentials to prove it. That could disqualify her.
I want to see who Biden nominates for VP. Then I will decide if I’ll vote for him out of fear of Trump or endorse a ticket I have a reasonable degree of confidence in.
Marc Ash is the founder and former Executive Director of Truthout, and is now founder and Editor of Reader Supported News.
If they can pull this off in front of the world, out in the open…imagine what they’ll do come November with mail in ballots. No way will Trump have a chance unless he does something NOW!
Stone:
My original report about what happened to Trump’s Tulsa rally was bang on
Trump’s actual attendance was probably well over 50, 000 but it was not allowed in.
They stopped an overflow capacity crowd FIVE BLOCKS away from the center, filmed the empty streets around the center, and claimed no one showed up. See this:
“Here is how a corrupt convention center management team kills attendance at a Trump Rally. I was there and saw most of it first hand, followed by others tonight that never got past the temperature screeners.
1. BOK Center holds at least 19, 000. The area outside the convention center set up by the Secret Service and Tulsa PD had a U-shaped squeeze shoot to funnel the crowd down to an area about. 50 feet wide and 600 feet long with an outdoor stage adjacent to the BOK entrance.Trump was supposed to be able to speak to the overflow group from this stage.
2. Entry to the ��Secure Area�� NOT the BOK center was about 5 blocks away where you had to pass ��screeners�� who took your temperature, made you put on a face mask and gave you a green band to proceed to Secret Service Security.
3. If the temperature screeners left their post- the entire entry to the BOK Trump rally was shut down.
4. And that is EXACTLY what happened today about an hour after we got through security.
Full story here:
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/politics/political-corruption-at-trump-rally/
From Jim Stone…WORDS TO HEED! We obviously know by now these people are not playing games.
DEAGEL WAS NOT BLUFFING. AN INSIDER IS THERE AND KNEW A COMMUNIST PURGE WAS COMING. THE GOAL: KILL 230 MILLION PEOPLE. THAT IS WHAT IT WILL TAKE TO DROP AMERICA’S POPULATION DOWN TO 100 MILLION AS PLANNED. WHITES ARE 70 PERCENT OF AMERICA’S POPULATION. HOW MANY IS THAT? 231 MILLION. THE NUMBERS ADD UP. KAMALA AND CREW ARE GOING TO KILL US IF THEY GET THE CHANCE AND SHE JUST SAID IT. Don’t go thinking her saying America is “great” actually means anything, it does not mean she wants that greatness to actually live. They feel jilted for being delayed in their plans by Trump, and they are going to kill every damn last person that supported him. With contact tracing, they have you flagged bagged and tagged.
We had damn well better take this seriously and NOT crack a beer, PREEMPTIVE ACTION IS NEEDED. WE HAVE BEEN WARNED. WE NEED ACTION NOW.
Well, there is little to say once you see this:
Attachment
Did anyone watch Trump’s speech last night? The bombastic self aggrandizement and self congradualtion is a bit over the top for me. Toning that down a bit would serve Trump. But what’s our choice? there is none. It seems like the Dim-O-Craps have fallen on their swords to get Trump re-elected. The grand illusion of the Media is that there is wide spread support for closing down the cop shops or that more than a small percent of the population thinks erasing history in monuments is any good idea. There is an even smaller percent that advocate random violence, burning and looting. We are going to see the silent majority getting a bit more vocal and showing up to defeat any rioting with loaded guns like Cor’deLaine Idaho. Here’s a photo of the Aunt Teefa welcoming committee chairman
Attachment
I missed it and it would probably just piss me off more. Trump is NOT an orator; he’s a grandstander. John F. Kennedy WAS a true orator and he most always spoke of We the People and what we could do……..not his own accomplishments.
And again, as I have said a thousand times by now….as long as the left/Zionist/commies control the MSM…we are f’d! I would say the vast majority still get their news from the likes of ABC, CNN and FOX…..and not from the Internet alternative sources. It’s more convenient. Looking for the truth takes EFFORT!
And I would suggest…as crazy as it seems….that much of this is staged to foment a nationwide civil war. These paid dupes will eventually burn themselves out as their paychecks fail to materialize and they become bored, restless and tired. IF it does not take that path and it spreads further than it already has, Trump or patriotic militias must step in and bring this attempted COUP to an end. A move like that will not work against Trump. It will likely assure his re-election. This cannot continue. The average, law abiding man and woman is fed up with watching this lawlessness…staged or not. And when it’s over and things have calmed down, the Smith Mundt Act MUST be re-instated. There is no reason for Trump to allow Obama’s legacy to continue to tear this nation asunder. WHY he has not done this already is absolutely baffling. His not doing that is a major tell!
Anyone taking a knee to those involved in this coup should be arrested and indicted for treason.
I do not have a c ell or a Smart phone ..just a land line. BUT, for those who do, this could be helpful….
(I have heard from other this can be disabled….would you trust that function? Not I!
Jim Stone…
NOT MYTH: CONTACT TRACING HAS BEEN INSTALLED ON EVERY PHONE
Zerohedge did a report stating that Apple rammed contact tracing onto everyone’s phone against their consent. In the comments, people said Google did it too. So I checked my phone (the one I use as a modem) and sure enough, they rammed it onto that phone right where everyone said it would be. I never approved this. I don’t even touch or use that phone, it’s just a modem.
I am going to do a factory reset and see if that clears it. This will have to wait until this evening, I’ll post the results when I do this.
What a load of clap trap. So Antifa is promoting democracy by looting, beating, burning the flag, seizing private property and encouraging anarchy? And what ‘democracy’ would that be? The one mentioned here?:
“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the REPUBLIC for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
Oh, I’m sorry.IT”S NOT MENTIONED THERE…nor is it in the Declaration of Independence OR the Constitution.
The deliberations of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were held in strict secrecy. Consequently, anxious citizens gathered outside Independence Hall when the proceedings ended in order to learn what had been produced behind closed doors. The answer was provided immediately. A Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.”
This exchange was recorded by Constitution signer James McHenry in a diary entry that was later reproduced in the 1906 American Historical Review. Yet in more recent years, Franklin has occassionally been misquoted as having said, “A democracy, if you can keep it.” The NRA’s Charleton Heston quoted Franklin this way, for example, in a CBS 60 Minutes interview with Mike Wallace that was aired on December 20, 1998.
This misquote is a serious one, since the difference between a democracy and a republic is not merely a question of semantics but is fundamental. The word “republic” comes from the Latin res publica — which means simply “the public thing(s),” or more simply “the law(s).” “Democracy,” on the other hand, is derived from the Greek words demos and kratein, which translates to “the people to rule.” Democracy, therefore, has always been synonymous with majority rule.