The value of Dimock's piece lies in the way he framed our central dilemma. Whatever the likelihood of a given outcome, every American should be absolutely aware of the choices being made. That is what Dimock challenges voters to contend with.
Cara, contend with what? The DNC won't run a candidate who is not pro-war, pro-Wall Street and pro-Israel. Go back to 1944 and how the slim ball Jimmy Byrnes sabotaged the man of peace and compassion, Henry Wallace, FDR's Secretary of Agriculture as his running mate and instead, put A-Bomb Harry on center stage. Look it up.
Contend with the central irreconcilable contradiction that is destroying this country: empire or democracy. It transcends party. This is a decision all Americans have to make. Of course you're right as to who the party elites will or won't run as a presidential candidate. That doesn't prevent ordinary people from attempting to use the convention, as a democratic forum or mechanism, to at least try to force a change. Sometimes those kinds of moments can trigger genuine change or revolution. Are ordinary Democrats capable of such action? Are they even sufficiently awake enough to understand that they live in a murderous empire and that they've lost any meaningful representative government? Or are they mostly simply obsessed about Trump? Well...
Not that it changes anything: the character of the US IMO is exactly as I perceived it when I first became politically aware in high school (1958-62). The moral ugliness is much more in the open, which is for the better.
Donald, Thanks for your reply. The uglier it gets and the more open it is eventually enough people may wake up. The elite have become quite bold, they don't hide what they do so much and the contempt they express for ordinary people is hard to miss. Who knows... maybe this house of cards will come tumbling down sooner than we think. We can hope...
Thanks, Cara! We are such a small minority of people who understand current events, recent history, and are not duped by the massive propaganda machine like the majority of our fellow citizens are who will either vote for Biden, or if the DNC does a switcheroonie prior to the election, another mainstream Dem, or the MAGA cultists to whom Trump is their Fuher and can do no wrong.
I'll be voting for Jill Stein for the third time. Miracles can happen so maybe "three times the charm!"
Well intentioned, but woefully naive. There will be no reform of the Democratic Party. It is dead as a moral force, regardless of its candidate, every potential one of whom is a pusillanimous sycophant of the evil Capitalist Empire that plays with our fatuous "democracy", as tyrants play with "nationalism". America is about to enjoy the utter disaster that its owners have been contriving for generations. It is not a country. Countries, by definition, represent and support a people; America supports only its
Capitalist owners. It's a failed corporation, tanking toward bankruptcy and ruin.
In the past few months, I agreed with Mr. Dimock's position on most of what was published on the Floutist, but find his logic on a Biden substitute in the DemoRAT Party wishful thinking, for stopping American imperial wars, the Holocaust in Palestine by the Zionist influenced ($$$) Congress and White House. If Mr. Dimock watched the political theatrics 15 years ago, there were only two out of eight Democratic Party candidates (If I remember correctly, it was 8) who told the truth, had courage, integrity and positive, constructive ideas four our nation, and were deliberately disregarded by the big corporate media conglomerates, and they were former Alaskan Senator, Mike Gravel, and Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich. The MSM put the bright lights on Hillary Clinton and an unknown (nationally) State Senator from Illinois, Barak Obama. The fix was in by the Deep State. We're giving the Democrats two choices and the party faithful fell for it as usual. Obama got the nod, and consistently lied for eight years straight but was made out to be a modern day wise King Solomon.
Bernie Sanders during the next two elections was the darling of the faux liberals (now a dirty word for obvious reasons) and when it looked like he had a chance of winning the nomination, was sabotaged by the DNC, not once, but twice.
And if people think Trump is the right choice they haven't learned a thing about his tenure as POTUS, not to mention his pro-fascist, pro-Israel, pro-super-rich contributors, and anti-union appointees for high-level cabinet positions, like Christian Zionist, Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, et al.
I've been voting for "alternative party candidates" since 2000, which are NOT wasted votes or votes for Republicans as Democrats have been telling me for almost 24 years. There is more political democracy in Europe where multiple party candidates have seats in their political systems, unlike ours.
Also, if you never wonder why you never saw Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney, Jill Stein, or other alternative party candidates in presidential debates, they're excluded, since the mid-1980's when the Repulsive and DemoRAT parties agreed to not allow alternative candidates in presidential debates.
Rumor has it that Biden may dump Harris and Obama for VP and if elected, the DNC will remove Genocide Joe because of mental and cognitive problems, making Obama the Prez again.
Once Obama got into office on a promise of ending the terror wars, then pushed through a surge in Afghanistan, that was the point at which I realized I would never vote for another D presidential candidate again.
Pretty sure the "DNC's scripted logrolling" is already going to give the Democrats someone other than Biden as their candidate. So I don't think convincing delegates to vote for the new (non Joe Biden) puppet will accomplish anything.
Yes, this seems to be the major flaw in Mr. Dimock's suggestion. How do we avoid having someone else who is simply a younger Biden? Mr. Dimock does not even suggest someone by name.
After making the mistake of voting for Clinton the first time, I have been a Green ever since. I feel the
only way I can support Mr. Dimock's plea for democracy and peace is to vote for Jill Stein who has devoted herself to these all along. This time around, and I am privileged to be able to vote for her for
the third time, she is a seasoned politician in the old sense of mastering a profession and has a
well functioning organization behind her. How she would move toward these goals of democracy and
peace along with the other important problems we face are well articulated on her website.
Olenka, To my way of thinking, Jill Stein is an angelic woman and definitely the best candidate for the American people there is, and I will also be voting for her for the third time.
But remember, the oligarchs and pro-fascists (pro-corporate) who control politics in Imperial America, backed by the Repulsive Party and the DemoRAT Party have been enriching themselves at the expense of the common people and won't go down without a fight, as their version of the status quo needs to stay as is.
It reminds of a classic book published in 1968, titled, "The Rich and The Super-Rich" by Professor Ferdinand Lundberg of Columbia University. He says, "There is one party in the United States, the "property party" divided in two" (words to that effect) meaning the Republican and the Democrat operatives who own most of the wealth and physical properties and assets (as best I can remember), but behind closed doors are united in their quest to keep their wealth and increase it.
Look back at the hatred Franklin D. Roosevelt had to deal with with the Repulsive Party at the time for implementing social programs which helped tens of millions of Americans during the Great Depression. My father joined the Civilian Conservation Corps as he was out of work then.
The fascists called FDR a communist among other diatribes, and many historians think he would have done more things to help the people if he didn't to keep battling the reactionary forces in Congress, thus having to compromise on an array of ideas to better the life for the average person.
The Spanish Civil War of the 1930's was about Spain becoming an egalitarian society rather than having only the rich and the poor.
I highly recommend the book: "the SCOURAGE of NEOLIBERALISM" subtitled: us economic policy from reagan to trump, by Dr. Jack Rasmus, Professor of Economy, and published by Clarity Press. in 2020. Rasmus backs up everything in it with facts, whether it's about Reagan Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr., Obama or Trump -
The great humanitarian, feminist, and anarchist, Emma Goldman once said, "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." There's some truth to that, but it's still a fatalistic viewpoint, in my opinion, and Goldman is one of my longtime heroes. I prefer the late, great George Seldes words of "Never Tire of Protesting" (to make conditions better -my words, not his), which is also the title of his book, an historical treasure to read. Seldes has been an inspirational hero of mine since my early 20's as he was another truth teller.
Voting not to endorse Biden without being for another presidential candidate doesn't go far enough I'm afraid and it would only ensure the selection of someone chosen by party elites in what used to be called a smoke-filled room. I'd suggest Dr Jill Stein as the only candidate of a recognized political party who is in favor of both peace and environmentalism. Some of you may be old enough to remember the slogan from 50 years ago that "war is not healthy for children and other living things". That's at least as relevant today as it was in the Vietnam War era. And let's not forget that Stein is outspokenly in favor of Palestinian rights.
I forgot to mention another masterpiece of a book. Maybe you read it already. "Web of Debt" by Ellen Hodgson Brown, J.D. with the First Edition published in 2007, but certainly not dated and quite timely!
Like Rasmus, Ms Brown does her homework and does it well, and the title of her book should tell you something. The Deep State or "invisible government" loves keep the citizens in debt and grand theft usury is on the rise, both individually in in government budgets
Let me say this about that in my very best Nixonian. The US does not have political parties, we have cults. Do you identify with the democratic cult or the republican cult or the maga cult? You shouldn't allow your decisions to be framed by someone else. If you vote for this person, then that's a vote for that cult. You're supposed to vote for someone you want to see in office, not against someone you don't want to see in office. If there's no one on the ballot that I positively WANT to vote for, I vote for the write in candidate, none of the above
Josh Shapiro as the Democratic Nominee would bring Pennsylvania with him. He has extraordinary energy and real intelligence. But he’s Jewish, and that may be a disqualifier for the votes he would need. What a primitive world we live in.
In any case I want a nominee, who is certainly not Biden, who has a chance to stop the Republican Party from a landslide takeover of the Federal Government. Half a loaf, or even a slice of bread…
Having said that much, I have to acknowledge the clarity and power of what Peter Dimock writes in his brief article. And how else in our empire can anything change for the good other than by revolutionary force seated in grassroots coalitions?
The value of Dimock's piece lies in the way he framed our central dilemma. Whatever the likelihood of a given outcome, every American should be absolutely aware of the choices being made. That is what Dimock challenges voters to contend with.
Cara, contend with what? The DNC won't run a candidate who is not pro-war, pro-Wall Street and pro-Israel. Go back to 1944 and how the slim ball Jimmy Byrnes sabotaged the man of peace and compassion, Henry Wallace, FDR's Secretary of Agriculture as his running mate and instead, put A-Bomb Harry on center stage. Look it up.
Contend with the central irreconcilable contradiction that is destroying this country: empire or democracy. It transcends party. This is a decision all Americans have to make. Of course you're right as to who the party elites will or won't run as a presidential candidate. That doesn't prevent ordinary people from attempting to use the convention, as a democratic forum or mechanism, to at least try to force a change. Sometimes those kinds of moments can trigger genuine change or revolution. Are ordinary Democrats capable of such action? Are they even sufficiently awake enough to understand that they live in a murderous empire and that they've lost any meaningful representative government? Or are they mostly simply obsessed about Trump? Well...
Not that it changes anything: the character of the US IMO is exactly as I perceived it when I first became politically aware in high school (1958-62). The moral ugliness is much more in the open, which is for the better.
Donald, Thanks for your reply. The uglier it gets and the more open it is eventually enough people may wake up. The elite have become quite bold, they don't hide what they do so much and the contempt they express for ordinary people is hard to miss. Who knows... maybe this house of cards will come tumbling down sooner than we think. We can hope...
Hey Frank, I forgot to say "thank you" for your comment. Also it's good to have these conversations in the comment thread. Hope all is well my friend.
Thanks, Cara! We are such a small minority of people who understand current events, recent history, and are not duped by the massive propaganda machine like the majority of our fellow citizens are who will either vote for Biden, or if the DNC does a switcheroonie prior to the election, another mainstream Dem, or the MAGA cultists to whom Trump is their Fuher and can do no wrong.
I'll be voting for Jill Stein for the third time. Miracles can happen so maybe "three times the charm!"
Regardless who is nominated, that individual will be a corporate imperialist muppet.
Well intentioned, but woefully naive. There will be no reform of the Democratic Party. It is dead as a moral force, regardless of its candidate, every potential one of whom is a pusillanimous sycophant of the evil Capitalist Empire that plays with our fatuous "democracy", as tyrants play with "nationalism". America is about to enjoy the utter disaster that its owners have been contriving for generations. It is not a country. Countries, by definition, represent and support a people; America supports only its
Capitalist owners. It's a failed corporation, tanking toward bankruptcy and ruin.
In the past few months, I agreed with Mr. Dimock's position on most of what was published on the Floutist, but find his logic on a Biden substitute in the DemoRAT Party wishful thinking, for stopping American imperial wars, the Holocaust in Palestine by the Zionist influenced ($$$) Congress and White House. If Mr. Dimock watched the political theatrics 15 years ago, there were only two out of eight Democratic Party candidates (If I remember correctly, it was 8) who told the truth, had courage, integrity and positive, constructive ideas four our nation, and were deliberately disregarded by the big corporate media conglomerates, and they were former Alaskan Senator, Mike Gravel, and Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich. The MSM put the bright lights on Hillary Clinton and an unknown (nationally) State Senator from Illinois, Barak Obama. The fix was in by the Deep State. We're giving the Democrats two choices and the party faithful fell for it as usual. Obama got the nod, and consistently lied for eight years straight but was made out to be a modern day wise King Solomon.
Bernie Sanders during the next two elections was the darling of the faux liberals (now a dirty word for obvious reasons) and when it looked like he had a chance of winning the nomination, was sabotaged by the DNC, not once, but twice.
And if people think Trump is the right choice they haven't learned a thing about his tenure as POTUS, not to mention his pro-fascist, pro-Israel, pro-super-rich contributors, and anti-union appointees for high-level cabinet positions, like Christian Zionist, Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, et al.
I've been voting for "alternative party candidates" since 2000, which are NOT wasted votes or votes for Republicans as Democrats have been telling me for almost 24 years. There is more political democracy in Europe where multiple party candidates have seats in their political systems, unlike ours.
Also, if you never wonder why you never saw Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney, Jill Stein, or other alternative party candidates in presidential debates, they're excluded, since the mid-1980's when the Repulsive and DemoRAT parties agreed to not allow alternative candidates in presidential debates.
Rumor has it that Biden may dump Harris and Obama for VP and if elected, the DNC will remove Genocide Joe because of mental and cognitive problems, making Obama the Prez again.
That's my two cents worth of opinion.
Once Obama got into office on a promise of ending the terror wars, then pushed through a surge in Afghanistan, that was the point at which I realized I would never vote for another D presidential candidate again.
Pretty sure the "DNC's scripted logrolling" is already going to give the Democrats someone other than Biden as their candidate. So I don't think convincing delegates to vote for the new (non Joe Biden) puppet will accomplish anything.
Yes, this seems to be the major flaw in Mr. Dimock's suggestion. How do we avoid having someone else who is simply a younger Biden? Mr. Dimock does not even suggest someone by name.
After making the mistake of voting for Clinton the first time, I have been a Green ever since. I feel the
only way I can support Mr. Dimock's plea for democracy and peace is to vote for Jill Stein who has devoted herself to these all along. This time around, and I am privileged to be able to vote for her for
the third time, she is a seasoned politician in the old sense of mastering a profession and has a
well functioning organization behind her. How she would move toward these goals of democracy and
peace along with the other important problems we face are well articulated on her website.
Olenka, To my way of thinking, Jill Stein is an angelic woman and definitely the best candidate for the American people there is, and I will also be voting for her for the third time.
But remember, the oligarchs and pro-fascists (pro-corporate) who control politics in Imperial America, backed by the Repulsive Party and the DemoRAT Party have been enriching themselves at the expense of the common people and won't go down without a fight, as their version of the status quo needs to stay as is.
It reminds of a classic book published in 1968, titled, "The Rich and The Super-Rich" by Professor Ferdinand Lundberg of Columbia University. He says, "There is one party in the United States, the "property party" divided in two" (words to that effect) meaning the Republican and the Democrat operatives who own most of the wealth and physical properties and assets (as best I can remember), but behind closed doors are united in their quest to keep their wealth and increase it.
Look back at the hatred Franklin D. Roosevelt had to deal with with the Repulsive Party at the time for implementing social programs which helped tens of millions of Americans during the Great Depression. My father joined the Civilian Conservation Corps as he was out of work then.
The fascists called FDR a communist among other diatribes, and many historians think he would have done more things to help the people if he didn't to keep battling the reactionary forces in Congress, thus having to compromise on an array of ideas to better the life for the average person.
The Spanish Civil War of the 1930's was about Spain becoming an egalitarian society rather than having only the rich and the poor.
I highly recommend the book: "the SCOURAGE of NEOLIBERALISM" subtitled: us economic policy from reagan to trump, by Dr. Jack Rasmus, Professor of Economy, and published by Clarity Press. in 2020. Rasmus backs up everything in it with facts, whether it's about Reagan Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr., Obama or Trump -
The great humanitarian, feminist, and anarchist, Emma Goldman once said, "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." There's some truth to that, but it's still a fatalistic viewpoint, in my opinion, and Goldman is one of my longtime heroes. I prefer the late, great George Seldes words of "Never Tire of Protesting" (to make conditions better -my words, not his), which is also the title of his book, an historical treasure to read. Seldes has been an inspirational hero of mine since my early 20's as he was another truth teller.
Voting not to endorse Biden without being for another presidential candidate doesn't go far enough I'm afraid and it would only ensure the selection of someone chosen by party elites in what used to be called a smoke-filled room. I'd suggest Dr Jill Stein as the only candidate of a recognized political party who is in favor of both peace and environmentalism. Some of you may be old enough to remember the slogan from 50 years ago that "war is not healthy for children and other living things". That's at least as relevant today as it was in the Vietnam War era. And let's not forget that Stein is outspokenly in favor of Palestinian rights.
I registered Green after I made rhe mistake of voting for Clinton the first time. I, as an individual, feel
the only way I can support Mr. Dimock's wise and crucial plea is to vote for Jill Stein who is
committed to democracy and peace in the world.
I forgot to mention another masterpiece of a book. Maybe you read it already. "Web of Debt" by Ellen Hodgson Brown, J.D. with the First Edition published in 2007, but certainly not dated and quite timely!
Like Rasmus, Ms Brown does her homework and does it well, and the title of her book should tell you something. The Deep State or "invisible government" loves keep the citizens in debt and grand theft usury is on the rise, both individually in in government budgets
It is published by Third Millennium Press (www.webofdebt.com)
Let me say this about that in my very best Nixonian. The US does not have political parties, we have cults. Do you identify with the democratic cult or the republican cult or the maga cult? You shouldn't allow your decisions to be framed by someone else. If you vote for this person, then that's a vote for that cult. You're supposed to vote for someone you want to see in office, not against someone you don't want to see in office. If there's no one on the ballot that I positively WANT to vote for, I vote for the write in candidate, none of the above
Absolutely. Even knowing the beast is in lockstep, a first order is to reject Biden, on numerous, unassailable points.
Josh Shapiro as the Democratic Nominee would bring Pennsylvania with him. He has extraordinary energy and real intelligence. But he’s Jewish, and that may be a disqualifier for the votes he would need. What a primitive world we live in.
In any case I want a nominee, who is certainly not Biden, who has a chance to stop the Republican Party from a landslide takeover of the Federal Government. Half a loaf, or even a slice of bread…
Having said that much, I have to acknowledge the clarity and power of what Peter Dimock writes in his brief article. And how else in our empire can anything change for the good other than by revolutionary force seated in grassroots coalitions?