[Peace] A useful set of opinions and suggestions

Sat May 9 09:56:42 UTC 2020

David,

I am not defending Joe Biden. The line I quoted was from Randall Nelson
(see above). The stark reality is that either Donald Trump or Joe Biden
will be our next President. To me, the choice is clear and I will (albeit
reluctantly and without enthusiasm) cast my vote (probably by mail) for
Biden. Joe Biden will win the 20 electoral votes of Illinois without your
assistance. As the saying goes, you play the hand you are dealt, even
though, as the laws of both gambling and physics remind us, you can't win,
you can't break even, and you can't get out of the game. Nevertheless, we
persist in our resistance. It's what humans do.

Now, we can discuss the morality (or lack thereof) of the Electoral College
'til the proverbial cows come home, but sometime before January 20, 2021,
they will convene and select the next U.S. President. We can hold up past
Presidents, both Democrats and Republicans, as corporate-owned warmongers
ultimately beholden to an elite ruling class. We are confronted, in less
than six months, by a choice between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Period.
There is no viable or probable third choice.

Vote Green Party if it soothes your conscience and helps you sleep at
night. For the Green Party to be viable, it would need to start running and
winning at the local level to demonstrate its ability to govern and grow a
winning coalition. How many candidates does the local Green Party plan to
run in November? In the consolidated local elections of 2021? How many
candidates did the local Green Party run in 2018? 2019? Local governance is
not sexy; it's a long slog through bureaucracy and petty fiefdoms of (too
many) maladjusted people trying to be the big fish in a small pond.
However, local governance is the place where coalitions are built (see
career of Bernie Sanders, for example), both inside and outside the walls
of power. For outside groups to gain power, they have to get inside without
being corrupted. It's tough, and few manage to achieve any measure of
success. No, power does not concede without a demand, but the demand must
be backed up by currency, if you will, that power understands. That
currency is a bloc of votes; first on the school board or city council,
then on the county board, and up the ladder to state and federal offices.
Start running candidates from your non-corporate party and go from there.

Deb

On Fri, May 8, 2020 at 1:09 PM David Johnson via Peace <
peace at lists.chambana.net> wrote:

> Mort,
>
>
>
> To answer your question about if I care or not if Trump gets another term,
> then I with all due respect, ask you to re-read what I wrote.
>
> In particular the very first sentence which I guess cannot be over
> emphasized.
>
>
>
> It is a charade Mort, Joe Biden is NOT FDR and Donald Trump is NOT the
> anti-Christ Fascist many would like us to believe he is.
>
> BOTH Biden and Trump and the political parties that they represent are
> controlled by the SAME corporate donors who rule this country. Regardless
> which one of THEIR candidates is elected, the same policies will continue
> that they have already planned to implement.
>
>
>
> In the meantime the ruling class will continue their tactics of ; divide
> and conquer, Kabuki theater distractions, and the latest evil foreigners /
> foreign governments we are supposed to fear and hate. The corporate media
> the oligarchy owns will create a reality TV show spectacle between now and
> the election ( if we have one ) to create the illusion that the election
> between Donald Trump VS. Joe Biden, or whoever the DNC replaces him with,
> will be the greatest show on earth, a battle for Armageddon, while the
> bi-partisan corporate ruling class sit back, laugh, and count all of their
> new money from the 6 TRILION DOLLAR robbery of us the taxpayers. It won’t
> matter to them who wins, they own both Trump and Biden. That is how
> corporate elites play, they always hedge their bets.
>
> The only thing they fear is the emergence of a non-corporate third party
> controlled by THE PEOPLE.
>
>
>
>
>
> But at the moment we have the real threat of a pandemic, that the ruling
> class has used as a smoke screen to rob our public treasury, suspend Union
> contracts, and increase belligerent actions against Venezuela and other
> countries not under their control in the corporate Pax Americana empire.
> All in conjunction WITH the DEMOCRATS. This will be real interesting to see
> how this plays out come November 2020 election day, to see how or even IF
> we have an election. Whatever transpires it will NOT be Trump’s decision,
> but what he is TOLD to do by the corporate oligarchy.
>
>
>
> In the meantime, I have hope in the numerous wildcat strikes and direct
> actions happening around the country that the corporate owned media of
> course is ignoring but is being reported by independent journalists and
> activists via the internet.
>
> These types of direct actions is what will be the catalyst for future
> change for the better.  NOT electing Joe fuckin Biden and any Blue will Do
> corporate owned Democrat. Elections are a useful tool. One of many tools in
> our tool box. But they are only effective IF we have a direct action
> social-political movement behind it, propelling it, controlling it. That is
> an anti-corporate party of the people and not the corporate donor class.
>
> This is how things have changed for the better in the past. Not by begging
> the ruling class, not by trying to appeal to their better judgement or the
> “ kindness “ of their sociopathic hearts, or by voting for one of the two
> pre-selected corporate controlled candidates.
>
> Power concedes NOTHING without a demand and actions to back up and make
> the demand happen.
>
>
>
> David J.
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* Morton K. Brussel [mailto:mkb3 at icloud.com]
> *Sent:* Thursday, May 07, 2020 4:25 PM
> *To:* David Johnson
> *Cc:* Morton K. Brussel; Karen Aram; Peace
> *Subject:* Re: [Peace] A useful set of opinions and suggestions
>
>
>
> Dave,
>
>
>
> So, you don’t fear or care if Trump gets another term? I do, despite not
> disagreeing with most of your arguments. Despite what you say, this
> election is important just so the present government leadership does not
> continue.  I can’t imagine any worse outcomes then to again have Pompeo,
> Abrams, Pence, Vos, and the like again destroying lives here and abroad.
> Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, …, the “Justice” department and
> the Supreme Court. Saying we must organize for a better future is valid,
> but it does not seem feasible to me in the short term, in the next months
> or year, unless a popular reawakening and action dramatically changes. Do
> you think the Green Party is up to the challenge? Coronavirus could present
> an opportunity given how dreadful economic conditions are given all those
> now unemployed, —or perhaps the converse, totalitarianism may emerge?
>
>
>
> "Nothing will change for the better"? But it can well change for the
> worse. And by November. We are between a rock and a hard place.
>
>
>
> On May 7, 2020, at 1:05 PM, David Johnson via Peace <
> peace at lists.chambana.net> wrote:
>
>
>
> Mort,
>
>
>
> The President of the United States does NOTHING without the support of the
> majority of the U.S. corporate oligarchy.
>
> IF Fascism comes to the U.S., it will only happen if that is what a
> majority of the corporate ruling class wants, and that can happen under
> Biden just as easily as Trump.
>
>
>
> The proof is in the pudding in regards to how ineffective this failed
> strategy of lesser evil voting has been for the last 30 years. More often
> than not, the lesser evil is the more EFFECTIVE evil.  A Republican like
> Bob Dole and H.W. Bush during the 1990’s would never have been able to get
> all of the horrible laws passed that Bill Clinton did. Like NAFTA, the
> racist crime bill, the destruction of aid to families with dependent
> children, the telecommunications act, the destabilization and destruction
> of Yugoslavia, and last but not least, the repeal of the Glass Stiegel Act.
> I could provide an even longer list for Obama.
>
>
>
> NOTHING will change for the better in this country until we have a REAL
> opposition party which takes no corporate money and has a movement behind
> it.
>
> The failure of Bernie Sanders ( who I supported ) is proof that the
> corporate oligarchy will NEVER allow change for the better to happen within
> the Democratic party. And in addition, the Democratic party is corrupting.
> Look at how fast AOC, Rashid Taibi, Ro Khana, and even TUlsi Gabbard and
> Ihlan Omar, and Bernie Sanders folded and went along with the corporate
> agenda with this recent SIX TRILLION DOLLAR corporate robbery. Not to
> mention Sanders refusing to call out and challenge the massive ELECTION
> FRAUD used against him on Super Tuesday and how fast he folded up his
> campaign and supported Biden. All have bent the knee to the corporate
> oligarchy through it’s surrogate the DNC.
>
>
>
> We need a REAL opposition and a REAL resistance, NOT two corporate parties
> pretending to be enemies and then wondering why things continue to get
> worse ( a 40 year decline since 1980 ) and nothing changes for the better.
>
>
>
>
> And as Karen said, there is a storm of social unrest coming, and if people
> like us do not offer solutions ( as opposed to telling them to vote for
> more Democrats who are as mush the reason for the problems we have as the
> Republicans )  than the real Fascists will offer them a “ solution “.
>
>
>
> David J.
>
>
>
> *From:* Peace [mailto:peace-bounces at lists.chambana.net
> <peace-bounces at lists.chambana.net>] *On Behalf Of *Morton K. Brussel via
> Peace
> *Sent:* Thursday, May 07, 2020 11:38 AM
> *To:* Karen Aram
> *Cc:* Morton K. Brussel; Peace
> *Subject:* Re: [Peace] A useful set of opinions and suggestions
>
>
>
> You will be interested in a debate/exchange/discussion between Paul Jay
> and ?? Prasad, who takes your position. This debate is also available on
> Jay’s new outlet.
>
>
>
> The question not answered to my satisfaction is what to do about the
> coming election? Ignore it, and wait for better opportunities, or realize
> that another four years of Trump administration can be world shaking, one
> way or the other. Chomsky understands and worries about this; he is not
> alone.   Prasad says “we" just have to work harder to assemble a truly
> militant and progressive mass who could swing things towards a more
> promising world for most of its population. Yet, he is not optimistic that
> it can be done!. So what to do *now*? As compromised and bad as Biden and
> the Dems in general are nationally, they are better than the Repubs on many
> crucial, if not all, issues. The environment, equity/justice?, education,
> universal health, climate change, …, some arguable. Better at holding back
> emerging facism.
>
>
>
> It’s a pretty dreadful situation we are all facing, agravated now with the
> pandemic and its foreboding consequences.
>
>
>
>
> On May 7, 2020, at 9:14 AM, Karen Aram via Peace <peace at lists.chambana.net>
> wrote:
>
>
>
> Sorry, but I found the article very disappointing. Paul Jay is little
> different than Chomsky, with his support for Biden “as the lesser evil.”
>
>
>
> They do a great job of defining the problem, but their recommended
> solutions support the very problem defined.
>
>
>
> This continuation of support for the Democrat Party, I’m referring to the
> federal government, not local which is a different topic all together,
> because the Republican Party is so awful, given they are basically one and
> the same, differing only in respect to strategy and tactics, keeps liberals
> in fantasy land, and on their asses arguing over which team is better as if
> a football game, and every four years voting, which is also a joke, given
> the corruption involved in our so called democracy.
>
>
>
> The statement: *"Before Covid-19, as the primaries were held, the economy
> appeared to be robust and enough people were doing well enough to avoid
> social unrest. Fear of Trump and a full court press against Sanders waged
> by the Democratic Party establishment and its media allies, made people
> reluctant to break from conventional politics. It swung the vote to Biden,”*
>
>
>
> is the most accurate portrayal of US electoral politics. It is the goal of
> the DNC ruling elites to prevent social unrest, which could possibly result
> in system change. Make no mistake there will be social unrest, the
> disenfranchised will break out in anarchy, and violence resulting in chaos
> and destruction unless middle class liberals join up with those suffering
> inequality and whats to come, in changing our system of capitalism which is
> responsible for all.
>
>
>
> Yes, there needs to be a plan, organized with an agenda for what takes
> place after, as well as leadership. There are organizations offering such,
> and only if they join together in common cause utilizing civil resistance
> with protests, marches, strikes, sit downs, preventing business as usual,
> focusing not on one person in the WH, but Congress, Wall St., the banks,
> etc……….
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On May 6, 2020, at 18:31, Morton K. Brussel via Peace <
> peace at lists.chambana.net> wrote:
>
> By Paul Jay.
>
>
> https://theanalysis.news/commentary/covid-19-get-ready-for-the-coming-storm/
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