Hah. Bet that got your attention. But, in a way, it's the truth. He was a megalomaniacal spoiler in 2000 and a pathetic nonentity in 2004... but he has ALWAYS been right about the two political parties. Always.
Why weren't there any big name elected Democrats at the anti-war rally in DC on September 24, 2005?
I've asked that question repeatedly, and the most common answer I've received goes something like this: "They didn't want to align themselves with ANSWER, or the hippies, or Cindy Sheehan or anti-war protests in general."
All likely true. Which means they can't really be too anti-war, our Democrats in the Senate and House, can they, now? (Forgetting for a moment how few of them actually fought to stop it, let alone how many of them helped to start it).
Because if you were TRULY against the war in Iraq, would it matter to you how you APPEARED in the press? Would it matter whether or not you were re-elected? Or would you be all about trying to stop the needless, senseless killing and maiming and destroying going on in our name in Iraq?
Right. That's why I was there. If I had someone I really, really wanted to impress, someone who could help me achieve my fondest dream - and going to the march meant losing that... I'd have GONE TO THE FUCKING MARCH.
Goddamnit. The Democrats don't care. They. Don't. Care. If they cared, they'd have been there. And they weren't. The biggest congressional personage at the rally in DC on September 24th, 2005 was Rep. Cynthia McKinney of Georgia, bless her. But let's face it - is there a Congressperson in office who has LESS to lose than she? Kudos to the woman for consistently standing up for her beliefs and values, but she's been marginalised by her own fucking party.
Where was Howard Dean? John Kerry? Hillary Clinton? Russ Feingold? Do they not CARE that people are dying and suffering in this wretched and immoral war???
I am forced to conclude that they do not care. They may care in the abstract, but to these entrenched politicians, this is a goddamned chess game - and we are all the pawns. "We can't pull out now, it'd be a disaster."
Um, what do you call what's happening right NOW? It's a goddamned disaster NOW. We WILL pull out eventually, and there WILL be chaos in our wake. This is UNAVOIDABLE. Anyone who thinks staying a little longer while we train Iraqis is the way to go... has been drinking the Bush Koolaid Lies for so long they're practically neocons themselves.
How many of us have been thinking, as I have been, "Shit, man. If THIS is what it means, then I'm not really a Democrat at all. And I'm fucking sick of voting for them because they come closer to my values than the Other Guys. I want to vote for people who are fucking LIBERALS."
Because that's the conclusion to which I am coming.
Not the fucking Green party. Sorry, guys, but you have had a LOT of time, and you've done virtually nothing to indicate to me that you will ever be more than a gadfly party. I want fucking POWER, man. The power to change this world for the better, the power to improve the lives of my fellow human beings, the power to fix what's been broken and invent what's needed.
And the goddamned Democratic Party? Well, yeah, they MAY regain nominal power in the U.S. government... But what the fuck will they do with it? Not what I want them to do. Which is to completely overhaul this goddamned system under which we've been subsisting, and turn it sharply in the direction of socialism.
But, of course, we can't join the SOCIALIST Party, for chrissakes. They're even MORE marginalised -- and demonised -- than the Greens. There IS no existing political party that will do what I want done, what liberals want done. None. Well, fuck it. Let's start one.
The LIBERAL Party.
I'm terrified, but I think the answer developing in my tiny little mind is to cede any possibility of regaining power as Democrats for a generation or more... and develop the goddamned motherfucking Liberal Party.
I don't have CLUE ONE as to how one goes about creating, nurturing and bringing to power and influence a political movement or party, mind you. But it's clear, to me, anyway, that a new party is what must arise if a nonviolent revolution is to take place in this country.
And let's face it, this country needs a revolution. Anyone who doesn't think so is... well, not a left-wing liberal. And fuck them. I'm tired of sitting at the kiddie table while the Democrats and Republicans pass each other the fucking gravy. It's ridiculous. Why do we TAKE this? Because it's the best we can get given the system in place?
Well, JESUS, change the motherfucking system!!!
Don't ask me how. I don't know how. What I do know is this:
It doesn't MATTER how yet, because until a huge number of liberals are willing to agree that there SHOULD be a paradigm shift of THIS magnitude, making PLANS is a pointless, purposeless exercise in academics.
As I see it, there is only one, slim chance for the Democratic Party to survive, and it requires the participation of every progressive, liberal, left-wing, socialist or left-of-centre Democrat of voting age: PDA. They MIGHT be the light and the way. I'm willing to give them a serious look before I decide to branch out on my own and create my own goddamned political party.
But I will never again vote reflexively for a Democrat because the only other VIABLE option is a Republican.
Fuck that shit.