|
RONRIDENOUR.COM |
Home |
About Ron Ridenour |
Articles |
Themes |
Poems |
Short stories |
Books |
Links |
Search |
Contact |
Dansk |
Español |
USA 2024 Elections: Stop the “Lesser of Two Evils” Evil Syndrome
[July 8, 2024]
Progressive-Radical activists, communicators, educators face an unusual decision on election day. Do I vote for my conscience—for equality, for peace, for decent livelihood for all—or do I vote for expediency, practically, realism—traditional Democrats?
Liberals vote Democrat. Conservatives vote Republican. Most progressives vote Democrat. So has it been. That landscape is changing.
This election debate revolves around “lesser of evils” as always, but the presidential candidates are more unpopular than ever. What issues matter most? Greater possibility for world war with nuclear weapons. Mother Earth enraged. Racism and inequality.
If I were not white, I might choose equality vs: racism as my first priority. Combating racism has certainly been number one for me even though I am white. Yet I also place war as number one, because the US’s endemic structure is rooted in war and racism-genocide under the banners of American Exceptionalism/Manifest Destiny/Monroe Doctrine.
The Library of Congress delivers annual reports to Congress about its wars, and undeclared wars so-called military interventions. It is extremely time-consuming to figure out the total number, because only five (or eleven) wars have been officially declared such. R42738 (congress.gov).
Some years ago, I counted 350 wars after going through the whole report. Congress, however, does not count “regime changes”, “coups” run by the CIA. Some experts, such as the late William Blum, have tallied between 500 and 650 wars in US’s 250 years. No matter the exact figure, Real Americans are trained to love war as patriotism.
In my lifetime, since WWII, we have hardly breathed without being permanently at war. War should be the number one concern for all people who do not profit from the war industry. (A significant part of the working class, unfortunately, does profit from weapon production).
Colleague Dave Lindorff wrote a critique of the Grand Old Party two years ago. Let’s Rebrand the Misnamed GOP as the BLP - This Can't Be Happening! (thiscantbehappening.net) That prompted me to reply with Call it the WAR PARTY - This Can't Be Happening! (thiscantbehappening.net).
Brief Democrat War History
Democrat James Polk stole half of Mexico in the 1846-8 war.
Woodrow Wilson, Barack Obama’s southern racist idol, enacted the
1917 Espionage Act, which Democrats and Republicans used to nearly torture-to-death
the peoples’ media messenger, Julian Assange. Free At Last!
It was “We” activists in Australia, England, and somewhat
in the US who set him free.
Wilson invaded Russia during WWI to destroy the Russian Revolution. Russia had to fight for it’s sovereignty against about 300,000 foreign troops sent by the US, UK, France and Japan, as well as the Russian aristocracy’s White Army.
Harry Truman murdered millions of Japanese directly and
over several years from radiation with nuclear bombs. Read Lindorff’s
most important book to learn that Democrat Truman was preparing 400 nuclear
bombs to annihilate 100 cities in the Soviet Union republics. Brilliant
American teenage physicist, Ted Hall (and Klaus Fuchs) saved the world
from nuclear disaster by giving the Soviets information that allowed them
to have their own bomb before Truman could drop his.
[Spy for No Country: The Story of Ted Hall, the Teenage Atomic Spy Who
May Have Saved the World: Lindorff, Dave: 9781633888951: Amazon.com: Books;
Ted Hall Deserves a Nobel Peace Prize For Helping to Prevent a Nuclear
Holocaust in the 1950s - CovertAction Magazine]
Republican George HW Bush promised Mikjail Gorbachov that the US would
not extend NATO east of Germany. In exchange East Germany merged into
one Germany as a NATO country, and the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Nevertheless,
the Empire of Lies with Bill Clinton in command started the encirclement
of Russia by bringing in Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic. A dozen more
countries have since been recruited, many of them close to or bordering
Russia.
Imagine what the US would do if Russia had a counterpart to NATO’s
32 countries, and brought Mexico and Canada into its NATO? Remember the
Bay of Pigs, the October Missile Crisis!
Barack Obama engaged in more wars than any other president—seven
at one time, continuing the two that his Republican predecessor George
W Bush started, and adding five to his gun belt. Remember that Barack
Obama did not benefit African-Americans with his wars for profit.
It was also under his authority, with drone comrade CIA Director John
Brennan at his side that a grand jury convened to indict Julian Assange,
which set the stage for 12 years in confinement.
Obama gave Ukraine for Biden to fix, along with Victoria Nuland and
Geoffrey Pyatt. They organized and financed the 2014 neo-fascist coup,
and decided who the coup leadership would be. Nuland-Pyatt leaked phone
conversation _COMPLETE with SUBTITLES (youtube.com)
White capitalists used Obama’s dark skin to convince corrupt or
weak African leaders to embrace AFRICOM, which seeks to bring US military
troops, bases, even nuclear weapons to all of Africa.
When Joe Biden first became a senator his comrade mentor
was Averell Harriman, whose father was one of “Hitler’s Angels”,
and Harriman was a creator of the “Cold War”. Joe Biden’s
Mentor, Father of Original Cold War, Was Traitor to U.S.: Family Company
Sold Fuel Additive to Nazi Air Force - CovertAction Magazine
It has become fashionable among many liberals and progressives to label
Donald Trump a fascist, who seeks to become a dictator making America
fascist. Naturally, good people must therefore vote for Democrats. Take
a good look at what Obama-Biden have done. Their neo-fascist coup ousted
the democratically elected and managed Viktor Yanukovych government.
Since then, and before the 2022 Special Military Operation/Invasion, fascist
army battalions killed 15,000 Ukrainian citizens/ethnic Russians in four
provinces, which voted to join Russia. Finally, in 2022, Vladimir Putin’s
government accepted their wish. In reality, Russia is protecting its very
sovereignty against an otherwise inevitable Yankee takeover.
This piece is not focusing on the New World Order. However,
in brief, neither Republicans nor Democrats are opposed to using/shaping
fascist societies if they see fit. Ukraine’s government operates
in a fascist manner as it disallows dissenting political parties, 12 now
banned, prevents unionization and strikes, and kills Ukrainians who think
well of Russia.
NATO warriors cite Article 51 of the United Nations Charter as its legal
reason for its proxy war against Russia. However, they do not read that
article in its entirety. Daniel Kovalik is just one of several international
law attorneys who make the argument that Article 51 not only opposes “unilateral
acts of war”, but also provides for self-defense when a nation’s
sovereignty is at stake.
Russia has witnessed what such destabilizing efforts have
meant for other countries, from Iraq to Afghanistan to Syria to Libya
– that is, nearly a total annihilation of the country as a functioning
nation-state, Kovalik states.
“It is hard to conceive of a more pressing case for the need to
act in defense of the nation. While the UN Charter prohibits unilateral
acts of war, it also provides, in Article 51, that ‘[n]othing in
the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective
self-defense…’ And this right of self-defense has been interpreted
to permit countries to respond, not only to actual armed attacks, but
also to the threat of imminent attack.
“In light of the above, it is my assessment that this right has
been triggered in the instant case, and that Russia had a right to act
in its own self-defense by intervening in Ukraine, which had become a
proxy of the U.S. and NATO for an assault – not only on Russian
ethnics within Ukraine – but also upon Russia itself. A contrary
conclusion would simply ignore the dire realities facing Russia.”
Why Russia’s Intervention in Ukraine is Legal Under International
Law | Algora Blog
US’s capitalist class has never had scruples about
supporting fascism in many lands. Ask most Latin Americans about the fascist
regimes the US backs or sets in place. Look at its origins today. While
fascism’s ugly brutality is yet to occur in Italy it is now run
by self-proclaimed fascist parties, and they are on the rise in much of
Europe where I have lived for 35 years.
American Capitalists Supported Hitler and Mussolini
In the 1930s, nearly the entire US capitalist class (Morgan,
Rockefeller, Ford, Bush……) supported and financed Hitler and
Mussolini, and sought a coup against FDR’s New Deal. This was exposed
by General Smedley Butler, who played along as a sort-of double agent
for FDR.
“The Business Plot (aka The White House Coup, and Fascist Plot)
was a political conspiracy in 1933-4. Retired Marine Major General Smedley
Darlington Butler was approached by Gerald MacGuire, representing the
wealthiest businessmen, led by J.P. Morgan, seeking to use the popular
general to organize a coup d’état with 500,000 marines and
soldiers to overthrow President Roosevelt.
(See New York Times, November 21, 1934, “Gen. Butler Bares ‘Fascist
Plot’ To Seize Government by Force”.)” Empire of Lies
Christens the New World Order. Part I of II: Overthrow Russia —
Strategic Culture (strategic-culture.su)
“No court cases, no prison terms for them if they stop preventing
his New Deal. That seemed to work. At least they gave up attempting to
overthrow Roosevelt. Nevertheless, they continued to support fascism in
Europe by selling, loaning or donating vital materials used for war.”
Henry
Ford receives Hitler medal from his consuls in US on the occasion
of his 75th birthday, July 30, 1938. They met at his auto plant factory
from where Ford produced vehicles for Hitler's war
“Henry Ford received the highest medal Nazi Germany could award
a foreigner: the Grand Cross of the German Eagle, July 30, 1938. “I
regard Henry Ford as my inspiration,” declared Hitler.
Henry Ford: American Icon, Businessman, And Staunch Nazi Sympathizer (allthatsinteresting.com)
“IBM founder Thomas John Watson received the Order of the German
Eagle (2nd class), June 1937. General Motor’s oversees chief executive
James Mooney was awarded the German Eagle (1st class) by Adolf Hitler,
in 1938. J.P. Morgan agent Grayson Murphy was decorated by Mussolini with
the “Order of the Crown of Ital,” for his role in syndicating
Morgan loans to fascist Italy.”
One of the American Liberty League’s founders was Senator Prescott
Bush, a partner in the Brown Brothers Harriman bank. “Bush had business
ties with Hitler. He was one of seven directors of Union Banking Corporation,
an investment bank that operated as a clearing house for assets and enterprises
held by German steel magnate Fritz Thyssen. In October 1942, the U.S.
seized the fascist war-profiteering bank under the Trading with the Enemy
Act, but only held its assets until the war ended. Prescott Bush fathered
two future presidents. Both acted to thwart Russia’s wealth and
sovereignty.”
Stop Supporting War Parties
I don’t know if fascism will be necessary in the US soon but, let us say, as do Democrats and many progressives, that Trump could spark such a course to stem Russia-China-Global South advances.
The Nation, Democrat sycophant “progressive” weekly, and many other “progressive” media and organizations always vote for the “lesser of evils”. The fact that the US is always at war killing hundreds a day, millions within months and years is not a big deal for them, obviously.
I imagine many progressives who read TCBH, however, do not want war. So, stop voting for the War Party! I don’t mean vote for Love Me Trump, although he wants to stop the proxy war, which is certainly more progressive than the Democrats. Even if Trump wins and seeks to make himself a Mussolini type dictator, there are plenty of checks and balances available until the Democrats also seek dictatorial rule.
Much of The Establishment is frantic about Trump winning.
Most capitalists prefer a semblance of stability in their economy and
among the working class. Yet war and instability is preferred by the CIA,
Pentagon, and the war industry: weapons, medicine, rebuilding, and fossil
fuels for running the machinery. USs military, even not at war, is the
greatest climate polluter of all sources, which doesn’t seem to
bother liberals and many progressives who clamor for more Democrat warrior
presidents, and who believe the New York Times is real journalism.
NYT June 28 editorial froths at the mouth in anxiety over a Trump victory.
Opinion | To Serve His Country, President Biden Should Leave the Race
- The New York Times (nytimes.com)
“President Biden has repeatedly and rightfully described the stakes
in this November’s presidential election as nothing less than the
future of American democracy.
“Donald Trump has proved himself to be a significant jeopardy to
that democracy — an erratic and self-interested figure unworthy
of the public trust.”
“Mr. Biden has been an admirable president.” However, since
he was incomprehensible before Trump, the Pentagon’s chief newspaper
conceded: “The burden rests on the Democratic Party to put the interests
of the nation above the ambitions of a single man. Democrats who have
deferred to Mr. Biden must now find the courage to speak plain truths
to the party’s leader.”
Yes, Trump is a liar, instable, unreliable, frenetic, which appeals to
much of the working class reality show fans, but not to the CIA. They
want to run the show, to determine when instability is best but they can’t
trust Trump to go along. War Party Democrats do the Pentagon and CIA’s
bidding. Trump might just stop their proxy war against Russia. Isn’t
that in the interest of most of the working class, also climate activists
even though Trump has no problem with the climate.
If Trump would and could stop this proxy war that would
break the momentum underway with the Democrats leading us into World War
III, and with nuclear weapons probably. Unlike many Democrat millionaires,
Trump’s profits don’t derive from war-making, as far as I
can tell. Another unsavory fact is that Trump is one of only a handful
of US presidents who didn’t start his own war. He inherited Bush
and Obamas war, and sought to end some.
Real reality is that the US is a dictatorship in the form of an oligarchy
that runs Wall Street. Just look at Oliver Stone’s films. It makes
no real difference if the dictatorial oligarchy is run by one man or by
dozens. That is what the Establishment also told Richard Nixon during
Watergate.
If Trump forces win, it couldn’t be worse than if the other brutal imperialist party remains in office. Reality is that the entire Yankee-European Establishment is fearful that it won’t be able to be the dominating force in the whole world, because their capitalist competitors in Russia, China and with BRICS treat their partners in the Global South better than do the colonialist-slave-owners and neo-colonialists have done for half a millennium.
Another important reality for progressives to think about before voting is that the US society is terminally sick. Most of its inhabitants are emotionally sick. I, too, am sick from the disease of capitalism-imperialism, the constant killings; the ever-changing chaos that this new digital, artificial intelligence system has created. The disease is contagious.
The Yankee state and its vassals in Europe, Commonwealth, South Korea, Japan are bred on selfishness, look-at-me self-poisoning tattoos and look-at-me smart telephone culture. After “We” of all colors, who struggled for centuries to finally achieve the right to vote for all non-white people and women what did “We” come up with? Yet another liar and murderer, Barack Obama. He praises American Exceptionalism, believing America is the only indispensable country in the world.
“I believe in American exceptionalism with every fiber of my being…“Here’s my bottom line: America must always lead on the world stage. If we don’t, no one else will.” Barack Obama at West Point: Commencement Address Transcript | TIME
Wouldn’t that be great? Humanity does not need one leader. If we had cooperative economies and if we all lived in equality, we could all make the most important decisions, which we certainly cannot do under capitalism and with USs military rule. There are around 4000 military bases and other military facilities in the 50 states, an average of 80 per state, and 800 military bases in some 100 countries. The US economy would collapse without the war machine. That fact must sink in so that “We” will struggle to create an economy and society based on cooperation, equality and peace.
If inconsistent Trump does win and would stop this proxy war against Russia, which has murdered around one million Ukrainians and Russians, that could be most positive, something “We” could use to agitate for a peaceful economy.
Trump, though, wants to kill more Palestinians than Biden
who wants “fewer” killed. Nevertheless, the fascist Zionist
regime will still kill as many as they want. From one holocaust to another!
THIS CANT BE HAPPENING!
No matter who is the next US president Wall Street and MIC will not on its own will cease endeavoring to dominate the whole world. It is called capitalism-imperialism regardless of who leads it. Evil is evil, Republican or Democrat. We must understand that it is the SYSTEM not the individual or party that is essential. There are groups in the US today who understand that, such as the People’s Forum, which is activist and educational with courses/lectures showing that truth. There are others, such as ANSWER. Not living in the US, you readers know more than I do about what activist groups there are to support.
June Polls: What Are We To Do
Following the first Trump-Biden debate polls show Trump=44-45%; 41-43%
Biden. President: general election : 2024 Polls | FiveThirtyEight
In 2016, only 7% of black voters supported Trump. Today polls say three
times that many will vote for him in November, and the majority of those
under 50 will do so. In 2016, 28% of Latinos voted for Trump. May 2024
polls show 46% will do so in November.
What early 2024 polls are revealing about voters of color and the GOP
- and it’s not all about Donald Trump (theconversation.com)
In the last two weeks of June, polls show around 16% for the other four
candidates, three of whom are progressive, or progressive-conservative.
Then there is Chase Oliver of the conservative Libertarian party showing
1% in polls.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (progressive-conservative) is running at 11% even
though he is not on all 50 states ballot, which he says will be the case
by mid-July. I believe he is worth voting for if for no other reason than
he knows the CIA murdered his uncle and has the guts to state the truth.
He might even do something about that if he were to win. RFK Jr.’s
father said he would reopen the investigation if he won the 1968 election.
Not so surprisingly, he was murdered shortly thereafter. President: general
election : 2024 Polls | FiveThirtyEight; Home of the Marist Poll | Polls,
Analysis, Learning, and More.
Cornel West is People’s Party candidate with 3% of those polled.
He and Green Party Jill Stein (1%) have similar platforms advocating justice
for all, world peace, green energy. Both are genuine progressive/radicals
worth voting for.
“There’s a large number of what are called the double haters,
that is people who will not vote for either of these two zombie candidates,”
Stein said. “So we’ve had enormous interest in our campaign,
especially many people who will no longer show up for the Democratic Party.”
Jill Stein: ‘Zombie candidates’ pushing voters to third parties
(msn.com)
In my youth, millions of us in the US, Commonwealth and Europe acted in
a myriad of ways for years until our voices/bodies at least shortened
the war against the Southeast Asian peoples. TCBH has a voice among progressives
and radicals so let us use it to educate for socialism—without using
the term if people think the MSM-MIC has corrupted it. Maybe one day “WE”
will be able to make a big dent in the “THEYS”. So vote for
independents who stand for peace, equality, green energy!
Make The Establishment tremble!
Copyright © 2006-2012 Ronridenour.com