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January 23, 2006 at 06:27:07
by Charles Sullivan Page 1 of 2 page(s) |
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--Eugene Debs, June 16, 1918
Working class people, especially progressives, must come to understand that our interests are not being served by hitching our political wagons to either the Democratic or the Republican Party. The Republicrats represent a capitalist system that has given rise to class division, the unequal distribution of wealth, private ownership, and a system of wage slavery that does not serve democracy, but plutocracy. It condemns workers to being the property of their employers. Capitalism is the opposite of Democracy. We are only deceiving ourselves—falling into an old trap—by casting our votes in a system that not only excludes the majority of us, but also treats us with utter contempt.
Whichever party we choose represents a system that favors plutocrats—those of wealth and privilege. It is a system of their creation, for their sole benefit. In that system we are the servants of power and they are its masters. The vast majority of us, probably ninety percent of the population, is not served by this party. We will always be servile; we will never have representation in this system. Our only rational alternative is to form a new party that represents the silent, repressed majority. We are making a serious mistake by thinking that we can reform a system that was created to serve people of wealth and means. It is a system that operates on capital. Our political enemies have all of the money; we have none. Thus they have access to power; we do not. We cannot possibly compete in this system. We have no alternative but to create a new system in place of the old.
The disease is not in the two major political parties, which are, in fact a single entity. The disease lies in the system itself; and that is why it cannot be reformed. It must be torn down and built anew; and the sooner the better.
There are some good people working within the system who are making valiant efforts for just causes; but who are themselves victims of a system that eventually overwhelms and consumes them.
A system that treats the large majority of its citizens as property does not serve those people. It does not deserve their support. The people should not be servants to wealth and power. Power belongs to the people; the system must serve the people, not the other way round.
The system exploits the masses, treats them with contempt, and uses them as cannon fodder in wars the people do not sanction. It is in the interest of this system to keep the multitudes servile to the wealthy and powerful. We are a solid majority that is without voice in a system that operates on vast sums of capital. That is why they call it capitalism. We are at best never more than a fringe element of this system. We are given just enough to keep us participating in a system that cruelly and inhumanely dangles the American dream before our eyes, deceives us into believing that with a little more hard work and personal sacrifice the dream is attainable—then pulls the dream away, leaving us to grasp at air.
Capitalism allows the small minority to rule and to control the large majority. It is a corrupt process that is incapable of producing justice for the large majority of its citizens. It allows the small minority to wage wars in which the large majority are forced to fight and die, without giving them a voice in the decision making process. When have the people ever been consulted when it comes to war? It is not for them to question why; it is for them to serve and to die. The large majority has no interest in war because it serves the interest of wealth and power, of empire—not their own. The invasion and occupation of Iraq is a trenchant case in point. How many plutocrats do you see over there taking enemy fire? How many plutocrats do you see at home profiting from the spoils of war?
Every time we cast a vote within a corrupt system, thinking we are doing our duty as citizens in a democratic society, we are in fact driving another nail into our own coffin. Each vote cast in such a system makes revolutionary change more difficult and unlikely. We are participants in a system that is rigged to assure our defeat and our continued subservience to wealth and power. It is absurd to call this system a democracy. It is a system of control designed to deceive the silent majority into participation, even as it bilks them of everything they have.
It is clear to me that we must form a new political party that is not founded upon money and wealth. It must be a party that is of and for the people, as well as by the people. Some have proposed that we call it the Constitution Party, the Liberty Party, or the Peace Party. Whatever we chose to call it, it must be a party that genuinely represents and empowers the large majority, the average American, the worker. It must not, it cannot, operate within the current system; or it will be corrupted by it and fail. The new party should have an objective of overhauling the existing system and replacing it with genuine participatory democracy.
The new party must work across the often divisive boundaries of race, sex, class and creed. It must build bridges to like minds and kindred spirits of every ilk in every nation on earth.
We must expect that our efforts will be met with derision and hatred, perhaps even violence. Expect our names to be sullied by the commercial media, as revolutionaries always are. We might even be rounded up by the thought police and imprisoned, as happened to Eugene Debs and others early in the twentieth century. Those in power have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. The large majority of us, however, have an interest in social justice and peace. Not until real political power rests in the hands of the common people, the large silent majority, rather than plutocrats and corporatists, can our dreams of a free, peaceful and just society be realized.
The plutocrats who are running the country are free to prey upon us, to treat us with contempt, because they have no fear of us. They are protected by a system that assures their rule. We must make them both fear and respect us. When we evoke a powerful response from our political adversaries we will know that we are on the right track. As long as we remain separate, disjointed, and immobile and disorganized our enemies can afford to ignore us. When we organize and mobilize that will surely change.
Several South American countries have already taken this direction. They have rejected the coercive agenda of empire and charted a course toward equality and peace. We would be wise to follow their example. To be sure, the capitalists in Washington and abroad hope to obliterate them both economically and militarily but their power appears to be growing, not diminishing. Populist movements always trouble plutocracy.
Whatever pretensions they may make, no political party operating within the existing system of capitalism represent the large majority of its citizens. Casting our vote for any party within that system only further stacks the deck against us; it assures our defeat through continued servitude to wealth and power. It gives the appearance of legitimacy to illegitimate power. When we chose to withdraw our support from a corrupt system, we reveal it for the fraud that it is. 
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| 4 comments |
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From whence the new party?
Lovely piece, but where does this new party come from? The progressive wing of the Democrats is the likely base, but it may take a while before they're willing to unhitch. by Jim Prues (15 articles, 33 quicklinks, 10 diaries, 81 comments [3 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Monday, Jan 23, 2006 at 9:58:29 AM  (0+)
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Revolution plays into the hands of the right
Capitalism allows the small minority to rule and to control the large majority. It is a corrupt process that is incapable of producing justice for the large majority of its citizens Please correct me with an historical example, but isn't the nature of government the small minority ruling and controlling the large majority. It is highly likely that the human race is just not geared for a non-government government. That is to say, people will probably always expect the government to do things for them and to do these things with the minimum of resources. It may well be that the best we can hope for is to expand the number of people blessing or approving the minority actually governing. When the hard choices of resource allocation start being made, even consensus becomes an almost utopian and unrealistic goal. Marx adressed this dilemna by trying to expand the mass of control to the most numerous class, the Proletariat, but he still foresaw a DICTATORSHIP of the Proletariat. The obvious difficulty of a dictatorship is that there are no institutions and probably no people left around to get them back under control once they have accomplished their reform mission. This is why the American people are dead set against revolution. Again it is time to get serious about change. The Democratic Party of today is not our fathers' Democracy. The events since 1968 have dramatically transformed the Party, just as the New Deal had. There IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE DEMOCRATS REPRESENTING PROPERTIED AND PRODUCTIVE WEALTH PRODUCING PEOPLE. The average American wants to make money and get ahead. We should dedicate our public service to helping them. In my opinion, where we should differ from the GOP is in our conception of the public welfare that the founding fathers (Yes, FATHERS, I will NOT PRETEND THAT THEY WERE ANYTHING BUT PATRIARCHAL ELITISTS), set forth as the raison d' etre of our Republic. We Dems should support the vulnerable through social democracy. We dems should stand up for the workers' equity stake in all productive economic enterprises, and we should stand up for a foreign policy that recogmizes that though our homeland may be America, our nationality is the whole human race. Stop rabble rousing for revolution and start organizing and winning some elections. BE THE CHANGE YOU ARE SEEKING !!!!!!!!! by Robert Chapman (28 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 556 comments) on Monday, Jan 23, 2006 at 4:22:20 PM (0+)
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The People Direction Party
Unhitching our Wagons, and hitching to what is the question? You provided all the good reasons to why we should unhitch, but gave nothing in what we are hitching to. Earned wages should not be looked upon as slavery, that is work people performed with their own labor and they agreed to do it on agreed terms. What is slavery is forcing American people to accept financial debt that they disagree with, and ultimately forcing the bill down our throats. Be it financially or taking our lives to pay it. The party should be called the People's Direction. Too often we have seen elections being stolen, and freedom loving kniving politicians slurping up the corruption. The People Direction Party will never vote for politicans. Politicians have proven to lie, and lie again. The People will always vote on Issues. Issues are the concern of American life, not the lying representatives who steal your votes and expectations for the future. We will vote for issues. Issue votes will be paper ballots. No immediate results. As Oregon uses the Postal system to vote, I think this is a step in the right Direction. People who run for Congress and the Senate will no longer have the representative powers to vote on deciding issues. They will be the issue advocates. Their jobs will be to teach the public and to inform the people of their home state stakes. The people will agree or disagree. Running voting districts will be job oriented, having more voting days and more jobs to inform the people of coming issues. The Peoples Direction Party will create many jobs. From Voting Watches, to helping American Farmers produce renewable fuels. Building Skyscraper Glass hydroponic sites, to grow foods or crops that will be used for creating energy. Oil will be gone in the coming years, and we will prepare for this disaster. As most Americans know Oil prices will never come down, because Oil can not be resupplied. The world is a big bowl, it makes no difference where you stick the straw in to suck it out. Oil is constantly being depleted and will be gone in the short years to come. The race is on to see what will happen first. Will the atmosphere be destroyed first or will we run out of oil first. You republican morons are gambling for doom. Issues concerning Law and appointing Judges will be decided by the People Direction Party. All Judges will be voted into office by popular election. The President of the United States will no longer have this power in deciding who sits on the Supreme Court or who will be Federal Judges. The Presidents job will be to inform and be an advocate for Nation policy views. People will decide if he is right and vote on that fact. He will no longer be the decision maker, but the decision implementor. When he signs something into law it is his duty according to the People Direction Parties Vote. It will not be his decision. All people who will work for the government will be servants of the people according to their wishes, not the other way around. Matters concerning War, will be dealt with in the same response of the People Direction Party vote outcome. It is with great concern that military institutions be abolished from the party conscript with diplomacy as always the final decision. America should not be a military nation, pointing its loaded gun at the head of the world body. This is coercion, not democracy, or legitimacy. Hitching our wagons to the People Direction Party is the only answer. Popular votes will always be recognized. The electorial college will be abandoned and rightly so.. It is high time that the People have the voice in government and that representatives be cast into the fire where their lies can remain. By DJermano Political activist in action, living in PR China bringing Peace and Stability to the World. by Dom Jermano (20 articles, 0 quicklinks, 40 diaries, 930 comments) on Monday, Jan 23, 2006 at 6:49:07 PM (0+)
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corporatism is the word
"The tree of liberty is watered by the blood of revolutionaries." - Thomas Jefferson The problem is not capitalism but corporatism. "Fascism should properly be called corporatism because it is the marriage of corporate power and state power." - Benito Mussolini Know thy enemy - it is the business form known as the corporation. When the Soviets took power they did not turn the tools of production over to the workers; they turned them over to the government. The idea of a socialist economy turned revolutionaries into dictator tyrants because of their bull-headed insistence on eliminating the free market. Let us not repeat this mistake. The practical approach to revolution has to get its impetus from the Argentine workers in the TAKE who took over abandoned factories, the sit-sown strikers of the thirties, (only this time they should stay there), and the Mondragon cooperatives in the Basque sector of Spain who know how to run a large cooperative that even has its own banks. Nobody owns a corporation. I was made that way to seperate ownership from liability and is a Ponzi scheme. Common stock holders are not owners of anything except their portfolios. The workers and consumers have been joined by the investors as victims of the corporation. An investor is entitled to a share of the profits but should not have anything to do with management of the company. Making cooperatives of corporations would change a predatory organization into a social organization. The bottom line ethic that makes the corporation a sociopath would be replaced by human ethics. If we do not learn from history we are bound to repeat it. The first thing is to get corporation money out of politics, the second is to interpret the patent laws so that the inventor will own his patent for life. Corporations don't invent anything. A patent holder should be allowed to lease his patent, but a patent should never be a commodity. Giant corporations dominate our world. They run our governmet and are the reason for economic depression because they glut their own markets. Let us get rid of them. by gramps (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 107 comments) on Friday, Jan 27, 2006 at 4:26:50 PM (0+)
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