Pick Cynthia McKinney OR Ralph Nader.

THAT is an effective strategy

by Michael Cavlan (15 articles, 0 quicklinks, 6 diaries, 538 comments [131 recommended, 2 rejected]) on Thursday, Apr 10, 2008 at 8:38:43 AM

  (0+)

Quote " Pick Cynthia McKinney OR Ralph Nader.

THAT is an effective strategy"

Effective for what Mike. Seems WE've heard this story before & Nader got 5% of the vote & Bush got to be president.  Hey, who's side are you on anyways? Lets end the two-party system & THE THIRD-PARTY MYTH. Now that would be effective!

by chris rice (111 articles, 147 quicklinks, 35 diaries, 233 comments) on Thursday, Apr 10, 2008 at 10:15:25 AM

  (0+)

Didn't we have presidents from the Whig Party and the Bull Moose Party? Abraham Lincoln was from a third party, am I right?

by Ty (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 888 comments [2 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Thursday, Apr 10, 2008 at 4:13:43 PM

  (0+)

Abraham Lincoln was a Republican. And can you name the last person who ran on the Whig party ticket?

Look, Ty/Mike I apologize about this morning. What I meant to say was

1. There are some 30 different parties in America, but there could be 300 & it wouldn't matter. Why, because

2. The Republican & Democrats have stacked the laws against a third-party so it's not even viable. There's a great Youtube video about it by Jack Cafferty, I'll have to get you the link. One of the things is having to register in 50 different states each with their own election laws. So while you spend 6 months collecting signatures & what not just to get placed on the ballot your Republican & Democratic rivals are out campaigning. Then when the national debates arrive you're not even invited.

I could go on & on but I think you can get the picture. It is not complicated why our government is broke/no longer works- & the solution is no secret, So why would you want to chase your tail?

Someone once described insanity as doing the same thing (voting) over & over & expecting a different result (change).

Before the union busters people gathered at union halls, pool halls, VFW or Moose lodges. Because people worked & fought hard together to bring about monumental changes, like the ending of slavery, segregation, child labor laws, womens voting rights, overtime pay & the 40 hour work week. None of these were won by voting out one party & replacing it with the other. And if we want REAL CHANGE, we need to get up off our asses &

Well it's time for me to get off my soap box, it would seem that I'm all alone up here.

FOR MORE CLICK:  www.votestrike.org

by chris rice (111 articles, 147 quicklinks, 35 diaries, 233 comments) on Thursday, Apr 10, 2008 at 7:47:31 PM

  (0+)

Yes Chris, I'm glad you apologized to Mike Cavlan.  People on the same side can disagree about the best tactic to advance their side without one of them being on the other side.

As for your statement about the definition of insanity being doing the same thing over and other and expecting a different result, I have often thought of it as applying to liberals voting again and again for Democrats and expecting a different result.  Breaking out of the two party duopoly and voting for a third party is doing something different.  Despite the Green Party regressing to lesser evil politics in 2004 when it failed to endorse Ralph Nader and endorsed safe states candidate David Cobb, who would only make a serious effort to campaign in states where there was no danger he would throw the election to the Republicans, the Green Party is still the largest third party with the best chance of leading a mass break with the two party duopoly.  Although I voted for Ralph Nader in both 2000 and 2004, this year both Mike Cavlan and I are supporting Cynthia McKinney because, unlike Ralph Nader, she has publicly charged the U.S. government with complicity in bringing about 9/11.

You missed the point whan you replied to Ty's point about the Republicans originaly being the third party that broke the two party duopoly of the Democrats and Whigs.  Although the Republican Party has represented reaction in the memory of people now living, in 1856 if was the party that abolished slavery only nine years later in 1865.  True, the success of the Republican Party was an artifact of the power of the mass Abolitionist movement but, since the Republicans were the pary that won control of the government, the Republican artifact was the tool that enabled the Abolitionist movement to dot and cross the statutory i's and t's with the legal outlawing of slavery.

Robert Halfhill

by rhalfhill (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 327 comments [1 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Apr 11, 2008 at 1:42:47 AM

  (0+)

Wow, you're right. I can see how silly I've been, Cindy will be the next president. Yeah, it all makes sense now.

 I guesse your vote for Nader was more EFFECTIVE than I had realized.

 Why bother  standing up like men, when you can just be sheep.

Third-parties have NEVER won in this country. How far do you need to go back, oh yeah, to NEVER!

I woke up in the middle of the night to screams. I got up to see what it was & there was a light on in the barn, they were leading the lambs to slaughter. I was horrified. I'd lived, raised & played with these sheep. So, I, yes lowly I, snuck out of my room & down the hall to the back door, around out back to the sheep bin I snuck ever so quietly.

When I reached the sheep, they just stood there looking at me. I opened the gate, I said go, you must go now. But they just stood there, looking at me. I soon realized that I wouldn't be able to save them- all. So I grabbed one up, one that looked small enough to carry, but it was no use.

by chris rice (111 articles, 147 quicklinks, 35 diaries, 233 comments) on Friday, Apr 11, 2008 at 5:32:50 AM

  (0+)

i have always thought that a good general strike would be of some value, a day wouldn't do it, every worker would have to save up a week or two of beans and rice and take two weeks off and hit the streets

the real strike should be that everyone stops paying taxes, just stop thats all , don't let them deduct from pay, don't file don't pay, everyone

neither is likely to happen, the american people have been dumbded down, drugged and whipped into submission where no real change is possible

"well we really needed the partiot act so it was all right to kill all those people with 911 because noone w0ould have let it happen otherwise, our leaders know the big picture and we need to trust them blindly and without question because they are the leaders"

no one cares that they are a bunch of elitist murderous, perverted, thieves

by MITYOJAB (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 26 comments [1 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Apr 11, 2008 at 8:14:28 AM

  (0+)

 in a series of protest to bring down the two-party hypocrisy.

You are right, one day will solve nothing, we need a SERIES of strikes.

But the General Strike is required for us to regain what the unions lost. We need to set aside our political differences (republican/democrat) & unite around  a single goal (removing the two-party system & the third party myth) as the founding fathers did to defeat the British (Constitution/Bill of Rights came after defeating the British).

"the real strike should be that everyone stops paying taxes, just stop thats all , don't let them deduct from pay, don't file don't pay, everyone"

I wouldn't take anything off the table, but the founding fathers saw the dangers of a democracy as well as the benefits & not only did they leave us explicit directions, but also gave us the legal means to accomplish it. In other words there is no need to brake the law in order to replace our government.

I'm sensing much defeatism out there. Look at Hillary, she's like 60 & doin' 2 & 3 rallies a day. And if you really need inspiration go to www.votestrike.com & read the page "Solidarity".

You can laugh all you want to now, but we will get the government to negotiate itself out of existence-to learn how see "Solidarity" or "9/11" at www.votestrike.com

by chris rice (111 articles, 147 quicklinks, 35 diaries, 233 comments) on Friday, Apr 11, 2008 at 9:34:35 AM

  (0+)

Longshoremen are going on an 8 hour strike on May 1st, only a few weeks away.

If this action spreads, our nuclear war criminals will go.

Viet-nam vets in the union are behind this effort. This could awaken the troops now in service of how they themselves are being misused, by our predator elite classes.

When the troops turn on our nuclear war fighitng elite, we will be able to systematically begin the arrests of our war criminals within this nation.

.

by Patrick (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 519 comments [22 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Friday, Apr 11, 2008 at 12:04:24 PM

  (0+)

mybad.

1. Join Longshoremen strike May 1st!

2. Join General Strike Sept. 11th

3. Go Cindy! Go Cindy!

NOW, damn it, lets work together. We'll not only arrest them, people at Nuremberg were hung for less!

We can do this, but only if we work together!

by chris rice (111 articles, 147 quicklinks, 35 diaries, 233 comments) on Saturday, Apr 12, 2008 at 7:53:20 AM

  (0+)

I personally think one of the two parties has always won because it is only the two parties that operate the elections. Years ago an older Socialist told me she once watched the poll worker tear up her Socialist ballot. Elective offices control hoards of money; it has been naive' of us to assume no one would be venal about an election. A 9/11 strike may help. I think a lot more could be accomplished by, first, insisting on the public right to observe the counting of votes at every neighborhood precinct immediately after the polls close, and to publish that count right at the precinct. That way, candidates could count their own votes. Second, fight for the right of the poor, the homeless, the elderly, who do not have photo IDs, to receive Voter Photo IDs right at the Board of Elections or at driving license bureaus. (Mike Huckabee's suggestion) Third (more controversial) demand a vote "receipt" which can be compared to the official record of that vote and which can guarantee the integrity of that vote. Fourth, assure the vigorous prosecution of any election official who violates the Voting Rights Act by refusing an eligible voter the right to vote or by failing to record and tabulate that vote. I'm not sure what a strike would accomplish, but I am very sure achieving honest elections could turn this country around 180 degrees.

by MyTwoCents (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 36 comments) on Friday, Apr 11, 2008 at 7:54:28 PM

  (0+)

You are right. In a democracy we should have a verifiable voting system. One that is fair at the debates- meaning more than just the two parties participating & debates should be on PBS & C-SPAN with no time limits.

We can make all that happen, but I need you.

I need you to stand up like a man & say ENOUGH is ENOUGH on 9/11/08.

by chris rice (111 articles, 147 quicklinks, 35 diaries, 233 comments) on Sunday, Apr 13, 2008 at 6:26:37 AM

  (0+)