During the period after 9/11 we have seen our civil liberties abrogated. The Patriot Act, which allows a search of your residence without you being there or your knowledge if you are declared a “suspected terrorist, The Military Commission Act of 2006, which allows “interrogation up to the point of organ failure and psychological interrogation as long as a mental breakdown lasts no longer than a few months, The Insurrection Act that eliminates posse commitatus , the amendment that says the Federal Government cannot use Federal troops for Law Enforcement, that only the Governors  of the States can do that under state control, The Presidential directives especially PD 51 that gives the President control of all three branches in the event of a National Emergency, the bill now in the Senate S 1959 the so-called “Thought Control Bill” that can hold people responsible for getting others to incite violence through what they read on the internet. The end run around the FISA Act that would have allowed the President to authorize eavesdropping on suspected terrorists as long as they gave the court a warrant three days after the fact, and Congress has allowed this law-breaking by the President.

We have also seen a War in Iraq and a War in Afghanistan that has cost this nation over 5,000 lives in what the government will admit to, while the real death toll is at least 15.000 but once the casualty is medivac’d  he or she is not counted as a casualty of the war. Both parties threaten each other and offer great debates on C-SPAN for our benefit, while colluding with each other to maximize profits for themselves and their corporate sponsor’s. We sit silently watching C-Span and root for “our” side, but when the roll call is made we see a lopsided vote, and the most virulent speakers cave-in and vote for bills authorizing the use of force, declaring another nation’s military a “terrorist” organization, authorizing more war funds, and creating a new bureaucracy like The Department of Homeland Security that does nothing but gobble up taxpayer’s money.

The Democratic candidates save Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich and John Edwards are married to the corporate structure of this country. It is ridiculous to believe that any save Ron Paul and the three I mentioned above doing anything different than what is being done now. This is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, the long and short of it, so to speak. Anyone that believes we can change this nation and push back what has transpired by working within the two party system is deluded. I myself would love to run for Congress from my district in South Carolina. How do you think that would work out for me? I could have the most remarkable platform, appeal to both Democrats and Republicans, and I would be laughed out of the room. I know no one and I don’t have ten years to “cultivate” backers. Either do the rest of the people in this country save those that are already entrenched in corporate party politics.

My opinion is that John Edwards will ramp up his rhetoric. I believe Ron Paul will run as an Independent, he has the money and the momentum. I am waiting to hear Edwards get in the ring and truly speak “Truth to Power”. If he can’t do it under the Democratic banner then he should also run as an independent. If Edwards and Paul both run as Independents, we will have effectively destroyed the two-party system and let the best man win. If this happens, I will run as an Independent for Congress from South Carolina. The two-party system has to go. If Edwards stays his course and doesn’t make a huge issue of civil liberties and an end to foreign involvement, we should all back Ron Paul. Whatever happens, we all have a vested interest in breaking the two-party system.

That’s the way I see it.

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