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Wresting Control from the Two Major Parties

By Jack Harrington  Posted by Kevin Gosztola (about the submitter)       (Page 2 of 3 pages) Become a premium member to see this article and all articles as one long page.   2 comments

Kevin Gosztola
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So what is it that I am saying? If your values are more in line with those of the Green Party, then vote for the Greens. If you line up with another third party candidate, then vote for that person or for an independent. Vote your interests and conscience. But at least recognize, you 'pragmatists' out there, who say the third party candidates can't win and we should vote for the winner and move that person and party to our viewpoint, that you are enabling.

The parties have far more power than you will ever have, to resist your efforts at moving the party positions. How successful have those of you in favor of impeachment been moving Nancy Pelosi off the dime? How well have you managed to end the Iraq war or even attain a withdrawal timeline. Right.

Now look to vote for a party that has favored impeachment from the beginning and has been the only party to oppose the war from the beginning---the Green Party.

We oppose violence, be it domestic or international in scope.

We also oppose corporate control of our country.

Forty or fifty years ago, we enjoyed a political system that was in charge of our economic processes. Now we suffer under the impact of corporate control of our political life. This corporate control removes choice from our lives.

The corporations eliminate certain political programs and policies from consideration because they are not good for the bottom line. For example, look at pharma and the health insurance industries. The insurance folks do not wish to go out of business if we go single payer. The pharmaceutical industry does not want to have to negotiate prices with a government agency that speaks for all.

Rhe Green Party supports universal single payer care, not this 'affordable' mishmosh the Democrats and Republicans are trying to foist upon us.

So what else do we find corporations limiting or censoring? How about Walmart, for example, removing certain books and periodicals from their shelves because they deem them inappropriate? How about maybe we retain the right to decide what we and our offspring read or don't read? Access. Every time a big box opens in an town, small businesses suffer and may close their doors. Limits our free choice, limits our range of selections in goods available.

How about what you can buy in the stores? You may only purchase what the big box managers stock. And in many states, we get the bill for their underpaid workers health care and social supports. Fair? No-but who gave it to us? The D's and R's. Let's hear it for them-they have given us so much.

They control what you read, they censor your access, they limit what you can purchase and from whom, and we have only talked about retail entities. What about things like banks and insurances? With their economy of scale, they grow larger and larger with uncontrolled mergers and they need us less and less as individual depositors, borrowers, premium payers, so naturally our voices are muted.

The corporate issues are extremely serious. They are subsidized beyond belief. Socialism. They are bailed out when they have made deep errors in judgment or have become so greedy they topple. Socialism. They privatize profits and socialize losses. Socialism. The have incredible levels of tax relief unavailable to the rest of us. They 'borrow' our money for a bailout and party with it, receive egregious bonuses, and sit on the dough. What do we get? The bill. And who gave us this mess? The Republicans and the Democrats. So why vote for them? If you just want to unload all the money in your pockets, send it to me and I will find a good charity to give it to.

Taxes. Fifty years ago the tax burden was shared, roughly, between individual taxpayers and corporations. Today approximately 60% of all US corporations pay no taxes. (Hear the hollow ring of John McCains claim that our corporations have the second highest tax burden in the world?) Late last April the IRS released figures for revenue collection to that point. It amounted to some 70% of expected revenue for the year. About $749 billion was collected from individual tax payers, while approximately $172 billion came from all corporations paying in. The tax burden has been shifted from them to us. You are aware of the impact of the shift on your budget, on your disposable income, but may have been unaware of the source of the tax pain. And who gave us this munificence? The Democrats and the Republicans. Subsidies, off shore banking, tax breaks on money located in other countries, total tax relief for corporations. Tax relief gimmicks for the wealthy. And who gave it to us? Yup, you got it. A couple of years ago a major US corporation felt it had overpaid its' taxes and Congress 'refunded' all their taxes to the Federal government from something like 1979 to 1991. Every penny. What corporation? Why our leading oil and gas company.

The corporations control virtually every aspect of health care one way or another. They control the education and the money for education for our youth. They dictate the textbooks used in public schools. They 'brand' business activity so the kids only want Nike or Reebok. They control our sports interests. They donate scoreboards for gymnasiums in exchange for putting their soft drink vending machines in our schools. And all courtesy of the Democrats and the Republicans. How much more are you willing to stand?

So why vote against your interests? Why support the two major parties who have supported the off shoring of so much of our industry and so many of our jobs? Why vote for parties that voted to subsidize corporations that move your jobs overseas? Why support parties that vote for pollution of the land and water?

The foregoing and much much more are reasons I vote third party. Why continue enabling these people as they steal our money, our lives, our future and the future of our children and grandchildren.

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Kevin Gosztola is managing editor of Shadowproof Press. He also produces and co-hosts the weekly podcast, "Unauthorized Disclosure." He was an editor for OpEdNews.com
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