A Vote for Jill Stein is a Vote for Jill Stein

If you are into politics, even remotely, you have undoubtedly become aware of the radical insurgence of Jill Stein and the Green Party.

Bernie Sanders recently stepped aside after a rigged “Democratic” primary and unleashed a cluster-bomb of liberal voters, along with parting instructions for his followers to vote for Hillary Clinton, in order to defeat the evil Donald Trump.

In a normal election year, voters would likely heed Sanders’ advice, but there is nothing normal about the 2016 presidential election.

While there is an argument to be made that a vote for Jill Stein is actually a half-vote for Donald Trump, to believe this is to take an overly simplistic view of the dynamics of the current political situation in America.

The two largest political blocks in the United States are Independent voters and non-voters.

Independent voters make up 43% of the electorate and the majority of them had no intention to support Secretary Clinton to begin with.

It is also important to note that over 93 million eligible voters opt not to vote at all in presidential elections.

Many of these people choose not to vote because they have been disenchanted with their options in past elections.

In order for these people to get over their apathy and participate, they require a new and refreshing voice.

Add to this the 13 million people who voted for Bernie Sanders and the millions of disenfranchised voters, who were locked out of closed “Democratic” primaries and are seeking a new home, and it becomes obvious, that due to this confluence of factors, America is finally ready for the rise of a third-party.

It is important to note that there is a similar movement taking place on the right side of the political spectrum with Libertarian Gary Johnson holding firm at 10%, as many Republicans are looking for a new home as a result of the hostile takeover of the GOP by Donald Trump, but this article will be focusing specifically on the false narrative that “a vote for Jill Stein is a vote for Donald Trump.”

To assume that Hillary Clinton is somehow entitled to the votes of people who do not agree with her politics is ludicrous.

It is like asking someone if they would like to be shot, waiting for them to say “No.” and then pretending that this means that they would enjoy being stabbed.

While the above simile is ridiculous, it is no more ridiculous than Clinton supporters assuming that everyone who opposes Donald Trump, automatically would throw their support behind a candidate that represents everything they hate.

In a normal election year, many of these people would simply choose not to vote.

Some would even cast a grudge vote for the opposing party, due to their anger at being cheated by the DNC.

When you look at it from this perspective, you see that Jill Stein could potentially even help Hillary Clinton.

While it is true that corporate media, working hand in hand with the Clinton campaign, have done an excellent job of scaring millions into voting for Hillary, based solely on the premise that she is not Donald Trump, many reject this ideology of fear and refuse to support any candidate that does not represent their core values.

A vote for Jill Stein is nothing like a vote for Donald Trump.

In fact, a shocking new study reveals that a vote for Jill Stein is actually a vote for Jill Stein.

In 2008 there was a false movement started by Hillary Clinton supporters, known as PUMA.

PUMA was an acronym representing the words Party Unity My Ass.

This movement’s lack of an imaginary name was only exceeded by the lack of conviction found in it’s members.

PUMA turned out to be a giant bluff.

In the end, Clinton supporters caved and voted for Obama.

They patted themselves on the back for being good Democrats and came back eight years later to support their rejected candidate.

Of course, Clinton supporters did not take the Bernie or Bust movement seriously.

They couldn’t even take their own movement seriously.

Why would they believe that there were millions of Americans who would have the courage to follow their convictions when they themselves did not?

They caved, so they expected others to cave.

The DNC made the fatal error of assuming that Sanders’ supporters were loyal Democrats, when by and large Sanders’ success was based on the fact that millions had become fed up with the corporate antics of the “Democratic” Party.

After watching PUMA turned to roadkill, it was only natural that the DNC would assume that Bernie or Bust voters would rally behind Hillary Clinton, especially with the specter of Donald Trump looming.

But if anything, PUMA was the beginning of the end for the “Democratic” Party.

The assumption that Sanders supporters could be reabsorbed once Clinton was nominated caused the leadership to be careless in the treatment of said supporters.

Bridges have been burnt and there seems to be no effort by the arrogant, corporate party to make amends.

While loyal Democrats keep reminding us that Bernie and Hillary voted in lockstep 93% of their shared time in the Senate, they are only exemplifying their complete lack of understanding of Sanders’ political revolution.

Clinton and Sanders may be somewhat similar on policy, but Sanders’ movement was one of ideology and when it comes to philosophy the chasm between the two candidates is vast and all encompassing.

Clinton is the embodiment of everything Sanders’ revolution stood in opposition to.

Sanders voters, hungry for social justice, are left starving by Clinton’s neo-liberal facade.

In fact, some leftists are willing to suffer through four years of Donald Trump, just to send the message to the DNC that their tactics will not be tolerated.

In the midst of Wikileaks exposing the corruption of the “Democratic” Party, there is a once in a lifetime opportunity for America to finally break the shackles of it’s corporate two-party system.

Enter leftist anti-Democrat, Jill Stein.

Jill Stein is more than just methadone for Bernie Sanders addicts.

She is a true revolutionary voice and an activist not afraid to do time on the front lines.

Although Stein lines up nicely on policy with Sanders, she is much more vocal than he is, regarding the corruption in the “Democratic” Party.

Whereas Sanders focused completely on issues and his message of political revolution, Stein is angry and not afraid to call out Hillary Clinton directly.

Where Sanders was hogtied by Clinton’s accusations of sexism, Stein has no such obstacle.

Jill Stein is not afraid to speak the truth about Clinton and millions of people scorned by the election rigging in the “Democratic” primary are flocking to her message.

Still, there are those who are locked into binary thinking, who insist that voting for Jill Stein is actually indirectly voting for Donald Trump.

But contrary to popular belief, politics is not horse racing and our vote is not a bet on whom we think will be victorious.

A person’s vote is meant to represent one’s personal values and anyone who tells you otherwise has an agenda.

The American vote is sacred, as it is based on the blood of our ancestors, who literally gave their lives for this right, that so many take for granted.

While it is true that a single vote rarely has an impact on something so grandiose as a presidential election, this does not mean that one’s vote is unimportant.

To vote is to cast one’s thoughts into action and to tell your government, in a very direct way, exactly how you feel about what they are doing and what you expect from them going forward.

All the Facebook and Twitter posts in the world do not equate to the power and sanctity of a single vote and it is for this reason that a vote for Jill Stein is anything but a vote for Donald Trump.

A vote for Jill Stein is a middle finger in the face of tyranny.

A vote for Jill Stein is a protest vote against a party that rigged an election against a good man.

A vote for Jill Stein sends the message, loud and clear, that we will not support any candidate who attempts to usurp our democracy.

To vote for Hillary Clinton, after the way the DNC smeared and threatened Bernie Sanders, is to sanction such activities.

We would have no one to blame, but ourselves, when future elections were rigged.

Voting for the lesser of two evils is what brought us to this point and Americans have, at long last, decided to stand up to the illusion of choice, in the corporate two-party system and throw their support behind a movement, that will help guarantee, that we will never again find ourselves locked in a system so broken, that it spits out a corporate controlled warmonger and a racist reality TV star and then pretends that we have choice.

Still there are those who don’t have the fortitude required to support a third-party candidate.

They fear a vote for Stein or Johnson will allow the other side to win and they just couldn’t live with themselves should that happen.

To appease these people, I propose logic, in place of guilt.

Unless you live in a swing state (a state that is closely contested and is never consistently won by either party), your single vote will not affect the outcome of your state’s election.

This allows you the freedom to vote your conscience, without fear that you have helped elect someone you dislike.

In Indiana, where I live, Donald Trump has three times as many voters as Hillary Clinton.

In essence, my vote is wasted if I vote for either Clinton or Trump.

Trump is going to win regardless of how I vote.

Jill Stein will most certainly not win Indiana, so I must use my vote as part of a larger picture.

Even though Stein is unlikely to win my state, my vote will go towards supporting the Green Party and increasing their status in future elections.

This means that in 2020, Americans will have more choice.

We will have more voices on the debate stage and a third-party candidate will start the election cycle as a household name, instead of having to battle from obscurity.

When you look at things this way, you realize that non-swing state voters make their vote count more by supporting a third-party candidate.

So if you are angry at your lack of choice in this election, rejoice!!

You have an opportunity to make things different in America on a permanent basis.

If you vote for the lesser evil, then evil always wins.

The time to vote for the greater good is now.

The time to break out of the corporate, binary system is at hand.

Don’t let fear-mongers take away your voice.

Don’t be deceived by false narratives, designed to trick you into supporting someone who doesn’t represent your values.

Your vote is your voice.

Don’t ever let ANYONE take that away from you or make you feel bad for exercising your personal freedom.

Don’t be afraid to vote third-party.

Future generations will benefit greatly from your benevolence.

 

 

 

Help keep independent thought independent. If what I do adds value to your life, and you are able to donate, click HERE. If you cannot afford to, that’s okay! I will keep on writing, anyway!! 

How To Make Bernie Sanders Turn Green

A little more than a year ago, Jane Sanders sat with her husband Bernie, at a Denny’s restaurant in Vermont, discussing the possibility of making a presidential run.

Bernie and Jane knew that it was a long-shot, given that they would have to run against the Clinton’s, the most powerful political machine in Washington.

Bernie liked being a Senator.

He enjoyed walking to work every morning and he loved improving the lives of his constituents.

Sanders, was never a Washington insider, in fact he pledged no allegiance to any party.

Every weekend, he enjoyed flying home from Washington D.C. to see his grandchildren.

Bernie Sanders was living the life he had always dreamed of.

Still, after nearly 40 years of voicing his Progressive ideals (often to an empty room), things in America were not changing.

Sanders wanted to see real change.

As a Senator, he was able to impact lives in Vermont, but year after year he watched his country slide further and further away from the ideals he had spent his life fighting for.

Bernie was torn.

As if by Providence, a disabled veteran shuffled over to the table and thanked Sanders for helping him to get his benefits a few years earlier.

He told Bernie that Sanders had changed his life and that if the Vermont Senator ever decided to run for President, that he would do anything he could to support him.

Jane looked across the table and said

“I think you should do it.”

There has been much confusion from Sanders’ diehards over the last month.

Many are perplexed at how a man who stood up and said “enough is enough” to multinational corporations could suddenly be supporting the Queen of Wall Street, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Many in the Sanders’ camp are feeling betrayed and despite Sanders’ half-hearted endorsement of Clinton and his nonstop rants against Donald Trump, more than half of his supporters are blatantly refusing to vote for someone who they view as the epitome of everything they are fighting against.

Sanders has lost control of his own revolution.

His neophyte subversives have grown up and left the Democratic Party, all but guaranteeing a Trump victory in November.

After Sanders’ Clinton endorsement, the revolution pivoted suddenly toward anti-corporatist Jill Stein, who has been more than happy to pick up the pieces of a shattered Democratic Party and put them together in a new Green vision that encapsulates many of the same ideals that Sanders spent the last several decades working towards.

Bernie’s revolution is out of control.

As the Democratic Party tosses platform crumbs at angry Americans, in hopes of luring them back into the fold, record numbers of voters are fleeing an organization that no longer represents their values.

Sanders has started a fire that cannot be put out.

Hillary Clinton continues to slip in the polls, while spending tens of millions of dollars trying to convince Americans that she is better for the country than Donald Trump and it simply isn’t working.

The people are tired of war.

They are tired of tax breaks for the wealthy elite.

And they are tired of promises from a candidate who has lied to them repeatedly.

Hillary Clinton is the girl who cried wolf and now the wolf is at the door, in the person of Donald Trump and the American people are reveling in her screams.

Hillary Clinton is in trouble.

And not even Bernie Sanders can save her.

So what does this have to do with Bernie Sanders becoming President?

Sanders has already been cheated out of the Democratic nomination.

Under what scenario could he rise from the ashes and ascend to America’s highest office?

To answer this question we need to understand what drives this great man.

Bernie Sanders was raised in a tiny Brooklyn apartment.

His parents were poor and often fought over money.

Sanders knew from a very young age that poverty made life difficult for the American family and it triggered something deep inside him.

Sanders has literally been fighting against people like Donald Trump his entire life and it is Sanders’ contempt for bullies that has caused him to endorse, in Hillary Clinton, that which he has so vehemently opposed.

To Sanders, this is political, yet also deeply personal.

Bernie is the tough Brooklyn kid and Trump, the soft, arrogant prep-schooler.

In short, Bernie wants to knock Trump on his ass.

He’s been waiting for this moment his entire life.

While young revolutionaries compare and contrast four years of Trump’s Idiocracy versus eight more years of Clinton Oligarchy (Clinton would run unopposed as the incumbent in 2020), Sanders is willing to trade everything he has worked for, in order to stop this ignorant bigot from coming to power.

Sanders has no interest in personal glory, but instead has traded on his endorsement to move the Democratic platform to the left.

The problem is that the Democratic Party’s leftist movement is only a feint and any platform promises made now will likely be forgotten once Clinton takes her crown and scepter.

Sanders must know this, on some level, but is perhaps blinded by his desire to do “anything in his power to stop Donald Trump.”

Therein lies our leverage.

Bernie Sanders will join Jill Stein on the Green Party ticket only if he believes that there is no other way to defeat Donald Trump.

Recent polls show Trump at 45% and rising while Clinton is at 40% and falling.

Gary Johnson is holding strong at 10% while Jill Stein is at 5% and expected to surge very strongly in the coming weeks.

Just as Johnson is picking up votes from Republicans who dislike Trump, Stein is benefiting from liberals who refuse to vote for Clinton in the vacuum created by Sanders’departure.

While Clinton spends millions trying to guilt Americans into voting for her lesser-evilism, Green Party voters need to accept that a vote for Stein will ultimately help Trump.

This should not discourage activists from supporting Stein, but quite the opposite.

Jill Stein is an excellent use of one’s vote, both ethically and strategically.

Not only is she the only decent candidate left in the race (sorry Gary Johnson eliminates himself from serious contention by supporting TPP), but supporting Jill Stein could possinly lead to the return of Bernie Sanders.

If Stein continues to surge, then Trump’s lead over Clinton will widen and ultimately become insurmountable.

If this happens, Sanders will have little choice but to accept Jill’s invitation to take over as the Green Party nominee.

Remember how torn Sanders was a year ago, when he was considering his presidential run?

Right now, he is in the exact same place.

Perhaps he and Jane are sitting in that same Vermont Denny’s, talking about what a mess this entire race has become.

But Bernie Sanders is not going to come out of retirement for a party that is polling at 5%.

But if the Green Party were on the ballot in 47 states and polling at 15% this would mean that Trump would have an insurmountable lead over Clinton and Sanders would have little choice but to join Stein and carry his millions of supporters with him.

So if you want Bernie Sanders to be President there are a few things you must do immediately.

1. Change your political affiliation to the Green Party. The easiest way to do this is to click the link above or to visit your local Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
2. Make sure that the Green Party is on the ballot in your state. Again, you can click the blue link above to get started.
3. Canvass, phone-bank and donate for/to Jill Stein. Again, you can click the link above to get started. I know canvassing and phone-banking is scary, but not nearly as scary as the thought of eight years of Hillary Clinton warmongering.

Time is running out.

This is a once in a lifetime chance to raise a third-party in America.

If Jill Stein polls at 15% then we can get her on the debate stage with Trump and Clinton to further our Progressive agenda and possibly pull Bernie Sanders onto the Green Party ticket.

Bernie Sanders still has an outside chance to become President of the United States and Stein can run for President in 2020, but in order for this to happen there must be a tremendous amount of political activism from those who had previously supported Senator Sanders.

The worst thing that would happen is that America would have a legitimate third-party to represent the people, not the corporations, in 2020.

We have to reach 18 million people in the next 60 days to lure Bernie back into the race.

We have to work as hard for Jill as we worked for Bernie.

We will need to apply everything we have learned over the past year.

We can do this, but we have to start today.

The fate of the free world is literally depending on it.

 

 

 

 

Donald Trump’s Tire Emporium

Indiana is Trump territory, so I often find myself surrounded by good ol boys and me with my Black Lives Matter to Bernie Sanders button and my car plastered in leftist stickers.

This morning my neighbor was struggling with a flat tire, so I told him to throw it in my car and I drove to this wheel shop in the hood that I have frequented for years.

As they were working on his tire, you could see all the guys in the office pointing at my car and talking.

I imagined, perhaps falsely, that they were thinking I was a communist, even though I doubted that any of them could even give a definition of what the word meant.

I reminded myself that you can’t judge a book by it’s cover.

I went into the office and asked if one of them would look at my tires and tell me if I needed any replacements.

I mentioned that I had to drive to Philadelphia this weekend.

They looked at my nerdy neighbor and my Bernie Sanders button and I imagined that I could feel a chill in the air.

Through an odd twist of fate, I end up standing in some wheel shop that’s 110 degrees, with my white entitlement, asking these blue collar dudes to get on their knees and look at my tires.

I always have trouble asking people to serve me.

I don’t like to put myself above anyone.

I have to remind myself that for this to work, we have to all serve one another.

One of the guys went out, hit the dirt, checked everything out and told me that all my tires were good and I tossed him a few bucks to adjust the pressure.

We don’t want any blowouts on the road to restoring democracy.

I stood there, trying not to look at my phone, because I was already feeling inconsequential and elitist and to even look at it would have been tantamount to firing a Hispanic maid for stealing money off the dresser and then finding it in my coat pocket a week later.

So I just stood there watching him air up my tire.

That was my penance for automotive ignorance.

When he was finished, we went into the office so I could pay and one of the guys asked…

“You need any Trump stickers for your car? I got a bunch?”

They all laughed.

“I’m good.” I said with a smile.

“What are you goin’ to Philly for?” one of the gentlemen queried.

“We’re going to stop Hillary Clinton.” I replied.

They all burst into laughter and said words of approval.

“I bet you guys like Trump for the same reasons I like Bernie.” I said “He doesn’t take any shit and he speaks up for the working man, guys like you and me.”

At the end of my sentence, I rolled up my sleeve, revealing my Bernie Sanders tattoo.

These guys all had tattoos and I wanted them to know that our tribes weren’t so different.

“What do you think of Trump taking Mike Pence as his VP?” one man asked.

“Honestly, Trump did me a favor. I’ve been trying to get that piece of shit out of Indiana for two years.”

There were laughs all around, so I continued speaking..

“Pence is always trying to take rights away from women. It’s her goddamned body. It ain’t none of my business what a woman does with her body and it ain’t none of Mike Pence ‘s business either.”

All the men nodded in agreement.

I thought how much better our world had become in my short life, that even these guys, who I probably don’t agree with on some issues, could still recognize that a woman’s right to choose is sacred.

I paid and got the fuck outta Dodge.

As I was leaving, one of the guys yelled.

“I think Bernie’s alright!!”

And one of the other guys said

“Hey! I do, too!!”

A Pasty White Jill Stein Supporter on Dan Savage: Just No

There simply are no words to convey how much I love Dan Savage, but recently I had to breakup with him.

 

This breakup will come as news to Dan, who only knows me as the guy who called his show every week for the last year, telling him why it was important for him to use his celebrity to endorse Bernie Sanders and to denounce Hillary Clinton.

Dan never even knew that we were dating.

I stalked his brilliant brain and amazing voice through his Podcast, Savage Love, for years.

I admired him from afar by reading his excellent blog.

And when he was on TV, I would hang on his every word and admire how incredibly gorgeous he was while dispensing compassionate advice about love and sex.

Whenever I would meet someone who knew of Dan Savage, I would inevitably exclaim…

“Oh my God!! Dan Savage is my hero!!”

And he was…

 

But I have to DTMFA (“dump the motherfucker already”, in Savage-speak)

It’s what he would suggest, should I call his show for advice.

His party-unity gaslighting has become abusive.

I know that I deserve better.

Perhaps you are wondering..

“Who the hell is Dan Savage and why the hell should I care about this?”

That’s a fair question.

Dan is a best-selling author, a blogger and a Podcaster.

Through these mediums he reaches millions.

Over the years I have followed him in all of his forms.

When my kids were wondering about sex, I purchased Dan’s books for them, because I knew that his advice was almost always spot on.

When my partner and I had questions about our own adventures, it was Dan who guided us through.

 

Dan is a hardcore advocate for LBGT+ rights and I am a firm believer that his “It Gets Better” program has saved thousands of lives.

For this reason alone, I will always love him.

Dan Savage is a damn fine man, but in his attempt to walk the Bernie/Hillary tightrope over the last year, he has fallen and completely missed the net.

Dan Savage, a former revolutionary voice, has now become just another shill for the establishment and I am deeply saddened to watch this former champion fall so far.

Yesterday, I realized that I had forgotten to block him on Facebook (a MUST to preserve one’s sanity during a breakup) and his new article entitled Jill Stein: Just No appeared in my feed.

I read the header to my former Savage-loving, LBGT rights radical, 14 year old daughter, where Dan refers to Jill Stein supporters as “pasty white people”.

My girlfriend said “Wow. So he’s a racist now?”

I said “I wouldn’t go so far as to call him a racist, but he sure has lost his way.”

My gender-fluid child Chloe, summed it up perfectly when she said

“Dan Savage: Just No.”

To be fair, some of my anger at Dan is simply transference at the LBGT+ community as a whole.

It is definitely treacherous territory, a liberal like myself, admitting to being angry at a community of people that I have spent my entire life fighting alongside, but here I am.

When Hillary Clinton announced her candidacy for president, the gay and lesbian communities rallied around her in a way that simply made very little sense to me.

 

I’d post something negative about Hillary Clinton on social media and notice that my followers would drop significantly.

When I would see my gay friends at a party or club, they went out of their way to avoid me.

Some even took to calling me “Bernie-bro” in a manner that was clearly designed to be hurtful.

I wanted to engage them.

I really wanted to talk about this.

I wanted to know…

 

“How can you support a candidate who worked tirelessly to pass DOMA?”

 

“How can you support a candidate who so recently stood on the Senate floor and sold us all out by saying ‘Marriage is, as it has always been, between a man and a woman.‘”

“How can you support a candidate who lied and said that she and Nancy Reagan supported AIDS victims in the 80’s, when the truth of the matter is that the Reagan’s laughed at the epidemic and implied that it was some sort of plague from God to wipe out homosexuals?!”

These were friends I had attended rallies with.

These were friends I had protested side by side with.

And now they were blindly supporting someone who had spent her entire political career fighting against gay and lesbian rights?

Conversely, I would show them evidence that Bernie Sanders had been fighting for LBGT rights for decades.

I showed them evidence that Sanders risked his political career, by standing up for our movement.

Their replies were nearly unanimous..

“She’s evolved on that issue.”

or

“She’s with us now.”

My retort…

“She’s with us now, when it would be political suicide not to be. When we needed her she was fighting against us.”

 

I actually started this article nearly two months ago.

I was at the Indianapolis Gay Pride Parade, like I am every summer.

As I stood there in the sweltering heat, I watched an endless parade of Gays For Hillary shirts and I wondered how this had happened.

How did Hillary Clinton manage to gain the backing of a group of people that she had worked so hard to oppress?

 

And as every single gay Hillary supporter I have asked for a year, has refused to give me an answer that even mentioned policy, I am forced to speculate.

I think some of it comes down to the fact that Bernie Sanders has zero curb-appeal, whereas Hillary Clinton reminds me of every safe-place Mom I knew growing up.

There was always that house, in every neighborhood, where the liberal Mom would invite us in and accept us without judgment, whenever our own parents would throw us out.

There were always old men trying to lure us in as well, but we knew to avoid those houses.

Before I knew about Hillary’s history of genocide or the fact that she accepts donations from for-profit prisons or sold weapons to governments that used the weapons to kill gays, I imagined Hillary as a nurturing mother who had my best interests at heart.

Perhaps my gay friends who support Hillary are like I was in 2008, when I listened to Obama speak three times and then said..

“He’s pro-choice, he’s pro-LBGT and he’s black? What’s not to like?”

Perhaps my LBGT sisters and brothers who support Hillary are just engaged in identity politics or maybe gays voting for Hillary is the ultimate case of Stockholm Syndrome.

Maybe they feel that she is more of an ally than Sanders, because they actually had to sway her to their side, whereas Sanders was always there.

Or maybe they bought in to the Clinton propaganda that “If you don’t vote for Hillary, we will get Trump.” and their desire to protect gay marriage versus the evil Republicans made up their minds for them.

Never mind that there is a good chance that Hillary will lose to Trump, whereas Sanders defeats Trump by a landslide in every single poll.

On the surface, this seems like solid reasoning.

Many are quick to point out that this election is actually about who gets to nominate Supreme Court judges and I agree that it is better to elect a candidate who would nominate liberals to these positions.

But anyone who knows politics knows that all of the potentially vacant seats are currently occupied by conservatives, so in the worst case scenario, after Obama nominates, liberals will still have a 5-4 advantage.

Trump will have no opportunity to overturn gay marriage and has expressed repeatedly that he has no desire to do so.

If Clinton were actually a leftist, who would nominate true liberals to those empty seats, then I would consider holding my nose and voting for her, but Rodham is no liberal.

She is a moderate Republican in disguise and would only nominate corporatist war-hawks that would likely cause as much trouble as anyone Trump would nominate.

As gay marriage will not be threatened by this upcoming election, it is a once in a lifetime opportunity to nominate a true liberal to our nation’s highest office.

So I will vote my conscience and support Jill Stein, should the Democrats make the fatal mistake of nominating Hillary Clinton.

Should Trump win, we will block his every move by replacing Congress with real Progressives and be in a very strong position to take The White House in 2020.

Raising a legitimate third party in America should be the number one priority of every liberal, after the shenanigans we have seen from the “Democratic” Party in 2016.

Trump would be an acceptable setback for the ultimate greater good.

Clinton would be a two term disaster and supporting her means that we cannot run any true liberals in 2020 as she would run unopposed.

I am disappointed in you, Dan.

In this election your stood for nothing and fell for everything.

Your endorsement of Hillary Clinton, a hateful woman, who has fought against our cause for decades, is a slap in the face to everyone who has ever fought for equality.

You had the opportunity to be courageous and endorse someone who has spent his entire life fighting for us, but when we needed you, you chose the cowardice of neutrality.

You chose lesser evilism over revolution in a time when our country severely needed to boldly choose that which is good.

Everything that drew me to you and kept me with you for all these years seems to have left you.

Although I fully accept that my voice is greatly diminished, in your eyes, by my “pasty white” skin, I know that I will never allow myself to be defined by such rigid terms.

First and foremost I am a human and an ally.

I am a liberal and an activist.

The Dan Savage I fell in love with would have told the “Democrats” to DTMFA in regards to Hillary Rodham Clinton.

You had the eyes and ears of the LBGT+ community and you told them to accept a woman who had sold them out time and time again.

You hurt me and it will take a long time to forgive you.

This isn’t just about politics.

This is bigger.

Voting against this corrupt, untrustworthy warmonger is an ethical choice.

It is a moral choice.

This is about being true to what we KNOW is right.

 

I loved our years together, but you’ve changed.

You aren’t the “take no shit” Dan Savage I fell in love with once upon a time.

Your constant harping on how I am not a good citizen if I refuse to support your corrupt, genocidal, Monsanto-sponsored candidate border on abusive.

And I have too much respect for myself to endure this another day.

 

 

Bernie Sanders is Occupy America

Your voice does not matter.

You do not count.

You have probably always suspected as much.

Advertisers spend billions telling you that you are special, unique, different.

“Indulge yourself.”

“You deserve it.”

“Finally a car made just for you.”

“You are the all singing, all dancing, crap of the world.”

“You are not special.”

“You are not a unique snowflake.”

To those in power, the only relevant things about you are if your body is strong enough to work for their corporations and generate money..

And that whatever pittance they give you in trade for your life will be returned to them when you buy their disease causing products.

This all sounds so apocalyptic.

The person writing this must be fifteen, insane, or both.

Most liberals turn into mini-conservatives when faced with the awful reality of the 1% siphon, that let’s the poor die in gutters, while raping the middle-class, creating more human food for the sewers and prisons.

Should you be ill-mannered enough to want to actually talk about the world’s problems, you will be met with joking dismissals.

You are just a radical.

 

All you have is your ability to see the strings of the marionettes surrounding you.

You look up and can sort of see a face in the mist, but quickly it disappears.

The enemy is undefinable.

 

Why so serious?

Clearly the world is just fine or else the TVs wouldn’t be getting bigger and cheaper.

People drive cars the size of houses and even dumb people have smart phones.

You are screaming from the rooftops

“IT’S NOT OKAY!!!!”

Everyone thinks you’re crazy.

You are a radical.

You don’t fit in.

You never have.

The gap between the true Socialist activist and slacktivist liberal is greater than the gap between loyal Democrat and faithful Republican.

When it comes to real revolution, the kind where you might have to truly inconvenience yourself, you’d have better luck converting a Tea Partier to join you at a sit-in, then you would the brainwashed “Democrat” voter.

At least the Tea Bagger has passion, albeit incredibly misguided.

Passion can be molded.

Conservatives may be pissed off at all the wrong things, but at least they care.

Some of them can even be reeducated.

This is all by design.

An angry conservative buys more products.

An angry leftist boycotts everything.

The activists are fleeing the “Democratic” Party.

The “Democratic” Party is the voting dead.

Bernie Sanders did them the kindness of injecting truth serum and new blood into their tired, old, corporate corpse and they repaid this good deed with a knife in his back.

And now, here they are, trying to be cool while begging for our help..

Pretending to keep their dignity, while they grovel before an entire generation that can lift them up or reduce them to ash.

Our sovereign leader stands before us, occupying their stage, speaking to us in code, because without code he could not use their airwaves.

The greatest revolutionary of our time has to speak in winks and nods or else the powers that be will silence him completely.

Do you not see the death-grip they have over every one of us?

There is no need to come and take you away in the night, because you simply are no threat to their power.

Better to keep you plugged in and on the treadmill.

Generating…

Generating..

Creating profit.

The American way.

You are nothing.

They will kill you if their algorithms find more profit in it.

If you are poor, they will send you to kill other poor people and then charge you for the privilege.

Their Supreme Court says “corporations are people”, but we know that corporations are machines that chew up the middle-class and shit out the poor, then chew up the poor and shit out manure for the next batch of genetically modified human seeds.

The government investigates itself and finds that the government has done nothing wrong.

You cry out for justice and say

“What are they going to do about this?”

Everyone stares back blankly.

They rip out our souls, then respond with “thoughts and prayers”.

Another black man shot….

“Thoughts and prayers.”

Another factory closed to increase shareholder’s bottom line…

“Thoughts and prayers.”

Another corporate-enabled domestic terror attack..

“Thoughts and prayers.”

Another for-profit prison!

Another rigged election!!

Another assault on equality!!!

To hell with thoughts and prayers.

We want democracy.

Corporations are not people.

If they were people, they could only be described as psychopathic.

They will murder your children if there is profit in it and there often is.

They will excuse their own treason and rewrite the laws to make it legal next time.

If you see what they are doing, they will use their corporate media arms to distract you.

You are screaming into a vacuum.

You are a drone.

You are a worker-ant.

Your vote disappears.

Your voice silenced.

You have watched them install a dictator, who will use your tax dollars to murder innocent people abroad, while padding the coffers of the one percent.

You have given your time, your money, your sweat and your tears.

Nothing you do works.

You are marginalized.

13,000,000 people voted for Bernie Sanders.

Every vote was a vote for change.

Every vote was a vote done in protest, against a government that has become so corrupt that we live in constant fear of it.

Many people were denied their right to vote.

Millions in New York, Arizona and other states turned away.

Millions were given provisional ballots that were immediately discarded.

Corporate media colluded with corporate politicians to convince the masses that a winner was already chosen, before voting had even begun.

In the states that voted early, many had not even heard of Bernie Sanders due to an intentional corporate media blackout.

Bernie Sanders holds the hearts and minds of millions of Americans, securely in his hands.

Not all of them are willing to dedicate their lives to restoring democracy in America.

But many are.

What if one million are?

What could one million people, standing together, accomplish?

What if one million people converged on Philadelphia and refused to leave?

 

What could we gain with peaceful occupation?

What would our demands be?

1. The complete disbanding of TPP?
2. An overturning of Citizen’s United and a series of laws passed that require corporations to pay their taxes?
3. A monitored recount of the “Democratic” primary with all registered voters being allowed to participate?

Perhaps the above conditions are a good place to start.

Would our government be willing to negotiate with us?

Of course they wouldn’t.

We can predict with some certainty how our peaceful protest would be met.

At first they would ignore us.

The media would cover The “Democratic” Convention, but fail to mention us.

If we were to occupy long enough, the media would shift their focus to demonizing and dehumanizing us.

They would call us terrorists in an attempt to rally our brethren against us.

They would shut down our social media accounts so we could not organize and share information.

Once they swayed public sentiment in favor of dismantling us, they would use brutal force.

They would inflict violence and incarcerate us.

But what if others came to take our places?

What if people saw what they were doing to us and it woke them up?

What if Occupy Philadelphia grew to Occupy Los Angeles and Occupy Chicago?

What if we sat peacefully in every major city in America and refused to move?

It would halt production, which would in turn halt the profits of the corporations.

How many of us would they kill?

How many people can they put in jail, before their entire economy comes to a halt?

Would the police beat us or join us?

What if we all just sat perfectly still and refused to move?

What if we refused to play their game?

What if we are really revolutionaries?

 

 

 

What Bernie Sanders Gave to America Today

Today, my hero, Bernie Sanders, endorsed Hillary Clinton, a woman that I truly believe is sociopathic, for the office of the President of the United States and then immediately the sun hid behind a cloud and it began to rain.

I was grateful for the rain.

It’s been pretty humid here for the last several days and I was in need of the empathy.

I fought back tears as I left the gym.

I am not afraid to cry.

I just prefer to do it while I am writing.

I went home and grabbed my laptop.

I knew all this fire stinging my eyes was way too complex to be worked out with a box of tissues or a ton of free weights.

I made a point to stay off social media.

I had no time for haters, turncoats or conspiracy theorists.

I drove to the coffee shop and put in my ear buds.

Behind my glasses, I watched people moving here and there, seemingly clueless to the great turmoil taking place in their country.

I did not envy them.

I am awake now.

And I will never sleep again.

Bernie Sanders is the greatest politician of my lifetime.

He is the greatest statesman of my lifetime.

He is the greatest human being I have ever had the privilege of witnessing.

He is the voice of my generation and long after he ceases to speak, his words will echo throughout the hearts and minds of millions.

Bernie Sanders is an activist.

He stood up for me before I even knew his name…before I was even born.

Bernie Sanders inspired tens of millions of people to get outside of their comfort zones and shove their middle fingers in the face of evil.

Bernie Sanders was “dangerous”.

Bernie Sanders rattled cages.

Bernie Sanders raged against the machine!!

Bernie Sanders taught us all how this thing was supposed to be done.

Bernie Sanders is a prophet and a Buddha.

He continued to speak peace when all those around him declared war.

He woke up an entire generation and inspired tens of thousands to perform a hostile takeover of their government.

Bernie Sanders is a true revolutionary.

So why the hell did he endorse Hillary Clinton?

Do not tell me that Bernie Sanders is just another bought and paid for politician.

To even utter such nonsense would show complete and all-encompassing ignorance.

This man has fought for what is right when literally no one was fighting by his side.

This man went toe to toe with Alan Greenspan for eight and a half hours.

This man spoke the truth why corrupt politicians laughed at him and left the room in blatant shows of disrespect.

Bernie Sanders was the tree, falling again and again in the D.C. forest of corruption.

Bernie Sanders was the one hand clapping against the fascist regime, when you and I were still watching CNN and calling it news.

Bernie Sanders is The Truth.

So don’t even think about telling me that Bernie Sanders sold out, as if suddenly, after 40 years of trying, the powers that be, finally found some secret treasure that Senator Sanders could not resist.

And do not waste my time with your foolish conspiracy theories about how Hillary Clinton threatened him in some way.

They have been threatening Bernie Sanders for decades.

Bernie Sanders does not succumb to threats.

Bernie Sanders endorsed Hillary Clinton because he cares more about us than he does about selfish glory.

Bernie Sanders changed the world again today and if you weren’t watching closely, you may have missed it.

Bernie Sanders just sent millions of poor kids to college.

Bernie Sanders just saved millions of lives.

As part of Bernie Sanders’ agreement to endorse Hillary Clinton, Clinton had to agree to support free public universities for low income families.

This is not something that she wanted.

So why will she keep up her end of the bargain?

Because she is driven by ego.

She wants to be recognized as a good person and a good president.

I know she lies and breaks promises and Bernie knows this too.

But she won’t break this one, because Sanders handed her the carrot, but saved the stick for us.

Today marks a reset button for Hillary Clinton.

Bernie Sanders gave her a chance to step up and do the right thing and if she doesn’t, then she will find that there are tens of millions of sticks all over this country that will cut through the air simultaneously and make her presidency a complete debacle.

I am referring to the tens of millions of activists who will watch Hillary Clinton’s every move from this day forward and make her life difficult every time she breaks a promise to the American people.

I am referring to the tens of thousands of activists who are running for public office, who will take over our House and Senate and infect change from the inside.

I am referring to you.

You have a stick and I encourage you to use it.

Because of Sanders’ sacrifice today, millions of American children will have a way to escape extreme poverty and follow their dreams.

Because of Sanders’ sacrifice today, there is now light penetrating the darkness in the places that our government forgot to represent.

I, like you, wanted Bernie to win the Presidency and there is little doubt that he could have done so through an Independent run, but if he had won, he would have met with extreme opposition from the establishment that owns every branch of our government.

Sanders would have toiled in office, waiting for new elections, so that activists could take over the seats required to pass the bills that the establishment would strike down.

So Sanders did what any wise old warrior would do.

He conceded the battle, so that we might win the war.

And Clinton will get the college bill passed through, whereas Sanders would not have been able to.

She has the contacts in the House and Senate to make it happen.

It will become the cornerstone of her presidency.

She will act like she thought of it and the uninformed will talk about what a hero she is and she will stand on the stage and wave and smile and some impoverished child somewhere will show their report card to their mother and their mother will smile and say..

“Thanks to Hillary, you will be able to become a doctor if you keep this up.”

And those millions of educated young people will go out and change the world for the better.

So just in case you missed it..

That’s what Bernie Sanders gave to America today.

If my work adds value to your life, please consider donating $1 by clicking HERE. Why support Independent writing? Because corporate journalism is an oxymoron.

 

 

 

 

 

This Was Never About Bernie Sanders

“I need to write, but I don’t know what to write.” I told my girlfriend, Carrie. “I really don’t know what to tell people. I’m angry. I’m hurt and I’m feeling defeated and if there’s one thing this campaign does not allow, it is negativity. I’m trying to put a positive spin on all of this, but the fact of the matter is that the corporations decided that Clinton was going to be President years ago and nothing was going to change that. I don’t think any of us realized how deep the corruption went. We knew it, but we weren’t prepared for it. I don’t know if it will take violent revolution to take back our government or if everyone just needs to run for office and I’m not sure either one would work anyway. I don’t know what to do and I certainly don’t know what to write, but I feel miserable and only writing helps with that.”

“Write about that.” Carrie said. “Write about the fact that you’re scared, angry and confused, because everyone else is too.”

Carrie is right.

Because I AM scared.

I AM angry.

And I AM confused.

And I know this is exactly what THEY want me to feel.

As I say “THEY”, I realize I sound like a crazy person, which to be fair, I surely am at this point…

I am the fly ramming it’s head into the windshield, hoping without reason, that the next time I will smash through this invisible barrier and find my freedom.

The fly’s friends say “Come play with us.”

The fly says “But there is this barrier imprisoning me.”

The flies laugh.

They do not see the barrier.

Like the insane fly, I feel the invisible barrier and like the insane fly I am bludgeoning myself to death trying to fight it.

I rage against the machine, but the machine feels no rage for me.

It is dispassionate, churning forward, crushing everything in it’s path, seemingly unstoppable, completely unconcerned with the life it severs between it’s blades.

The machine exists only to become stronger.

As science fiction writers pontificate the inevitability of Artificial Intelligence enslaving the human race, I watch this occur, but with corporations, before my very eyes.

I watch as they purchase my government and pass laws to protect their sovereignty.

I watch as they purchase the media, so they can program our minds.

I watch them tear down good people and exult fools, all in the name of selling products.

I listen to their lies , but rarely believe them.

I am defective.

The programming won’t take.

Syntax string error.

File not found exception.

Return to factory.

Wipe drive.

Scrap for parts.

The ones who cannot see the barrier say…

“Bernie lost. Hillary had more voters. Stop crying and unite the party or else we get Trump.”

It would be comical, if it weren’t so tragic.

There is nothing you can say to these people.

They are asleep in The Matrix and you cannot wake them.

If they had a desire to be awake, they would have awoken already.

I do not envy them their blissful sleep, nor do I begrudge them it.

It is just how they were programmed.

Willful ignorance is an effective method of maintaining one’s sanity.

The path to enlightenment is fraught with peril, but it is to those seeking the truth to whom I speak, when I say…

This was never about Bernie Sanders.

It actually pains me to say that, because I, like you, have tremendous love for this amazing man.

I, the cynical misanthrope, who held everyone with skepticism, fell madly, head over heels in love with a man I have never actually met.

So, there is a part of me, that just wants this whole thing to be about Bernie Sanders.

But this is not about Bernie Sanders.

This was never about Bernie Sanders.

When I was a child, I had the innocence required to hold rock stars in idolatry.

My bedroom was a shrine, walls covered with the musical prophets of my time.

One by one, the pictures and delusions came down, to be replaced with the harsh realities of adulthood, where simply keeping sane is an accomplishment that few could honestly lay claim to.

One by one the idealistic song lyrics were replaced with a 9 to 5 that became a 9 to 6  and then a 9 to 7 and all those ambitions of changing the world had to be fit into an occasional act of civil disobedience.

I marched for this cause or that cause, but wondered if I was doing anymore than just stroking my own desire to feel like I was actually making a difference…

And I doubted that I was making a difference.

Then Bernie Sanders stood up in a backyard somewhere in the Midwest.

He opened his mouth and said what I had been thinking my entire life.

And people came from miles around to hear this message.

Bernie Sanders saw the barrier and he asked us to fly into it with him.

Bernie Sanders reawakened a part of me that I thought was dead.

I started making t-shirts.

I hung his picture on my wall.

Bernie Sanders was and is my rock star.

So when I say “This was never about Bernie Sanders.” it cuts me very deeply, because I really wanted it to be about him.

I’ve seen the 80’s movie where the boy loses the girl, but gains a lesson about life and I’ve seen the 80’s movie where the girl wakes up and sees that the perfect boy was there all along.

I really wanted the world to wake up.

Just this once, I wanted the happy ending.

From day one, Bernie told us, what this was about.

You can forgive us if we lost ourselves from time to time, as we were bathed in a light so bright, we were often intoxicated, our brains swimming in serotonin, flooded with the promise of revolution and starstruck by one so simple and humble.

Bernie Sanders was our flaming arrow, shot from a mile away, drifting unnoticed over the battlefield, with a trajectory destined for the Emperor’s heart.

But Sanders reminded us daily that it was “Not me, but US.” who were responsible for Our Revolution.

Bernie reminded us that WE are the arrows.

Bernie reminded us that revolution only happens when millions stand together.

Now, as the establishment gloats over another victory, taken at the expense of those they were sworn to serve…

As the Emperor swats away the flaming arrow and smiles indignantly, completely ignorant to the fact that a million more have already been launched and that there is simply no way to deflect them all.

As the establishment laughs at our great effort, I am reminded..

That this was never about Bernie Sanders.

This was always about YOU.

Just as a young Bernard Sanders stood up in 1962 to fight against segregation, YOU must stand up, every time you see injustice.

Just as Sanders had the guts to be dragged away in handcuffs, fighting every step of the way, WE must have the courage to stare evil in it’s face and not let our fears stand in the way of doing what is right.

Just as Bernie reluctantly accepted a position in government, so that he could serve the people of his community, we must also step up and take charge of our own government.

This was never about Bernie Sanders, but Sanders has been our light, leading us back to the path when we were lost.

This was never about Bernie Sanders, but Sanders reminded us of the importance of standing up and refusing to sit down in the face of oppression.

This was never about Bernie Sanders, but Sanders is the one who dusted us off and told us to get back in the game.

And I pledge to myself, to you, to my children and yes, to Bernie, to never forget his example.

I promise to oppose evil everywhere I see it.

I promise to feed the hungry and put the greater good ahead of my own gain.

I promise to take up positions of service when I am needed and I promise to oppose and expose those who use the suffering of others for their profit.

I promise to never settle for the lesser evil, but always strive for the greater good.

This was never about Bernie Sanders.

This has always been about revolution.

This has always been about us.

So what now?

Like I said, in the beginning, I don’t know…

But I’m searching..

I will be in Philadelphia on July 24th because Bernie Sanders asked me to be there and I strongly encourage you to use any and all means necessary to get there as well.

If you don’t have the money to go, then you need to go.

Our Revolution is about standing up for the poor.

If you are afraid that you will be arrested, then you need to be there.

Our Revolution is about standing up to government oppression.

If you feel that your presence there will not make a difference, then by all means, find a way to get to Philadelphia.

You need to see firsthand what a million people united can accomplish.

We do not go because we believe that the “super-delegates” will see us and grow a conscience.

We know that the majority of them are sociopaths that care nothing for human suffering.

We know that they have already been bought and paid for, before the first vote was even cast.

We know they will support the evil one, because they want to protect their power.

We do not go to change their sick, selfish-minds.

We go to stand in solidarity with one another.

We go to remind them that Our Revolution is strong and that if you oppress us then we will come back more powerful than before.

We go to be the conscience of those who have no conscience.

We go because they built a wall to keep us out.

We go because they were planning to put us in prison, before the ACLU stepped in and said “NO WAY!!!” and because to fear one’s government is completely unacceptable.

We go, because to not go would let them think that we were okay with what they are doing.

We go to let them see the generations of voters, activists and volunteers that will be working against them.

We go to Philadelphia for liberty.

We go for justice.

We go because we are revolutionaries.

If what I do brings value to your life, please consider donating $1 HERE. I am attempting to build a small Progressive media outlet that is untouched by corporate interests.

 

 

Dear Democratic Party, I’m Leaving You and I’m Taking the Kids

As an American citizen, I have some expectation that I have a voice in my government.

This is probably naive, but this belief is a huge part of the foundation on which I build my happiness.

This is not simply an entitlement.

It is a right paid in blood by the warriors who came before me and one I have a duty to pay forward.

Millions gave their lives for democracy.

America invades developing nations in the name of democracy.

Our country was founded on the idea of giving liberty to those who were oppressed by tyrannical governments.

Democracy is the cornerstone of what makes us America and if we are even to begin to make the argument that this is the greatest country in the world, then we must first be willing to fight for the rights of all citizens to have a say in this social contract we are all engaged in.

Rigging an election, rather it is done in a blatant manner, like actually using machines to flip votes or in a more subtle manner, like working with the corporate media to convince Americans that one candidate has already won, in an attempt to discourage citizens from exercising their voice, is more than just a slap in the face to the American voter, it is an assault on the sacrifices of the brave women and men who laid down their lives for our right to participate in a democracy.

It is the ultimate in cowardice.

It is a crime against our ancestors.

The blood of heroes means nothing to those who feed on power.

The cries of the poor and evaporating middle-class disappear into a bottomless, corporate void.

They see an America where you have to pay to be heard.

They see an America where money buys power and the poverty stricken fight for the crumbs of a faux democracy.

I have always been a proud Democrat.

I spent my life going to rallies and protests, writing letters, raising awareness on liberal issues and trying to help those in need.

The Democrats aligned themselves closely with the issues that were near and dear to my heart.

For 25 years I fought for LBGT+ rights, fair immigration laws, a woman’s right to choose, gun control and fair working conditions for all Americans.

Although I am a cliche vegetarian, bleeding-heart artist, who boycotts Monsanto, WalMart, Chic Fil A and Hobby Lobby…

Although I am a steadfast ally for equality for all humans..

Although, I am in every way, a liberal..

I am no longer, in any way, a Democrat.

My former party has aligned itself with corporate greed and although you won’t find them pounding The Bible or fighting against Roe v Wade, they are every bit as reprehensible, in the fact that they are now loyal only to corporations and they no longer represent the will of the people.

 

When my party decides to build A WALL(!!!) around their convention, in fear that perhaps democracy might find a way in, then they are no longer my party.

When my party crowns an Empress, before the first vote is even cast, then they are no longer my party.

When my party colludes with corporate media heads to falsify “the news” and deceive the American people into not voting, then they are no longer my party.

In August, when I arrive home from the “Democratic” Convention and the (not so) super-delegates hammer the final nail into the coffin of our democracy by anointing Hillary Clinton, then I will leave the “Democratic” Party and spend the remainder of my years fighting against them.

This is not about sour grapes.

I’m a leftist in a conservative state.

I’m used to losing.

This is about defending democracy against a party that repeatedly used closed primary voter suppression and blatant electioneering to nominate a corporately-owned Oligarch, who does not represent the people.

This is about stopping the internal usurping of my party by lobbyists for the ruling elite.

This is about shining a bright light into the dark corners of a party that takes millions from those who exploit our citizens and then pretends to fight against those very entities.

This is about finally realizing that the lesser of two evils is still evil.

This is about fighting for something good and decent, before it is too late.

I cannot pretend to be innocent.

I have been complicit in their wily subterfuge.

I knew the system was rigged, but the “Democratic” Party are masters of marketing.

They knew that if they ran the right cult of personality, then well meaning fools like myself would fall in line smiling, feeling as if we had done some good by fighting against the Bush’s and Romney’s in the party of evil.

A good ol boy, who plays the sax and jogs to McDonald’s every morning?

“He’s got my vote!!”

A charismatic black man who promises hope and change and simultaneously placates my white guilt?

“It’s about time!!”

A female candidate to make me feel like I’m doing my part to overcome centuries of oppression aimed at women and an opportunity to elect someone my daughter can look up to?

This is the part in the movie where you hear the sound of the needle clumsily falling off the record.

I know about Hillary Clinton.

I know what she did and I know what she stands for.

I already said no to her in 2008 and what I have learned about her since, means that I could never, in good conscience, vote for her.

Sorry, I already bailed out the big banks.

I certainly won’t be supporting their candidate.

The Democratic Party has marginalized the poor and middle-class; the very foundation that once made them great.

They do not stand for the people, any more than Republicans do.

It is all one gigantic bi-partisan puppet show, where corporations pull the strings of party-aligned marionettes, in an off Broadway production designed to distract and amuse the American voter.

In the post Citizen’s United America, it is no longer about party representation.

It is about who signs your checks.

When a genocidal, sociopathic, racist, recently homophobic, Goldman Sach’s sponsored, TPP lobbying, wire-tapping,  arms-trading, child-rapist defending, Henry Kissinger protege is now the face of my party…

Then I guess I’m at the wrong party.

I voted for Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry and Barack Obama…

But I will not, under any circumstance, vote for Hillary Clinton.

And I am as much of a feminist as anyone you will ever meet.

If Bernie Sanders does not create a new party, then I will be voting for Jill Stein and that is based on policy, NOT genitalia.

My fear and loathing for Hillary Clinton is based on her past transgressions and the absolute danger that I know she will be to world peace should she be allowed to steal this “election”.

My fear and loathing for Hillary Clinton is based on the fact that I know where her money comes from and to hand over the keys to the kingdom to her is the same as handing them over to the multi-national corporations themselves.

“If you don’t vote for Clinton then we will have President Trump!!”

Yeah, yeah, I thought about this.

Better to bear down and tough it out with Trump and get another shot at a Progressive in four years, then to allow Clinton to ruin 2020 also (some may not realize that the President runs unopposed by their own party if running for a second term, so a Clinton presidency would ruin any chance for a Progressive Democrat to run in 2020).

As bad as Trump is, he would just spin his wheels for four years.

Both Republicans and Democrats would vote down everything he tried to do.

The insiders hate him.

He has no government experience.

He can’t navigate it.

He would just be a four-year Jon Stewart punchline.

Trump is not the answer, but four years of his buffoonery is infinitely better than losing two elections to Clinton and her war machine.

Trump only talks about doing awful things.

Clinton has a proven track record of actually doing them.

I will give my party one final chance to keep me.

I will load up my car and drive to Philadelphia.

I will support Senator Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination.

I will be a tiny dot in a sea of people who want to give their former party one final chance to save itself.

And if the party does not nominate Senator Sanders and right these awful wrongs perpetrated on the American people by this sham of an election, then we will form a new party from the ashes of the Democrats.

I will give the Democratic Party one last chance to keep me, because I want to believe that we can rebuild this from the inside.

I want to believe that all of this new blood that Senator Sanders brought into my old party will cleanse it of corruption and keep it going strong for another fifty years.

I want to believe that there are enough good people left in the party to wrestle it away from the corporate virus that has caused it to rot from the inside out.

I want to believe we can save the Democratic Party…

But if we can’t, we will walk away..

And build something new and inspiring.

 

 

An Open Letter to Bernie Sanders

Our family on voting day.

Dear Bernie,

I hope this letter finds you well.

I write you today on behalf of tens of millions of Americans and untold numbers worldwide.

I write first and foremost to say “Thank you.”.

Thank you for taking the time to serve your country and humankind.

I, like you, have often chosen service over material gains.

As a result, I am a 43 year old man, with under $1000 to my name.

I am not worried about it.

It is a choice I have made to have a rich, full life, rather than play a game that someone else has laid out for me.

I may not have much money, but every single day I am able to touch the lives of many people.

I have traveled around the country with my family volunteering for you.

It has been one of the most incredible experiences of my life.

Several times I was close enough to you to reach out and touch you and every time I chose instead to help others to reach you and meet you.

Had I been able to shake your hand, all I would have said is “Thank you”.

And in the firm squeeze of your palm I would have hoped to convey the following;

Thank you for speaking the truth, when it was more profitable to lie.

Thank you for inspiring my children to care about the American political system.

Thank you for being decent and kind and never resorting to the mudslinging of your opposition.

And thank you for calling attention to the real issues facing America today in a profound and genuine way that will reverberate infinitely.

I want you to know that you have made a significant change in our country and your message is being felt and practiced on a daily basis by millions of Americans.

At the campaign office in Columbus, Ohio.

I often think of how tired you must be.

I watch you move and speak day after day and often wonder where you find the energy.

I suspect you are like me, tired, but inspired to serve something greater than yourself.

I suspect you are like me, in the fact that you are often working and missing your loved ones.

I suspect you are like me and sometimes wonder if the mountain is too steep to climb, but know that there really isn’t any choice, for there are millions who cannot even take the first step without our help.

 

I know you are about to have a meeting with Hillary Clinton and I know that there is tremendous pressure on you to “unite the party”.

I know that there are people who you call friends who have not been there for you, when you needed them most.

I also know that you face being ostracized by the establishment that you have worked within for the last 40 years.

I know that if you say the words that they want you to say, then you can go back to Vermont, continue to serve your constitutes and make a real difference in their lives.

But, with outrageous audacity, I dare ask you an incredible favor.

Collecting signatures to get Bernie on the ballot in a Republican stronghold in Indiana

I am writing today to ask you to fight on.

I have no right to ask this of you.

My meager donations of time and money are nothing in the face of your great service.

No one would blame you if you decided to return home to cuddle with your grand kids and watch cartoons.

No one would blame you if you decided that you had began a movement and that it was up to US to continue it.

Should you choose to rest, know that we will continue to fan the flames that you have ignited.

Wherever there is injustice, we will stand up in defense of the outcast and downtrodden.

Wherever there is someone in need, we will lift them up.

Wherever someone has had their voice stolen, we will be twice as loud to make sure that they are heard.

We will do what you have always done, Bernie.

We will stand up.

Despite all that you have done, We The People of the United States of America must ask a huge favor of you.

We must ask that you continue on and become the President of the United States.

Chloe and I, canvassing our home state.

If you walk away, and we are left with the “choice” between two historically corrupt candidates, then our battle becomes so much more difficult.

Yes, we will still vote in midterm elections.

Yes, we will replace the House and Senate with true Progressives.

And yes, we will eventually write a constitutional amendment that will overturn Citizens United.

I know you want to fight against Trump, but you cannot do that by asking your followers to support a candidate who is directly opposed to their values.

You have taught us well, Bernie and just as I have raised my children to never blindly accept authority, we will never vote for Hillary Clinton, even if you asked us to.

So, you see, there is only one way out of this spectacular mess.

We must finish what we have started.

You must become the next President of the United States.

 

You have more support than your two opponents combined.

If you run through to November, we will put the finest minds our country has, to finding a way to make sure that every vote is counted and you will win by a margin of historic proportions.

If you have a way to win the convention then by all means, fight on to Philadelphia.

I am a delegate.

I will be inside fighting for you.

I do not care how you do it, please know that we have only just begun to fight.

If you run on The Green Party ticket with Jill Stein, I will head up the effort to get The Green Party on the ballot in the remaining 30 states.

If you run as an Independent, I will collect whatever signatures are needed and show up in any court room that is required to make sure that people can vote for you in November.

 

Bernie, you are not in this alone and it is not your job to unite a party that is corrupt beyond repair.

In this, your darkest hour, please know that tens of millions stand united beside you.

You are my President, Bernie Sanders.

Run through until November and you will be our nation’s President.

We’re still with you.

Sincerely,

Our Family

Sharpen Your Pitchforks America – This Could Get Ugly

I stayed in bed as long as I could this morning.

Usually I spring up at 7:00, but today I was determined to stay horizontal until life forced me up.

I held Carrie and tried not to think about California.

I knew that today was going to be a long day.

I knew that the corporate media was going to announce that Hillary Clinton had won the Democratic nomination, in an attempt to convince the American people to stay home on this final primary election day.

I knew it two weeks ago when Chris Mathews sat with an arrogant smirk and taunted Sanders’ campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, by asking what would happen to voter turnout if the TV networks prematurely announced that Hillary Clinton had won the Democratic nomination?

So I stayed in bed holding my girlfriend.

I didn’t want to deal with it.

Today was supposed to be a day filled with joy, as the good people of California stood up in mass against the corporate fascism of Hillary Clinton.

Today was supposed to be the latest in a series of YUGE steps Americans took towards restoring our country to a Democracy.

Glancing at my phone to check the time, I turned back over and mumbled

“Somethings wrong. I have 4500 messages.”

The messages were all pretty much the same…

“The media is saying Hillary Clinton won before voting has even begun!!! What do we do?!!”

First of all, let me state that I am just a normal guy.

I am not an insider by any stretch.

There is really nothing special to qualify me as a person who can answer this question.

My college professors always told me that it was important that I establish my expertise at the beginning of every paper, but I’d rather be open and honest with my readers.

I’m just a normal guy.

A little over a year ago, I told my girlfriend and my children that the next 18 months of my life would be dedicated to doing “everything I can to get Bernie Sanders elected.”

And that is exactly what I have done.

I’ve canvassed all over the Midwest, phonebanked from Iowa to California, donated every dime that I could and have created a ton of content for social media outlets, everything from stop-motion animation, all the way to original music production and a plethora of other mediums (this article for example).

My entire life has been dedicated to this movement.

This does not make me special.

I am one of millions.

I am a cog in a powerful and beautiful machine.

But I am flattered that for whatever reason, people look to me for answers.

I invest about 4-8 hours a day to reading, in hopes that I can actually give some small amount of wisdom to the conundrums that arise from being on a team that is literally in direct opposition to the establishment.

So I’m sitting here writing, not because I have the answers, but because I am searching for them.

“The media is saying Hillary Clinton won before voting has even begun!!! What do we do?!!”

First off, if you are one of those who thinks that Hillary Clinton actually has more support than Bernie Sanders, then just stop reading now.

If you are insistent on burying your head deep in the sand then I cannot help you.

This article (like ALL my articles) is for those who are fed up with living in a Republic controlled by corporations.

It’s a funny thing that Bernie Sanders has been overflowing arenas several times daily for a solid year, while Clinton can’t fill a high-school gymnasium and yet there are people who actually believe that she has more votes than Sanders.

She does not.

There are several different types of electioneering and voter suppression happening on the “Democratic” side of the aisle concurrently and NONE of it is being reported by the corporate media.

 

As long as Comcast, NewsCorp and Time Warner are donating millions to the Clinton campaign, I wouldn’t be expecting anything resembling  journalism to be coming out of your television anytime soon.

These multinational corporations want to protect their assets.

They do not pay taxes and they aren’t about to start.

Sanders will tax them, whereas Hillary will continue to allow them to slip through loopholes and store their money in offshore accounts.

Clinton is a great investment if you are a billionaire.

She talks and talks about how she is going to overturn Citizens United, while taking millions from corporations.

Bernie Sanders represents the people.

Hillary Clinton represents the corporations.

 

 

 

So the first part of the answer to the question of…

“The media is saying Hillary Clinton won before voting has even begun!!! What do we do?!!”

Is to contact your local cable provider and disconnect your service.

I know Game of Thrones is on, but that’s what you have to do.

No one ever said revolution would be easy.

 

In addition to the corporate media brainwashing of the masses, we have also had more blatant issues of voter suppression and electioneering.

Clinton has a hard time rigging the caucuses, due to their transparency, but not for lack of effort.

In Iowa she had paid staff dress up in red uniforms and pretend they were Sanders volunteers to give misinformation to caucus goers.

In one incident, where there were thousands of Sanders supporters in a precinct, the Clinton organizer told them that the building had exceeded fire safety capacity and that they needed to go outside.

Once outside, the doors were locked and the Hillary caucus-goers, who were privy to the trickery and told to stay inside, then voted, giving Clinton the precinct “victory”.

There are videos of Clinton campaign staff telling volunteers to break election laws and if caught “ask forgiveness, instead of permission”.

There was more election fraud caught in Illinois, but again this was not reported by corporate media, nor was it corrected.

More allegations in Massachusetts and Kentucky went unreported by corporate media.

In Arizona, there was massive voter suppression, again favoring Hillary Clinton.

The Clinton camp could not be reached for comment on any of these attacks on democracy.

Across the country, normally accurate, exit polling showed numbers not matching up, always in Clinton’s favor.

The “news” outlet’s smoking gun?

They decide to cancel exit polling for the remaining primaries.

In New York, Sanders’ voters were purged and denied their right to vote.

In California, 18 million new No Party Preference voters registered in the weeks leading up to June 7, but on voting day, 12 million of them were not counted, and Clinton somehow won the state even though exit polls showed a 17 point disparity versus how the actual votes were counted.

I am not even speaking of the audacity of closed primaries, which disenfranchised millions of Sanders voters legally.

4.4 million Sanders’ voters were turned away in Arizona and New York combined, not to mention tens of millions more legally disenfranchised nationally.

Obvious fraud in Nevada  was reported and recorded, yet corporate media was absent until they realized that the story wasn’t going away, so they spun it into a fairy tale about how Sanders’ supporters were violent.

It is clear to anyone paying attention that Sanders has millions more supporters than does Clinton.

After a solid year of seeing Sanders speaking to overflow stadiums and Clinton speaking to empty high-school gymnasiums (the average Clinton crowd is 348 people), the question needs to be answered…

Where are all the Hillary Clinton voters?

 

“So the election is rigged.

We already knew that.

What can we do?”

What we can do is Bern the “Democratic” party to the ground.

Instructions from the top are coming.

What you must NOT do, at any cost, is vote for Hillary Clinton.

Trump will increase the severity of his rhetoric going forward and this will cause the weak-minded to say

“I don’t like Hillary, but I will vote for her in order to keep Hitler II out of office.”

Don’t allow yourself to be duped by this game.

A vote for Clinton, after she has rigged our election process, is a vote for fascism.

We will deal with Trump in November.

Had Sanders lost in a fair election he would have endorsed Clinton and she would have defeated Trump, but there is no chance of that happening at this point.

 

Clinton is trailing Trump in the polls and that will only get worse as the reluctant GOP will finally endorse Trump and millions of voters will support Trump, simply because he is not Hillary Clinton.

If you are registered as a Democrat STAY registered Democrat until Sanders has his say at the convention.

Should the Super-delegates commit career suicide and nominate Clinton, Sanders will accept Jill Stein’s invitation to run on The Green Party ticket and the race to get The Green Party on the ballot in all 50 states will begin (currently The Green Party is on the ballot in 20 states, but those states make up more than the 270 electoral votes required to win the general election).

 

Undoubtedly, Clinton will try to rig the election in November.

We have until then to implement safeguards against this.

We must oppose her at every front.

She is a dictator that will take away many of our freedoms if she is able to rise to power.

This is a woman who has a history of supporting spying on American citizens.

If she is able to gain control of the United States Military, millions more will die at her hands.

We must stop her.

The why’s are present.

The how will present itself.

Sharpen your pitchforks, Americans.

This could get ugly.