America's One-Party System: The Party of Power

[NightOwwl]

War for Profit, Drones, Limits on Freedom, NSA, Big Pharma, Wall Street Connections, Back-room Deals. The government is an entity that has morphed into something obscene. Lobbyists literally buy and sell votes. Many of the jobs and committees exist only to pad someones bank account. What we call politics is a never-ending divide and conquer campaign designed to play people against each other while tptb play their war-for-profit games.

Are there good and decent people in government? People who really want to make a positive change? I'm sure. But they learn fast to shut up and do what they are told. Or they see the corruption first-hand and want no part of it. The really good ones - the ones who don't back down - well, you know what happens to them. Policies, both foreign and domestic, always remain the same regardless of which party holds the majority.



What gets me the most though, is the incredible damage done to the American people in the name of 'freedom and democracy'. It makes me sick, actually. In order to keep the wool over voter's eyes, the Wall of Fear is used. This is a phrase used often by Wall Street insiders - it refers to the 24/7 stream of fear producing 'news' that is designed to keep the populace in a state of constant anxiety. And reading through these forums I can see it is working as planned.

I remember the emotional roller-coaster all too well; the brief celebration when 'my' candidate won, only to feel gut-wrenching disappointment when he seemed to turn into a completely different person almost overnight; the constant worry over who would win the next election; the non-stop hate between right and left. I lived in a fishbowl where everything I experienced was tainted with hate, fear, worry and partisan divisiveness.



If you enjoy the political game, if you are happy and content - I am happy for you. But if you go to bed worried and wake up worried; if you always feel an undercurrent of anxiety - it's not because the world is on the brink of collapse, and it's not because there is something wrong with you. Your emotions are being put through the wringer - on purpose - so politicians can stay in power in their cushy jobs. But you are not obligated in any way to these sadistic, soulless individuals. You can leave the fishbowl for the world, anytime.

[el_bryanto]

1. So there is no difference between say Ted Cruz and Elizabeth Warren?

Are you sure you are on the right website for this sort of argument?

Bryant

[NightOwwl]

6. No, apparently I made a wrong turn.

I thought this was a progressive forum, but all I see are minds shut so tight nothing can get in.

[el_bryanto]

7. Does it ever occur to you that people's minds are open, they have reviewed your opinion

with an open mind, and then come to the conclusion that it's nonsense?

Or is the only reason someone would reject your "truths" that their minds are closed?

Bryant

[NightOwwl]

8. Considering the replies were almost immediate...

and the tone quite hostile,

I doubt people took any time at all to think about what I wrote.

[el_bryanto]

9. Well you have been writing on this theme for a few days now

It's not like you haven't been clear about your opinion of the Democratic Party.

Bryant

[NightOwwl]

14. 30 years Bryant. 30 years I supported and voted and sent money to the Democratic Party.

Nuff said.

[el_bryanto]

16. Do you think that anybody who has also supported the Democratic Party for the last 30

years would disagree with your assessment?

Bryant

[NightOwwl]

26. Is the sky blue, is the moon made of green cheese?

anymore questions - pm me.

[NightOwwl]

13. I didn't say that...you did.

[el_bryanto]

18. Hmmm - than let me ask a clarifying question

Do you see any value in supporting Elizabeth Warren's political campaigns?

[NightOwwl]

21. If I were still a passionate liberal who believed it would make a difference, yes.

I hope she's not stifled, but I had high hopes for Obama too and he is not who he portrayed himself to be when he was campaigning. He's either been stifled or he was not entirely truthful during his campaign. I'll go with stifled.

[madokie]

2. Big difference between the two parties

this is right wing clap trap

[NightOwwl]

24. That's the fishbowl I'm talking about.

Last edited Thu Jan 8, 2015, 01:16 PM - Edit history (1)

It should never be forgotten that, in the struggle between the nations, it is in the interest of each one of them that the other should be weakened by internal struggle. Hence it is always possible to pose the question of whether the parties exist by virtue of their own strength, as their own necessity, or whether rather they only exist to serve the interests of others.
- Antonio Gramsci

Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong.
-Richard Armour,American Poet

All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field.
-Albert Einstein

Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule — and both commonly succeed, and are right.
- H.L. Mencken

We have, I fear, confused power with greatness.
-Stewart Udall

Mankind will never see an end of trouble until... lovers of wisdom come to hold political power, or the holders of power... become lovers of wisdom.
-Plato

Politics — I don't know why, but they seem to have a tendency to separate us, to keep us from one another, while nature is always and ever making efforts to bring us together.
- Sean O'Casey

Politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed.
-Mao Zedong

I remember you from years ago when I was a regular poster on DU, btw.

[SidDithers]

3. Naderite horseshit...

Sid

[NightOwwl]

23. Not quite

There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.'
- John Adams

[cascadiance]

4. Yep, they WANT you to fight on issues like gay marriage and abortion while they outsource your jobs

... and do other things to move the nation's wealth in to their hands... The corporatist "uber party" over both of these pseudo parties will continue winning until we at some point say it is just as if not important to fix the fundamental breakdowns of the democratic system that they've been working on under the covers while they have us fight each other on these other issues to keep us from uniting against them and their wealthy but powerful .01 % minority of people.

That's not to say that those social issues aren't important to resolve, but does anyone think they will get resolved completely while these people are in power? NO! They want them to persist as distractions for us to worry about while they rob us blind!

We need to throw these corporate thieves out of office. Until we realize that this is a bipartisan problem we face, we'll just be pushed more in to economic slavery each year.

We can start by getting some unity to stop the TPP. Rank and file Republicans complain about losing our sovereignty to the UN. If they realize that the TPP is far more apt to lose the sovereignty of our government than the UN ever will, they will then realize that this is both of our battles to work on and fight against. "Fast track" is institutionalizing their ability to hide what they are doing from us and for them to shut down a system that was set up by our forefathers to ensure transparency and majority support of such global measures.

[pampango]

11. "We can start by getting some unity to stop the TPP. Rank and file Republicans complain about losing

our sovereignty to the UN. If they realize that the TPP is far more apt to lose the sovereignty of our government than the UN ever will, they will then realize that this is both of our battles to work on and fight against. "Fast track" is institutionalizing their ability to hide what they are doing from us and for them to shut down a system that was set up by our forefathers to ensure transparency and majority support of such global measures."

There is already plenty of "unity" on TPP from the right. The republican base opposes TPP more than Democrats and really, really oppose 'fast track' more than Democrats.

That does not in itself make TPP good or bad but there is plenty of room for "unity" in opposing it.

[NightOwwl]

12. I don't know what TPP is.

Whatever it is, I'm not stressing about it.

And it won't make any difference in the end.

Some may disagree, but it is not my responsibility to shoulder all the world's problems. After all, isn't that what we are paying our politicians for? It is my responsibility to take care of me and the lives of those I touch. Some immediately assume I am apathetic - but I have helped more people in the last three years than the entire thirty years I was under the spell of politics.

Jesse Stein - just an everyday guy, wrote a book called Insider Buy Superstocks. He turned 40k into 6.8 million. He doesn't know who ISIS is. He doesn't care, because he knows it's just the latest in a never-ending series of fear-mongering. He's doing what is right for him, just as I am doing what is right for me. In the event of a natural disaster, or an world-altering event like 9-11, Jesse and I will hear about it, whether we are glued to the media or not.

[cascadiance]

22. That you don't know about TPP is BY DESIGN, and it should scare the hell out of you and others here.

Republicans rant about the UN being a means to take away our nation's sovereignty and ability to govern ourselves as a country.

TPP will do far worse than anything the UN does in this area, and the WTO throwing out our laws to label tuna as "dolphin safe" from the NAFTA/WTO era will be child's play compared to what corporations will be able to have thrown out for their "rights" in terms of our legislated laws if we sign the TPP in to law. Sovereignty being destroyed should then be a point of agreement that we can get independents and Republicans to join with us to align ourselves against the corporatist 1% that wants to take democracy from us through the TPP.

We need to start a campaign against the TPP at all levels now including both petitions AND resolutions of grass roots party PCP organizations to say NO to this mess and let Obama know that he will destroy his legacy if he signs this instead of vetoing it coming from a Republican controlled congress.

Study the TPP. You'll realize then why it is something you don't know about. It's visibility is being kept low by the PTB in hopes that many like you "won't stress about it" until it's too late and it is already destroying our democratic system.

[NightOwwl]

25. I spent 30 years on that hamster wheel of insanity.

I stopped watching the news. Period.

I will not spend another minute living in fear. Next month it will be something else, and the next and the next. Everything - EVERYTHING you see on the news - has been predetermined and selected for a specific audience to maximize FEAR.

Refusing to sit in the back of the bus is courageous. That is real action for real change.

What in the world does agonizing over the media's fear-of-the-month story accomplish? We have NO control over policy implementation. NONE.

I have one life to live. ONE LIFE. I will not sacrifice my peace, my happiness, my life - for events that may or may not ever happen. I have been where you are. I know where you are coming from, so I'm not just opposing you for the sake of opposing. I have seen the world from inside the fishbowl and it is cramped, uncomfortable, and filled with hate and misery. Now I'm looking at it from the outside. There's a huge world out here - and none of it has anything to do with that decaying system we call Democracy.

Remember Holly Hobby and birth control? Our 'progressive' party put feel-good pictures on their facebook page ("We support Women's Health&quot meanwhile they can't even say they doubt god exists so they play along, and they blame the Supreme Court and they blame the Republicans. But they barely put up a whimper...because it's all about MONEY and PROFIT and they have to do what the real rulers of this country tell them to do. That was the straw that broke the camel's back for me.

Everyone knows the government is corrupt. Filth piled on filth. Who in their right mind would want to be a part of that? No one, and that is why we have idiots like michelle bachman and ted cruz (who by the way are harmless - they are the court jesters paid to rabble-rouse the crowds - but they are too stupid to realize it). Elizabeth Warren seems legit, but she is no stranger to Wall Street profits. The occasional good one does come along - but I fear she will be stifled.

You have to do what feels right for you and I have to do what feels right for me. But if you are living an anxiety-filled, fear-filled life out of a sense of obligation - it should be 100% your choice.

[NightOwwl]

5. I wrote from personal experience, from the heart.

I was a loyal, passionate Democrat for 30 years who, after many years began questioning the party and through research, found that it made no difference which party held the majority.

Politics is all about hate - look at your reactions.

Your words felt like a punch to the gut. I thought this was a progressive forum. Apparently not.

[MohRokTah]

10. Ah jeez,...

[brooklynite]

15. Believe what you want

I see a difference between the Democrats and Republicans and will work to keep the Democrats in power.

You have decided that there's no point supporting the Democrats. Why are you hanging out at a Democratic-supporting website?

[NightOwwl]

19. Thank you for asking.

Because some people might be ready for a change, but they aren't sure what they are looking for.

If a person is anxious all the time, maybe they think it is something within them, when it may very well be due to the anxiety-inducing media. Sometimes it's good to question what we think we know.

I wanted to post something less confrontational than my last post, but still offer some new ideas. Information to think about, not information for argument's sake. I even made sure to say that if you enjoy politics great - but if not...maybe something to think about.

I think this was my third strike though...

[ananda]

17. Soap-boxing propaganda with big ugly pictures...

... just doesn't do it for me.

It has that brass gong ring of the Orwellian dystopia behind it.

I would prefer a thoughtful discussion of what a state can become if people's thinking can be changed for the better or, as in our current state, for the worse.

The symptoms are serious: "War for Profit, Drones, Limits on Freedom, NSA, Big Pharma, Wall Street Connections, Back-room Deals" -- but as Steinbeck would say, these are results not causes.

What is really at stake is the entire thoughtform that is our polis, our state. Thus, if thinking can be changed for the better, so can the state... especially if good thinking leads to taking action humanly and thoughtfully.

[NightOwwl]

20. Well, I'm pretty big on Know Thyself first.

I thought I knew myself, but what I discovered was a lot of what I thought I believed was what I'd been told. I hated who I was told to hate, opposed what I was told to oppose. At the time, I had no doubt those were 100% my opinions and beliefs. But when I dug deep, I found I wasn't that hateful after all, and although I might still oppose or agree with issues - the emotional contortions that used to be part of the package dissipated.

That brings me to your comments. I agree that fixing the symptoms are not fixing the cause. But if we are reacting to issues out of habit, without really understanding why we react the way we do, that could be problematic.

I'm a huge fan of thoughtful discussions. There don't seem to be enough of those these days.