Forum Post: it comes down to voting
Posted 12 years ago on Dec. 12, 2011, 9:37 p.m. EST by zati321
(169)
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the ows should be out there working for obama, like the tea party has done so effectively for republicans. im sorry we dont have much time to get our act together before the election to "find ourselves," find out "who we are," but that's the way it is. right now, the ows is an embarrassment to the d party and the tea party is laughing at the ows not having its act together. the d agenda IS the ows agenda. the choice is between newt gingrich and obama....or some 3rd party protest candidate who has no chance in hell of winning. if you want to be relevant, if you want this movement tobe something REAL and not just fantasies of toppling the govt and creating a utopia, WAKE UP. the time is now.
If we get a third party candidate that splits democrat vote we, to put it lightly, are screwed. We will basically be putting in a conservative like Bush and this country can not survive another bad president at this critical point. It would be disastrous. Just like dems would love to see the conservatives split the vote sending Obama sailing in for a second term (so we can have real health care reform), they would do the same to us if they could. In these days of dirt politics we must fight tooth and nail or we risk losing it all. Some of us already have. How much more pain and suffering shall we endure.
Wake Up NOW before it's too late!!!
Thanks but no thanks
http://www.nycga.net/groups/the-99-declaration-working-group/
It would be interesting to see a viable third party candidate but that would only guarantee a Republican victory. Because likely the people who would be voting for a OWS-backed third party are those who normally would have voted for the Democrats. So the votes would be split and the Republicans would get one of their people in as president. No one wants that. If a Republican were to win the presidency, then the OWS movement would be suppressed into non-existence by the GOP and everyone and anyone who participates in OWS protests, meetings, blogs, etc. would be closely followed, spied-on, video taped, phone-tapped, and arrested by the FBI.
maybe we can affect more change by stayin outside of the box and pressure all candidates.
how can the tea party laugh when we are so much bigger and stronger then them?
lsn45, this is my point exactly: the democrats OPPOSE the citizens united decision while the republicans(those who actually give their opoinon) all support it.
in 2010, in the contested races, r's outspent d's EIGHT TO ONE due to this staggering ruling which overturned a century of law and made america unique in this regard in the entire developed world. what more do you need to know?
Let me suggest that these protests could go for something bigger than the next election. We have had the "lesser of two evils" thing going on for decades. The establishment controls both the right and left and are laughing all the way to the bank as everyday Americans polarize into camps like a hometown football rivalry. It may take years, but the message needs to be reforming our election laws to get the corporate and special interest money out of the equation. Here's my 2 cents:
There are a lot of improvements that need to be made. The list reforms people Americans want to see is long and varied depending on who you talk to. That said, I believe there is one reform that would provide the American people the best chances of seeing other meaningful reforms actually happen - that is REAL, loop-hope free CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM! I have seen others on this site calling this the "fulcrum" or pivotal issue. Right now the current legalized bribery, pay-to-play system of campaign donations and paid lobbyists has disenfranchised the American voter. Until this is fixed, any other reform the politicians may try to placate us with (be it a change to healthcare, clamping down predatory school loans, new financial regulations, etc.) will be about as effective as a farmer putting a new roof on his CHICKEN COOP, but still letting the FOX guard it.
We need to go back to the original political currency. Instead of the current system of who can collect the most money from corporations and special interests it should be who has the BEST IDEAS to EFFECTIVELY RUN THE COUNTRY (we don't need "Wealth Redistribution," what we need is "Political Influence Redistribution")!
For the sake our our children and future generations of Americans, we need to take back our democracy from the rich and powerful who are using their vast sums of money to "speak" as if they represent millions of Americans. This "Corporate Personhood" that has crept into our laws is allowing them to manipulating our policies in their favor at the expense of the average American (the recent "Citizens United" Supreme Court ruling is a miscarriage of justice and must be reversed. The $50 or $100 a normal American may give to a political campaign becomes meaningless when corporations or other special interests are handing our millions to buy political access to the decision making process.
For decades now the corporations and special interests have had our "representatives" bought and paid for (both on the right and the left). Concentrating our efforts on getting the money out of our politics is the best way we can create an environment in which further reforms can be realized. Until we end the current system of legalized bribery (campaign donations) and paid lobbying our politicians will continue to be the LAP DOGS of the corporations and special interests. What we need first and foremost is real, loop-hole free CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM!!!! If the corruption is not dealt with first, the chance of any other meaningful reforms becoming a reality is almost zero - the special interests will just use their money to buy votes and put forward bills that create loop-holes or otherwise twist the law in their favor. If we want our children to live in a country where there vote matters, we need to get the money out of our politics, otherwise they will increasingly become the 21st century version of the "landless peasant." Spread the word - End the LEGALIZED BRIBERY!!! CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM needs to be THE main goal of the protests!!!
mark, extremists never get anywhere in american politics. ralph nader, at his best, got around 2 percent of the vote in 2000. unfortuantly, we needed that 2 percent: nader cost gore the election and gave us bush, iraq, a crashed economy, a trashed environment, and 2 corporatist evangelicals on the supreme court for the next 30 years...
what policy has ows had a direct effect on?
You'll find plenty of people here who worship your god Obama. We more intelligent ones don't(nor do we worship republicans) but lots of people here really aren't that smart. And it's finally nice to see the DNC actually admit they are behind OWS.