CosmeticDemocracy.com

It’s barely 4 pm EST on Super Tuesday™ and today I get to play pundit by calling the election hours before polls close, even on the east coast.

For me it is clear: the results are in, and America has lost.

2000.
Seven years ago we had what amounts to a coup in the United States, not just a local finagling of votes by a party boss, but a spectacularly mounted calculated and managed effort to ensure who would get to occupy the Oval Office, with players in a number of state houses, in the media and in the Supreme Court.

The country has since gone down a road of increasing isolation, lawlessness, concentration of wealth and power, and colossal abdication of responsibility for the well-being, safety and future living conditions of its vast population.

2001.
The brazen and deadly attacks of September 11, 2001 on symbols of American power, instead of fortifying our resolve to be a strong nation of laws, served instead as a facile excuse for the marketing of fear, burgeoning militarization, increased secrecy, and further concentration of powers in the Executive branch. The fact that the cast of characters involved in this venture had been trying to achieve just that for decades, seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

We have seen the gutting of national founding documents and principles, lies and distortion in nearly every realm of daily official business of state, a growth of secrecy and and the resultant intimidation and shutting down of anything resembling balance of power in our branches of government. Affirmation and repetition have replaced truth and news. Civility has given way to aggression, peace has become unfashionable.

The nation is at the brink of economic collapse, yet continues to borrow to pay for wars which its leaders deem necessary for our security and indeed for the survival of civilization as they know it. They have put our grandchildren into debt for this adventure. By any social measure, we are worse off than before, whether it be the percentage of people with true and essential healthcare, wages, educational level, true participation in decisions and voting.

2004.
Against all odds people fought back. Groups formed to bring the power, potential and awareness of the internet into the fray to disseminate information, dissent, organizing information, and create the beginnings of a resistance to the further hijacking of our state. There were forums, debates, discussions, rallies and marches. New candidacies emerged, millions of dollars were raised. In 2004, the voter fraud was repeated as was the betrayal to the people by the supposed defenders of our vote.

2005.
Katrina devastates the Gulf Coast. A major US city, New Orleans, is ravished through major neglect, and condemned through avarice to be re-organized without its citizens and communities’ presence nor input. The”shock doctrine” at play in the US, with over a thousand dead, many missing and American refugees with not right to return nor to vote. Congress does not speak out the horrors, nor press the Administration to remedy the situation.

2006.
Dazed and bewildered, the defeated defenders of the Constitutional Order fought back yet again with renewed fervor, to gain a foothold in the 2006 elections. New but fragile more liberal radio networks began. In the end they found their efforts produced no tangibly different results.

As though none of these easily documentable events had occurred, the lies, the fraud, the crimes against Humanity and our Constitution begun in 2000 produced precious little notice and voice among our entire elected body in Washington, DC.

2007.
Americans outraged at the brazen wrenching from our hands of our national treasure, traditions, character, and lives fought back yet again with ever-louder calls for the ending of war funding and for the impeachment of the president and vice president for numerous crimes of spying, lying, abuse of power, crimes against humanity, war profiteering, violations of laws and the Constitution.

It seemed at last that America was fighting back not only to regain it’s voice but its soul and destiny as well.

2008.
Now comes the expanded 2008 election season. Begun in earnest in late 2007, we heard a few voices among the official ones describing and denouncing the multiple continuing crimes perpetrated by this nation in our names.

By the end of the first month of the year, no one publicly recognizing the gravity of what has happened to America lo these last seven years and seeking to unite its people in redress and rebuilding was permitted to continue participation in the “election” process.

Anyone who strayed from the permitted narrative (Good American Power with a Few Flaws to be Corrected) was gone. Gone by the Rules of the Game.

BEFORE most Americans got to cast ballots, no one willing to speak out against the outrageous attacks on our system and on our sovereignty, no one willing to fight for the best wages and healthcare for working men and women, no one willing to take on the corporate hijacking of nearly all our major institutions and decisions was left in the race.

Come January, there will most likely be a new face in the White House, and that is all most folks seem to want. Like battered spouses, the worse they treat us, the less we need to be content.

Super Tuesday™
People today are lining up today to vote, with new enthusiasm we are told, because of the barely described “changes” promised in the 24/7 rhetoric being spewed from the Media Machine.

Not one of the candidates on the major party ballots has recognized the true danger this nation is in, nor points out the causes, nor names names. Only so-called “third party” candidates like Cynthia McKinney (seeking Green Party nomination) shine light on difficult truths and are ironically called “spoilers” of the election.

Major party candidates dare not mention the hijacking of our nation and of its votes, nor dare to stop the made-in-America carnage abroad or offer lasting remedies to the destruction of our middle class, the destitution of the poor and the gutting of our democracy. Yet, we are told they are the best we have, and that the System is working. Oh, is it ever…

Too few have noticed, it seems, that Corporate America which pays for the campaigns and controls our airwaves, had ALREADY voted: and they allowed us our choices.

In today’s vote, the coup was completed, the theft papered over, shoved under the rug, unquestioned. Corporations won, and America lost.

“They” are beating us down.The real danger here is that whatever good has been capable of manifesting itself lately, whatever good sense, caring, honesty is beaten to the ground by sheer power of the corporate coffers and its ability to control the Word and the Airwaves.You and I know that well over 50% of this country wants Impeachment of at least Cheney. You and I know that over 50% want this war over yesterday. A much higher percentage of the nation wants no part of torture.High percentages want single-payer health insurance even though we don’t really get to hear details and comparisons of this very often.None of these things seem to matter.What people want and what the “vote” produces are completely different animals.Our expectations have been dashed. We keep accepting less and less. THAT is why our democracy is going (if not yet gone).Look at this nonsense called the political primary process with its phony debates.BEFORE even half of the country gets to “vote,” this silly game (whose rules people accept for no reason that I can fathom), any and all candidates with ideas related to the truth or reflecting the Majority opinions, have been winnowed out already — by the media and the high finances. No “opposing” thought, puh-leez!We are PERMITTED (oh, thank you, thank you, sir!) to choose from Hillary or Obama…OR, one of the others — I can’t even go there.They ALLOW us this. PRE-chosen, pre-vetted, bought-and-paid-for personalities, but will not allow rocking of the boat. Most folks act grateful for this, and now seriously jump into the debate of: “change” vs. “experience” like choosing features of a car. There are only so many times you can ask yourself if you want leather trim or not. Perhaps a more apt metaphor would be choosing which model electric chair we want: ohhh, this one is more comfortable, but THAT one is more powerful, quicker…..You could say our “election process” does not permit us to rock any boats — even if that is what the majority clearly wants. It has too many strings attached, too many tricks, and when even those tricks don’t work, well, you still have Diebold and others (plus the Supreme Court) to pick op the slack.What is NOT permitted is getting the population really informed or (heaven forbid) expressing an informed opinion in a way others could hear about it. Witness FTAA meeting, Miami FL, 2003: eight million dollars of Iraq funding to arm our police against dissident thought.We get pissed when corporate media does not give coverage to impeachment or to hundreds of thousands protesting the war, or to Dennis Kucinich’s platform. We get pissed when neocons play fast and loose with the nomination of judges to get those willing to use restrictive voting laws.So why aren’t folks getting pissed that media — and the other “democrats” — allowed legitimate candidates (and, more importantly) their IDEAS get eliminated so early, well before over half of America gets to even give their opinion. It’s like on fifth of the country gets Election A, while the rest get Election B. Why do voters become so docile and compliant, so obedient when it is soooo clear the game is rigged.Who was it then, who silenced Kucinich, if not the Democrats themselves? Why didn’t they stand tall and together to say in Iowa: “if Dennis can’t speak, then NONE of us will speak”? Does this differ much from how they silenced Dean in 2004 and Michael Moore when he tried to help? Now the DLC is running and encouraging candidates against Dennis in Ohio. An accident? You tell me. They did the same to McKinney in Georgia. No one who questions the game or the rules is allowed in.Why doesn’t anybody notice that year after year in spite media silence and of having election after election stolen, does no one complain bitterly that virtually none of our elected officials have lifted even ONE FINGER to remedy the causes — or even examine — what happened to — those elections, much less examine or change election laws or election funding.A few short months ago (weeks, really) many of us and people throughout the country were rightly pissed at our Congress for enabling the War machine, and allowing the most crude of appointments to the Bush Crime Machine. Where are they now? In Hillary-Obama,,,Hillary- Obama la-la land. And what happened to their complaints and concerns? What about the people dying every day? The torture? The spying? The….Constitu…wha …oh THAT %@#$! piece of paper?The only thing that shores up the fortunes of cowardly enabling Democrats is the SAME thing that we so easily blame the Republicans for sowing: FEAR. Fear that Republicans might win again.What a game! Ping-pong, with our heads as the ball. Fear-change-fear-change…what about what the public WANTS??! Sorry, not available, make another choice.They BOTH use FEAR to support in essence an agenda which cannot be questioned. This agenda MUST be given an air of democratic acceptability…at least, for the time being.NONE — I repeat — NONE of the most pressing issues of our time are being mentioned, much less addressed by ANY of these so-called “candidates” — the ones that are left.So, if Obama, for example, represents “change” or “hope” and gives inspiring speeches that make people feel all warm and teary, which of these things has he (or ANY of the others) addressed, or is likely to address:

• an illegal, immoral war
• torture, rendition
• tax-paid mercenary armies
• destruction of our Constitution
• destruction of the Treasury
• destruction of the Currency
• at least 2 rigged, stolen elections
• stacking of the judiciary
• the Project for the New American Century which advocates the points above
• getting and funding free health care for everyone
• hidden agenda North American Union being put together behind closed doors
• end of Bill of Rights
• Executive Orders allowing the President to take your property if you oppose his Iraq policy
• Executive Orders allowing the President to suspend (what’s left of ) the Constitution in an “emergency”
• Executive signing orders (over 800 of ‘em) negating laws passed by Congress
• 935 published lies leading us to war
• tremendous loss of credibility and security
• the growing cult of secrecy
• privatization of:
  • our elections
  • the election debates
  • our vote count
  • our military
  • our schools
  • police forces
  • our community services
  • health insurance
  • “public” media
  • information systems
  • retirement
• massive outsourcing of prime jobs
• need to replace corporations with citizen representation and participation in highest level domestic and foreign policy decisions
• multiple question about 911 (building 7, destruction of evidence in all 3 sites, etc.)
• crying need for IMPEACHMENT

They are silent — and have silenced those who were not.The candidates we are given and all the surrounding media apparatus successfully ignore the massive hijacking of our nation, its institutions, its agenda, and its credibility.Tell me again how this “two party” system serves us democratically?? Sure, the parties are different: they each have select portions of the society they are responsible for silencing (while making them feel good). Oh, there may be thousands of individuals within who do seemingly important and legitimate things (the Kucinich and Dean people, etc.), but in the end, after all the hoopla and confetti, it boils down to keeping their “assigned” folks in line.GATT, WTO, NAFTA, CAFTA, FTAA, IMF, World Bank, all are “shock doctrine” long-term programs to make countries’ economies buckle under to corporate demands by using fear and intimidation. The wars of Afghanistan and Iraq (and soon possibly Iran) are mere extensions of that policy. War is what you do when a nation has the goods CorporateOneWorld wants, and it won’t sign an agreement. Those nations, too, like us, are “given a choice”: in their case, sign here, or kiss your ass good-bye.Make no mistake about it: the 90’s “dot-com bubble” may have been fun for a while, but Bill Clinton’s push for NAFTA, etc. got this nation ready for Iraq; and the Big Media concentration wet dream he oversaw helped put Fox and Murdoch (among a very few others) more firmly in the driver’s seat. Any surprise that Murdoch is bankrolling Hillary? Or that ALL remaining candidates have cold-warriors as “advisors”?This business of accepting “the least worst” is precisely what is killing us. We expect less, accept more crap every four years, and those with any power at all walk all over us. They TELL us what our choices are, never ASK us what we want.If we are feeling down, somewhat used, a bit dirty and discouraged, I’d say there are reasons for it. Our work: drip, drip, drip, in the bucket, while they harness tsunamis of spin.Huge forces have been at work on us to dismantle our thoughts and opposition, while making us feel as though we are still deciding something. Ya’ gotta hand it to ‘em, Quite a game they pull off!Impeachment could yet go a long way in waking America up. It may still be the last best hope to get some truth out before it gets swept under the Rug of the “08 Election.OK. We can’t stop working at cleaning up the elections, but that is not enough.About elections: they must be respectable, COUNTABLE, legitimate and free from Big $$, but mere participation every 2 or 4 years not only won’t get us out of this mess, it is what CAUSES much of it in the first place: only citizen participation and organization can pull us out. If you think organizing through “get out the vote” campaigns, or distributing candidate literature is sufficient participation I am referring to, then you ought to re-read all the above. We need dissemination of alternative media sources, and house parties and discussion groups to keep aware and informed. Citizenship is too much work? OK, then let them steal our national treasure, silence us, put us into debt to build larger killing and imprisonment machines. We can become the “good Americans” who let it all happen.Even David Swanson and John Nichols seemed a bit deflated on their radio talk the other night. It’s not easy.Talk to people who have expressed their desire for impeachment before. Shake them from the Primary-Induced haze.We still represent a Majority, even if our system now systematically denies it. While it may not be easy, at least we represent Reality.Charlotte and Diane have listed some things yet to be done and disseminated.We should be ramping up, not giving up. Put our heads (and hearts) together. To do this we have to function as a REAL Coalition (not just a handful of folks): each organization has to come in with its own handful of organizers to take on responsibilities (then we have dozens), and commit to reaching specific measurable goals that spread the word, get media, and bolster Wexler and company.Let’s pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and get about the business saving our Constitution. What is the alternative?