Monday, January 28, 2008
A Campaign Without Viable Progressive Candidates: What's Left?
[Thanks to grischa for this post]
By JENNIFER VAN BERGEN
With Kucinich out of the race, there are NO viable candidates left.
I'm sorry, I will not vote for somebody who compromises his or her morals and betrays his/her constituents and the US Constitution, not to mention international laws.
We are at a point in history where we cannot accept half measures any longer. Our world is in grave danger , we are torturing people, we are violating every law of humanity there is, our economy is so bad -- we don't realize -- the U.S. could very well go the way the Roman Republic did . . . and we are talking about whether Obama or Hillary is worse than the other . . . or significantly better than who, Huckabee, Ron Paul?
Sorry, not me. I'm not buying anymore. I'm with Kucinich all the way. I'm going the way he goes. He is the only one willing to tell the truth and keep on fighting for it. He is the only one with integrity or morals left.
If he's not on the ballot, I don't vote. But if I can join his wagon train, I will.
I don't recognize what I thought was my country, my homeland -- in the best sense of the word. I have spent many years, both as an adult and as a young child, living overseas, but it was always THIS country that was my home.
But I don't know if I want to be here any longer.
The dollar is dying. Does anyone here realize what that means for you and me? It means that if you are struggling now, you may well be in abject poverty soon. If you think you are powerless now, what then? Who listens to a person begging for food? Who listens to the disenfranchised? Who listens to a person who is suffering?
It means if you have health problems now, you may well die from lack of medical care sometime in the next few years. (See here about what's happening in the Congo. Most of the 45,000 deaths PER MONTH are medically preventable.)
I'm not even bringing up what's happening in Gaza.
Who do we think we are?! Who ARE we?
It is not enough to wave a sign on a street corner. It is not enough to vote -- especially when we don't even know if the votes will be counted. It is not enough to write op-eds or articles, letters to the editor, letters to our congress-persons, to speak before crowds, big or small, to march through the streets or travel to march in D.C. or elsewhere.
It is not enough to circulate news we already innately know or views we already agree with. Not enough even to argue face-to-face with our opponents or to cry out for impeachment. It's not enough to save electricity, grow our own food, stop driving a car. None of it really matters now. It's too little, too late.
Believe it or not, I'm not a pessimist. I am inherently an optimistic person. I believe that out of the ashes can come a brave new world.
But I also believe that there is such a thing as FINALITY. Stars can explode. Planets can die. Species can cease to exist. Forever. Obama and Hillary are going to be swallowed by this, just as well as Bush and Cheney. And the rest of us sorry and weary souls.
The only thing left is to be true to yourself and to your highest values. Live as honorably and as truthfully as you can, as one lone individual. Do what good you can and spend time with people who have integrity. Do no harm to others or to the environment; protect and preserve the Good, the True, and the Beautiful as best you can.
Because when the shit hits the fan, the laws our officials flagrantly violate now in our name, for the benefit of the national security state, will no longer matter on a day-to-day basis.
Jennifer Van Bergen, a journalist with a law degree, is the author of THE TWILIGHT OF DEMOCRACY: THE BUSH PLAN FOR AMERICA (Common Courage Press, 2004). She writes frequently on civil liberties, human rights, and international law and Archetypes for Writers: Using the Power of Your Subconscious (Michael Weise Productions, 2007).. She can be reached at jvbxyz@earthlink.net.
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