Candidates? Votes? Politicians?
Sigh. Its that time again.
The only politician saying anything interesting, to me, is Nader. His vice-presidential candidate, Winona LaDuke, speaks to me, too (in fact, one time she really did speak to me—I got in an argument with her over whether or not a white woman should be allowed to participate on with an Indian drum group), when she talks about the abuses perpetrated on Indian people, and when she talks about regaining Indian pride and power. The rest of the crowd? Think about the term, "conscience-less."
Well—there're the Demicans and the Republicrats, basically. The Demis still have some claims to being concerned about those not on the top of the economic heap: I think they could be called "social democrats" in a more sophisticated political environment.
The Repu people...well, they're strongly allied with forces of nationalism, big corporations, and religion, a combination that traditionally considers repression and armed power as reasonable government action. When I think of history and this combination I come up with Spain under Franco, Italy under Musselini, and England under the puritan government of Cromwell, let alone the old aparheidt government of South Africa. Those were not pleasant governments. Theocracies scare me. Besides, Bush does have a striking likeness to Alfred E. Newman... And Dick Cheney is too cozy with defense contractors, and too much the old cold warrior.
Gore? Well, I'm still waiting for him to turn around and then we'll all see the big key in his back that's used to wind him up. Leiberman is his choice for vice-president. Out here in the west, Leiberman is...well, who the hell is he, anyhow? He's a moralistic eastern Democrat, a law-school compatriot of Bill Clinton, and a career politician. We need more career politicians like we need more career lawyers, if there's a difference. I don't like the way Gore got into the fund-raising racket: I think it was sleazy.
Yes, the economy is good, mostly. Real wages are falling, but the stock market is happy, so big business, the corporate puppeteers, are happy. There is lots of credit: people can "buy" new SUVs, home theaters, divorces, and Nikes. If you're white and have a job with decent pay, you're in pretty good shape—as long as you're willing to keep rolling the stone uphill. The American dream still dangles out there, a luscious styrene carrot on a long stick; the creditors are just to the rear, though, and they have some interesting-looking bullwhips they pop whenever you're a few days late on a payment.
I don't like either candidate, thank you very much. Buchanan is out there, but he doesn't like immigrants, social services, or the 21st Century—and he's another damn virtucrat, someone eager to punish wrong-doers. And that leaves me with—and leads me to—Nader and LaDuke.
So what is wrong with them? Well, they won't get elected, of course. I believe that even if by some weirdness virus they did, they wouldn't be able to do much. There's too much money being made for things to change. The star wars defense (they say it is a defense, anyhow) is costing billions, and is putting millions into peoples' pockets. The stock market really doesn't want anyone rocking the economic boat. The senators and congresspeople are getting rich. Help poor people get decent medical care, or decent housing? Hey, we can't have that! Why that's—that's—communistic that's what it is! It's socialistic, too! It's un-American!!
I'm not going to argue that it's un-American—as we know America. But LaDuke, certainly, represents another America, and some traditions that, in fact, pre-date America: like making sure the least fortunate are adequately housed and fed; that economic status doesn't imply some sort of special blessing from Above, and poverty indicates sinfulness.
Nader, of all the candidates, is the only one hammering on the abuses that corrupt our system: the cronyism, the brib—excuse me, contributions, the lies, and the back room deals.
Some people are going to vote for Gore, despite their reservations, because of the potential appointments to the Supreme Court. A Repu, they say, especially a Repu like Shrub, would be likely to come up with people who would make Clarence Thomas look like Earl Warren. Yeah, thatÕs a chance—its a crap shoot. We never know quite what happens when people get into those robes. Gore is perfectly capable of pulling equal blunders, I believe.
Michael Moore, on his web site— http://www.michaelmoore.com/07192000.html —pointed out that if only those eligible voters who did not vote in the last presidential election, voted for Nader and LaDuke, they would win. Think about that: Nobody got the most votes, last time around. And the time before that, too. What it means is that the Silent Majority is so silent, they don't even bother to vote, because they know they're only offered a choice between two heads on one body. I hope I'm not exaggerating the intelligence of the electorate, yeah! I mean the public did go for Reagan in a relatively big way. And Nixon... Well, this depresses me. I'm going to vote for Nader and LaDuke. Maybe I'm channeling the spirit of Don Quijote: ¿Quien sabe?