The Democratic Party Still Can Adopt Winning Agendas

Ralph Nader

 November 4, 2024
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Image by Katelyn Perry.

Over the years, the Democratic Party’s blunders, arrogance and dependence on commercial campaign money and corporate-conflicted political/media consultants have put the two-party duopoly races for the Presidency, the Senate and the House next week into razor-thin elections.

The polls show Democrats in neck-and-neck races with the worst GOP since its creation in 1854. The GOP is led by a delusionary, daily lying, violence-inciting, bigoted, misogynist, serial election denier, convicted felon, and wannabe dictator, Donald Trump, who can’t process information but has openly boasted that he knows more than everybody.

The Party of the Donkey deteriorated years ago and opened the door to unnecessary close cliff-hanger elections.  The Dems wrote off nearly half of the country (the red states) to the Republicans. This abandonment included the prairie states (North and South Dakota) and the mountain states that used to have many Democratic Senators. Now they have only three Senators from seven states.

The next Democratic party blunder was not to support the National Popular Vote drive to overcome the Electoral College. (See: nationalpopularvote.com). This is the anachronism that cost the Democrats two presidential losses — one in 2000 and one in 2016 — even though the Democratic presidential candidate handily won the national popular vote.

Third, the Democratic Party decided to robustly compete with the GOP and dial for the same business campaign cash in return for relenting from progressive policies.

Fourth, the Dems lost the gerrymandering drive in 2010 when they were caught napping against a vigorous GOP drive to control key state legislatures like Pennsylvania and get more GOP members in the House of Representatives.

What should the Dems do for the people in the next four days? Bernie Sanders is the most popular elected politician in the country. Why? Because Sanders, two-time presidential candidate, wants social safety net policies that are well received by working families where they live, work, and raise their families. He has urged Kamala Harris to authentically campaign to raise the federal minimum wage frozen at $7.25 per hour to $15 per hour for over 25 million workers, raise Social Security benefits, frozen for over 50 years for over 60 million elderly, and raise taxes on the undertaxed wealthy and big corporations (for a hike supported by 85% of the people.) These three measures also appeal to many self-described conservative voters.

So, what does Harris do? She does not campaign with the popular Bernie. She advertises heavily and campaigns instead with Liz Cheney who supported the war criminals Dick Cheney and G.W. Bush in their criminal invasion and sociocide of Iraq taking over one million innocent Iraqi lives and leaving that country in ruins. Liz Cheney, an avowed Republican opponent of Trump, is also a confirmed corporatist. Forgetting Sanders and heralding Cheney is not the way to turn out low-wage voters who make up a good portion of the expected 85 million eligible non-voters in next Tuesday’s election.

Unable to adjust, the Democratic Party keeps pouring billions of dollars into the same mediocre ads showing Trump to be unfit for office. These repetitive video spots by now have reached diminishing returns, as a vote-getter. Almost everyone has already made up their mind on Trump’s deficiencies.

The ads should shift quickly to overcoming an astonishing amnesia by a majority of voters who think they were better off economically under Trump’s term than under Biden’s. They have forgotten Trump’s closing down any efforts to secure full Medicare for All, enact higher minimum wages, and initiate enforcement efforts against corporate crooks squeezing money from the American people. All the while he was early mocking the oncoming Covid-19 pandemic and calling intense climate catastrophes “a hoax.” His deadly delays regarding Covid led to the preventable loss of some 300,000 American lives and worsened the associated recession. The Democratic Party ads have been largely AWOL on this abysmal record while focusing expensively on Trump personally.

Instead of aligning with worker unions and progressive civic groups working to benefit all people, Harris ogles up to big business bosses, thereby jettisoning media and video opportunities to be with pro-party groups with millions of members.

Harris has learned little from Hillary Clinton’s disastrous loss to Trump in 2016. She continues to be supportive of the U.S. Empire and, despite more dulcet tones, is aligned with Bibi-Biden’s massive weapons and diplomatic engagement with mega-terrorist Netanyahu’s genocide of the Palestinians and now the Lebanese.

She cannot even get herself to propose immediate peace negotiations over the Russian/Ukrainian war bogged down month after month with large casualties on both sides. These stands would separate her a little from Biden which would help identify her as her own person.

Vice President Hubert Humphrey, running for the presidency in 1968, declined to break with President Johnson on the Vietnam War. Analysts believe that cost him in the tight race against Richard Nixon because many Democratic voters stayed home.

There is still time to highlight Bernie Sanders’ protections for the people. There is still time to recognize the millions of midnight shift workers who do not see a candidate and would welcome recognition by Democratic candidates – local, state, and national. (See: winningamerica.net/midnightcampaigning).

There is still time to pledge compliance with six federal laws being violated by unconditional weapons shipments to Israel’s war in Palestine. Backed by majority public opinion, she should strongly DEMAND an immediate ceasefire, entry of U.S. humanitarian aid trucks to the starving, dying innocent people of Gaza, and a cessation of the Palestinian Holocaust by the Israeli regime that has already taken at least 400,000 Palestinian lives, mostly children, women and elderly.

If Harris doesn’t advance these policies, she’ll be telling people that she will just be an extension of the Biden presidency. These actions may not be enough to bring out the stay-at-home voters who in the past had voted for the Democratic candidate, but they have a higher probability than just staying the cursed course.

Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate, lawyer and author of Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us! 

The Clown Car Horns of the Apocalypse

Kathleen Wallace

 November 4, 2024
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Photo by Rob LaVeck

The commercial background music for the MSNBC coverage of Election Day 2024 comes swelling in, orchestral and important, with a hint of celebration. Yet one more example of why we can’t trust the mainstream media, as everyone knows the only appropriate advertising background noise for the election should be shrieking, punctuated with clown car honking and maybe the theme song from Benny Hill. They are giving gravitas to the fatuous and deference to the treacherous and this is why I have never won a rap battle anywhere other than in my own head. But enough of that, we have Civil War party favors to buy at Party City (except they went bankrupt, so I guess it’s a hard candy Civil War).

This absolutely will get weird. Hunter S Thompson is watching from space trying to come up with a descriptor beyond pro. This is a whole new level of weird, something to only be measured in roentgens or currency from Proxima Centauri, which is well known to be in a state of hyper-inflationary excess. You’ve seen the photos of those cute little green guys pushing grocery carts full of the stuff to just buy one anal probe.

I went to vote early because I am a god-damn good citizen. I was pleased that there weren’t any MAGA vote ogres at the door, this was a happy surprise, but I was mentally geared up for them and truthfully would have enjoyed a limited stakes fight. No, it was on Halloween, and instead my paper ballot was handed to me by a rotund and somewhat dour Fred Flintstone, and I felt good about that. This is America: the bald eagles soured in my mind along with Jesus riding a pterodactyl into the sunset.

In my state, it’s a foregone conclusion that it will go “RED” but not in a sexy, 80’s Soviet spy movie way. No, this is certainly MAGA country, and this is the way of the place until a populist who can channel their rage comes forward and gains their animalistic trust. I’m thinking someone who will rail about welfare recipients, but secretly fund the Medicaid in rural critical access hospitals. The townsfolk with tiki-torch burns will have an ER they can go to, but still feel better than some nebulous “other”.

I’m going to discuss something really unsettling to those on the left. Of course, there’s been massive haranguing from the neoliberals that one must never vote third party because, as has been the case in all of the recent elections, Democracy® is at stake. Of course, Project Runway 2025 is terrible, bad makeup, outfits, and a lot of it seems to be written by the same think tankers who gave us Obama Care instead of universal coverage. It’s not just an invention of the theocratic right, though of course it’s got a huge dose of that. No, there are all sorts of dystopian berries baked in this pie. The threat that lets you keep sliding right, even if you vote for the “left”. If the Democrats win, thankfully this Project 2025 doesn’t get fully implemented, but just for a treat they might give you about 30% of what it espouses. This is how the slide right keeps happening. And the only winners are Globo-Chem (remember Mr. Show—”We Own Everything So You Don’t Have To”) and of course all those billionaire weirdos, building bunkers and impregnating.

Of course, there does seem to be a chance that if the Republicans win the presidency, they might not ever leave. What a choice with the two large parties: a possible theocratic-ish Peter Thiel backed monarchy situation that probably won’t go away ever or a corporate party that sucks massively, has been in charge of arming and funding a current genocide, but will probably leave after 4 years? It’s a pretty dismal choice, but I will admit if I was in a state truly in play, it could be a bit of a decision if one wanted to do a protest-third party vote or go for that remote chance that things will suck 14.2% less if the Democrats win.

Thankfully, I could vote third party and not feel the shame of voting for Harris in this state. To feel compelled to co-sign the genocide because they might leave in four years and might not put tracking devices on fertile women’s uteri…… dear god, this is awful. It’s a rigged and sorry game, of course. But as the always used and definitely true if you are pregnant, and not wanting to be pregnant, it will probably matter quite a bit which party wins. But voting for the Democrats is to give tacit approval for what will definitely go down in the history books as one of the most shameful episodes in history. Hell, this makes it become the trolley problem just to take a vote if you feel strongly against a genocide (how sad that we don’t all feel this way).

I am not trying to diminish the real malice from the Republicans, but they keep using this threat and all it does is lurch us to the right. I don’t pretend to have the answers, and yes, maybe voting for Democrats is a stop-gap, harm reduction technique that makes sense in swing states. Unlike the vast majority of neoliberals so busy judging the left but not their own party, I won’t judge their choice if they do vote for Harris. I very much get the rationale behind it. I do remind myself Obama had a pretty nifty mandate and even a super majority at first, however. What did he do with that? Well, he pretty much took a shit on you if you wanted this nation to make some progressive changes. The abortion boogeyman they use for fundraising would likely not even be an issue should there have been an effort to codify Roe vs. Wade. Obama managed to move the nation even more to the right but did it while seeming reasonable. It’s the talent of the Clintons and of Obama to be able to make palatable policies that liberals rage about when done by a Republican but seem to cherish when done by a Democrat. You simply have to look at the recent slavish devotion to people like the Cheneys being exhibited by the Democrats. This is not healthy. If not Stockholm Syndrome, it’s at least in a Stockholm suburb.

What I will judge however, is if those voting for Harris do not oppose policy that they would have been absolutely rabid about if Trump was the source. They should read an article and replace the Harris name with Trump and truly feel what visceral reaction they have to it. Sadly, we just haven’t seen this introspective behavior play out. The Democratic party uses their influence like a Jedi mind trick. “These are not the progressive parties you’re looking for.” Similar to Trump, and I’d say even worse covid policies under Biden were largely ignored by the Democratic voters. These individuals don’t seem to care about a stark militaristic fetish for cop cities or have issues with building walls and anti-immigrant rhetoric if it comes from the Harris camp. Yes, one side is completely batshit, but that doesn’t mean you should tolerate even a small portion of guano in your breakfast from the other side. Again, this is how we continue to slide right. One can vote for Harris, but there’s not a rule in place you can’t keep your wits about you and recognize fascism even on your team. That’s what makes you a sentient being as opposed to a cult member.

The Democrats are certainly about superficial advertising, saying that they are the reasonable choice, but all without any truly progressive or left-leaning policies. The fact that neither party even slightly opposes a genocide the rest of the world is horrified by is truly terrifying.

Between the Democrats and the Republicans, I’d say it’s not enough to simply avoid being a Berserker, but that seems to be the Democrat’s niche. Sure, I won’t try to shunt spending away from the military towards infrastructure—not a dime for worker or tenant rights, but at least I’m not eating the hearts of my enemies and pissing on nuns. What are you a purist?

I was watching that marvelous show “What We Do in the Shadows” because I am a scholar if nothing else, and I was marveling at Nandor’s Richard Nixon impersonation. By the way, that Nandor is a national treasure and I would defend him to the death if needed, but back to the topic. It made me think how I would gladly vote for Richard Nixon over these clowns we have right now. It’s that bad. When you think, hey, I believe Richard Nixon would do a better job than Trump and Harris, it’s a sad commentary on 2024 America.

But that said, it felt clean to vote my conscience. In my state I had to write in my third-party choice because Democracy® didn’t want my choice on the ballot. So I happily wrote her in and didn’t have to feel massive disgust for myself. But really what was that all about? I can get a sense of smarmy self-satisfaction because I know it’s nothing more than a protest vote here in this state. Even so, it felt a lot better than a vote for something I viscerally loathe and really can’t abide. I’m not good with bombing and starving children– I know, I know, I’ll never be neoliberal or MAGA material. I will just have to live out my life as an old lady who wins rap battles on the side. That’s not true; I know I won’t win. I guess I just want to stay human in this current episode of What the Hell is Going on In This World? Fascists and flooding, genocide, racial and misogynistic backsliding……manipulation and propaganda so effective that Edward Bernays would shudder with delight and take a smoke. It’s not good. It’s at least 57,000 roentgens (or 34,900 Proxima Centauri credits) bad if you need a unit of measure that is not Metric.

True change won’t happen until both of these parties are in the dustbins of Party City.

Kathleen Wallace writes out of the US Midwest. Her writing is collected on her Substack page.

Will Rappers Elect Trump?

Ishmael Reed

 November 4, 2024
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Photograph Source: Julio Enriquez – CC BY 2.0

To woo Generation Z, The New York Times has become an adjunct to Ticketmaster in promoting Hip Hop. As a result, Hip Hoppers have been elevated over traditional Civil Rights spokespersons. This is the newspaper that offered accused predator P’Diddy as a role model. So when questioning Blacks about the Vice President’s candidacy, the Times asked a rapper “Lil Pump,” called by the presidential candidate Donald Trump whom he supports “Lil Pimp.”Lil Pump told the Times that the Vice President was not Black and that if she’s elected, he’ll leave the country. He’s not the only person to ignore her Black father, a distinguished scholar. Lil Pump has 20 million followers. He’s another rapper who has been charged with criminal behavior.

Pro-Trump Rappers have millions of followers, which is why a percentage of young Black voters prefer Trump, a fact that the primarily white media commentators have ignored. Given Trump’s plans for Blacks, their vote might be called Suicide by Vote. Trump wanted to shoot Black Lives Matter protesters. He has promised to occupy Black neighborhoods with troops and eliminate Social Security upon which their grandfathers and grandmothers depend. He wants to end Obamacare and put Elon Musk in charge of his government. Musk is a “Race science” quack who the NAACP criticized for his remarks about Black intelligence. Because of Trump’s Supreme Court majority, women will continue to die because of its stand on abortion.

Rapper Curtis James “50 Cent,”Jackson,111, says that Black men identify with Trump because of the Rico charges leveled against Trump in Atlanta. Does Jackson believe that the criminal justice treats Hip Hoppers and Trump the same way? Isn’t it evident by now that some of the courts charged with holding Trump accountable are in his pocket, including members of the Supreme Court and two Florida Batista judges?

Hip Hoppers also admire Trump as a player. Luther Campbell of “2 Live Crew “said he had attended a Trump party in Florida, which was so “wild” that he left.

Jackson, who was shot nine times, is joined in his support for Trump by other Hip Hoppers, two of whom, Sheff G and Sleepy Hallow, have been charged with murder.

Other Rappers who support Trump include Nicky Jam, who Trump thought was a woman, and Lil Wayne. When Lil Wayne came to Oakland a few years ago, two people were killed during the after-party, adding to the death toll that is ignored by Hip-Hop’s white media fans. Silly, middle-aged people who try to look cool by quoting some of Hip Hop’s trite lyrics as though they were gems of wisdom. A list of those murdered in the Hip Hop business can be found here.

As if annihilating each other and innocent bystanders were not enough, by supporting Trump, Trump’s rappers will help eradicate the modest gains that Blacks have obtained since the 1960s.