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Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Support the Democratic Party?!—I don’t think so—at least not usually



For some time I have lost interest in supporting the Democrats. For years I had worked for various Democratic politicians and “wanna be” politicians running for office. But as time has passed, it seems the Democrats have moved closer to the right and what little political left we have in this country it is disappearing.
Most of the Maoist political organizations that I work with feel the Democrats are just a faction of the Bourgeoisie. They do nothing for the benefit of the working class and the poor. They also argue against voting because it encourages people to give consent to the ruling classes.
There is some truth to the Maoist arguments, but as usual such issues are not black and white. The Democrats have supported reforms for the benefit of poor or working class people in the past. That does not help a group of revolutionaries who want to overthrow all aspects of the system.
In recent years the Democrats have both moved to the right and they have failed to put up a serious fight for their positions. They seem afraid to challenge the Republican arguments.
Greg Orman, running for Pat Robert’s position in the Senate, is an example of people supporting a rebellion against the two-party system. He has refused to identify with either party, even though Republicans want the voters to believe that he is really a Democrat. They also want to paint him as a liberal, which they believe is a dirty word to most Kansans.
Most of the Democrat’s arguments seem to imply “we believe that also, but we have a different solution to that problem.” An example of that is that Democrats in both Kansas and Oklahoma have dropped their support for labour unions. Union members in those states and others no longer have an ally in either party to defend them.
One argument I have is that the Democrats run candidates but put no money or effort into actually getting their candidates elected. A similar argument was made by Bill Jenkins, of F5:
Below the top of the ticket (Paul Davis), however, we Democrats are screwing the pooch. Consider, for instance, the Attorney General race (if, in fact, one does exist.) Republican incumbent Derek Schmidt is actively trying to prevent federal court rulings allowing same-sex marriage from being permitted in the issuance of marriage licenses in Kansas.
For that and other reasons, it should not be hard to run against Schmidt. But is anyone actually running against Schmidt? I'm sure that there will be a name on the ballot in the Democratic column, but it is almost a secret at this point. In an election where name recognition is crucial, the Democrats seem to be keeping their candidate under wraps….
…The Democrats have nominated Jean Schodorf. Jean is a nice woman and a good public servant who promises to cut out the headline grabbing crusading and run the office efficiently. She would be a good alternative to Kris Kobach (is his middle initial K as well?). Laying aside the argument that she is really a life long Republican, her campaign and that of the Democrats who support her seems to be terribly underfunded. Where are the yard signs, the TV commercials? Even a sitting duck remains seated if no serious effort is made to unseat him.
I noticed the same thing about the Mike Pompeo and Perry Schuckman race. The Democrats have put almost nothing in to support Schuckman. I haven’t seen Schuckman on TV or on signs along the roadway. What is the point of putting up such candidates if the party won’t actually support them?
I haven’t entirely sworn off supporting individual Democratic candidates. I supported Raj Goyle when he ran against Pompeo for the US House of Representatives. Goyle raised good issues and ran a hard hitting campaign. I have been supporting Davis against Governor Sam Brownback since Brownback has personally messed with my career as a teacher. When a politician helps wreck someone's career they have to vote against them.
So for the most part I don’t support voting Democrat. Most never say anything about poor people or the working class. They only talk of helping the middle-class, just as the Republicans do.
And I vote when it makes sense to do it. Sometimes the “lesser of two evils” is worth it to stop those who are truly evil—and many politicians are “truly evil.”

-សតិវ អតុ
Senator Roberts: “He’s a liberal…A LIBERALLL…A LEEEEBERAL” -Pix from www.huffingtonpost.com


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