the 2016 presidential election

8/9/2019 The 2016 Presidential Election

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The 2016 Presidential Election

Life is definitely a journey. For years, we have seen Presidents come and go, yet cynicism andapathy pervade American society. Too many politicians have either broken promises or outrightshown an anti-liberty agenda, which has harmed lives literally. In spite of it all, we should alwaysshine our lights in the world. We have strengths and gifts. That is why it is vitally important tocontinue forward in advancing goodness in the world. One way to advance goodness is aboutmaking politicians accountable for their views and actions. Also, we have to be active in themovement for social justice. Change never comes by inactivity or apathy. Change comes viaactivism, struggle, hard work, mobilizing, and organizing with great human beings. We have toaccept truths too. One truth is that the Electoral College not the American people directly choosesultimately who will be the next President of the United States. Another truth is that many members of

Republicans and Democrats have advanced a neoliberal agenda, which includes the support of theprison industrial complex, the war on terror, the Patriot Act, and other laws that restrict human rights.We must fully understand the brutality that capitalism, imperialism, materialism, xenophobia,patriarchy, and other evils has done among the world’s populations for over five centuries.Things must change. Being politically independent has been growing especially among the youth inAmerica. There are still tons of Americans who love truth, dignity, and wisdom. Many Americanssincerely want injustice to be extinguished and seek the human dignity of all to be respected. Rightnow, President Barack Obama is in the final phrase of his Presidency. While I have someideologically disagreements with him on some issues, I will respect his humanity as a man. It is ashame that many evil people want to slander the man and his family (beyond legitimate dissent). Heand his family deserve dignity and respect. It was great of him to visit Selma recently in March of2015. We are going to continue to stand up for freedom irrespective of who is President. Also, weshould always defend the human rights of people. We should respect the dignity and humanity of

black women, because the mainstream media has readily ignores the lives and human value ofblack women. Misoygnoir is an evil scourge that must end. A black woman gave birth to me, so I willalways honor black women. Black women (then and now) have a huge role in the overall humanliberation struggle. We have to believe in the dignity of humanity in general.

The 2016 Presidential election will have similarities and differences to the previous Presidentialelections. A lot of it will be déjà vu all over again with the corporate funding and the two partycapitalist, neo-liberal parties trying to get electoral votes. The Republican side has a lot of division onwho will be the front runner. There is Rand Paul expressing his views and people like Rubio


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believing a reactionary, militarist message. Rand Paul has talked about criminal justice issues, themilitarization of the police, and other matters that appeal to people beyond just Republicans. Thecatch is that his views on other issues are reactionary like his views on economics and on somesocial issues. Chris Christie, who has shown disrespectful language even against people trying todebate him in public, could run for President. Chris Christie is very honest with his words, but helacks a strong temperament. There is nothing wrong with being honest, but decorum is always

important for any human being who seeks political power. There has been a lot of news about JebBush. George W. Bush wants Jeb Bush to run for President, but his mother, Barbara Bush, doesn’twant Jeb to run at first. Jeb Bush is a conservative, but many of the Tea Party Republican extremistsdon’t view Jeb Bush as conservative enough, because of his support of Common Core (and hiscenter-right views on the issue of immigration). We know how the game is being played.

We have a problem when the United States (which is very diverse country and has over 320million people with 50 states stretching an entire continent including one island) only offerstwo major parties (whose positions except on some issues are virtually indistinguishable).

The 2015 CPAC meeting

The 2015 CPAC meeting has just ended. This is a meeting where Republican Presidentialcandidates vie for support among conservatives. CPAC stands for the Conservative Political ActionConference. The meeting was held in suburban Washington D.C. and Rand Paul won the straw poll.There were many civil libertarians in CPAC who agreed with Rand Paul’s message. One controversy(out of many) in the conference was when Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin said that if he could

take on 100,000 protesters (who were the brave working class and student youth who protested inMadison, Wisconsin in 2011) then he could take on ISIS. Walker was one man who passed anti-working rights laws and he defeated many of the actions of the unions in Wisconsin. Yet, the labormovement is not totally defeated. Many union members are still fighting back for a living wage andfor justice in general. Even ex-Texas Governor Ricky Perry said that Walker’s comments wereinappropriate. Walker denies trying to compare protesters to ISIS terrorists. Walker was givenstanding ovations for his remarks there including his words about protesters and terrorists. ScottWalker is leading polls in Iowa and throughout America. He could be the Republican Presidentialnominee. The Koch Brothers are funding the Republicans heavily in 2015 and will do so in 2016.Unfortunately, some people in the CPAC meeting expressed xenophobic, reactionary rhetoric. Also,one of the conference’s sponsors is ProEnglish, which is led by the white nationalist BobVandervoot. That is ironic, because English was not the original language spoken in America.There were many languages spoken in America soil for thousands of years before an Englishspeaking person came into the Americas. That is a historical fact. Yes, you know what I’mgoing to mention next. Being an American has nothing to do with what language which you speak. Itis about believing and upholding the sound, majestic, and inspirational principles that our peoplebled for and died for. It is about having and expressing not only love, but dissent. Many people wantto scapegoat immigrants in a hateful way without setting their own houses in order. Therefore, wewill always show compassion and mercy to the sojourner whether they are born here or not.That’s the point. No matter if people are born from another nation or not. These humanbeings are still my Brothers and my Sisters. Immigrant rights are part of overall human rights .No true revolutionary would support immigrants being treated as less than human beings.


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Regardless if they are undocumented or not, they are still our Brothers and our Sisters. Immigrantrights are part of human rights. Just because a person in America doesn’t speak English, doesn’tmean that this person should be stripped of their human rights. Human rights are superior to states’rights. Donald Trump and Sarah Palin spoke at CPAC as well. One weakness of the CPAC meetingis that it doesn’t advocate real progressive, revolutionary solutions to our problems like ending theEmpire, ending the prison industrial complex, or establishing a living wage.

One March 23, 2015, Ted Cruz was the first Republican to announce his candidacy forPresident in Liberty University at Lynchburg, Virginia. His speech tried to appeal to theyouth, Evangelical, and the rest of the Republican base. On foreign policy, he follows a

hawkish take on policy issues. He is known person who has reactionary views.

Ted Cruz

There is a lot of information about Ted Cruz that some individuals don’t know about. Ted Cruz is the44 year old Senator from Texas. Right now, he is in the low single digits in the polls about who iswinning the Republican Presidential primary. Cruz was a graduate of Princeton and Harvard LawSchool. He worked as a government lawyer ironically, but he has issued massively anti-federalgovernment rhetoric as a Tea Party Republican. During 2013, he was involved in the partialshutdown of the federal government, because he wanted the ACA to be gone. To this very day, hewants the ACA to be eliminated, but he signed up for it (and he offers no real alternative to the ACAexcept for a privatization of health care system, which is wrong). Ted Cruz is the son of a Cubanexile turned evangelical minister. Cruz believes in American imperialism (he supports the reactionaryIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) and he has fundamentalist religious views. He marriedto a managing director at Goldman Sachs, which is one company who received the Treasury’s cashvia the bailouts). He denies global warming and he believes in reactionary views of the economy.Therefore, I can’t support Ted Cruz ideologically at all.


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Rand Paul

Rand Paul recently announced his candidacy for the Presidency on early April 2015. He has usedsocial media to proclaim his agenda too. He is running for the Republican Party, so he is aRepublican Party activist. He wants to change the Republican Party in his mind as a way for hisparty to embrace more of his views. He has spoken in many locations that Republicans typicallywon't go into like in Ferguson, Detroit, etc. His goal is to follow the principles of capitalism (by hisown words when capitalism has been involved in genocide and human exploitationthroughout the four corners of the Earth) and follow neoliberal philosophies. People talk about hisviews on the War on Drugs and the criminal justice system. He's right to mention the fact that thecriminal justice system is racist and that the War on Drugs has harmed communities of color. Ibelieve that the War on Drugs should end and be replaced with alternatives. He's right to condemnNSA warrantless spying against American citizens. The NSA and the CIA has violated the human

civil liberties of people for decades (long before the President was elected back in 2008). Oneweakness of Rand Paul is his views on economic and social issues. Rand Paul has made it clearthat he wants to cut many social programs that are preventing the poor from starving to death. Hewants to cut Medicare, welfare, Social Security, Medicaid, SNAP, etc. That is a blatantly austerityagenda and it won't work to solve our problems in America, because our economy is extremelyfragile. Rand Paul has opposed a tax treaty which would target tax cheaters overseas. Sen. Paulhas proposed the implementation of a flat tax, which would tax income at a single flat rate andentirely exempt capital gains, dividends and interest from taxation.

A Citizens for Tax Justice analysis of a similar flat tax proposal found that it would increase taxes onthe bottom 95 percent of Americans by almost $3,000 on average and at the same time give therichest 1 percent of Americans an average tax cut of nearly $210,000. A flat tax is blatantlyreactionary and retrograde, because the poor will pay a proportionally higher tax rate than the superwealthy. Rand Paul has not support an end to the military industrial complex (which has murderedmillions in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Central Asia, etc.). He has voted to increase funding to thePentagon. He has hypocritically lectured people on abhorring "big government" but he wants theexpansion of the government in the form of growing the military industrial complex. The governmentshould be by and for the people (and the government has every moral right to provide the GeneralWelfare to the people). He talks about liberty and freedom, but freedom has nothing to do with allowany private entity to do whatever it wants to do (in other words, pollution is wrong, racism is wrong,and legitimate regulations to protect the environment is a good thing. That means that the VotingRights Act and the Civil Rights Act must be strengthened not gutted. Even Adam Smith admitted that


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the markets must have regulations. Human rights are superior to states' rights). This doesn't meanthat we give the Democrats a pass. We have a Democratic Presidency supporting the spying ofinnocent citizens, we see the neoliberal agenda continuing by the White House, we see the fundingof the militarization of the local police, we see the expansion of the evil war on terror (whichDemocrats not just the Republicans have supported), the evil NDAA is here, etc. The corporateelites dominate the leadership of both major parties. Although, it is fair and legitimate to expose the

extremism and bigotry found in the Republican Party (which is a party I will not support at all).Freedom is about respecting human justice, fighting evil, and promoting goodness as well.

It is a truly a shame that Rubio has to spew pro-neo conservative rhetoric. American exceptionalismis not pro-masses of the people. It is about enriching the interests of the oligarchy, building capitalistprofits (while using neoliberalism in many nations), and dominating the world's resources via war andneo-imperialism. The genocide caused by American exceptionalism for over one century (as foundin the Philippines, Africa, the Middle East, etc.) has caused widespread economic, environmental,and social degradation. We see that the war on terror (which has commenced in 2001) has causedover 1 million people to die in the Middle East alone too. The middle class should not only berespected, but the poor too. Some, among both parties, ignore the real concerns of the poor. I don'tagree with the Republican agenda. Marco Rubio is a young man and he ought to wake up and seethat imperialism and the worship of capital has no place in a real progressive society.

Jeb Bush is running for President as well. His brother left the White House in 2009. George W. Bushis similar to Herbert Hoover in being very controversy and whose economic policies have influencedthe development of recessions. Jeb Bush’s Republican opponents include many reactionaries.Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, Governor Scott Walker ofWisconsin, and others do have Presidential aspirations.

Jeb Bush

Jeb Bush has officially said that he is running for the Presidency. He’s a Republican. The amount ofcandidates running for President on the Republican side has increased to 12. He spoke at a rally inMiami. There, he gave a 40 minute speech where he talked about his family, country, and religion.He promised to increase the growth rate of the American economy to four percent a year withoutmany details on how he would do this (except for gutting regulations on U.S. corporations andbanks). Jeb Bush is a conservative, so he praised charter schools (which is a form of slickprivatization of public schools), and he believed in church run charities and businesses to imposetheir religious precepts on employees. Jeb Bush’s foreign policy advisors are heavily neo-cons. He


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has promoted a more aggressive foreign policy and greatly increased military spending. He has nottalked about Iraq, Afghanistan, or any other country bombed, invaded, or occupied by his father orhis brother during their Presidencies. Jeb Bush declared in his speech that: “…We don’t needanother president who merely holds the top spot among the pampered elites of Washington.” That ishighly silly, because Jeb Bush is part of the establishment. His father is George H. W. Bush, hisbrother is George W. Bush, and his grandfather was U.S. Senator Prescott Bush of Connecticut).

Jeb Bush went into banking, real estate, and Republican politics. He was elected governor of Floridain 1998. His agenda as Governor was reactionary. As Governor, he cut taxes for corporations andthe super wealthy. He created the first school voucher program and he backed the bad “stand yourground” gun law, which advanced vigilantism. He played a big role in the 2000 Presidential electiontheft. His state government first conducted a massive purge of voter rolls, which was mostly aimed atAfrican Americans. Then, he acted to shut down vote-counting in south Florida in order to preserveGeorge W. Bush’s 537-vote lead in the state. These brazenly undemocratic actions set the stage forthe Supreme Court’s intervention to install Bush’s brother in the White House. He is financially aidedby large financers. Some of the other candidates in the GOP are so extreme, that some view him asa “moderate.” Many Tea Party extremists abhor his views on immigration and on education. Theelection could be between Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton. We want freedom not massiveunemployment, financial crisis, illegal wars, torture, and other evils. We want liberation.

Donald Trump

Donald Trump has officially announced his candidacy for President for the Republican Party. Hisintroduction speech for his candidacy on June 2015 was filled with xenophobia, racism againstMexicans, and demonization of people who disagrees with him. His speech was immature, it lacked

real substance, and it was a total disgrace. He is a man who was part of the birther movement,which deal with the lie that the President was not born in American soil. He is a hypocrite. He claimsto be for workers, but he works for the capitalist empire, which has shown opportunism, parasitism,and economic exploitation. Trump was already born into wealth. His family owned a 23 room houseand they had a multimillion dollar real estate development business. Trump’s business dealings dealwith channeling government funds to private developers, who destroyed communities and drovelongtime resident out of their homes. In one of his very first acts managing an apartment complex forhis father's company, Trump prevented a Black family from moving into a property in apredominantly white neighborhood in Cincinnati in the 1960s. Trump's New York real estate


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company was later sued by the federal government for denying rental applications from Blackapplicants. The man who recently claimed to "have a great relationship with the Blacks" was sued bythe Justice Department for violating the Fair Housing Act. Trump has slandered the innocent Blackand Latino suspects in the Central Park jogger case. They were proven innocent years later. Hewants to defeat ISIS with brass militarism, but he offers no real political solution to the crisis. Heopposes the ACA, gut will not offer real universal health care. His views on immigration are bigoted

and nativist (by calling for a wall in trying to end illegal immigration. He called many immigrantsrapists, drug posers, and other nonsense). The truth is that we need our infrastructure developed,our environment improved, and our civil liberties protected. Our trade system should not only protectAmerican workers. It should protect workers internationally with safety standards, workers’ rights,and environmental protections. We want economic justice and social justice in the world.

We have to continue to think for ourselves and advocate for real revolutionary, structural change. Iam opposed to the war on terror. I disagree with the War on Drugs. I am opposed to imperialism.Imperialism is known for its opposition to all progressive people’s struggles. The interests of the 1%are antithetical to the liberation of the masses of the people. Billionaires and corporations (whichhave been strengthened via the bad Supreme Court Citizen United decision) send money to bothmajor parties as a means to carry out their agenda. A study says that from $4-6 trillion dollars go tothe ongoing wars of Afghanistan and Iraq, yet nowhere near that amount is being spent to rebuild

our cities, rebuild our rural communities, to improve our health care, to develop our educationalsystems, and to obliterate poverty. There is an attack on workers, who want to seek a living wage isreal.

Court cases and other Issues

Some activists and truth tellers have made the accurate point that many bad decisions from theSupreme Court have damaged the human rights of Americans. Even the legitimate parts of theConstitution have been harmed by numerous Supreme Court decisions. The judicial branch of thefederal government includes the federal district courts, the circuit courts of appeal, and the SupremeCourt. The Supreme Court interprets the law in figuring out the meanings of constitutional principlesand so forth. Many Supreme Court members are pro-Republican reactionaries not just Scalia andThomas. The federal judges have a life long tenure and their decisions can stretch decades andbeyond. The legal system has checks and balances to prevent branches of government from doingthe wrong thing and to prevent tyranny. Now, we have an oligarchy that does almost anything that


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they want at the expense of the liberties of the people. Back in December of 2000, the SupremeCourt allowed Bush to be President when Al Gore won the popular and electoral vote. Even theFlorida Supreme Court allowed the recount to continue. The Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens Uniteddecision allowed the oligarchs to buy off elected politicians via financial aid. Corporations wereviewed as “people” with that decision too. The decision caused no dollar limits in making certaincontributions. That is perfectly why the 2012 presidential election at both national and state levels

cost a total of $60 billion, the most ever.

Last April’s Supreme Court decision to not intervene in a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned thedistrict court that had declared the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) unconstitutionalwas an attack on our civil liberties. The journalist Chris Hedges did the right thing to file a lawsuit inchallenging the NDAA’s legality. One bold federal district court judge decided in favor of Hedges.The Supreme Court’s choice to uphold the Appeals Court decision overruling the lower court to keepthe NDAA law on the books, life as we legally knew it in the United States ceased to exist. In effect,both the Appellate and Supreme Courts violated American citizens’ Fourth and Sixth Amendmentsas well as overturned the Posse Comitatus law that existed since after the Civil War. The PosseComitatus Act was the law that banned the U.S. military to act in civil affairs since that job was doneby the law enforcement agencies including the state’s National Guard. We still are fighting for ourcivil liberties. The Supreme Court even gutted part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act as well, which the

Court made the wrong decision. The dangers to our environment continue. After 9/11, globalistshave supported an economic system which has allowed the one percent to gain more the earth’snatural resources and caused the masses of the people to experience not only massive debt, gutcruel exploitation. The Western Empire has used NATO, the EU, etc. to promote its hegemonicpower base. Some Western reactionaries want to bait Russia, China, and other countries into aneconomic or even a military confrontation, which will cause untold devastation. There isenvironmental degradation in the form of the pollution of water, air, soil, food, etc. Monsanto hasbeen responsible for many evils. We deal with chemtrail toxicity and the rising levels of radiation inthe world. Many animal species are in danger of extinction. So, we have to be mindful of the worldand stand up for our human rights.

Hillary Clinton

People anticipate Hillary Clinton to run for President as a Democrat in the year of 2016. Her viewsare very similar to President Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton in essence has a militarist foreign policymixed with a corporatist domestic policy. Back in 1969, when she was the Wellesley valedictorian,she supported Eugene McCarthy’s presidential run and she studied the organizing tactics of SaulAlinksy. She served on the board of Walmart, which is a corporation known for controversies on


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wages, discrimination, and other issues. Now, we see a new generation. Hillary Clinton easilybecame Senator of New York. As Senator, she voted for military action against Afghanistan, shevoted for the Patriot Act, and she voted for the Iraq War Resolution. The Bush-Cheney junta was soovertly corrupt, that she modified her views back in 2008 on foreign policy matters. She voted for theObama administration’s troop surge in Afghanistan too. Wikileaks shown that she (like CondoleezaRice before her) ordered the U.S. diplomats to spy on United Nations officials including

representatives of “friendly nations” and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. Ironically, HillaryClinton criticized the Wikileaks document release as “an attack on the international community.” Onmany foreign policy issues from Russia to Syria, Hillary is to the right of President Barack Obama.Hillary Clinton has ideological similarities and differences to Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton’s actions areknown. The Bill Clinton presidency established “free trade” agreements (which don’t promote realfair trade. What these agreements are all about is to allow Western corporations to offshore theirproduction of goods and services sold in American markets. When you have the moving ofproduction abroad, labor cost savings increase corporate profits and share prices. This willbring down capital gains to shareholders and send multi-million dollar performance bonusesto executives. The rewards to capital for the super wealthy are large, but the rewards come at theexpense of US manufacturing workers and the tax base of cities and states), deregulated thefinancial system, use military attacks on many nations (like in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Somalia, etc.), andused deadly force against American civilians. Bill Clinton supported the repeal of the Glass-Steagall

Act, which contributed to the 2007-2008 great recession.

We have a system where two capitalist mainstream parties run the political show with Wall Streetbacking. We live in a new era where the growth of PACs and the recent Citizens United decisionhave caused corporations to influence elections heavily. Both of the major parties have memberswho follow the agendas of the financial sector, the military/security complex, the Israeli Lobby, BigPharma, agribusiness, and the rest of the establishment. These same interests support financialbailouts while ignore how Monsanto harms the environment. Hillary Clinton was once the Secretaryof State and now she is a private citizen. The neo-conservative extremists are promoting war againstRussia too. Her popularity is extremely popular. If she runs for President, she could easily win theDemocratic nomination if she goes unopposed. Right now, reactionaries hate the views of HillaryClinton, because of obvious reasons. They say that the Benghazi scandal and the recent emailscandal don’t give her much credence in running for the Presidency. Time will tell where the emailscandal will lead into. As a citizen, Hillary Clinton has the right to run for President. She shouldn’t bedisrespected (as some attacks on Hillary Clinton have been blatantly misogynistic and we are allopposed to misogyny against any women of any color), but people have every right to disagree withher political views in a reasonable fashion. I just happen to disagree with Hillary Clinton on herforeign policy positions and on her support of neoliberal philosophies.

Hillary Clinton is not the only person that could run on the Democratic side. Joe Biden, MartinO’Malley, Jim Webb, Bernie Sanders, Paul Strauss, Elizabeth Warren, Vermin Supreme, RobbyWells, Jeff Boss and other Democratic and/or Independent candidates are either running forPresident or could run for President in 2016. So, if Hillary Clinton runs for President, then she couldface political competition. The 2016 Presidential election represents the narrow field of the politicalestablishment. These events occur in the midst of the growth of economic inequality. The politicalelites are allied with the Wall Street oligarchy. The Pentagon, the CIA, NSA, the FBI, etc. defend theinterests of corporate America (here in the States and abroad).


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Bernie Sanders

There has been a huge discussion about Bernie Sanders. He is the most progressive Democraticcandidate running for President. On his website, it shows his platform which advocates the ending ofthe War on Drugs, having a tax on Wall Street speculation, opposing the Keystone XL pipeline, thedemilitarization of the local police, the strengthening of unions, and the elimination of mandatoryminimum sentences (which I agree with). Huge crowds in Denver, Phoenix, Boston, etc. come towitness him speak his views. He is extremely popular among many progressives. He has causedhuge audiences to witness him speak from Denver to Vermont. These crowds never existed out ofthin air. We face an economic and political crisis in America. We see the 2 party system dominatedby corporate, oligarchic, and capitalist interests. We see the record bailout of financial large bankinginterests. We see a lack of mortgage relief for people burdened with foreclosures, debt etc. No one

in the major 2 party system (among its leadership) is calling for the nationalization of the financialinstitutions that harmed the economy. Some people have praised a health care reform law, butrefuse to call for single payer health care. There have been raids on union pension funds. Therehas been the undermining of desperately needed carbon emission reduction efforts in Copenhagen(2009) and in Durban (in 2011). We see offshore and Arctic drilling. This is why grassrootsorganizing is important. The CIO or the Congress of Industrial Organizations, the SCLC, SNCC,and other anti-war groups decades ago did grassroots work, demonstrations, boycotts, and otherforms of social activism to combat injustice. So, we have to work in the streets, in the factories, in therestaurants, in religious locations, and in other locations to get our voices heard and promotepolitical including economic solutions.

Bernie Sanders’ strength is that he has talked about the evils of economic inequality and he hasspoken on social justice issues that few of the other candidates speak about. He’s right to advocatea higher national minimum wage and making sure that universal health care exists in the world. He’sright to expose the Koch Brothers as buying politicians and how they are involved in a reactionaryagenda. There is a serious problem of poverty in America and many families plus other individualsare struggling with just a small amount of annual income. Some people have no choice, but to work2 jobs in order for them to provide for themselves and their families. He is right to expose thedisastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision, which has increased the power of bigcorporations who want political power.


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His weakness is that many of his policies are pro-military industrial complex and his foreign policyviews in general (which are reactionary) are not well known. Sanders wanted to confront VladimirPutin of Russia when it was the US/NATO forces that are funding the reactionary government ofUkraine. He supported Bill Clinton’s and Barack Obama’s U.S, imperialism and militarism inYugoslavia, Afghanistan, Africa, the Middle East, and Ukraine. Sanders refused to expose the truththat the United States’ murderous and expensive global empire must end if a progressive,

democratic society will exist in America. In 2006 he supported the failed Iran Freedom Support Act,which called for the overthrow the Iranian government through US "soft power" coup attempts and acolor revolution facilitated by the infamous National Endowment For Democracy. Last July, BernieSanders co-sponsored the Obama-supported USA FREEDOM Act in the Senate, whichwould regularize NSA spying under the guise of regulating it. Sanders unconditionally supportsIsrael’s assaults on Palestinian children and other civilians in the West Bank including Gaza (Bernie

joined in the 100-0 stampede of the US Senate to endorse the Israeli bombing campaign against thePalestinians of Gaza in July-August of 2014. This was Netanyahu’s Operation Protective Edge,which killed 2,300 captive Palestinians after Hamas fired rockets at Israel).

Bernie Sanders have voted for Bill Clinton’s 1994’s “Violent Crime Control and Law EnforcementAct.” This law expanded the crimes punishable by death at the hands of the federal government, itcaused more than 100,000 cops in the streets of America, and it funded billions of dollars in

constructing more prisons. This law increased the prison industrial complex, which especiallyharmed the lives of black men, black women, and black children. Bernie Sanders’ views onimmigration are very similar to the Republicans’ views on immigration. Bernie Sanders and somemembers of the Black Lives Matter movement have been in the news lately. Bernie’s supporters saythat Bernie marched with Dr. King and supports civil rights for black people and people of color.Many in the Black Lives Matter movement feel that he hasn’t spoken enough on racial justicematters, on criminal justice matters, and on the evil system of the white supremacy. The Black LivesMatter individuals are right to mention that just because Bernie marched with Dr. King doesn’t meanthat he deserves some pass. So, Bernie Sanders must embrace a progressive, anti-imperialistforeign policy position and some members of the Black Lives Matter movement must reject anyaffiliation to a neoliberal billionaire like George Soros too. We know that the Black Lives Mattermovement is diverse, so not every BLM activist is linked to Soros. This fact refutes the reactionarylie spewed by Bill O’Reilly, Alex Jones, some Bernie Sanders’ supporters, and others that the BlackLives Matter movement is collectively funded by George Soros (which is a lie). There are tons ofsincere, courageous members of the Black Lives Matter movement who are helping people in reallife. #Black Lives Matter. Bernie Sanders have been pressured to speak about the late SisterSandra Bland, about police brutality, and about other issues that deal with racial justice (especiallyafter BLM activists disrupted him. Two courageous women disrupted his speech in Seattle to exposethe massive racism in Seattle and to commemorate the one year anniversary of Michael Brown’sdeath). He runs in the Democratic Party when that capitalist party is in league with the establishment

just like the capitalist Republican Party. At the end of the day, Bernie Sanders has many greatpositions on various issues (from economics to health care issues) while his major weaknessis on his foreign policy views and his chauvinistic views on immigration. He says that he’s ademocratic socialist, but his speeches never criticize capitalism by name explicitly. Therefore,some people have to realize that eliminating all poverty will not eliminate racism. Class reductionism

is not a solution to our problems as oppression is beyond just economics problems. They areintersectional. We have to both fight against poverty and racial injustice, so humanity can havecomprehensive justice.

*We need to not only fight income inequality. We need regulations to clean up our riversand streams. We need to end mass incarceration. We need immigrants to have their humanrights protected. We need to stop imperialism and any injustice in the world. So, we have tomaintain our political independence.


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The First Republican National Debate in August of 2015

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The GOP believes in states’ rights. I have heard that before. 50 years ago, reactionaries hadplatforms that included racial intolerance, segregation, and blocking any civil rights legislation.

Today, some GOP members are advancing policies that suppress the right to vote, support“Stand Your Ground” laws, defending health care services for communities. Frankly, human

rights is superior to states’ rights.

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The First Democratic Presidential Debate in October of 2015

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.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in late August of 1967 in Chicago (at the National Conference for NewPolitics meeting) said the following words on Capitalism:

"... It is this moral lag in our thing-oriented society that blinds us to the human realityaround us and encourages us in the greed and exploitation which creates the sector ofpoverty in the midst of wealth. Again we have diluted ourselves into believing themyth that Capitalism grew and prospered out of the protestant ethic of hard work andsacrifice. The fact is that Capitalism was build on the exploitation and suffering of blackslaves and continues to thrive on the exploitation of the poor, both black and white,both here and abroad…”


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Both Clinton and Sanders want more entrepreneurship. The candidates said that they sympathizewith the middle class, black people, immigrants, etc. We know that the Republican Party readily usesright wing demagogy to appeal to religious bigotry, racism, anti-immigrant prejudice, sexism, etc.(and they are funded by the financial elite. Many GOP members are rather clear that they want theelimination of social welfare programs, deregulation of business, tax cuts for corporations and thewealthy, etc.). Likewise, the Democrats use populist rhetoric, but many of their policies in theestablishment have promoted neoliberalism domestically and imperialism overseas for a long time.Many people want independent solutions without genuflecting to the two major parties. That is whymany people know about the crisis of American capitalism. Bernie Sanders said that he wants tobreak up the big banks, but he doesn’t say that he wants the government to nationalize them andother corporations. All of the candidates talked about war, poverty, injustice, and the domination ofpolitics by big money, but they refused in the debate to expose how the profit system connect all ofthese evils together (while the working class and the poor suffer via the actions of the 1 percent).They refused to say in that debate that the money used in drones and militarist policies are strippingaway the resources needed to rebuild our cities, towns, and rural communities.

Hillary Clinton said that she wants regulators to control the actions of the banks, but she hasreceived the most funding by Wall Street banks than any other Democratic candidate. Hillary Clintonsat on the board of Walmart before when Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas during the eighties.Her husband was involved in working with Newt Gingrich to pass welfare reform, which hurt manypoor families. Bill Clinton supported NAFTA too. As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton supported theTPP and the KXL pipeline until recently when she opposed both. Also, her husband wasresponsible for the elimination of Glass Steagall, which eliminated many regulations on largecorporate banks. This is why O'Malley said that he wanted the re-institution of Glass Steagall (thislaw separated commercial and investment banking operations until it was gone in 1999). We have asociety where 1 percent owns nearly half of all wealth in America and they want more. Sanders havetalked about the bad Supreme Court decision of Citizens United, which contributed to morecorporate influences on political elections. This is not just. She said that she is a “progressive whowants to get things done.” This was, rhetorically at least, a different posture from the campaign of

her husband in 1992, in which he ran as a “New Democrat” who rejected liberalism and promised to“end welfare as we know it.”

The debate dealt heavily with foreign policy. All of the candidates believe in some form or another ofwar mongering. They differed on the degrees on which to enact militarism. Hillary Clinton and BernieSanders agreed that they don't want to focus on the emails and they shook hands. Hillary Clintonand Bernie Sanders agreed with the imperial policies of the Obama administration on Syria. Theywant the Gulf States (who funded ISIS directly and indirectly) to be used to fight ISIS in Syria. HillaryClinton wanted an U.S. impose no fly zone over parts of Syria on the table. That policy will cause


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confusion and more chaos in the region. Asked directly when a “President Sanders” would use force,the senator replied, “When our country is threatened and when our allies are threatened.” He is not apacifist, he continued, and had supported Bill Clinton’s bombing of Serbia in 1999, the invasion ofAfghanistan under George W. Bush in 2001, and the current Obama campaign of air strikes in Syria.That is not anti-war at all. The candidates didn’t talk about how there is a link between theconcentration of wealth and privilege at the top of economic power to the U.S. military aggression

overseas. Hillary Clinton is a notorious militarist.

On foreign policy, all of them promoted war mongering or that war mongering must be made in acoalition of nations. None of the candidates condemned imperialism in strong terms. The crisis inSyria (which was made worse by failed Western policies) has directly caused the refugee crisis inthe Middle East and Europe. Russia is bombing in Syria too. Our tax dollars are being spentoverseas to promote Western imperialism where domestically we have problems with ourinfrastructure. Drone strikes killing innocent human lives and the bombing of a hospital in Kunduzare tragedies. We don’t want extrajudicial assassinations and we are opposed to the war on terror.

Each of those candidates refuse to expose the oppression of Palestinians and the oppression thatmany black people go through in Africa and in Latin plus South America.

All of the candidates talked about the Black Lives Matter movement. Many candidates talked abouthow Black Lives Matter or how every life matters (which was said by Jim Webb, which wasdisappointing since we have an emergency in the black community with police terrorism, etc. JimWebb needs to realize that we have an epidemic of cops killing black people in this country. Policebrutality is real and we want crooked cops to be placed into prison after a trial). O’Malley showed themost progressive views on immigration. He said that we must treat immigrants fairly. O'Malley hadhis moments too. He has to deal with his record as mayor (which is about zero tolerance and otheraggressive policies) and his new statements about economic justice. O'Malley wants to presenthimself as a more progressive person (while he has a legacy as mayor of Baltimore of zerotolerance). Each of the candidates followed differing versions of restrictions of gun rights under

certain circumstances. Webb sounded like a conservative Democrat or a liberal Republican. Chaffeeexplained his views on civil liberties (as the Patriot Act, the NDAA, and other unjust laws areantithetical to our civil liberties) and on other issues. By and large, the debate focused mostly onHillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders including O'Malley, Chafee, and Webb. This debate was muchmore substantive than the Republican debates. Bernie Sanders won the debate on substance whileHillary Clinton outlined great debating preparedness. She was ready. At the end of the day,regardless of what these candidates say, we have to embrace political independence. We have tosee that we, as black people, need each other to survive.


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These politicians a’int going to save us. If we are to have liberation, then we will have to fight for it

and establish it for ourselves. This doesn’t mean that I don’t believe in universal health care, etc. Ido believe in universal health care, racial justice, economic justice, a living wage, humanrights, etc. and I will continue to fight for these things for the rest of my life. Yet, we have to goout and advance revolutionary, independent politics and strong social activism. By and large, thedebate was interesting. The whole debate represented how the country changed from even 4 yearsago. There is the growth of populism in America.

The Truth on the Global War on Terror

The Global War on terrorism has been filled with crimes against humanity. It began with the

evil, unjust attacks on America during 9/11 (where almost 3 thousand innocent human beings

died from). Millions of people have died from it. The war on terror has been carried on by two

administrations (and other people) and it threatens the future of humanity. The Pentagon for

decades (in their documents, plans, etc.) wants Western hegemonic domination of the Earth. This

domination is digital too. There has been US/NATO forces deployed in many regions of the Earth

simultaneously causes civilian deaths and other atrocities. Now, we see US/NATO ground forces in


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Eastern Europe near Ukraine. We see military and covert intelligence operations taking place

simultaneously in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia, and the Far East.

Many sovereign states are in the state of destabilization as product of the war on terror. Israel is an

ally of the Western military alliance too including Gulf Monarchial states like Saudi Arabia, the UAE,

etc. This global criminal undertaking overtly violates international law. Even the late Nuremberg

Tribunal prosecutor William Rockler has said that: “…The United States has discarded pretensionsto international legality and decency, and embarked on a course of raw imperialism run

amok.” Western war crimes have been executed under the guise of “humanitarian wars” and

“counter-terrorism operations.” “Democracy” is not instituted in the targeted countries, but puppet

regimes. Libya is even having a civil war as a product of the NATO destructive actions in Libya, which

started years ago. The United Nations and other international bodies have been co-opted by the

establishment as a means for these crimes to continue.

The 2003 invasion of Iraq has been classified as a crime against humanity by former chief Nuremberg

prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz. We see how the war on terror functions. Many of these terrorists have

been funded or contrived by the West. For example, al-Nusra, Al-Qaeda, ISIS, etc. have origins from

Western backed entities. The U.S. intelligence community has supported Osama bin Laden during

1979. Many Islamic terrorists have been aided by the West as well. Today, the West is battling some

terrorists as a means to spread their power. Saudi Arabia is a key ally of America and Saudi Arabia

has an abysmal human rights record. The House of Saud has provided financial aid to terrorists for

generations. Some members of the Bush and Bin Laden families are friends. Today, we see ISIS, which

is an evil, counterrevolutionary terrorist group. The war on terror has complexities, but the

injustices of the war on terror can never be justified. The antiwar movement should be

strengthened. There should be no extrajudicial assassinations or drone wars. Our civil rights should

be protected. We must grow our solidarity, so we defend our humanity. We want an end to Empire

and the establishment of peace and justice for all.


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The 2015 Israeli Elections

The reactionary Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed victory after the closely contestednational election in Israel. His Likud Party has won at least 29 seats in the 120-seat Parliament, the

Knesset, which caused this party to have a great position to form a ruling coalition. Likud’s mainchallenger is the Zionist Union. It won 24 seats. The Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog has alreadycalled Netanyahu to concede defeat. President Reuven Rivlin, a longtime Likud loyalist, willdesignate Netanyahu to form the next government once the distribution of seats is finalized amongthe ten parties that reached the threshold of 3.25 percent of the vote. There have been discussionsabout the shape of the next coalition long before votes went to the polls. Netanyahu has pledgedsupport from his own Likud. He is supported by other right wing nationalist parties like Jewish Homeand Yisrael Beiteinu. These parties have ultraorthodox Jewish people. These five parties combinedto hold 53 seats according to exit polls. Herzog heads the Labor Party. His partner in the ZionistUnion bloc is former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who heads the tiny Hatnuah party. Herzog had theassured support of only the Zionist Union, the middle-class “left” Meretz Party and Yesh Atid, thesecular party of former TV newscaster Yair Lapid. According to exit polls, these three parties may

win 44 seats between them. The Kulanu Party or a split off from the Likud has a huge role with itsten seats bringing a new right wing coalition to 63 seats, which is a narrow majority. Netanyahu hasoffered the finance ministry to Kulanu Party leader Moshe Kahlon, a former Likud cabinet minister.The parliamentary system has contradictions. The parties of the Joint Arab List won 13 seats, whichis the third largest in the Knesset. They traditionally refuse to participate in government. Netanyahufired Lapid as finance minister and Livni as justice minister that brought up a previous coalition.Then, the elections came 2 years later. Netanyahu used extremist rhetoric all over the campaign. Hemade racist attacks on Palestinians (he even said that Arabic people are coming to the polls, whichis race baiting garbage from him). The secular Yesh Atid party backed Herzog.


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The election dealt with the issues of the economy in Israel not just about Middle Eastern foreignaffairs and the Palestinian plight. There is great economic inequality in Israel. That is why manypeople in Israel have expressed discontent. The right wing Netanyahu gave a provocative speech inCongress recently which said that Iran wants to have a nuclear weapon, which they don’t have. Inthe final days of the campaign, Netanyahu shifted focus from Iran to the Palestinians, seeking, withsome success, to lure the racist and settler vote away from Jewish Home and Yisrael Beiteinu. He

publicly declared his opposition to a two-state agreement with the Palestinians. On Tuesday, hemade an unusual Election Day appearance in Har Homa, a Jewish suburb of East Jerusalem builtillegally on Palestinian land, to warn that his government was in danger from a reportedly heavyturnout among Israeli Arab voters. In actuality, even the Zionist Union party supports the status quoin dealing with Palestinians. Livni’s father commanded an unit of the terrorist Irgun. She or Livni wasfamous for being the foreign minister during the 2006 invasion of Lebanon. The sad party is obviousthat the status quo continues. Palestinians suffer segregated buses, checkpoints, blockades, and theestablishment in Israel could not give one inch of concern. GOP reactionary extremists, talk showpropagandists (like Limbaugh, Savage, etc.), the Koch Brothers, Democratic neoliberalcompromisers, and theocratic preachers ally with Israeli policies. They are allied with AIPAC too.The negotiations between Iran and the P5 plus one continue. The extremists lie and say that Iran isclose to forming a nuclear arsenal. Unlike the secret nuclear power Israel, Iran is a signatory of theNon Proliferation Treaty and has always been willing to prove its peaceful intent. Both parties of

America (being Republicans and Democratic people) follow American imperialism not just peoplelike Tom Cotton (who supported sending an incendiary letter to Iran filled with neo-conservativerhetoric). We have to ally with progressive Israelis and Palestinians who want peace for all in theMiddle East.


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From Selma to Ferguson, we still fight for justice.

An Important Message

We have to have hope too. We are breathing. We are thinking. We are living. We are alive. While weare alive, we can do something. We can defend the poor and the oppressed. We can pray. We canwork in charities. We can allow our voices to be heard. We can support truly independent politicalmovements that are dedicated in the establishment of real change. Nothing is going to turn usaround. Freedom can never be won or exacted without struggle. We can fund and assist educational

services who are really teaching children the truth (about themselves and the world around them).We know what real freedom means. That means that we end imperialism abroad where we have abloated military budget. We need to reject the unlimited free market, neoliberal rhetoric and believein living wages for workers. We want a clean environment. We reject an unlawful, repressive nationalsecurity state harming our civil liberties (that means that we should be the elimination of thePatriot Act and any law that explicitly violates our human rights ). Wall Street criminals shouldnot just receive fines alone. They should be placed into prison. There are many of the same issuesof yesteryear like poverty and human rights issues. Also, we have many new complex issues that wehave to deal with bioethics, GMOs, and climate change. I have no problem with voting, but the issueis that on many times, people have limited choices on who to vote for. Therefore, we have topromote more independent political candidates outside of the 2 party monopoly system. We haveencourage voting and protect voting rights (as voting is a human right) while at the same time weshould make sure that we have great choices to vote for. What we do now will definitely effect our

future. Life will have nuisances, so we have to study even the nuisances in order for us to developcomprehensive solutions to our problems basically. I will continue to live my life, love humanity, andbelieve in awe-inspiring wisdom. We will always oppose racism and bigotry. We will defend the poorand the oppressed. That is what our ancestors did and these actions are part of quintessential,important, and valuable spiritual including moral traditions.


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The image to the right showed demonstrators, in Madison, Wisconsin on March 2015,who want racial justice.

50 years have passed since the massive Selma marches in Alabama. The Selma movement was amovement made up of numerous people (of a wide spectrum of backgrounds). This movementwanted the people to fight for the voting rights of black Americans (and to stand up for human rightsas well). Many people suffered police brutality, firings, and other injustices, because they wanted tostand up for their human rights. The racist Southern aristocracy wanted to maintain apartheid insociety. Legalized apartheid ended, but Jim Crow Jr. grew in its place (which dealt with massincarceration, neoliberalism, mass privatization, bad trade deals, etc.). After the assassination of Dr.King, the corporate elite allowed a small segment of the black middle class and the black rich tohave some privileges while the masses of poor black people suffered (as accurately said by GlenFord). The bourgeoisie of all colors have grown their power at the expense of the poor as well sincethe late 1960’s. The recent recession have devastated much of the black community's wealth too

(while Wall Street has received record profits from the establishment). The actions of massmovements have been diminished into the some wanting to follow the two capitalist parties of theRepublicans and the Democrats. Recently, there is the growth of the Black Lives Matter Movementwhich has been inspirational. We see still high black unemployment. We need revolutionary change.There is nothing wrong with self-determination. Some people slander self-determination asequivalent to hatred when legitimate, sincere self-determination was one factor in which modernnations existed in the first place. Malcolm X revolutionized his thinking in a higher level just before hepassed away. Black people have every right to affirm their aspirations. Also, we need economic

justice too. I don't believe in the false view that wealth should be controlled by a select few of people.Wealth and power ought to be redistributed fairly. Not to mention that there is nothing wrong withuniversal health, affordable housing, and battling against poverty too. We don't need massiveprivatization. We need justice and real, progressive solutions. The whole structure of society must bechanged.

From the civilizations of the Motherland thousands of years ago to the digital age near 2020,we are still here. Regardless of the ages that come about, we are still here living our lives andstanding up for the cause. Our eyes are on the prize. We will always believe in the Dream. TheDream is rooted in the premise that the entire human race should have freedom, justice, andequality. The Dream is about living in a world where racial profiling, police brutality, and the otherinjustices of oppression are eradicated. The Dream is where justice, harmony, brotherhood, andsisterhood are made real for all of humanity. There is another great point to be made as well. Thereis nothing wrong with joy in struggle. We can have fun. Not all of life is rigid and we have to find time


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to experience joy, happiness, and a sense of gladness. There is nothing wrong with humor, havingfun at times, and believing in happiness. We desire a radical social transformation of society whereall human beings have justice, freedom, and equality. We must all decolonize our minds. Thatmeans that we ought to reject regressive, ignorant, and false ideologies. We have to educate malesand females on their great human value, their gifts, and their potential to make exceptional change.The one percent has gotten massive wealth at the expense of the working class. There must be a

radical redistribution of wealth. So, we have to be true and we fight for the truth anywhere becauseof the love that we have (and because of those who have loved us). One solution is to increase thenetworks of networks in our communities that address the concerns of our communities. Grassrootsprograms can go a long way in solving our problems. Also, we ought to advocate a living wage, anend to Empire, an end to the neo-liberal, prison industrial complex, & civil liberty-violating nationalsecurity state infrastructure. We have to sacrifice our time and effort to make real change. We muststudy. We must not only study philosophies and history. We want understand social andeconomic dynamics of civilizations, so we can advocate a more revolutionary, progressiveagenda. We have to fight and struggle for our freedom, which we rightfully deserve. That is why I amliving, writing these words, and helping out my neighbors out in real life. We will continue on this life

journey.

By Timothy

We have a long way to go, but we haveto keep on moving forward. We are still

here and we ought to have justice withoutexception.

Keep Moving Forward

the 2016 presidential election

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