"The wealthy, not only by private fraud but also by common laws, do every day pluck and snatch away from the people some part of their daily living. Therefore, when I consider and weigh in my mind these commonwealths which nowadays do flourish, I perceive nothing but a certain conspiracy of rich men in procuring their own commodities under the name and authority of the commonwealth.

They invent and devise all means and crafts, first how to keep safely without fear of losing that which they have unjustly gathered together, and next how to hire and abuse the work and labor of the people for as little money and effort as possible."

Thomas More, Utopia

Friday, February 22, 2008

With Choices Like These...

Howard Zinn manages, as usual, to put his finger on what ails America in this (and every) political season. An exerpt:

"Today, we can be sure that the Democratic Party, unless it faces a popular upsurge, will not move off center. The two leading Presidential candidates have made it clear that if elected, they will not bring an immediate end to the Iraq War, or institute a system of free health care for all.

They offer no radical change from the status quo."


The rest.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like the article, especially when Zinn says unless the will of the people is done it does not matter who is the President.

Back in the day, I would call Jay Marvin on WLS (I only listened to the station during his show) and we would debate my support of a third party candidate. He now does the morning drive on AM760 the Air America in Boulder/Denver.

Marvin would say Bush (either one) had to be defeated and to vote Democratic. He too was dismayed with the direction of the party.

I would try to tell him principle was more important than the party, but we would always disagree.

You are right, coldie and Zinn too. The Democratic Party will not jump off the center until the people demand such. That ain't gonna happen because the powerbrokers would lose their control.

Coldtype said...

"That ain't gonna happen because the powerbrokers would lose their control"

That's exactly the problem.

Anonymous said...

Forgot to sign my first post here, coldie.

Looks like the rightists are troting out the goods against Obama and on a past meeting with William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn. I can't wait to see what will be written.

leftisthebest

Coldtype said...

I saw it on on SCC and I posted on the thread but it's 50/50 rather or not they will post my response. You know how that goes: if you can't take the heat, delete.

Anonymous said...

I posted a reply to the Ayers-Dohrn topic over at SCC which was not published. It was rather mild and there were no personal attacks. All it said was that he was reaching to bring up a tie between them.

Aaaah, censorship is great.

Anonymous said...

To 9:50 a.m.:

where are YOUR initials, unit and watch? Not there of course because as a rabid right winger who worships the warped, anti-working class, help the rich policies of dead (and living) reactionaries such as Ronald RAYGUN, Bush I or Bush II or adulter "Newt" you would rather live in the past than look to the future.

leftisthebest