What is this election about - or more importantly - who is going to decide what this election is about? Well - the answer to the second part of the question is - we are! We have to control the "What is this election about ?" question! Therefore - we need to do two things - define what this election is about - including what this election is not about - and we need to figure out how to make it about what we want to make it about.
Again - answering the second question first - the way we control what this election is about is that we hammer it on our web site - over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.
Then - we figure out what the election is and is not about.
This Election is NOT about
The election is not about a referendum on gay marriage. If we are talking about gay marriage then we are not talking about what this election is about. Not to say that gay marriage isn't an important issue - but it certainly is not important compared to the economy, the war in iraq, the patriot act, freedom and liberty issues, the raping of America, and the fact that America can't survive another 4 years of Bush.
The election is not about Bush's service - or lack thereof - in the national guard. Yes - he was AWOL - and we all know that. But that debate is a distraction. It distracts from Bush being AWOL as president allowing 9-11 to happen while he was in Texas being beaten up by a pretzel.
And - this election is not about anything the Republicans want to say the election is about. If we are talking about their issues - then we aren't talking about our issues. We need to make sure that when the Republican owned media tries to control the debate and define the election on their terms that we show them down and make sure we are dominate - whatever it takes.
This election is not about Republicans vs. Democrats - not about Liberal vs. Conservatives - not about Christians vs. Heathens - not about the rich vs. the poor - not about workers vs. corporations - not about this group vs. that group. There are a lot of things that everyone has in common that this election is about. So we can't let the Bush administration chop America up into little pieces and try to reassemble the pieces into a shape that appears to make it look like a culture war that Bush is the winner of. We can't be distracted into letting them control what the election is about.
What the Election is About - Its about the Future
So - getting down to - what is this election about - I remember Carville defining the debate. "It's the economy stupid!" - and yes - it still is the economy - and the economy sucks and it is not recovering - it is not strong - we are going further in the hole at a faster rate than ever. We are in a nose dive only 2000 feet from the ground and it may already be to late to pull out of it.
However - "It's the economy stupid!" is now a smaller piece of a bigger picture. The big picture is - this election is about THE FUTURE stupid. This election is about tomorrow. We need to ask the question - "What will America be like if we have 4 more years of Bush?" "What kind of Country are we? "Who are we and what have we become".
We need to keep the focus on the future. In fact - that can be a test to see if we are on the right track. If an issue is presented - is the issue about the future - or is it a distraction? I remember in the last real election where Dole talked about a bridge to the past - and Clinton talked about a bridge to the future. You know who won that debate. In my Church of Reality - looking towards the future is known as the "sacred direction" - we are forward looking - onward and upward. Looking to the future is the winning issue in this debate and it is up to us to keep the focus of this election on the future.
So - what kind of a future do we want America to have? Where are we and what direction are we heading? What will America look like in 2008 if Bush is reselected? We can ask the question - "Are you better off than you were 4 years ago?" - but - a better question would be - "Will you be better off 4 years from now with Bush or Kerry?" Clinton understood these issues. He framed the debate between hope and fear. Bush will be pushing fear - we must push hope. Hope by definition is forward looking - to long for a better tomorrow. That's that this election is about - hope - a longing for a better tomorrow.
Who can disagree with that? I mean - if you ask Republican voters - do you want a better tomorrow - 65% of them would say Yes!
So - what will America be like if Bush is reselected? Will we be a nation at war? Will we have the Draft? Will the government be forcing us to give up our children to die in an undeclared war for no reason at all? Will we have any jobs left? Will Bush continue to cut taxes for the rich. Will Head Start exist in 2008? Will there be an education system left? What state economies will collapse? Will the national economy collapse?
What about freedom and liberty? Will Patriot 2 pass? Will there be government spies everywhere - watching your every move? Will we go to jail for writing messages like this one? Will there be any free speech? Will the government drag us off to jail as an enemy combatant if we speak out? Is this the end of freedom if Bush is reselected?
What about the economy? What will happen by 2008? Will we be so far in the hole that we never get out? At what point does the debt collapse the economy? What happens then? Do we start World War 3 using our nuclear weapons to threaten other countries to steal their resources?
Or - are we talking about RATIONING? Rationing is the future under Bush. Allen Greenspan has already given us a glimpse of America's future under Bush. What he advised is RATIONING SOCIAL SECURITY. There's a term for you - rationing social security. That's what this election is about! If we can get that phrase into the national debate then the debate is on our terms. I would love to see the media arguing whether or not we are rationing social security.
But the rationing doesn't stop there. What about Medicare? We won't be able to afford that either. We are going to have to ration Medicare. We are going to have to ration health care. We are going to have to decide that there just isn't enough money to treat everyone who is sick - so we are going to have to decide as a society who gets treatment and who gets to die on the steps of the hospital.
The - will we have rationed education? Or - will the educational system just collapse? Will we become like a third world country where we have a mostly illiterate population? I think that one of the tings we should be asking in this election - when will America catch up to Cuba when it comes to literacy. Cuba has a better educational system than we do and to we have the will to catch up to our Communist neighbor - or are we going to continue to fall behind Cuba?
What about the future of religion in America? Christian think they are taking over the government but getting vouchers and funning federal money through churches - but in reality the opposite is happening. When churches start receiving tax money - then people who tithe will stop tithing and decided that they are tithing through their taxes. This will cause a fundamental shift in church funding as members break the giving habit. Churches will become dependent on the government for money - and then the government will have control over religion.
If a church is taking government money - for example - and the government says - "We require that you turn over your membership information to the IRS if you want to continue to receive funding. And - you are not allowed to reveal what information you turn over on your members to the membership." - what do you think is going to happen? The churches will have the freedom to give up the money if they choose not to participate - but are they going to be able to pay the bills once they get dependent on those funds? But - you say - "that's not REALLY going to happen - is it?" My response is - "The airline industry is already doing it. (Jet Blue) What makes you think they are going to stop there?" When Uncle Sam writes the checks - Uncle Sam calls the shots. So - the future of freedom of religion is threatened under Bush.
What does the future hold for workers rights? Bush has already eliminated overtime pay in favor of corporate interests. Corporate power over the right of the people is shifting as we go back to owing our souls to the company store. The big guys call the shots and we have to bend over and take it. The government isn't going to stand up for the common man - it is going to control the common man. We will live our lives in fear - just like people did under Hitler and Stalin - and the words "Freedom and Liberty" will become mere marketing slogans to get you to buy Chineese goods at WalMart!
What of freedom of the press when the press is becoming a single Republican controlled entity. The FCC continues to allow mergers giving control of the media to a small group of Republican controlled interests. Thats why America spends more money, time, and attention on Clinton's blow job that on figuring out what happened in 9-11 so that we can prevent it from happening again. Its not that the public's interest controls that - it's that the corps that own the media get bigger tax breaks under Republicans that they do under Democrats.
Even elections are fixed in America. This election will be no exception. Our voting machines are rigged to elect Republicans. We have to get 60% of the real vote to win an election - maybe. Elections are going to go away and we need to stop it. I find it extremely disturbing that we are being cheated and the media isn't talking about it. It just goes to show you how we - on the front lines of the internet - the last place where freedom exists - for now - that we must prevail or we shall forever lose our last chance to do so.
We are at a point where our technology can become the tool to enslave us. There is a technology called RFID - Radio Frequency Identifier Chips - currently the size of a grain of rice and getting smaller. These chip can be implanted in anything - including you - and can be used to track every place you go and everything you do. I'm not trying to sound like some nut case about chips in your brain - but this technology is finding its way into more and more products. People are microchiping their kids so that they can be found if abducted. But that same thing can be required of everyone - and we will see the day soon when that is proposed. It won't be just pets and cattle - it will be everyone.
This technology is not going to go away - so we must look to the future and make decisions about it. The technology exists - or soon will exist - to track everyone in the country and know everywhere you go and everything you do. So what will our future be like. Because we have this technology to track everyone everywhere - do we do that? Or - do we treat it like nuclear weapons - we can blow up the planet - but we choose not to do so.
The Bush administration is developing a system called Total Information Awareness (TIA) to do just that. To track everyone everywhere and everything they do. This election is about the future - so I ask the question - what kind of future do we want? Do we want Total Information Awareness or don't we. Personally - I don't want it. But - this is what this election is about and if we don't talk about it - no one will. But there's no doubt in my mind that this will be our future unless we stop it.
We all have a Common Goal
What this election is about is - what is our future going to be like? We have a common goal even with those we disagree with. There is no person - not one - in America who is better off under Bush. Our common future is at stake in this election. We are a nation in decline and we must reverse course. It may already be too late - but if it isn't too late now - it will certainly be too late in 2008. Things are really bad and they are getting worse. And it's not just getting worse for Liberals, Democrats, Gays, and other so called - scum of the earth. Its getting worse for Heterosexual Christian white God fearing family values Bible thumpers as well. We are all in this together and we all have to figure out what really is going on and what is best for all of us.
So - as I stated up front - and I challenge anyone of any religious or political persuasion to debate me on this - isn't the future the most important issue in the election? Isn't this what is really at stake? So - if we are going to have a political debate - if we are going to have a political dialog - lets make the debate and the dialog what this election is really about - lets talk about what is real - and lets talk about the future.
I therefore declare that the theme for this election is - ITS ABOUT THE FUTURE STUPID!
I've recorded the congressional primary debates for congress in San Mateo county California. I used my digital voice recorder with a $10 external microphone.
Here are the 3 MP3 files.
There is a lot of talk about same sex marriage - but know one is talking about same sex divorce. What's going to happen when these people get tired of being married - then what. Do you just walk away and forget it? No - you're married.
The other side of getting the government to bless your marriage is that you have to go to the government to bless your divorce. And that involves giving everything you own to two crooked lawyers. I'm just waiting to see what happens when a man is ordered to pay allimony to another man who is curruently living with a third man. Welcome to the world of marriage boys!
Be careful what you ask for because you might get it. Out here in the hertero world - we've tried it and it sucks. No one in their right mind would get married if they really understood what they were agreeing to. If you think that the government enhances your relationship then you are full of the illusion - marriage in America and most of the world is a lie. There's no such thing as marriage because the government doesn't enforce the relationship commitment.
It used to be that a person had to have grounds for a divorce or it wasn't granted. The commitment was recognized by the state and it wasn't something you could walk away from when it became inconvienient. But now its just a property agreement - and a really bad one at that. So - once these gay couples are fully and equally married - then they will be able to appreciate the other side of the equasion - to be fully and equally divorced.
How many of these couples will get divorced? Well - among heterosexual marriages - you're looking at 50% to 60% divorce rate. And I'm guessing that the rate will be at least as high or higher for gay couples - taking into account that there are no biological children in the relationship to stay together for.
If it were up to me I would actually restrict marriage further rather than expand it. I would perhaps restrict it to reproducing couples - and - I would require a significant waiting period before a marriage license is granted. And - I would get rid of no fault divorce. Harder to get in - harder to get out. And both parties would have to file asset disclosurs and work out a prenup before they can get that government stamp on thier relationship.
Letter to the Editor
Allan Greenspan has just confirmed what many people have already known for years - that the Republicans are out to destroy Social Security. We can't touch the big tax breaks for the super rich - says Greenspan. So the next generation of Americans should be preparing to eat dog food when they turn 65. There is no doubt now that 4 more years of Bush and Republicans will end Social Security. America is a nation in decline and denial. It may be already too late to stop the bleeding.
Letter to the Editor
Greenspan says we need to cut Social Security so that rich republicans can keep their tax cuts. I remember 4 years ago when Clinton was president that Social Security was in good shape - we had a surplus - and everyone was making lots of money. I say - getting rid of Bush is the best solution to fixing Social Security. Lets go back to taxing the rich rather than throwing old people out on the street.
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Stolen from Craigslist
The Republican Party announced today that it is changing its emblem from an elephant to a condom because it more clearly reflects the party's political stance. A condom stands up to inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of pricks, and gives you a sense of security while you're actually being screwed.
Letter to the Editor
I don't care if Democrats and Republicans have come together - I'm not going to vote to add 15 billion dollars to the California debt. Its just plain wrong to borrow and spend.
California has all the taxes. We have taxes that other states have never heard of. We have highly paid wage earners here and the state takes in an unreal amount of taxes. So - I say - you have enough money - deal with it.
California has a spending problem and we aren't going to solve it by giving them more money to spend. We need to fix the problem and its going to take a crisis to make that happen. And its not going to get done if we put it off with borrowed money. Its time we face fiscal responsibility and cut up the credit card and start fixing the problem.
If Mr. Schwarzenegger wants to advocate something that would actually turn the California economy around - he should advocate that we need a new president. That's a real solution what will actually work. I'm not willing to vote to go into debt for politics.
Nader is talking big like his against the corporate takeover of America and that Bush was Supremely Selected - refering to Bush's apointment by the Supreme Court. But - back in 2000 when the supreme selection occurred - did Nader protest then? No - not a word! Nader kept his mouth shut like a good little Republican stooge and just let it happen.
In the last weeks of the 2000 election Nader took a lot of donations from Republican sources and targeted states where the election was close between Gore and Bush. None of these states were states where he was close - but he targeted states in a way to draw away support from Gore so as to allow Bush to win. So Nader deliberately put Bush in power - and not he pretends to complain that about the result.
Ralph - you used to be one of the good guys - but you sold your soul to the devil and you are now the enemy. You running has the opposite effect of what you say your goals are - and you are hoping the public is to stupid to figure it out. You are not against the corporate takeover of America - you are part of the corporate takeover of America. Those corporations who you decry will be out the - gathering signatures - to get you on the ballot in all 50 states.
You had a legacy Ralph - and you destroyed it. You sold out - you are now one of the lying leaches who sucks the blood of society for minor personal gain. I am looking forward to seeing where your funding is coming from and exposing you for the fraud you are.