Free Democracy

Millions of people throw away their votes to war mongers of the corporate 2-party system every election; and millions more do not vote because of this problem. If you tell people they can’t vote for who they want, that is not a free democracy, that is clear obedience to rigging. i wrote an essay to dispute the argument that “we cant vote for who we want until ranked choice” (corporate BS). i disagree on the grounds of the chicken or the egg aspects; i believe both are needed (as with legal and illegal protests) and one of those ways is accessible to all now.

Even corporate media is beginning to admit that corporations are more of a threat than immigrants. There is an episode of Hill Rising where a People’s Action rural organizer explains how many Trump voters were tricked but now realize that corporations are more to blame for their economic losses than immigrants. It is still rare for voters to resist corporate control, but it is starting to happen more as grassroots rhetoric develops.

3rd Party Votes are real votes that represent people who want a real democracy. People need to stop suggesting that the 2-party system owns our votes and 3rd party just distracts. If more people could get past that brainwashing and vote 3rd party then we would have a healthy democracy. Trump did not win at all because people voted 3rd party, 3rd party voters voted for who they wanted which was NOT Trump or Trump-Light. Many who would prefer Trump over Hillary voted Libertarian and their vote represents what they want more than Trump does.

“About the Impeachment of Trump; lawyers have identified 12 impeachable offenses, and the two chosen by the DNC were the least criminal of those. The only reason for omission is because to use the other crimes implicates the DNC of guilt as well.” – Chris Hedges

How To Fix Democracy

Professor Mark Blyth says two points about creating stakes for more people to be involved in a better sustained democracy: 1. Create a Social Wealth Fun for economic equilibrium (market stabilization) 2. Create a Carbon New Deal (don’t use the loaded left-wing word Green) [Angrynomics]

Why Bernie Sanders is the Only Choice Left in 2020

Bernie Sanders is the only choice Left to be president in 2020 because his record is so consistently close to the philosophy of FDR and MLK; sorry corporate DNC. The DNC got to run their corporate candidate last time, and Hillary Clinton (a corporate brand name) lost against Donald Trump (WTF?). The DNC blamed Russia and Environmentalists, and called fellow liberals evil “russians” just like the Republicans did during the Red Scare, with all of the blacklisting and pinko bigotry that came with it during the Cold War; but they found out that some of us are sick of that crap and the brain-washing does not work on us. Those of us resistant to the dictates of authority, prefer the intellectual chaos of real democracy over submitting to the fake rhetoric and lies of corrupted power.

So yes the DNC has been running fake progressives using their corporate money, but the false hope based on lies is fake enough to see through for anyone who studies political ethics even as a hobby. As Killer Mike, Nina Turner, and Cornel West have been saying “The proof is in the pudding.” Sanders may be truly as far left as lesser known candidate veterans like Kucinich and Gravel, but Sanders has proven tougher and has had more popularity than any other politician since 2016. Sanders is so much closer to MLK than anyone else running, and for so much longer. I love some of the others too like Tulsi and Yang, but they do not have as many decades of experience in politics. Bernie is documented as being involved in the 1960s Civil Rights movement, like perhaps most famously in photos and film taken when he got arrested for chaining himself with blacks in a 1963 protest. In economics and environmentalism Sanders is very scientific in his policies [Green New Deal]. Sanders is on record working with Bill Nye the Science Guy to explain to people that the science of climate change is real, and in the Senate Sanders actually forced companies like Walmart and Amazon to pay their workers more. There is no doubt that Sanders can do what he says when he has enough support.

All the other candidates for president in 2020 (including Biden) are imitating his Social Healthcare platform basically in the main aspects, and some can do it better than others. Biden really cannot because he is too corporate crony, and the worst kind of two-faced politician. Sanders pulled the entire DNC more left for sure, along with grass-roots social movements like ‘Black Lives Matter’ and environmentalism (both tending to embrace the non-violent methods of MLK and thus also represent a surviving Peace Movement). The DNC is rigged, and both parties will try to rig the national election again in favor of their corporate donors, but Bernie may have enough support it wont matter, because he certainly has even more support than last time. Corporations and rich ducks have to decide who they want to negotiate with before mobs are sick of yelling, and do not want to talk anymore.

The fact is that Plutocracy can use their money and power to take out any politician or citizen they want, and get away with it legally as they have done before with the assassinations of JFK, JFK’s brother, MLK, and potentially others that are hard to prove due to the nature of the system. Our own Oligarchy usually uses other less lethal means to rig elections (using the electoral college, supreme court, gerrymandering etc); and character assassinate using blackmail and the corporate News Media. However there is only so much the CIA, NSA, HLS, SS, and FBI can do, even including assassinations. They may have to buckle down and allow corporations to negotiate with Sanders, or risk worse violence against their profits from mass movements like Occupy or Yellow Vest (working class of France). This happened with FDR. FDR came closer than any other world leader during WW2 to satisfying labor rights, even those who claimed they were socialist. FDR was not assassinated because plutocrats must have seen him as a way to keep the system from collapsing; yet FDR made the New Deal which taxed the rich corporations heavily and created a prosperous 1950s middle-class who could actually afford to buy products and property.

With FDR our Oligarchs (big business, plutocracy, and MIC) must have realized they were not going to get another leader sympathetic enough to both the poor and the rich to allow the system to function and stop a complete revolution (as in Russia or Germany). Somehow the powerful leaders allowed FDR to win and distribute wealth fairly enough to allow the middle class of the 1950s to buy their crap. Let’s see if industrial corporations, rich aristocrats, and militant bigots figure it out again this century.

By the way, violence is not the only thing that can bring the far Left and the far Right together. The wings of politics merge at the ends of Civil Rights aka Individual Liberties. Populism works politically because it draws support from both the Right and the Left. Sanders is certainly the most proven populist, as his popularity proves; and not even time-tested scary propaganda about evil communists can stop true populism. Trump won as a fake populist, but his record as a con-man was there all along. People want a real populist now more than ever, since MLK and even FDR.

– Drogo H.F. Empedocles

*FREE Audio recording of me reading my essay on – AUDIOMACK!!!*

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French Revolution

By 1780 French commoners were angry with their ruler, King Louis XVI; and the way nobles ran their country. Although the government economy was suffering, nobles still lived in luxury and paid no taxes. Meanwhile the peasants and workers had to pay high taxes, relative to what they made, and there was not enough work or income for them all because the upper classes were keeping all the money. By 1789 the economy was broken, and the nobles called a meeting with the middle class. The middle class demanded that nobles pay taxes at least, but the nobles refused. This made the French masses of commoners furious. A crowd of poor people helped by soldiers, attacked and captured a large prison called the Bastille. After the storming of the Bastille, many other lower classes rebelled in other areas, the middle class took control, and most of the nobles were executed in a period known as the ‘Reign of Terror’. The military rage needed for the revolution, led to years of war campaigns and promoted war mongers like Napoleon, as greed and power was transferred and allowed to remain unchecked by humanitarian ethical philosophies. This is why revolution is never enough, if the natural tendencies of abuse and neglect are not addressed.

 

 

 

 

Art as an Avatar for My Life

Reflections on the Film Avatar by a Veteran of the War on Terror

Dances With Wolves, Last of the Mohicans, Last Samurai, Fern Gully, or whatever you want to compare Avatar with, its all good shit. Avatar had some great new special effects. It moved science fiction to the next technological level.

Now for my personal thoughts. I didnt need to see it right away, at least when it came out, since the plot and the fantastic alien imagery is pretty much what goes on inside my head since i can remember. heh when it came out, i was too depressed by my real-life military vs pagan conflict, and was afraid the re-enforcing energy i would have gotten from the film would depress-anger me further into something drastic. As it is, i barely made it out without Hulking out totally. If i had been free at the time, i would have gone to see it with friends, hell i would have organized it. i was too drained… feeling better now though 🙂

‎5 years of tolerating military intolerance was a huge sacrifice for me, my ways were “wrong” and the more i expressed myself the harder it was. The ideas defended in Avatar were in direct opposition to the War on Terror and martial laws that i had to learn and practice. Now that i have my citizen liberties back, i can enjoy my life more through these movies that i like; art and life as one. I may have had more direct influence on the military from within, but i have a wider range of influence with citizen liberties fully restored. For example, James Cameron could not have made that film if he was in the US Military. Enough said.

As one friend put it “It’s really good, as long as you don’t think too much about it. :)” That recommendation works for the complex experience of Avatar. It works in part for me, because I DO THINK about things too much, often. As I found myself inevitably analyzing Avatar (as i knew i would), understanding the story and relating it to my own feelings; I realized just like in real life, I am most at peace and happy when i can just relax and enjoy the experience. As soon as i find myself not coming to satisfactory conclusions about certain points, its time to shift. Sometimes the only satisfactory conclusions on issues are the satisfaction that there is not much I can do about anything except to share my thoughts with anyone that will listen, in their own time. So I can just leave things out there, to share with others.

I think comparisons are ok, but i feel like while we get the messages about multi-cultural acceptance, there are perhaps not enough movies like it to counter the amount of population that loves to hate other cultures and praise military action above all else as though it was just a sports game. That is why i am not usually harsh on fiction that has some lessons, regardless of how ‘cool’ it is. I hate to say it, but for many people no amount of lessons about cultural sharing will be enough to stop Wars. I dont blame films for that. Films like Avatar may change the minds of some, perhaps, and for that they may help to avoid real life suffering, especially if the values get passed on. Entertainment has effects on culture, for better or for worse.

If I take stories too seriously, I blame Joseph Campbell. The fact is I like stories, and love powerful fiction stories very much because we can talk about serious real issues that we can relate to, without the trauma risk that makes non-fiction too personal for debate. So I will go into the issue progressive people have with the “White Male Hero”.

What Avatar has in common with Dances with Wolves, Last of the Mohicans, and Last Samurai; one “White Male Hero” is the catalyst embracing the underdog culture. It may be silly but that is the tool to engage traditional white viewers that would not be able to bridge the cultural gaps any other way. Sad, but true.

We progressives of course would be able to see a film where the aliens win, without having a saviour that is ‘one of ours’. In reality it often happens that negotiators and important figures can relate to both sides… being of mixed blood or simply mixed cultures. I do feel the “White Guy” character was over-used when Last Samurai came out years ago. An important detail to note about the “Last” movies, is that the last of the Mohicans and Samurai had figures from those cultures that actually were the “Lasts”; its just that they were the secondary characters. So it could be argued in those films that the white actors were not really the “lasts” and their importance in the plot was overblown for the sake of engaging a white audience.

There was a line about “this isnt some pagan voodoo” that bothered me, because it seemed to be negating the point of the film in relation to reality; in other words explaining that things we have dismissed as “magic” or “supernatural” can be scientifically or psychologically explained as having functions; so i would have preferred Weaver to say “This isnt pagan voodoo in the WAY YOU THINK OK IT”, so to me it was either bad writing or it was written as though she just responded off the top of her head, in either case it didnt support translation to real world morality or comprehension regarding different cultures as much as i would have liked.

Another problem is about the “leg challenged”, and Avatar seemed to ignore the fact that we can be heroes without legs or virtual reality avatars. Unfortunately Avatar does not take that problem on. So a miss there.

I guess im saying the “White Guy Hero” issue and other problems are like dirty bath water, and the other strong issues about the environment, ecosystem, nature, science, communications, non-violent conflict resolution, etc are the Baby. So we don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water, do we?

So yes we should have more films with indigenous heroes. It was just impossible to go from the old school “We the Cowboys good, they the Indians bad” movies to “We the Cowboys bad, They the Indians good”, at least for a population made to say the National Anthem since they were kids, members of the military, or politicians etc. The message we want probably is NOT suicide. Right?

So of course we need to find a middle road in the real world, between Good and Bad, where 2 cultures can coexist without War. Ongoing War across the Globe is one of the great challenges we face, and minds must be opened to peaceful options with peaceful tools like film entertainment, video games, and other modern engaging forms of stories. More direct political or religious approaches often seem to have less effect on War than ART. We should not give up on Peace, and we must use all of these thought-provoking tools, despite the fact that the most important messages may be lost on many.

If you can make a better film than Avatar, do it. Or if you have something already that meets the most important moral messages for our time, name it. So we progress to the next level of evolution through cosmic awareness, let’s get it on!

– Drogo