Hazy Days Are Here Again

Hazy Days Are Here Again

by C.A. Matthews

Hazy days are here again—

Smoky skies and tears to lend

The environment is screwed my friend!

Hazy days are here again!

(*Sung to the tune of Happy Days Are Here Again)

 

If you don’t think it's possible to write an article incorporating a climate catastrophe story along with the opening bell of an alternative party presidential run story, then you have another thing coming to you! It’s also includes poorly written filks of old tunes as segues. (Sorry about that, but they just seem to fit.) 

In the news climate-wise, people in New York City were forced to give up breathing this past week due to particulate pollution caused by Canadian wildfires. The Air Quality Index (AQI) in parts of Brooklyn reached 484 — nearly double San Francisco’s highest hourly reading during California’s 2020 fire season. And it wasn’t just New Yorkers who were gasping for air. The smoky haze and micro-particulate clouds covered skies from Illinois to Ohio to Pennsylvania to South Carolina to New York State to Maine… In fact, just about everybody east of the Mississippi experienced horrible air quality indices this week.

Who cares though, right? Breathing is for sissies! We're told that unhealthy AQIs can cause serious health issues for vulnerable populations such as asthmatics and those with COPD as well as children and the elderly. But what’s more important—keeping poor working class people alive or growing sociopathic billionaires’ bank accounts? You know which group is more important to please for those idiots in Washington DC and in your own statehouse, don’t you? For your sake, I hope you do.

 

The fossil fuel industry takes no responsibility for causing a build up of carbon monoxide in the atmosphere due to the polluting by-products which come from combustion engines and coal-fueled power plants. It’s not like carbon monoxide and other gases have caused the so-called “greenhouse effect” that bring on heatwaves and dry up the forests of North America. No, not at all. It’s just coincidence that record breaking spring temperatures this year occurred. In no way could they have helped to spontaneously ignite tender-dry forests that have continued to burn unabated for weeks now. Pure coincidence.

It’s also pure coincidence that my garden in Northwest Ohio hasn’t seen a speck of rain in over 21 days—setting a dry spell record that is unheard of in the Midwest since the “Dust Bowl” era of the 1930s. The brown, hazy skies and dry winds that smell like a permanent bonfire have only caused me to reach for my emergency inhaler a dozen times this week. 

Well, who doesn’t need to quit breathing from time to time? The tears streaming down my face from my smoke-irritated eyes can go a long ways in filling our bone-dry rain barrels, too.

If you’re thinking I’m being facetious, think again. Between the millions who are still suffering from the lasting effects of COVID-19 and this recent air quality disaster, who knows just how many Americans have or will suffer a debilitating illness that could disable them for life? The time to take action to eliminate the use of fossil fuels and other polluting methods to generate power isn’t today—it was yesterday. In fact:

A new study by 50 leading scientists conducted to supplement the “information gap” between Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports said global greenhouse gas emissions have soared to a record high and are threatening to push our planet into “unprecedented” global heating.

Which leads me to the next story…

Oh, hazy day! Oh, hazy day!

When Cornel West… came to show us the way!

(*Sung to the tune of Oh, Happy Day)

Cornel West at BGSU in 2017

This next story is one that has captured the focus of many a leftist thinker. Dr. Cornel West, academic, philosopher, and former Bernie Sanders delegate to the DNC, has announced that he is running for the presidency in 2024. The biggest controversy at the start of his candidacy is that Dr. West has stated he is running as a People’s Party (MPP) candidate. He’s not running as a Green Party candidate or as an independent but as a candidate for an alternative party that barely exists.

To say this has caused an explosion of conversation and cursing in online forums where Lefties hang out is an understatement. Dr. West’s decision to go with the MPP is being questioned on several levels. Does he realize that the MPP doesn’t have ballot access (or even statewide organizations) in more than a handful of states? Would he be open to becoming a “fusion candidate” that several left-leaning alternative parties such as the Green Party US would be glad to nominate, thus giving him broader ballot access and more experienced organizers? Chris Hedges has said he’d speak to his good friend about switching to the Green Party. Could we see a West/Hedges 2024 ticket? We’ll see.

UPDATE: Chris Hedges did talk to Dr. West and he has decided to run as a Green after all! The West campaign website doesn't reflect this recent change in Dr. West's plans yet, so please be patient.

It’s early days so Dr. West has time to change his mind about running, or he could simply switch his choice in a party and run in one with less controversy attached to it. The MPP has fallen apart (in spite of its auspicious start with West, Nina Turner, Paula Jean Swearingen and other big names supporting it) because of sexual harassment and financial misuse charges brought against its current chair and founder Nick Brana. One would hope Dr. West would address the harassment mess and that Brana would step down so West could run without being associated with any nasty business.

Dr. West is a decent and compassionate human being. He might actually believe the voting public will look past the inadequacies of the People’s Party and concentrate on his message. One would hope that proves true, but for now… The discussions and debates continue online. (UPDATE: Even with Chris Hedges talking Cornel West into running as a Green, things are still relatively up in the air and the discussions are ongoing. You're not going to please everyone, in other words!)

West posing with friends in 2017 (photo by author)

 

To draw these seemingly radically different stories together—hazy, polluted skies and Cornel West running for office—I’d like to posit that only a presidential candidate of Dr. West’s moral caliber would do anything worthwhile to end the reign of the fossil fuels oligarchs and help put our ailing planet back on a path toward wholeness.

My reasoning? The duopolists take millions of dollars yearly from capitalists who don’t care about the health of the people or our Earth. (I suppose these rich types expect a ticket on Musk’s or Bezos’ rocket to their “Elysium” in space once they’ve destroyed our world.) Leftists candidates like Dr. West would more than likely put the fates of the poor and working classes before the billionaires’ bank accounts.  

During a Cornel West administration, we’d probably see action taken to convert our energy grid from dirty to clean energy sources, along with punitive measures taken against capitalists who don’t cooperate in these lifesaving measures. That’s why it’s imperative those who care about their lungs, their family members’ lungs, and the health of the entire planet leave the duopolists’ ranks and join with independent thinkers to destroy the corrupt, planet-killing system currently in power. 

With cleaner skies, the end of wars for oil, health care for all guaranteed, civil rights assured for the people, we’ll be singing:

Roll out those non-hazy, crazy, lazy days of summer!

(*And you thought I was done with the filks? That’s what a lack of clean air gets you. Bwahaha!)

 

Related Articles and Links of Interest:

Our first meeting in person with Cornel West was back in 2017 at a lecture he gave at Bowling Green State University: https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2017/01/justice-is-what-love-looks-like-in.html

Cornel West Discusses His Presidential Campaign https://www.blackagendareport.com/cornel-west-discusses-his-presidential-campaign 

Cornel West 2024 website: https://www.cornelwest24.com/

Sabby Sabs: Cornel West Joins... (video) https://www.youtube.com/live/xH434-Ze5Jk

As Canada Burns, Docs Reveal Oil Giant Weighed In on Government Carbon  https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/11/as-canada-burns-docs-reveal-oil-giant-weighed-in-on-government-carbon-plan/

NYC Officials Knew Wildfire Smoke Was Coming But Did Little to Protect Residents  https://truthout.org/articles/nyc-officials-knew-wildfire-smoke-was-coming-but-did-little-to-protect-residents/

New York City Skyrockets To World’s Most Polluted City
https://popularresistance.org/new-york-city-skyrockets-to-worlds-most-polluted-city/

Deadly wildfire smoke spreads across much of northeast US
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/06/09/imyu-j09.htm

New York Reports Worst Air Quality in the World as Smoke Creeps Along the Coast https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/08/new-york-reports-worst-air-quality-in-the-world-as-smoke-creeps-along-the-coast/

As New York Skies Darken, Delivery Workers Help Each Other
https://popularresistance.org/as-new-york-skies-darken-delivery-workers-help-each-other/

Over 115 million across US and Canada choked by smoke as massive wildfires burn out of control https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/06/08/misv-j08.html

Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reach Record High https://popularresistance.org/global-greenhouse-gas-emissions-reach-record-high/ 

Canada’s wildfire season off to record start, with fires burning in the East, West and Far North  https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/06/06/zrbv-j06.html

Requiem for Our Species https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/requiem-for-our-species

Norfolk Southern seeks to have lawsuits dismissed over derailment, toxic chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/06/07/epal-j07.html

Julian Assange Dangerously Close to Extradition Following High Court Rejection of Appeal https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/08/uk-julian-assange-dangerously-close-to-extradition-following-high-court-rejection-of-appeal/

Cornel West: Running for President, Ending Ukraine War & Taking on “Corporate Duopoly” of Dems & GOP (video)
https://youtu.be/wW2iPjaJ-Js 

Hurting the Democratic Party is essential for revolutionaries, & voting Cornel West is our best way to do this
https://rainershea.substack.com/p/hurting-the-democratic-party-is-essential

Dr. Cornel West Announces He is Running for President https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/dr-cornel-west-announces-he-is-running

BRICS New Development Bank de-dollarizing, adding Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe as members https://geopoliticaleconomy.substack.com/p/brics-new-development-bank-dollar-expansion

The war in Ukraine and the fight over raw materials
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/06/10/53c5-j10.html

Patrick Lawrence: First There Were Neo-Nazis, Then There Were No Nazis, Then There Were https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/06/patrick-lawrence-first-there-were-neo-nazis-then-there-were-no-nazis-then-there-were/

FBI helps Ukraine censor Twitter users and obtain their info, including journalists https://thegrayzone.com/2023/06/07/fbi-ukraine-twitter-users-including-journalists/

Durham ignores Clinton role, and new holes, in Russian hacking allegation https://mate.substack.com/p/john-durham-ignores-clinton-role

Journalism at War https://www.scottritterextra.com/p/journalism-at-war

High Court Denies Assange Right To Appeal
https://popularresistance.org/high-court-denies-assange-right-to-appeal/

Twitter Files Extra: How the World’s ‘No-Kidding Decision Makers’ Got Organized https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/07/twitter-files-extra-how-the-worlds-no-kidding-decision-makers-got-organized/

Senate Bill Calls for Investigation Into Indian Boarding Schools
https://truthout.org/articles/senate-bill-calls-for-investigation-into-indian-boarding-schools/

New Anti-transgender Laws Will Hurt Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Religious Expression https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/07/new-anti-transgender-laws-will-hurt-indigenous-peoples-rights-and-religious-expression/

Coming soon, the first book from The Revolution Continues blog:  The Little Red Book of Revolution

How can you get your e-copy? The easiest way is to subscribe to The Revolution Continues on Substack as a paying subscriber. Choose what level you'd like to subscribe at via the buttons on any post online at https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com

If you'd like to help out in the meantime, buy me a coffee!  https://ko-fi.com/therevolutioncontinues

More details to come. Power to the people!

"Justice Is What Love Looks Like In Public"

What a difference a day or two--and a pen in Trump's tiny hand--makes! We've witnessed non-violent protests across the nation in support of Standing Rock and US Green Card holders as well as protests against various Trump cabinet nominees and executive orders. Photos of a local #NoDAPL event we attended are posted below the following article, a lecture about a man who knew a lot about non-violent protests, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In celebration of Black History Month, we're looking at the Political Revolution through the eyes of African Americans. First up, Dr. Cornel West speaks on the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

"Justice Is What Love Looks Like In Public."

words and photos by Cindy A. Matthews

Dr. Cornel West spoke to a packed ballroom at Bowling Green State University with an estimated 1500+ in attendance. The noted author, scholar, lecturer, and former surrogate for both the Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein presidential campaigns, held the audience's undivided attention for two and a half hours. His insights on the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. challenged previously held misconceptions of King as "tame, domesticated." Instead, Dr. West informed us: "Don't view him [King] as a static icon in a museum--he's a wave in an ocean."

It is often forgotten that in spite of King being seen by most white Americans as a proponent of non-violent protest and an ordained Baptist minister, he was labeled by the FBI as one of the most dangerous men in America. But why? Dr. West thinks it's because King was a "love warrior" and never forgot his true mission in life was to break through our materialistic society's indifference to evil. King never stopped seeking justice for those who were oppressed and to expose evil for what it was.

"Justice is what love looks like in public," Dr. West said, noting, "What kind of human will we choose to be?"

By resisting "deodorized discourse," King made people feel "unnerved, unsettled, uncomfortable." He is still seen as a threat to our commercialized society which wants to feel good at all costs and never uncomfortable. Dr. West in MLK's tradition challenged us to see through the "American lie" that people are "self-made."

"Did you give birth to yourself?" Dr. West joked, but turning serious he remarked how we are all molded and shaped by bigger things about us--our family, society, culture. Without piety and humility, we assume we are greater than we are and can act with impunity, something Drs. King and West do not see in their Christian tradition of human beings being instilled with love.

Dr. West admitted every tradition has its blind spots, but they are a starting place for us "to try again and fail better" next time. There is "fascism in every tradition," as fundamentalists exist in the Christian, Muslim and Jewish faiths, for example, and we must always be aware of their influence. Dr. King was an "organic intellectual" and "artist" who used his ideas to empower others. This came from his "prophetic faith" in the radical visions of Isaiah and Amos. King knew he would suffer for his outspokenness: "This is the price we must bear for the freedom of our people."

The U.S. government saw the danger in Martin Luther King Jr.'s message of how militarism, commercialism and racism were sucking the energy out of our democracy. King saw the connection between militarism and poverty, and he spoke out against the travesty of the Vietnam War. He sought "justice for righteousness" and used Matthew 25 as his measure of what makes a great human being. But decades later America still has a market culture which bases the worth of human beings on their "brand." Our heroes flaunt their upward mobility with their flashiness and their "biggest brand" mentality.

"Peacocks strut because they can't fly!" West taunted, adding, "Let the phones be smart!"

"What are you doing for your brothers and sisters?" is the question King would have asked in our era of "sell-outs" who demonstrate little integrity according to West. "Superficial spectacle" cannot replace "soul to soul" communication. The oligarchs don't want groups singing in harmony because they touch the soul and go beyond the pursuit of fleeting pleasure. The soul is about "sharing, sweetness, kindness and generosity." Our task is to remain tender in the midst of our market-driven culture by practicing "spiritual warfare." We can't live through the lives of the rich and famous. We need to seek justice--not revenge. Our motto should be according to Dr. West: "I don't have a minute to hate--I will seek justice."

 West urged us to stay on the "love train" or "justice train." Power without compassion crushes the weak, but Martin Luther King Jr. whispers, "Interrupt the cycle of hatred, oppression and exploitation." King's dream was not the American dream but rooted in it. It is a dream from one who has dealt with the debilitating effects of Jim Crow for decades. The "pretty words" on our sacred documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were written by slave owners and those who condoned slavery. Dr. West says we must "critique the worse to bring out the best."

Martin Luther King Jr. was committed to the cross of Christ--to unconditional love. It's why he was organizing the poor and downtrodden sanitation workers of Memphis, Tennessee, when he was shot and killed. King spoke frankly. "We must come to terms with poverty," is what King was saying, according to Dr. West who also pointed out how King stated no democracy can survive with escalating poverty, militarism, racism and xenophobia. 

The challenge we face today is how to instill empathy. We've had a "rude awakening" under Trump, but perhaps it will awaken empathy for our brothers and sisters, West hopes, "shattering the sleepwalking, hardened hearts" who scapegoat the poor, Muslims, Jews, Palestinians, Latinos, Native Americans and others. Because "When you love folks, you wanna do something," he emphasized.

Catastrophe lyrically expressed is the Blues according to West. Martin Luther King Jr. "was a Blues man with a Christian twist." Dr. West states that we can learn from Blues people and prevent ourselves from falling into the pit. The question is, "Do we have what it takes, America?"

MLK stated, "I'd rather be dead than afraid." Dr. West challenged us to feel King's hope at the deepest level and do something with our lives to make the world a better place before "the worms get you."

After his talk, Dr. West took questions from the audience on a wide variety of subjects. He admonished us to "Lift every voice," as every voice is unique as a fingerprint and deserves to be heard. He encouraged us not to echo our culture of "joyless pursuit of pleasure" but be original, practicing love and justice, not hate and revenge.  "Go to where the people are. Do what you can with what you got."

"Love people because they are worthy, not because they'll love you back," West reminded us. The "diversity of our commonality" means our white and black history and cultures are intertwined in America. Cognizant of how we are linked together, we must treat each other fairly because, "Truths sooner or later have to be dealt with," and "The post-fact world is a lie!"

"Artists are the vanguard of the species," Dr. West stated. Creation is finding your own voice. Individuals possessing empathy and the imagination to glimpse a better world, and are willing to share it, are crucial to our society. We must conceive an alternative existence in the midst of a horrible one, remembering that social movements don't start at the top with elites but at the bottom with grassroots catalysts.

"Don't allow anything to dampen your call for justice!" he cried.

***

 From the recent Women's March in Ann Arbor, Michigan, an example of a call for justice expressed in a peaceful manner in the streets of mainstream America.

And now another example...

This Is What Democracy Looks Like!

Photos of a small town protest in front of a Big Oil corporation

by A. J. Matthews. "Non-Alternative Facts" supplied by C. A. Matthews.

With the wind, slush and damp, it was well below freezing. However, the protestors came out in numbers to make some noise in support of the Standing Rock Sioux in front of the Marathon Petroleum Building in downtown Findlay, Ohio. Marathon Petroleum is one of the Dakota Access (Bakken) Pipeline  investors along with Enbridge. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-02/enbridge-marathon-agree-to-buy-2-billion-bakken-pipeline-stake

 There were an estimated 60 to 70 participants at the height of the #NoDAPL protest.  We received honks and plenty of thumbs up, along with a couple of pro-Trump people whose sign demonstrated some interesting "alternative facts":  "Oil Built Findlay." In actuality, Findlay was  a natural gas and glass manufacturing center and never an actual "oil town." It was originally built as a supply fort during the War of 1812 by the US Army on its march to Detroit, and not by Marathon Petroleum currently headquartered there as the sign implied. They came along in the 20th century.

How could these Trump supporters get their historical facts so confused? Public education defunded by Republican-held state and local governments? Fox News?

 

It was nice to see the young and the old, students and retirees alike standing up for Standing Rock. Findlay is a river town that has suffered its fair share of flooding in recent years, so area residents understand "water is life." (There's that pesky climate change fact rearing its ugly head again, as too much water can bring destruction as well.) They know we need to transition to a green energy system in order to keep Findlay above the flood plain, and they support the water protectors fighting to keep the water supply clean and safe for millions of other Americans.  

You never know who you'll meet at a small town protest... Maybe an alternative media journalist or two? If these ordinary folks can withstand the frigid cold to stand in solidarity with the water protectors at Standing Rock, anyone can. So, get out of your comfort zone and speak out today. Let's honor Dr. King's legacy of advocating for a more compassionate society and a better world for all humankind.

It's the End of the World As We Know It (And We'll Feel Fine)

Whoa, the map of the U.S. has broken out in a rash of blue dots! What's it all about? Go to http://map.berniesanders.com and see if there is an Our Revolution (Bernie Sanders) livestream event near you on August 24. If there isn't one, why not host an event yourself? Do it! Because...

It's the End of the World as We Know It 

(And We'll Feel Fine)

by Cindy A. Matthews

Song lyrics have a weird way of getting caught in my head lately. I can't get them out, either.

The chorus of the R.E.M. song It's the End of the World As We Know It keeps going through my mind, but not for the reasons you might think. I'm an optimist, so I'm not thinking about how a Trump presidency will bring about Armageddon (sorry) or how much I despise and loathe the treachery and corruption of the Democratic Party (because I do). I'm thinking that this particular election cycle will herald a significant achievement that's taken almost two centuries to bring about, and I can't wait for it to happen. 

Yes, I'm dreaming of the death of the establishment's "two party system" in the United States of America. (Thom Hartman explain this well in the video below.)



Thank you so very much, dyed-in-the-wool Democrats and Republicans alike.  You've actually done it! You've accomplished what many said could not be done. You've actually shown the U.S. electorate--indeed, the entire world--what childish, self-serving, greedy, racist, warmongering, entitled, corrupt corporate whores you really are. For this I--and many other Berners--will be eternally grateful to you. You've shown that, other than your monikers being spelled differently, your two groups are essentially the same where it counts, spiritually bankrupt and devoid of all morality.

So, thank you once again for at last being honest with yourselves and with us, the long-suffering American voters. We at last know that we can't--and won't--be guilt-tripped and bullied into voting for either of your corrupt and loathsome candidates.  You've made it very easy for us to vote third party and feel good about it. Bless you. 

Jimmy Dore sums it up well in this video. Truthdig does likewise in this article.

 

Even my hometown paper deep in the heart of Trumpland, the former Republican Courier and now just The Courier, wrote an editorial saying how third party candidates were necessary this election and voters should be able to vote for a candidate who doesn't make them "cringe." Wow. This admission comes from the newspaper among the first to endorse a third party upstart named Abraham Lincoln a few years ago. These times, they are a changin'!

My advice to Berners, Greens, Progressives and others is to watch the videos I've posted this week and discuss them with your friends, families and co-workers. Talk about how, once we've been made aware of the mental manipulation the so-called "two party system" has practiced for many decades,  we can't be easily bullied and scared into supporting either of their demon spawn. You can even give them a link to this blog and tell them I told you to use the words "demon spawn" to describe their candidates if you're really shy. (Go ahead. I've had my share of nasty emails already this election cycle. But first show them this funny Lee Camp, Redacted Tonight, video. It'll chill them out.)

 

If anyone dares throw the ubiquitous, "You must vote for Candidate A to avoid electing Candidate B," line at you, here's the link to our blog posting with a piece about the logical fallacy of that argument. If they throw anything at you about how, "Hillary is  more honest and trustworthy than Trump," please show them this page with links to the recent DNC e-mail Wikileaks scandal and the many, many, many (how many "manies" can I put?) off-putting controversies surrounding the Clintons and their so-called charity, The Clinton Foundation. 

You have my permission to tell anyone who bullies or scolds you, "Cindy told me to tell you that voting for the lesser of two evils is still voting for evil, and I'm not doing it."  If they tell you that Bernie didn't tell us to vote our consciences, send them to this video. (It's also posted on last week's blog.) If they ask you who "Cindy" is, tell them you don't know, but she seems like an all right chick running a progressive blog, and in spite of receiving nasty emails, she's harmless enough.

Whatever you do in the coming weeks and months, don't stop talking about the political revolution and how we all should become a part of it. (Sign up to host a Bernie live stream event here.) Your enthusiasm will inspire others to join us and bring about a future to believe in where we'll all feel fine.

It's the end of the world as we know it--and it's about time, isn't it?

*** 

Now, we take a closer look at putting the greater good over choosing the lesser of two evils.

Voting Green: It’s Not Just Win Or Lose, 

It's How You Play The Game

by Brandon L. Mouser 

"We understand the difference between a neofascist catastrophe and a neoliberal disaster... But we reject both." ~Dr. Cornel West

One of the pro-Hillary talking points this election cycle has been about "winning." It goes something like this: We live in a two-party system and there are only two legitimate choices. H.R. Clinton is the only candidate who can beat the Republicans and she is going to win, anyhow, and the third party alternatives are automatically losers. So, if you want to be a part of the winning team, you need to vote for H. R. Clinton. If you vote for a third party candidate then you are voting for a loser, and your vote is going to help elect Republicans because you are not siding with the winner. Any alternative to the two-party duopoly is unrealistic, impractical, immature, naive, fantasy, a bad choice... On and on it goes. We have been hearing this talking point from the mainstream media, from Democrats, from friends, from internet trolls, and even from Bernie Sanders himself. I call this the "win or lose narrative."

Of course, the entire regime of the two-party establishment depends on this false dilemma. It depends on keeping the masses entrenched in the ruts of shallow political theater, fighting socially-constructed boogeymen that distract from the real boogeymen. If Democrats are terrified of Republicans and Republicans are terrified of Democrats, their voters have a scapegoat to blame for all of our social problems. If Americans are focused on inter-class conflict then they have less time for class conflict; i.e., political ideology is being manufactured to keep us from achieving class consciousness and cultivating the sociological imagination.

What many progressives have come to recognize this year is that the

mainstream narratives are hollow. Consequently, we are skeptical and rarely impressed by the pundits and talking heads.

Going beyond the mainstream establishment's script, the main problem with the win or lose narrative is that progressives have already lost this election. We lost when the Democratic primaries were rigged and voters were disenfranchised. We lost when the FBI and Justice Department failed to deliver justice to H.R. Clinton. We lost when President Obama (our supposedly-progressive president we all worked so hard to elect in 2008) refused to do anything about this and stopped listening to the People.  We lost at the Democratic National Convention as progressive delegates were mocked, mistreated, and censored (and what was left of the Democratic Party essentially cheered for Republicanesque speakers and principles, including nationalism and warmongering). We lost during the roll call when we finally recognized that all of our Democratic Representatives were part of the problem. Progressives are feeling the loss, too, which is why so many Berniecrats could be seen crying throughout the convention, and the internet has been filled with anger and despair.

This is one of the main reasons that the win or lose narrative does not affect us in the way that many people assumed it would. As progressive voters, we have nothing left to lose at this point. We have hit bottom.

Of course, as Cornel West so eloquently expressed in his speech at the Green Party Convention, the win or lose narrative is short-sighted for so many

reasons. First and foremost, it is based on a bureaucratic formula that frames "winning" in statistical terms rather than spiritual or moral terms. Consequently, the win or lose narrative is a product of the neoliberal ideology itself, and it focuses on short-term victories and gains rather than putting elections and social movements into a more historical perspective. In reality, "winning" here is actually a perpetual loss--as "winning" requires us to accept the status quo rather than pushing for real change.

In other words: hegemony is maintained by defining "winning" as bowing down to our corporate masters, year after year, so that we might avoid risk by voting for the lesser evil and, somehow, feel good for voting for the candidate who actually won. The Republican Party is essentially a gun held to the head of every intelligent voter, and the Democratic Party is the purple authority figure who comes in and saves the day. After the charade, the 1% and all of our corporate masters go back to business as usual, and the American People breathe a sigh of relief. Nothing changes.

The win or lose narrative also keeps us from voting for the candidates and platforms that we really want. Anything that is not part of a mainstream party platform gets framed as illegitimate and unrealistic.

Real change? Impossible! You apparently need Democrats to make it happen, and they are not going to make it happen, so there.

Therefore, our social movements are castrated and hindered by the fact that most Americans worry more about winning an election than the actual content of the elections or who they are voting for or why. Nietzsche once said (and I am paraphrasing here) that the question is not "freedom, from what?" but rather "freedom, for what?"  Americans need to ask themselves this question: "Democracy, for what?" For if all that our elections have become is just a defense mechanism from the latest man-made evils, then we are not really a democracy at all.

This is one of the things Hillary Clinton supporters just could not fathom this election cycle. They had internalized the official narratives and talking points so much that all they seemed to care about was voting to protect their own interests. They could not understand the millions of progressives who actually wanted to vote for something and demanded real change. Issues, facts, evidence--all this became secondary to mainstream Democrats--the real fight in

their eyes was a last stand against an apocalyptic boogeyman. Progressives were just an additional threat.

Under the win or lose narrative, morality is also secondary. Evil becomes acceptable because "winning" evil is framed as better than "losing" evil. Voters accept a fascist warmonger because it is a purple fascist warmonger, which isn't as bad as a red fascist warmonger. Corruption? Corporate pollution? Well, it is just something that goes with the territory, but think how much more corruption and corporate pollution there could be!  No universal health care? Just imagine if the red fascist warmonger took away everyone's health care!  Note that few people in this game actually sit down and refuse to vote for a fascist warmonger, nor refuse to support a candidate that will not take a stand against corporate pollution. No one votes for a candidate that is promoting universal health care. Because, again, morality is secondary in "win or lose." It is something that can be dealt with down the road--right now we need to worry about being on the winning team.

The reason that we are seeing fundamental changes occur this year is because progressive voters are finally seeing beyond the win or lose narrative. We are finally recognizing that winning isn't everything, especially when a so-called victory is really just another loss. Seeing through the Democratic ideology, we have seen the truth about the Democratic Establishment--and there is no going back. We are becoming more than just registered voters: We are becoming moral agents who vote. We are asking the philosophical question: "Democracy, for what?" We are dreaming and taking action. We recognize that voting for a fascist warmonger is voting for a fascist warmonger, regardless of their party affiliation. 


 
If I vote for Jill Stein this November, she might indeed lose the election. But, again, I have already lost an entire political party. Wins and losses are always happening in life. The question is now really about how I handle this loss. Do I give up and forfeit my morality to the win or lose narrative? Do I vote for immorality, or do I keep marching forward as a moral agent and pushing for change? By voting for Stein, at least I can tell my grandchildren that I didn't support fascism (during a time when too many Americans were blindly accepting it), and that I was working hard to make this country better. At least I still walk away with my moral integrity. More importantly, voting for Stein could lead to the Green Party becoming a more viable alternative, set them up for federal funding and ballot access, help get them into future presidential debates, and set them up for future election cycles. Voting for Stein now could help sustain this social movement, even if it morphs into something larger down the road. All of this seems more worthwhile and productive, at least for me, than helping a fascist warmonger to get elected president by voting to "win."

Sometimes losing is really a victory, and vice versa.

Bio: Brandon Mouser is a public sociologist and philosopher who lives and works in Indiana. Much of his academic work focuses on understanding inequality and social problems. Growing up in a small, rural factory town in Southern Indiana, he has dedicated his life to fighting for working families.

***

So many of us Berners are over the two party system. We've had enough! We've witnessed election corruption up close. (Read Ava Kennedy's story about what she experienced at the Reno, Nevada caucus -- We Are Not Living In A Democracy.)  We've found our voter registration "switched" without our knowledge. We've been forced to wait in hours in line to vote or traveled a distance only to find our polling place has been closed. Face it--we've had it with the criminal tactics of the establishment parties. 

Fortunately, we're the majority of American voters as the above graph shows. We are independent voters, voters who know our minds and will vote our consciences. We will not be ignored. This is the year we take back our government and restore our democracy. Our Revolution has come of age. Be a part of it. 

We'll see you at the livestream meet-up on August 24th.