We Are The Storm!

We Are The Storm!

by Cindy A. Matthews

Storm is coming... 

Or so says the hashtag we've seen online in recent weeks. The storm officially arrived on Wednesday night, August 24, just as we arrived at the IBEW Union Local 8 Hall in Rossford, Ohio, to watch the Our Revolution live stream. The sky turned opaque black-green with ominous wall clouds, the rain poured down in buckets, and then the tornado sirens sounded. We promptly took our live stream event away from the large glass windows of the foyer down to the hall's basement where we shared a meaningful discussion. 

We were eager to hear Senator Bernie Sanders address us, the faithful who braved the elements, but in reality we've known our marching orders for over a year now: We're to take the political revolution to the streets, to the internet, to the airwaves, to our state houses and Congress. The only thing that's different is now we have an organization backed by Bernie to help us reach our goals and build a future to believe in. 

There have been some whiners complaining that by starting another progressive-minded organization we are re-inventing the wheel. My question to them is, "Can you ever have too many 'wheels'?"  as wheels have been known to go flat, break apart and even fall off at times. Yes, there are many fantastic progressive groups already fighting for various worthwhile causes, such as climate change and health care, and there's no reason for them to stop what they're doing. But did you ever  stop to think perhaps a large umbrella organization with a high-powered name like Bernie Sanders and the momentum of his unprecedented presidential campaign behind it could aid us all the more as we attempt to make some real headway against the entrenched establishment?

If there's anything we've learned this past year, it's this: The establishment doesn't like us. They want us "progressive do-gooders" to go away so they can continue making their obscene profits and taking corporate billions into their Super PACs to run their crooked campaigns. The establishment is willing to steal our election by any means necessary. Don't the New York and California Democratic primaries prove that? 

Now more than ever, we need to stick together and gather ourselves into the "storm"... The storm that is going to blow through every local, state and federal office and clean house, ridding ourselves of the corruption, greed and injustice perpetrated upon the 99% by the 1%. 

In other words, now is not the time to whine and complain and fight among ourselves. Now is the time to get to work raising the issues and supporting progressive candidates. Whatever group or organization helps you and your fellow progressives get things done use it and don't lose it. 

Bernie says we should focus our energies on local, state and regional government--as these are the entities which directly effect our everyday existence. Whether it's our water being contaminated by fracking or prescription medicine prices going sky-high, statewide initiatives currently on the ballots of many states are worthy of our attention and assistance. Once a precedent is set (such as in Vermont's GMO labeling law) it encourages other states to follow suit. Bernie gave examples of ballot initiatives to regulate drug prices in California and ColoradoCare to enact universal health care for Coloradans as worthy issues for progressives to support with our money, time and voices.

Electing progressive candidates from school boards to city councils to state houses is imperative to give any progressive governor (and any future progressive president) the proper support to enact progressive legislation. Bernie stated Our Revolution will support "Berniecrats" running for office at all levels and gave the names of several candidates, from Vernon Miller, a Native America school teacher running for school board in Nebraska, to Jane Kim, running for the state senate in California, to Zephyr Teachout, running for Congress in New York state. 

Of course, there are many, many more progressive candidates running or hoping to run for office out there. One organization can't possibly help them all, but there are also other groups supporting candidates, such as Brand New Congress. Together with Our Revolution, progressive activists have more resources than ever before. 

Our live stream gathering agreed that most of us have been wasting valuable time and emotions recently over worrying about the remaining presidential candidates. In the grand scheme of things, the presidential race is a drop in the bucket. Our planet can't wait--and it won't make a difference who is sits in the top seat of the Executive Branch if there's nothing and nobody left to govern.

We talked about issues that are important for us in Northwest Ohio--the TPP taking even more jobs from our area, the quality of our water and the perilous condition of Lake Erie due to excessive agribusiness chemicals run-off, and the lack of support for alternative energies in Ohio because of the fracking lobby. 

Tackling these challenges, we can make the most impact by working locally and regionally. As a local group, we can be flexible in our approaches and can choose specific options that will work best for us to obtain our objectives. Our failures and successes will stand as examples to others across the country and help them devise stronger attempts to tackle similar issues. Together we'll eventually bring about positive change for all.

And isn't that what the political revolution is all about? 

We are the storm. We are sounding the sirens and spiraling in on our targets.  We will level corruption in our wake and blow away the filth of our government. Establishment beware.

 ***

We don't have to take things lying down--we should speak out, tell the truth, and "correct the record" every time we come across a false narrative about the political revolution.  Read Bern Notice's example below. He makes his point well in a thorough and respectful manner. Do likewise.

A Reply to Amber Phillips of the Washington Post
by Bern Notice

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/07/29/bernie-sanders-supporters-want-to-throw-out-most-members-of-congress-by-2018-about-that/
 

Ms. Phillips, I read your article about what's going on with the congressional elections. I agree with you on a number of things. For example, we do want to get rid of many of the people in Congress. I also agree that it's improbable that we could vote out every member of Congress in two years.

I disagree with you on two key points. First is on your premise that, "There doesn't seem to be a Sanders political revolution happening, at least not yet. Sanders's endorsements seem to have come too little, too late in many cases."

I disagree with your premise that this is Bernie Sanders' political revolution. It is not. It is our political revolt. While Bernie did serve as the mechanism that united us, many of us have been fighting individual level against the corruption in politics years before Bernie decided to run for president. This is not a new phenomenon; rather it is the first time that people in power have been forced to take notice. We united behind Bernie because he gave voice to our real world concerns, unlike other previous major party politicians.

Second, just because we haven't voted out every single member of Congress we are targeting this term does not mean the political revolt isn't happening. Nothing worth fighting for happens over night. Rare is the case where a movement for justice won out the first time they stood up.

The measurement of a movement isn't about it bringing reform the first time up. It's measured by how long it persists, and if it has staying power until the day is won. An example of this is the Civil Rights movement of the mid-twentieth century. It did not end segregation in 1954. It took fourteen long years of struggle, and the loss of several leaders before segregation was ended. 

Reference:
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_Civil_Rights_Movement_(1954%E2%80%9368)

In other words, it's not about how you start. It's about how you finish.

Lastly, You quoted President Obama saying, "Don't boo, vote." For the record, the majority of us intend to do exactly that--just not for Clinton or Trump. Honestly, to some degree, I can't fault people who opt not to vote. Considering all of the shenanigans that went on in the DNC Primary up to the DNC convention that benefited Hillary Clinton, it gives the impression that people's votes don't count.

It also gives the impression that you're not interested in hearing opinions that differ or point out the deficiencies of your own. I hope people do vote, but if they don't, you need to understand that the DNC had a big hand in why people vote third party, write in a candidate, or opt to stay home instead.

Bio: Bern Notice is a busy activist in the political revolution, writing opinion pieces and rallying the troops. 

***

Read this article (link below) and see what's what about the staff resignation controversy at Our Revolution. It will ease your mind immensely: https://medium.com/@pplswar/how-not-to-resign-from-our-revolution-6dd5953e2290#.7xksu4mz3


I think the lesson to learn from this mainstream media smear is to not jump to conclusions and to always act professional in all your dealings. We're running a political revolution--not a gossip club. Use both your heart and your head before engaging your mouth/keyboard.

We'll see you in the streets, online, on the picket lines--at the Dakota Pipeline on the Standing Rock Reservation. Get involved in Our Revolution. The planet you save may be your own.

Update 8-29-16 6PM: 

Our Revolution announces its board of directors:

Nina Turner
Fmr. Ohio State Senator
Deborah Parker
Native American Leader
Ben Jealous
Civil Rights Leader
Jim Hightower
Political Leader, National Radio Commentator & Writer
Jim Zogby
Arab American Human Rights Leader
Huck Gutman
Former Chief of Staff for Senator Bernie Sanders
Jane Kleeb
Environmental Activist
Lucy Flores
Fmr. Nevada Assemblywoman
Larry Cohen
Labor
Catalina Velasquez
Immigration, Reproductive Justice and Trans Queer Liberation Activist
Shailene Woodley
Actress and Environmental Activist   

The Truth Will Set Us Free

The Truth Will Set Us Free
by Cindy A. Matthews

"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." --John 8:32 NIV

It's been just over a year since many of us came together for Bernie Sanders' first live stream address, and little did we know what our lives and world would be like thirteen months later. On August 24, let's promise to gather and discover our voices yet again, to continue the political revolution that Bernie has been talking about his entire adult life. As Nina Turner has told us on many occasions, we must speak truth to power.

One thing I've really missed lately is watching to Bernie's rallies online, mostly through the auspices of Bernie2016TV (now PoliticalRevolution.TV). I was instantly drawn to Bernie's message. The voice of reason and of truth... The voice that spoke to my progressive leanings and said I was not alone in the world in thinking government should serve the ordinary people and not the oligarchs. Even if Bernie wasn't speaking on a particular day, I listened in awe and admiration to his surrogates like Nina Turner, Dr. Cornel West, Killer Mike, Rosario Dawson, Susan Sarandon, Mark Ruffalo and others. It felt good to know we were all a part of something greater than ourselves. 

It was good to hear the truth, no matter how painful, confusing or challenging. It was good to  know we had a future to believe in--and we still do--if we work hard to bring about the political revolution Bernie Sanders has inspired. We need to keep our eyes and ears open and be ready to act and spread its message of liberation to others.

Truth this week hit home with the photo of a young Syrian boy, 5-year-old Omran Daqneesh, who survived his home collapsing on top of him after a bombing. (Sadly, Omran's older brother later died of his injuries.) As the iconic photo of 9-year-old Kim Phuc, running naked and still burning from her napalmed village, led to the end of the Vietnam war, perhaps this battered child's image can help bring peace to his troubled homeland.

Truth this week also came from presidential candidate Jill Stein at the CNN Green Party Town Hall when she said we can close down our 700+ overseas military bases, stop the endless drone wars that are killing thousands of civilians and exacerbating the refugee crisis in Syria, and instead use the trillions of dollars in the bloated military budget to forgive student debt and build a stronger economy for everyone--not just the Daddy Warbucks of the Military Industrial Complex.

Truth this week announced that the Department of Justice finally came to the conclusion that private prisons weren't as safe or effective as government-run prisons, and they weren't renewing their contract with some of them. 

Didn't Bernie say something like that at his rallies, about how we need to spend more on education rather than incarceration? That Black Lives Matter and that institutional racism is the cause behind the for-profit private prison system? Finally, something is being done about it! Maybe there's something to this political revolution after all?

The truth will set us all free. Share it by inviting your friends and neighbors to a Bernie live stream event near you. It's amazing how freeing the truth can be to those who have heard nothing but establishment lies and think there's nothing they can do to stop them. But we know there is--it's called Our Revolution.

Let freedom ring!







And now a Berner lets the establishment in on an Inconvenient Truth.

Focus on the Reality of Climate Change
by Liam Byrne
  
There is an official platform survey that is being solicited by the Democratic Party. My answer to them:

You need to focus on the reality of climate change and recognize the speed at which we are seeing the climate change in the last few years.  The planet is beginning to cook us, and we will not survive as individuals or as species if business as usual is given a free pass.  

We must eliminate carbon emissions in the next few years, or we will have passed the point at which we will be able to make any meaningful impact on saving the planet--and ourselves in the process.  We have not a century, not decades to do this. We are f***ed to a level that I doubt you can imagine.

The global food supply will cease to function and be reliable. There will be an even worse situation with fresh water supply, which we're already seeing issues with across the globe. We will pass climate-tipping points, which have the deadly potential to completely eliminate any chance of us being able to have any further control over the global atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gasses.  

Exxon knew 45+ years ago that their industry, with its never-ending greed for the profits provided by the consumption and burning of fossil fuels, was capable of raising the temperature of the global climate and threatening human civilization.  You, our government that is supposed to represent the people of the United States of America and who are supposed to be a role model for the rest of the world to look up to, have failed miserably in your leadership on climate and environmental issues.  

You are complicit in handing over the government of the USA to the corporate interests that care for nothing but adding more zeros to their ledgers.  And when we have a potential leader, Bernie Sanders, who recognizes that we are faced with a immense challenge if we are to survive the coming climate upheavals and be able to return the planet to levels of green house gasses similar to pre-industrial levels of CO2 (~280ppm rather than the 408ppm that we are currently at), you say he's got no chance at winning the Dem nomination. 

You, the Democratic Party, have been active participants in trying your best to push Sanders out of this nominating process and thwart the will of Democratic and Independent voters all across our country.  At the same time, you're shoving Hillary Clinton down our throats when it was she who has pushed hydraulic fracturing (fracking) across the world in many countries where their citizens are united in their desire against fracking.  

The only way I shall remain supportive of the Democratic Party is if Sanders and the people, who are awake to the sham that our government has become, prevail over the fat cat greedy interests currently in charge of our government and in charge of the party.  Or if there is a massive WWII style effort where the entire society of the USA and the rest of the world come together and put 150% effort into eliminating green house gas emissions and transforming how we supply and use energy.  

I'm already disgusted that in the Democratic platform that the issue of climate change is not mentioned anywhere.  That in itself is a failure to recognize the death of the planet that we are speeding towards with the pedal pushed to the floor.
 

Bio: Liam Byrne has been an active Bernie Supporter with Political Revolution TV.

 ***

Finally, a Berner shares a truth many of us can agree with.

You Only Think You’ve Won!

by Tricia Grant

 
Media bias did not stop Bernie Sanders from shining a light on our corrupt political system. The corruption of Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the DNC could not stop Bernie from becoming a serious Democratic nominee for president.

Bernie started a revolution, and the establishment's only hope of stopping it is if we let it die. And that is exactly what the establishment is trying to do--kill the revolution. The oldest military strategy in the book is “divide and conquer.”

And that is what is happening to the Sanders supporters. They are fighting among themselves. Some are voting Clinton; some are voting for Stein, and some are even voting for Trump. This will only serve to get Hillary Clinton elected president.

Sanders supporters would never have backed Trump or Clinton in the past. Even though Bernie did not win the nomination and endorsed Hillary Clinton, Jill Stein and the Green Party would be the best choice for his replacement and for his followers to support if the revolution is to continue.

There are about three months before the election. If Hillary Clinton gets indicted before that time, then Bernie Sanders should get the nomination and be our next president. If not, and we want Bernie’s Revolution to continue, then our next president should be Jill Stein.

And if this does not happen, at least Sanders supporters will have stuck to their principles and gone down fighting.

***

We hope to see you August 24th at a live stream event to kick off Our Revolution, but if you're unable to attend in person, Political Revolution TV is broadcasting it online at the link below. Watch and share it with others. #OurRevolution has begun! Feel the Bern always!

  

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.