Revolutionary Resolutions

Revolutionary Resolutions for 2017

Do you have any "New Year's Resolutions" for the political revolution?

Here are some brave political revolutionaries' resolutions:

"My resolution for 2017 is to not give up on exposing the puppets. At every opportunity, I will expose their lies and propaganda. I will write about them, protest in the streets to bring attention to their lies, talk about them online, with friends and acquaintances, but I won't stop exposing the oligarchs and their puppets for the evil men they are." --C.A.M.
 
"My resolution for 2017 is to help build and promote the Green Party US, so that we have an actual alternative to the two corporatist parties which can be a contender in future contests." --Giovanna X

"Watchdogs without teeth are useless. Obtaining legislative seats is the only way to put bite in the bark." --Mark C.

"I don't know if its considered a resolution, but my hope is to get more

involved. To get to some marches and meetings. To get more politically involved friends. And to change the things we cannot accept. There is a lot of work to do." --Kim G.

"I plan in 2017 to make it obvious to Big Oil and the DAPL builders that their days are numbered... Green energy sources such as solar, wind and wave action are the only way to save our planet. I will do all I can to bring about this greener future." --Coast Watcher
 
Please share your resolution in the comment box (below). Now isn't the time to hesitate--now is the time to make plans and take action. Let the world know you're fighting back. Power to the people!

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A Look Back...

The following essay was posted at the Mad-as-Hell Party Facebook page in late March 2016 during the height of the "Any Blue Will Do" ruckus. Does it still ring true to you in the post-election world, Berners?

My Response to the "Any Blue Will Do" Crowd 

by A True Bernie Believer

I realize you probably mean well, that you’re only “looking out for me” and others like me, but you really have to stop it. Stop the Facebook postings and the online comments saying, “If you don’t say you’ll vote for Hillary in the general election, then you’re a traitor to the Democratic party or you’re really a Trump supporter or you’re acting selfish/brain dead, etc.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Those types of unkind remarks make me, and others like me, very uncomfortable and don’t convince us as to the sincerity of your argument. Here’s why.

I will only vote for a person who sits well with my conscience or whose words and actions are aligned with my dearly held beliefs. In other words, I won’t vote for someone or something that I don’t wish to have my good name associated with ever. A very short list of things that I don’t like my good name to be associated with are: greed, hate, prejudice, violence, war, habitual lying, and criminal activities of any kind. A person who has become associated with any of these actions will not appeal to me either as a friend or as a political candidate. If I can’t trust a person to walk my dog or pick up my kids after school for me when my dentist’s appointment goes long or even to pick up my mail when I’m out of town without opening it, then I won’t consider voting for this person. Get it?

I’m sure you’ll understand my next statement, but I will spell it out clearly and give you some examples so you’re not confused. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is a person whose actions and words have placed her on my short list of things that I don’t want my name associated with ever since she epitomizes each and every one of these despised things. 

Greed -- $225,000 for a twenty minute speech to Goldman-Sachs and others like them? Come on! That’s the epitome of greed. Fundraisers that cost $353,400 just to sit beside her at a table rank up there as well. Don’t even get me going about the Clinton Foundation’s “donors” who have filtered millions into the Clinton’s personal coffers from such places as Saudi Arabia where they’ll chop off your head if you go against their interpretation of the Koran. Which leads me to the next topic, hate. Hillary’s famous “Super Predators” remarks about young black men and her support of D.O.M.A. covers it for me. 

Hillary’s actions tell me that if you’re not rich, white and can’t afford a ticket to one of her fundraisers she doesn’t particularly like you. If you’re gay--it depends on the audience she’s trying to raise funds from it seems as to whether she’ll accept your marriage. I haven’t heard she’s giving back all the money she and Bill made from his signing the bill that created the privatization of prisons, for-profit-prisons which incarcerate so many people of color. I’ve not heard Hillary making atonement for their sins against their fellow human beings by returning the millions made from their grand enslavement-for-profit scheme. 

Prejudice? See the Super Predator and private-for-profit prisons examples. You could also include the remarks made by Hillary spokeswoman Madeline Albright stating there is a “special place in hell for women who don’t vote for other women.” I have, in fact, voted for many women in my lifetime and will continue to do so, but I will not vote for any candidate who makes specious arguments such as that one. Why should I go against my conscience and better sense to vote for any human being, regardless of gender, who stands for all I despise and detest? Why am I going to “hell” for not wanting to be associated with such bigotry and narrow-mindedness?

War/Violence: It’s the same with voting for a warhawk -- I won’t do it. Hillary Clinton idealizes Henry Kissinger, the former Secretary of State who invented carpet bombing. The illegal carpet bombing of Cambodia lead to the Pol Pot regime, which in turn lead to the horrible genocide of 3,000,000 people. Yes, that’s three million human beings--not three hundred heads of lettuce. 

I suppose that’s why Hillary could vote for the Iraq War as a senator and sponsor violent “regime change” as Secretary of State and not lose any sleep over it. Who cares about all those orphaned children from Honduras who even now flood our borders? Hillary got the “regime change” she wanted there, right? What’s the death of so many if they can’t afford to attend one of your fundraisers in the first place?

You’ll say I’m being unfair to poor Hillary, that’s she not a very smart or educated woman, so how was she to know that the Iraq War was only a giant farce to keep Big Oil and the Military Industrial Complex making billions of dollars at a few hundreds of thousands of soldiers’ expense? What’s the problem with losing your legs to an I.E.D. or your mind to P.T.S.D.? It’s not like these returned soldiers are suffering any. 

Oh, you tell me Hillary is actually a lawyer with a graduate degree… Any claim that she’s not educated or smart enough to “know better” is yet another specious argument then, isn’t it? And why should a female get away with using the “I’m just too ignorant to know better” card? That’s sexist to think she’s a “dumb blonde,” right? Sexism is a form of prejudice, too. Why would you use it as an excuse for immoral behavior?

If you can’t come up with any reasons on your own as to why Hillary Clinton is known as a habitual liar (a “flip-flopper”) and hasn’t had her name connected with numerous criminal activities such as her private email server used for State Department classified information, Bill’s electioneering for her in Massachusetts, and the voter suppression activity in Arizona recently, then you don’t get out much obviously, and I’m sorry for you. 

Back in the 1990s, Hillary’s middle name was “Baggage” as in there were too many scandals and lies to be believed revolving around her and her husband on a constant basis. It became sickening to read of the latest scandal in the headlines. You lost all faith in the name Clinton, honestly, and they had only themselves to blame. No one put a gun to their heads and said, “Make money like this or else! Sleep around all you like or else!” Nope, they did it of their own volition.

I came to the conclusion that any hint of criminality surrounding a person is a

sign that perhaps the candidate isn’t a person you should be trusting in positions of power in any way, shape or form. You don’t give the fox the keys to the hen house, do you? You can’t expect me to be that naïve, do you?

Oh, but Hillary was only “bending the rules a little” and she’s only saying “little white lies” you’ll claim. All right, let’s say your spouse/significant other tells you a “little white lie” such as “I’m not cheating on you, honey,” but eventually you discover you’ve contracted AIDS from him/her fooling around… Isn’t a “little white lie” every bit as destructive as a “big lie” and perhaps even worse because you can easily trick others into believing it for longer until the damage is done? 

Of course, you and I and other ordinary people can “bend the rules a little” all we like, correct? That’s why we never are ticketed for speeding or for parking in a handicap space by mistake, right? 

Everyone “bends the rules” all the time you say… Sure they do. That’s why we have punishments such a jail sentences and fines--to prevent us from bending the rules constantly. But I bet if you’re very rich and are white with super-rich friends on Wall Street, in Big Pharma, and the Corporate Media you get to avoid jail while you bend the rules. Rich people don’t suffer punishment for their criminal activities, do they? How many billionaire banksters went to jail for the 2008 debacle that costs millions of Americans their homes, their jobs, and their retirement savings? Zero. 

When you don't get caught it's not a crime, right? If you get away with murder, you don't have a dead body and grieving family either.

Next thing you’ll try to convince me that it’s “Okay for politicians to bend the rules because they all do it.” My answer is “How do you know all politicians bend the rules?” Could it be Hillary and Bill Clinton’s names come up so often with the word "scandal" in the headline is because they’re the Olympic Gold Medal-Winners of Rule Bending and Getting Away with It? And I’d want my good name to be associated with people who can’t follow the rules and get away with it because…? I want others to think I condone rule breaking and criminal activity of any kind? Call me old-fashioned, but no, thank you.

Luckily for me--and for all of us--there is another presidential candidate who doesn’t give me the outright creeps like Mr. Trump does and who doesn’t stand for anything on my short list of things I despise. In fact, this individual stands for the things that I admire most: Compassion, Tolerance, Equal Opportunity, Peace, Prosperity, Truth. If you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past 11 months, you might not know his name: Senator Bernie Sanders. In spite of the corporate media black-out and in spite of your “concern trolling” trying to get me to vote for Hillary, Bernie is gaining popularity every day. You just have to watch one of his campaign rallies (many available online via You Tube) full of thousands of cheering people to see how he connects with ordinary Americans.

Bernie talks about how we need to be united as a people, and how we need to look out for each other so our brothers and sisters aren’t suffering from hunger or lack of health care. He talks about how education should help you grow as an individual and become a productive member of society, not simply a debt slave to the private banksters making money off of high interest on your student loans. 

Bernie talks about fair wages for fair jobs, not obscene profits made by billionaires who ship all their wealth to the Cayman Islands to avoid paying their fair share of taxes at the same time they ship our jobs overseas to China. He and Senator McCain worked “across the aisle” to create a veteran’s bill that helps vets get the care they need at V.A. hospitals. Bernie’s nickname is “The Amendment King” because as an independent he’s been a very successful legislator in a very divided Congress. He works hard for hard-working Americans.

Bernie Sanders walked with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and other activists to help strengthen the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s, while Hillary Clinton was a “Goldwater Girl” for Barry Goldwater, a Republican presidential candidate who didn’t care much for desegregation. No, Bernie’s name hasn’t been listed over and over again in the headlines with the word scandal next to it like Hillary’s, simply because Bernie has been busy working for the people since he was elected to Congress. He isn’t about making millions of dollars for himself or sidling up to super-rich campaign contributors and Wall Street fat cats. 

Bernie doesn’t even have a super PAC, and he wants to end the disastrous Citizens United ruling that allows billionaires to buy elections. His campaign has been funded by ordinary voters like you and me with an average contribution of $27. I definitely feel more at home with people who only afford a couple of bucks to donate to Bernie’s campaign than with those who can afford a $353,400 ticket to a Hillary fundraiser while many Americans go hungry and homeless.

I’d trust Bernie to walk my dog, pick up my kids from school for me or pick up my mail when I’m out of town. Bernie Sanders is the epitome of trustworthiness. My conscience tells me Bernie is a candidate I can support wholeheartedly without reservation. Why should I sell my ideals short and vote for anyone other than Bernie Sanders?

I hope you see now how bullying or threatening me with “Dems all stick

together!” and “Any blue will do!” taunts aren’t going to make me change my mind or my conscience. One, why would I want to “stick together” with a political party that would support a candidate like Hillary Clinton who stands for what I despise? And two, why would “any” person with a certain political party attached to his or her name “do” as well as another? It sounds like I’d be settling for second-best or worse if I went with an “any”, and I don’t believe in “voting for the lesser of two evils”. There is only “evil.” I don’t want to vote for it either as a “first rate evil” or a “second-best evil”. 

Remember what I said about “little white lies” and “big lies”? There’s no such thing. A lie is a lie is a lie. An evil is an evil is an evil. There are no “shades of gray” when it comes to such things. Can you only be “partially dead”? You either have a death certificate or you don’t, right?

To tell me to “vote for this evil because I tell you so” to avoid yet another evil is to tell me that you are okay with cooperating with evil with a different label, and therefore, you have taken on the characteristics of the evil candidate you are trying to get me to support along with you. Ugh. Don’t be surprised if you find me not trusting you as I did in the past, for how can I be sure my dog, my kids or my mail is safe in your hands in you’ve placed your trust in an evil candidate and have accepted their evilness as “okay”? 

That’s why as a friend I’m telling you to stop with the “must vote Hillary” posts right now. Don’t make me not trust you anymore. Once trust is lost, it’s not easily regained. Sometimes it’s never regained. If you’ve ever dealt with a cheating loved one, you’d understand how devastating losing trust can be. 

Because I love and care about you, I want to trust you and your judgment. So stop, listen to your conscience. Don’t make excuses to cooperate with evil. Focus on a positive candidate who espouses a positive future for all Americans. A future to believe in! Focus on what all you can do to help Bernie Sanders win the White House today. The positive energy of working hard for Bernie (who works hard for you) will take all those negative “any blue will do” thoughts away. Feel the Bern and become a part of the Not Me Us crowd.

(Feel free to share if it can help you explain your position to others.)


Remember...

 Best Wishes for a Happy, Healthy and Progressive New Year to You and Yours from your friends at the Our Revolution Continues Blog.