Oftentimes, I think I must be cursed when it comes to my place in this “democracy.”
Since the first day I became eligible to walk into a voting booth and make my selections — with pen or stylus or lever, tell the vote counters through a machine whom I wished to represent me in each area, be it county, state or nation — with rare exception, I’ve noted my selections nearly always seemed to land in the losing column once the totals tallied and the television told the tale.
One miraculous anomaly appeared in my losing record; oh, how I leapt for joy one hot August evening as the music soared and balloons drifted onto the throng in New York; the youthful foursome on the stage knew as well as I their destiny was unfolding to the strains of Fleetwood Mac that fateful night. I happened to be in New York that evening, staying with a dear friend who shared my joy; as we watched in ecstatic near- disbelief, our euphoria overcame us and we could resist no longer; we kicked off our shoes and began to dance madly around his living room. Once the music faded and the pundits took over the television, we turned it off and searched for the album with that wondrous song, and played it over and over again, rapt with the certainty that this time, our votes would be cast for the winners.
And so they were. And so they would be again the next election. But my curse, it seemed, had only been sleeping, lifted for a brief moment as if to mock me. For when it returned, it did so in a manner most cruel and hateful; the year 2000 came roaring at my compatriots and me like an unleashed, rabid creature toward its trapped and helpless prey. And 2004 — an even more cruel mockery, more painful for its derisive teasing, the terrible sense that we might win, that we were so close, only to have it snatched away; and our champion turned to weakling, his supposed courage dissolving into acquiescence before the vast machinery of the corruption and deception of the enemy.
Once more, my curse returned to mock me. I had chosen the loser again. I had, given no other choice, been forced to choose the best man from a contingent of unacceptable men.
I really don’t mean to disparage John Kerry. Though he disappointed me in the end, and I found him lacking in many areas (most greatly his campaigning style — his delivery of speeches — and then, especially, in his refusal to fight back hard against the heinous dirty pool his opponent’s henchmen played), I believed in him. I honestly believed he would be a great President.
I chose John Kerry, willingly and early, not because he was the least unappealing of a group of unappealing candidates, but because I honestly felt he was the best available candidate. And frankly, in 2004 the group of candidates was NOT unappealing. Our collective memory seems to have failed us with regard to 2004; the group of available Democrats vying for the Presidency in the 2004 primary was a rather impressive lot:
Carol Mosley Braun, General Wesley Clark, Howard Dean, John Edwards, Richard Gephardt, Bob Graham, John Kerry, Dennis Kucinich, Joe Lieberman, Al Sharpton
I made my choice; and, in keeping with the longstanding curse, broken only by the anomalous Clinton era, my man lost.
And so in 2008, it might seem, will be the case once more.
(A word, parenthetically, about the larger picture: Lacking as we do any viable alternative third party, I am forced to vote as a Democrat, though I have come to despise that party almost as venomously as I despise its only significant rival. However, every now and again, as is certainly not the case with the Republican Party, there do appear Democrats who adhere to the principles, values and standards that once were emblematic of their Party. I consider the candidate I am about to name one such Democrat.)
Despite the fact that he was my second choice, after Gore, the man I now support for the Presidency in the upcoming Democratic primary is unquestionably my STRONG second choice — just as he was in the 2004 campaign:
My choice, the candidate I choose to support in the Democratic primaries is one John Edwards.
Which, of course, means that once again, my choice most likely loses. And this time, I won’t even get the chance to lose in the general election; John Edwards runs third in virtually every poll, his financial outlook, compared to Clinton and Obama, is bleak. He has the stamina, drive, commitment and will to take it to the bitter end, so the chances are good that he’ll at least stick it out to the bitter end; but the die was cast long ago, and barring a miracle, Hillary Clinton will be the nominee…
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The greatest irony, in my estimation, is this: were Edwards the Democratic nominee, he would kick the living crap out of any Republican nominee (irrespective of which Republican finally emerges the victor in that pitiful mud wrestling match that’s passing for a primary they’ve got going on in their camp.) The visual would resemble Kennedy and Nixon; but the electoral scenario? Edwards as Reagan and the hapless Republican maybe lucky enough to take his own state in the manner of Mondale.
But all signs point to Hillary Clinton as the scion who will face the Republican candidate — and never was there a better time to use the word “scion,” was there. Oh, don’t talk to me of “democracy,” ladies and gentlemen — dynasty it is, and inches from monarchy we lie.
Hillary Clinton was not only anointed by the Democratic “leadership” ages ago; the true powers that be in this world, those devious men who truly rule the world, control the sources of information and finance and everything that really matters — they, too, held a coronation in their metaphorical smoky backrooms. Hillary Clinton — whether she knew it or not, and I’m beginning to believe she did know, that she does, in fact, now belong to that rarified circle — would rise to the Democratic nomination and, in all probability, to the Presidency of the United States of America.
Yes, I know — I’ve truly begun sounding like a mad conspiracy theorist. If I would only begin raving about Tower 7 and controlled explosions, you could all write me off for good and all. But the fact is, the “conspiracy” in which I’ve begun to believe is not so preposterous, is it?
We all know, do we not, that the corporate-controlled media, taking their cues from their masters on high, began sounding the “Hillary will be the Democratic nominee” propaganda long ago — so long ago, and so loudly, so insistently, it couldn’t have failed to be obvious that they wanted her to be the Democratic nominee?
These are not the ravings of a paranoid conspiracy theorist; anyone with any foresight at all knew that’s what was happening, and watched in horror as even the supposedly cynical and astute bloggers took the bait. The most powerful Democratic blog in existence swallowed it proverbial hook line and sinker, for chrissakes, and it wasn’t just the front page, but the community diaries — they all bought the media propaganda, even if it was simply in their “No, never!” response.
It’s been a done deal for years.
So why bother supporting anyone else in the primaries? And Edwards, of all people? Why not at least support Clinton’s most promising, strongest challenger?
Because I am still naive, starry-eyed or optimistic (call it what you will) enough to believe in the idea that the primary system can and should be used by voters — not to confirm the foregone conclusions and propaganda of the media and the powers that be in the various party leaderships and corporate cabals comprised of those who are the true rulers of the land — but to declare their own choice.
The most execrable, egregious, offensive word in the language of politics today is “ELECTABLE.” It is used by the bullies who support the front-runners to browbeat, coerce, bludgeon and otherwise attempt to harass the undecided or the wistfully inclined toward the more liberal, “less electable” candidates campaigning in the primaries to give up their “pipe dreams” and cast their precious primary votes in favour of one of those more “electable” frontrunners — preferably their own.
I was once one of those bullies, who carried with her that truncheon, the word “electable”; I am since reformed, quite thoroughly — I’ve done my penance, made my humble apologies and amends. The circumstances were slightly different, but it matters not; I am as guilty as any of the bullies of today who speak of the “inevitability” of the Clinton nomination, who speak of “wasting” one’s primary vote…
What they do not understand is this: There is no such thing as “wasting” one’s primary vote. It is IMPOSSIBLE to “waste” one’s primary vote. The entire POINT of a primary is to vote for the ONE PERSON YOU TRULY WISH TO REPRESENT YOU IN THE GENERAL ELECTION.
So if you TRULY wish that Dennis Kucinich could be the Democratic candidate for the Presidency of the United States of America — vote for Kucinich in the primary. It is YOUR RIGHT to do so. And it is not a WASTED vote — it is exactly the CORRECT vote to cast. You will have spoken your mind. And if enough people who truly wish Dennis Kucinich could be President were to cast their primary votes accordingly, INSTEAD OF ALLOWING THEMSELVES TO BE BULLIED into voting for the ELECTABLE candidate, then by god, DENNIS KUCINICH would be the candidate.
And FUCK the “electability-mongers.”
Personally, I TRULY WISH that John Edwards could be the President of the United States of America; and THAT is why I intend to vote for him in the primary — and THAT is why I intend to do my utmost best to campaign for him and rally together EVERYONE who ALSO truly, perhaps secretly, wishes he could be president — but believes the Clinton juggernaut invincible.
Well, fuck that — she’s only “invincible” because the unlikely caucus of the corporate media and the electability-mongers say she is — and just because they’re saying it doesn’t make it so; unless we allow them to go unchallenged.
Well, I’m not going to do that. My vote in the 2008 primary goes to John Edwards; and if enough people truly get to know and understand this man — and see how far more suited he is to the office of President than either Clinton or Obama, how much closer he is to the liberal, left wing causes so important to so many of us than either of those two “front runners” and centrists really are — I know in my heart he can win that primary, and I know with even greater certainty that he can defeat any Republican they nominate; and what’s more, THEY know it, too.
That’s why they want Hillary Clinton so badly.
