Eleven reasons not to vote for non-progressive Democrats

Eleven reasons why the Obama administration and non-progressive Democrats are really conservative Republicans in sheep's clothing and do not deserve your vote:

1. Supports warrantless surveillance of American citizens as evidenced by the renewal of the Patriot Act.

2. Supports indefinite detention without due process of law which continues today at Guantanamo Bay and black sites around the world.

3. Supports rendition where torture continues to this present day.

4.  Drone strikes on civilians. All military aged men are automatically considered "enemy combatants".

5. Secondary drone strikes on rescue workers and funeral attendees.

6. For always compromising with the Republicans. The Obama administration killed the public health care option, extended the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy and showed willingness to put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block.

7. Passed the NDAA Act of 2012 with the 1021(b)(2) provision to apprehend American citizens on American soil and held in indefinite detention without a shred of due process of law. And for appealing (and continuing to appeal) the Federal Court decision that ruled the clause unconstitutional.

8. Assassination of three American citizens without a warrant, conviction, Grand Jury or any other due process of law. 

9. For having policies or actions that has been questioned in the courts dismissed under the "national security secrets" defense. And then to leak information when it suits them on exactly those same secrets that the Obama administration refused to disclose in the courts. The drone strikes are a perfect example. Shh, they're secret.

10. Our two-tiered justice system where all Bush administration personelle were protected from prosecution by the Obama administration. Ditto for Wall Street financiers and bankers. Meanwhile, not one wrongfully detained or tortured person has been permitted in the Federal courts to sue the US government.

11. The Obama administration's war on whistleblowers. At the same time the government continues to relentlessly prosecute whistleblowers  who reveal illegalities, corruption and inefficiencies of the military and government agencies under the archaic 1917 WWI Espionage Act; the Obama administration continues to leak classified information when it is self-serving.

It's time for Democrat supporters to realize that their party is no longer a liberal party. It's a conservative party with more in common with the Republicans than anyone would care to admit. The only difference is that we've been divided and conquered on authoritarian/non-authoritarian issues.  If you vote Democrat or Republican then you get the government you deserve: a corporate financed and controlled government who keep empowering themselves at the expense of our freedom and liberty.

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References:

• Chris Hedges and his lawsuit to strike down section 1021(b)(2) of the NDAA 2012:We Won—for Now

• Joahua Holland's interview of Jonathan Weiler: AlterNet Radio

• "Stop Me Before I Vote Again" by Michael J. Smith.

Other sources: Glenn Greenwald, Chris Hedges, Noam Chomsky, Jeremy Scahill, Naomi Klein and Naomi Wolf. Plus DemocracyNow.org, BillMoyers.com and RT.com.

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Democratic Party Apology Handbook

The Democratic Party Apology Handbook has been moved here.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Truthout

Truthout has some very good articles out lately:

• Justice Party Presidential Candidate Rocky Anderson Speaks Candidly on the Crumbling State of the Union

Rocky Anderson:

If we allow the fear-driven argument that the lesser of two evils (in this case I think we could say the more effective of the two evils) may be defeated by the greater of two evils, then we're simply conceding to the status quo. Then we'll never see a change. In fact, we'll see things continue to get worse, with the ratcheting up of an imperial presidency, with the undermining of the rule of law and our constitutional values, and a continued destruction of our democracy, as well as a worsening economic disparity - which is already worse than at any time since the 1920s and during the Great Depression.

We can either choose to simply move the players - Republicans and Democrats - around and sustain the corrupt system in which those with the money call all the shots, or we can finally organize and take action together to choose a very different way. And that's what my candidacy represents, and that's what the Justice Party represents.

• Truthout Interviews Chris Hedges About Why Revolt Is All We Have Left

Chris Hedges:

We are seeing the conscious and deliberate creation by the corporate state of a permanent, insecure and terrified underclass within the wider society. They have had a lot of practice in refining these techniques in the sacrifice zones, such as West Virginia, we wrote about. The corporate state sees this permanent and desperate underclass as the most effective weapon to thwart rebellion and resistance as our economy is reconfigured to wipe out the middleclass and leave most of us at subsistence level. Huge pools of unemployed and underemployed effectively blunt labor organizing, since any job, no matter how menial, is zealously coveted. The beating down of workers, exacerbated by the refusal to extend unemployment benefits for hundreds of millions of Americans and the breaking of public sector unions, the last redoubt of union power, has transformed those in the working class from full members of society, able to participate in its debates, the economy and governance, into terrified people in fragmented pools preoccupied with the struggle of private existence.

The determining factor in global corporate production is now poverty. The poorer the worker and the poorer the nation, the greater the competitive advantage. With access to vast pools of desperate, impoverished workers eager for scraps, unions and working conditions no longer impede the quest for larger and larger profits. And when the corporations do not need these workers they are cast aside. Those who are economically broken usually cease to be concerned with civic virtues. They will, history has demonstrated, serve any system, no matter how evil, and do anything for a pitiful salary, a chance for job security and the protection of their families. There will, as the situation worsens, also be those who attempt to rebel. I certainly intend to join them. But the state can rely on a huge number of people who, for work and meager benefits, will transform themselves into willing executioners.

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More:

• Creeping Counterterrorism: From Muslims to Political Protesters

•  Millions Go Hungry as Congress Considers Food Stamp Cuts and Drought Threatens Crops

• The Death of Sunny Sheu 

Julian Assange appears on Ecuadorian embassy balcony