Reply #91: after seeing the results tonight [View All]

[sueragingroz]

I can't help but get more and more depressed at the fact that so-called progressive americans are falling for this.

I know that the bulk of these contests were caucuses and that they are stacked in Obama's favour - but Hillary has a tough month ahead of her if you look at demographics and the momentum will just build and build for Obama if it continues as tonight has...

Texas and Ohio are a millenium away...

I was discussing my thoughts on the american political process and the democratic primaries with a friend today. He's a South African who lived most of his adult life in New Zealand ...

He told me that he hopes that whatever happens, that the US self-destructs sooner rather than later for the good of the planet as a whole. This was a highly educated man saying this to me. It was a sad comment that highlighted to me just how high the stakes really are internationally and how low international opinion toward the US has sunk.

Anyway... this maudlin mood... and a bit of beer at a get-together tonight caused me to slap my tin hat on for the evening.

At this party, I had a further discussion with another friend who was raised in Bosnia but spent his adult life in Canada. He nailed it on the head IMHO.

This all goes back to the military industrial complex that Ike warned us about in 61. I was born in '67 so I, like many of you only know a world in which the MIC holds the real balance of power. When Bill was elected, I have no doubt that he believed that he could take it on by going the "third way". He learned a very hard lesson when he was in power. Obama doesn't seem to have paid attention... I have no doubt that Gore thought he could make some real change when he ran for office. He got schooled as well and now has decided that the best way to combat the MIC is to dedicate is life to educating folks about global warming and get them off of the oil teat.

Despite the experiences of his predecessors (who he dismisses as useless boomers) Obama still believes that he can go in there and "make change". Either he is lying to get votes or he is incredibly naive. You cannot change the political system by confronting it head-on in a public way. They will just make sure that you don't get elected. You can't change the political system by reaching out to the sharks across the isle. They will smell the blood and then they will only gnaw your hand off and attack you relentlessly until the American public is sufficiently distracted and brainwashed to think that you are the villain instead of those that you tried to confront.

The only way to completely up-end the MIC control over the american political system is through violence. If you look at the video that was posted on this site with Gravel's commentary on other candidates, he hinted at this very subtly at the very end. I hate to break the bad news to everyone, but the sort of "Real change" that Obama goes on about is only brought about through violence. Just ask those who are from countries that experienced "Real Change" to their political systems. North Americans have been blessed in that they haven't had to experience the sort of "real change" that has plagued the rest of the world over the last 100 years or so. That in turn makes all North Americans more than a bit naive when it comes to discussing "Real Change".

Unless you want to go through that violence, then maybe you have to suck it up and accept the world as it is and try to learn how it works and to manipulate it in order to make the lives of every day americans as liveable as possible. I believe that Hillary has done that. This may sound like selling out. Maybe it is. But it's a valid choice nonetheless.

The unbalanced medial coverage in this election can lead me to only one conclusion: Hillary is being pilloried in the press (that is controlled by corporate america and arguably by the MIC) because they don't want her to be in power. She is a threat because she has learned how to work the system to the benefit of the common person. She is also a threat because of her strong positions on Iran and her husband's experience in using diplomacy and the "threat of war" or surgical strikes instead of all out invasion to tackle thorny international issues. Remember "wag the dog in Kosvo?"... Ah how the american memory fades with the years...

Obama is not a threat - at least right now. He's simply a distraction - he's the shiny thing that we are all supposed to be looking at right now at the Amway conventions that they call political rallies... He's not a threat in the minds of those who control the media because either he will be crucified by McCain (who will feed the MIC with 100 years in Iraq) or if he should manage to win, he will be easily manipulated due to his inexperience and naivete into a conflict with Iran.

Don't forget - the enemy of my enemy is my friend.