"...we cannot achieve significant reform or restore our democracy through established mechanisms of power"

[Fred]

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/11032-truthout-interviews-chris-hedges-about-why-revolt-is-all-we-have-left

But at the same time it is vital to remember that we cannot
achieve significant reform or restore our democracy through
established mechanisms of power.

The electoral process has been hijacked by corporations.

You idiots who still vote are part of the problem. Chris Hedges gets it,
I get it, you idiot atheists who still vote are joined with your Christian
Republidiot colleagues in fucking our country because you still think
that voting works.

---
"Fred" is my Christian name.

[Jeanne Douglas]

In article <99Kdnd5DTpqN_KjN...@posted.sonicnet>,
rep...@scientology.org (Fred) wrote:

> http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/11032-truthout-interviews-chris-hedges-about

> -why-revolt-is-all-we-have-left
>
> But at the same time it is vital to remember that we cannot
> achieve significant reform or restore our democracy through
> established mechanisms of power.
>
> The electoral process has been hijacked by corporations.
>
> You idiots who still vote are part of the problem. Chris Hedges gets it,
> I get it, you idiot atheists who still vote are joined with your Christian
> Republidiot colleagues in fucking our country because you still think
> that voting works.

It WOULD work if people did their homework on the candidates and
completely ignored political ads. But most people are either too lazy or
just too busy to take the time. Vote for anybody but the incumbent in
the primaries.

--
JD

"the lybian lier"

[Dakota]

These anti-vote idiots also ignore the real differences that can be
made at the local level. City councils, mayors, school boards, and
other positions closer to home are where the state and national
politicians come from. If the bad ones were culled early, they would
never reach the national arena.

A friend of mine recently became engaged to a middle school teacher in
town. I sent him an email asking for his fiancé's recommendations
regarding an upcoming school board election. I thought she and her
colleagues would have a far better perspective than I could glean from
the media. Imagine my surprise when he replied that she wasn't even
aware of the pending election. Alas.

Joseph de Maistre was right. "Every nation gets the government it
deserves."

[Jeanne Douglas]

In article <k14gu7$7l9$1...@dont-email.me>, Dakota <ma...@NOSPAMmail.com>
wrote:

> On 8/22/2012 7:18 PM, Jeanne Douglas wrote:
> > In article <99Kdnd5DTpqN_KjN...@posted.sonicnet>,
> > rep...@scientology.org (Fred) wrote:
> >
> >> http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/11032-truthout-interviews-chris-hedges-ab
> >> out
> >> -why-revolt-is-all-we-have-left
> >>
> >> But at the same time it is vital to remember that we cannot
> >> achieve significant reform or restore our democracy through
> >> established mechanisms of power.
> >>
> >> The electoral process has been hijacked by corporations.
> >>
> >> You idiots who still vote are part of the problem. Chris Hedges gets it,
> >> I get it, you idiot atheists who still vote are joined with your Christian
> >> Republidiot colleagues in fucking our country because you still think
> >> that voting works.
> >
> >
> > It WOULD work if people did their homework on the candidates and
> > completely ignored political ads. But most people are either too lazy or
> > just too busy to take the time. Vote for anybody but the incumbent in
> > the primaries.
> >
> These anti-vote idiots also ignore the real differences that can be
> made at the local level. City councils, mayors, school boards, and
> other positions closer to home are where the state and national
> politicians come from. If the bad ones were culled early, they would
> never reach the national arena.

This is the strategy the crazy-right has been using for years to take
over the Republican Party. It's a shame that people so divorced from
reality could actually figure this out when the Democrats couldn't.

I see the Occupy's point about not wanting any part of politics, but the
only way they're going to create change is to follow the Christian
right's game plan.

> A friend of mine recently became engaged to a middle school teacher in
> town. I sent him an email asking for his fiancé's recommendations
> regarding an upcoming school board election. I thought she and her
> colleagues would have a far better perspective than I could glean from
> the media. Imagine my surprise when he replied that she wasn't even
> aware of the pending election. Alas.
>
> Joseph de Maistre was right. "Every nation gets the government it
> deserves."

Yes, I think of that often.

[Fred]

Yes, that would make the system work -- which would drive the corporate
Oligarchy to change the system.

[Fred]

Dakota <ma...@NOSPAMmail.com> wrote:
>On 8/22/2012 7:18 PM, Jeanne Douglas wrote:
>> In article <99Kdnd5DTpqN_KjN...@posted.sonicnet>,
>> rep...@scientology.org (Fred) wrote:
>>> http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/11032-truthout-interviews-chris-hedges-about-why-revolt-is-all-we-have-left

>These anti-vote idiots also ignore the real differences that can be
>made at the local level.

These pro-Oligarchy idiots thinks that the Oligarchy doesn't control
local and State elections. :)

[Mike Painter]

An informed electorate is a simple solution.
Corporations have just spent a lot of money selling politicians the same
way they sell tobacco, toilet paper, and soap.

If people read the labels they would know better.

[Mike Painter]

If they had that much power then there would not be any need to do
things the way they do now...

[Alex W.]

Would they?

For people to know better, they first have to be able to process
the information given to them in a useful manner. Without having
been taught and trained to analyse labels for content and
meaning, simply reading them is pointless. When the label reads
"Pork sausages, 100% meat", most people do not realise that a,)
this does not mean that these bangers are made from 100% pork; or
b,) that the legal definition of "meat" is very different from
the shopper's definition and includes a legally permitted
proportion of connective tissue and mechanically recovered meat
slurry. When a clothing manufacturer patriotically waves the
flag ("100% American owned") and the laundry tag sports the very
legible words "Designed in the USA", how many customers will be
aware that this does not mean that this item of apparel or any of
its constituent materials came anywhere near the US before it hit
the shops?

The same applies to politics. "Fairness" is a very common
buzzword -- but it can be defined in oh so many ways, and a
candidate's election machinery will very carefully avoid letting
itself get nailed down on which exact definition it goes with at
any one time and in any given context. Ditto "poverty" and its
opposite, "rich people" or "the wealthy": good luck finding out
which yardstick is being applied and whether it actually makes
sense or is simply an arbitrary measure defined by the campaign
manager on the back of a paper napkin for the purposes of this
one election. Facts and figures: do they make sense, and how can
you possibly work that out without having some knowledge of
economics or statistics at a level definitely not taught at
school?

Possibly most importantly, your statement that "an informed
electorate is a simple solution" fails to take into account the
vast gaps in the electorate itself when it comes to processing
information. Wide parts of the electorate are functionally
information-illiterate, and those who do have the requisite tools
to parse, analyse and interpret the government or campaigning
bumf are very much in the minority. So to have an informed
electorate, we'd first have to have an educated electorate, a
populace with a high level of high-quality education -- and that
is anything but easy, I'm afraid.

[Mike Painter]

On 8/26/2012 4:38 AM, Alex W. wrote:
>> >If people read the labels they would know better.
> Would they?
>
> For people to know better, they first have to be able to process
> the information given to them in a useful manner. Without having
> been taught and trained to analyse labels for content and
> meaning, simply reading them is pointless. When the label reads
> "Pork sausages, 100% meat", most people do not realise that a,)
> this does not mean that these bangers are made from 100% pork; or
> b,) that the legal definition of "meat" is very different from
> the shopper's definition and includes a legally permitted
> proportion of connective tissue and mechanically recovered meat
> slurry.

A label would in fact contain the information concerning what type of
meat is in the sausage. It would also be listed with the major meat first.