Why this Independent is voting for Obama

To start off, before I get the "Obamabot" label thrown at me, I hate the idea of a two party system. For a couple elections when I first became old enough to vote, I used to vote Republican without thinking. That's the way we were raised. We were taught that Democrats used to be OK back when they supported segregation and a "white, Christian nation" but they had been taken over by people who wanted to force sodomy, abortions and higher education on everyone. Once I managed to break out of that brainwashing, I started voting third party or Democrat most of the time. In fact, I think in almost every election since 2000, I have voted for at least one candidate that didn't have a "D" or "R" by their name. One year, I even convinced a number of people to write me in for Congress against a Republican who was running unopposed.

This year, I will continue that tradition of voting 3rd party but I am not going to do that when it comes to the presidential selection. I know that in the state of Louisiana, a vote for Obama is pretty much wasted because of all of the people who despite having their jobs destroyed by venture capitalists like Romney, will still vote for that slick-haired vulture. Venture capitalists destroyed the Fruit of the Loom factories here that used to employ thousands, but now sit abandoned with weeds growing up through the cracks in the crumbling asphalt where hundreds of employee vehicles once sat.

I'm not going to tell anyone that they should give up their plans to vote for Rocky Anderson, Jill Stein or Gary Johnson and vote for Obama instead. However, hear me out on this little rant...

Ideally, there would be 3, 4 or 5 parties out there and government business would be conducted through a series of compromises that would allow individuals to conduct their daily lives with government there as a backup, not a lifeline. Companies would have little to no influence on government and politicians would do what is in the best interests of their constituents, not their billionaire sugar daddies.

The thing is, that isn't going to miraculously happen between now and November. Writing in Ron Paul or voting third party this time around is like going to the highest stake poker table in Vegas with your future on the line and pushing all in with the first hand which just happens to be 2-7 offsuit. That analogy doesn't really work though because you statistically have a better chance of winning doing that than the "no chance in hell" possibility that someone besides Romney or Obama would somehow gain enough support between now and November to pull out a shocker.

In addition to that, what good does a person like Gary Johnson or Jill Stein do us in the White House if they don't have a single independent supporter in the House or Senate other than Bernie Sanders? If you thought the GOP hated Obama, imagine how hard they would try to destroy someone who stood alone with little to no support from either side of the aisle.

The reason I am voting for Obama this year instead of Gary Johnson or Jill Stein is that while a vote for them fits the idealism I once had when I stood outside the polls on my 20th birthday with a Ralph Nader sign, I am pragmatic enough now to know it won't change much. Even then, I knew my one vote for Nader wasn't going to magically sweep him into the White House and overthrow the 2 party system once and for all.

I have never been delusional enough to say "both parties are the same" and refuse to vote based off that idiocy as many people in the Occupy movement (which I support for the most part) have done. I understand that you build a political movement by starting small, winning local elections, building a base, moving to the state level, then national. It doesn't work by starting at the top and working down. No matter how idealistic and unique a politician is, one person alone is no match for the powers that be. If you don't like the choices you have, work to change that but don't choose the pill which means the death of what is left of the middle class over the pill that upsets your stomach.

In the mean time, I am voting for Obama because while he isn't perfect, I recognize that the alternative is far worse. Think of it as choosing between heartburn and terminal cancer.

Trickle down economics doesn't work

This quote has been going around the internet, often not attributed to me. While I appreciate the message being disseminated, I don't appreciate the plagiarism. This quote and image were originally created on August 3rd, 2012.

"The next time someone tells you that Obama is destroying the economy, remind them that the stock market is close to an all-time high and that corporate profits are as well.

When they tell you that that hasn't helped them any, remind them they've just admitted trickle-down economics doesn't work." ~ Whiskey and the Morning After Blog

This is not "class warfare"

Asking that those who spend more on private jets and catering than they do on taxes to pay more in taxes is not "class warfare". Demanding a fair wage from a company that posts profits quarter after quarter, yet balks at giving their workers any kind of raise, that's not fucking "class warfare".

So, what is "class warfare"? I'll tell you what it is. The real class warfare is billionaires shoveling unlimited dollars into political campaigns without disclosure. It is media outlets taking in billions in advertising from companies like Boeing, Northrup Grumann, BP and other heavy hitters to continue their siphoning of tax dollars for military contracts and subsidies. It is the constant cacophony of talk radio bigots persuading long haul truck drivers, overnight security guards and retirees that labor unions, immigrants and liberals are to blame for all of their problems, not the 1% or the constant race to the bottom for cheaper goods and labor.

Listen sometime, if you can bear it, to rightwing talk radio from time to time. Step outside your comfortable Twitter and Facebook feeds from Moveon.org, thinkprogress.com, or the left's version of Glenn Beck, addictinginfo.org. Listen to the pompous windbag Limbaugh, Mark Levine, Michael Savage and really pay attention to what they're selling, figuratively and literally. The advertisements are for testosterone replacement drugs, survivalist gear, gold investments and hair loss therapies. Who is this target audience? Think about it. What are they selling? Fear, ego, and greed.

Convincing people to vote against their own interests, then getting them to believe that someone other than their corrupt representative is to blame, that is classwarfare. Getting people to give up their rights to a safe workplace and and an honest wage, that is class warfare. Tricking people into thinking that if they just vote for one more tax cut for folks who make more in a month than they will in a lifetime, that the manufacturing job they lost 10 years ago will come back, that is fucking class warfare.

Look, I will never, ever begrudge someone who made their millions honestly what they've lawfully earned. If you've worked all of your life to create a product that people want, without pulling strings to eliminate your competition, without getting a politician to earmark you some subsidies or a bailout when you tank, then good for you. You deserve to have your millions and there's very few people who think your lifetime's hard work should be taken away from you in the name of the fictional "wealth redistribution", despite what the pundits at Fox News will tell you repeatedly.

However, don't forget that every business uses our infrastructure, our roads, our highways and workers, all financed at some point or another by our tax dollars. You didn't get here solely on your own, especially if your money was handed to you by the work of your ancestors. So when it comes time to pay your taxes, which by the way, just happen to be the lowest since the institution of income taxes, stop bitching about "Taxed Enough Already" and pay your damn share already.

The end of the Third Great Empire

"The Republic will not end when ordinary people find they can vote themselves money from the Public Treasury, but when corporations find that government influence can be bought, sold and manipulated like derivatives on Wall Street".

~Whiskey and The Morning After Blog

Blurring the lines - Occupy 2.0

The thing that angers the media the most, besides specific leaders they can target, is the non-partisan/bi-partisan/independent/I'mjustpissedthefuckoff demographic of the Occupy protests. The likes of Hannity, Limbaugh, you know, the usual folks who want to resort to character attacks instead of the message, they're baffled by this.

They were thrilled to find a convenient target in the "dirty, lazy hippies who don't want to work". Quickly though, it got confusing for them when that same "dirty hippie" was marching next to a priest or a minister, who was marching next to a veteran, who was marching next to a Ron Paul supporter.

"We need leaders to speak to" they clamored. Yeah, appoint a leader and then the media attacks that person, vilifies them and distracts from the message.

"Why are these people protesting when they could be looking for jobs?" they said in snarky sound clips. We either can't find jobs or we have jobs and protest on the weekends. Ever notice how big the protests are on Saturdays and Sundays?

"We need a clear set of demands or we can't take this seriously" they said. Gee, the name "Occupy Wall Street" wasn't obvious enough for you? There's many demands but the fixed, crony game of cards that is our economy is the main one.

They want to say that we're "jealous of success" and participating in "class warfare". When the bully who has run the playground for years suddenly finds himself confronted by all the other kids who he's victimized, he usually runs to the teacher for help. Same tactic.

We've transcended the lines between "conservative" and "liberal". We're beyond "left vs. right" and it is pissing the media off.

99% vs 53% vs 1%

In an effort to undermine or disqualify the Occupy Wall Street movement, a few people have signed on to a new astroturf "we are the 53%" group. This 53% is supposed to be the percentage of Americans who pay a net income tax at the end of the year. The irony of the slogan is that it states, by logical process, that 47% of Americans live below an income level to which they would have to pay incomes tax. Saying that 53% of Americans pay a net income tax isn't something to be proud of, it is a condemnation of the economic situation that we find ourselves in. I used to be in the 53% tax bracket. I used to end up getting back only a portion of what I paid in over the year and do you know what? I was fine with that and I would happily go back to that bracket in a heartbeat if only I could.

Yet, politicians and their backers want to play class warfare by painting those who don't make enough money to pay income taxes as lazy. I hate to break it to you but not everyone can become a CEO, an investment banker, a trial lawyer or win the lottery. Some people are going to have to flip burgers, bus tables, scrape roadkill, fix flat tires, bag groceries or work as a security guard to make our society continue to work as we know it. Guess what? Some of us are OK with the cards that life has dealt us. Some of us have accepted that the "American Dream" may not be realized for us but we're still trying to get it for our kids.

Occupy Wall Street isn't protesting to ask for a handout, it is protesting to ask for a handup instead of the current system that primarily rewards people who climb the ladder, only to kick out the rungs below it. The 99% represents the people who the system isn't working for anymore, not those who want a free government check every month.

It is too easy to be mentally lazy and let Fox News tell you that we are a bunch of "dirty, lazy hippies". The problems we face are far more complex than some pasteurized 30 second sound bite. It is intellectually convenient to just write off a social issue that has come to a head as the bitching of a few who want something they aren't entitled to. It isn't that simple. Think for yourself.

We are the 99%, here's why we Occupy Wall Street

We've already grasped the fact we aren't all going to be millionaires, movie actors or rock stars. Our generation has come to terms with the fact we are going to work until we're 70 or older, and as much as it sucks, we've accepted it grudgingly. We've realized that thanks to the Baby Boomers, Social Security may not be the safety net it was for our parents and grandparents and we're kind of OK with that, even as we pay out of our checks every two weeks to support your grandparents in Arizona or Florida or wherever else America goes to die.

We accepted the fact that "Hope and Change" rolled quietly into "Hope for some change down the road". We aren't OK with that, but hey, we'll live with it. Yet, when our homes get foreclosed on us because the banks who got a bailout won't return the favor to the same taxpayers who helped them, we're going to be pissed off. When the same financial institutions and trade schools who talked us into getting credit cards and student loans to get through college, only to now come and bully us to repay them when we are working minimum wage jobs despite our degrees, we'll probably finally have had enough.

We bought into the same "American Dream" that our parents and grandparents subscribed to. The one where if you work hard enough, save some money and go to school, you also can live the dream. The thing is, the "American Dream" set sail with Reagnomics and NAFTA. Now, if you work 10 years for a company, thanks "right to work" laws, they can dump you at any time, for any reason, and you're back at square one again while your job gets shipped off to an intern or someone who will work for half the price in Bangladesh or India.

In the old movies, the guy who found something crooked going in his company, or his politics, went and made a stand. Eventually, he turned out to be the hero and was usually rewarded for his efforts. In my case, I cut the losses of the company I worked diligently for by millions of dollars every month and I was rewarded with a boot out the door.

That isn't the "free market" and the capitalism our parents grew up with. This is a new system and one that rewards the cheaters, not the hard workers. We've finally realized that fact, and we're very, very pissed off.

Rise up and be counted

The Revolution is here. Despite initial resistance from major news sources, it is now being televised. Across the country, across the world, tens of thousands of people are marching in the streets.

At first they ignored us. On Twitter, you can see my heated exchanges with a CNN News anchor (Ali Velshi) who told me in a snarky manner that Occupy Wall Street was not a story. Then the mocking began as they tried to paint everyone involved as "dirty hippies", "leftist lunatic Communists" and other ad hominem attacks. Now that they've failed in that, they're ready to unleash the dogs.

Yet, with every arrest, with every use of pepper spray, the crowds grow larger and pop up in new cities. This is a wave that cannot be stopped and the people who stand in opposition will be swept out. They will find themselves on the losing side of history. Politicians are suddenly paying attention and trying to co-opt, to harness the energy of the movement for their own gain. President Obama has said that he sides with the protesters, but he has got corporate money in his coffers as well. I dare say that the vast majority of incumbents do as well, this has to end.

The ideological purists of the Occupy movement are angered at the thought that politicians are trying to use the energy for their campaigns but unfortunately, that is how the system works. Every major social change started with protests and discontent of some sort but ultimately, it took votes cast by Senators, members of Congress or decisions made by the Supreme Court to make it law. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the product of activism, protests and sit-ins. So was the abolition of slavery, the repeal of Prohibition, etc.

Occupy Wall Street is the first, and necessary step. We are learning to shake off our apathy and abandoning the myth that one person does not matter. Yet, I do not believe the current system of inequality can be changed by just protests alone. Next, we have to get involved and make changes through the political system which ultimately decides what is law and what is not. If you have a representative who will listen and vote for the changes that are needed, support them and make sure you keep them honest. If you have a representative that will not listen and is too deeply in the pockets of those who have a vested interest in the status quo, help remove them from office via the ballot box.

The difference between the Arab Spring and the American Autumn is that in the Arab countries, they were under dictatorships which allowed little or no participation in the political process. Here, we have the ultimate say with our vote. We just have to learn not to be tricked into voting against our self interests. We have to learn that our neighbor is not our enemy for whatever reason we've been told in order to divide us against each other. We can reclaim our country, if we really want to.