for the People

By Hank Edson

After the worst presidency in history, during most of which the Republican Party controlled all three branches of government, we, the people of the Democratic Party are going to win a landslide victory in November over John McCain and the Republican Party. We need to begin every thought with this sentence. We need to test every opinion we hear against this sentence too. We need to use the heft of our conviction on this point in responding to the voices that thrive on confusion.

The corporate media has two agendas. One is ratings. The other is aiding corporate control of the American people’s government. Both agendas are served by projecting a “tight” race for the presidency.

We’ve got to be more sophisticated if we, the people of the Democratic Party, really want control of our government. We have to know our truth and their lies.

Even when appropriately angry, liberal commentators like Keith Olbermann, host the broadcast platform, they still needs corporate advertisers and therefore they still need to magnify small details to suggest a degree of drama that simply doesn’t exist if you look at the big facts that make the race for the presidency no contest.

Sorry, Keith, every time your talking heads deviate from our truth, we have to turn you off. We don’t need your drama anymore than we need Hillary Clinton’s “Big State” argument. We are so tired of all your panelists, of all those cable faces, spewing insincere perspective simply to collect their pay check from the pundits’ union. We know what you are all about and it’s not politics and its definitely not anything we want or need.

What we need—what our country needs—is to look hard at what we’ve just been through under the likes of George Bush, Dick Cheney, Tom Delay, and Mitch McConnell. What we need is for the press to hold the Republican nominee to account for the disastrous policies of the Republican Party over the last seven years.

Better yet, what we need, is for Cable News and the corporate press just to go silent for the next eight months.

The corporate media is projecting a lie. The corporate media wants us to believe the race is close because it boosts ratings and gives legitimacy to a Republican platform that slavishly serves corporate interests.

It used to be that the Republicans tried to intimidate the referee into making calls in their favor by throwing false tantrums about a “liberal” media—as if the media that broadcast President Bush’s war propaganda could really be “liberal.”

The spin this time is the same, but different: the media is being used to call the contest “close” when there really is no contest at all.

In both scenarios, however, the strategy can have the power of a self-fulfilling, toxic prophesy. After a while, if the lies are constantly shouted over and over and over again, people begin to accept them as legitimate opinions.

“The earth is flat! The earth is flat! The earth is flat! The earth is flat! The earth is flat! The earth is flat!” Fox News tells its viewers every night and because Fox News says so, it is an opinion that at least deserves consideration in the public discourse.

We, the people of the Democratic Party, need to reject the lie that the race for the presidency is close. If we voice our conviction in the overwhelming superiority of the Democratic Party’s appeal to a people still suffering the consequences of the worst presidency in history, during which the Republican Party controlled all three branches for the overwhelming majority of the time, we will see that this conviction has the power of an incredibly beneficial self-fulfilling prophecy.

This is our job. We must not leave it to our candidates. We definitely must not leave it to the press. We must broadcast our own conviction. The Republican Party’s gluttony and abuse had caused that party’s self-destruction. The people of the Democratic Party have a platform that will begin to restore democracy and prosperity to our nation. The race for the presidency isn’t even close. The Democrats are going to win by an overwhelming majority.

And we will all be so much better for it.

Copyright © Hank Edson 2008

Hillary Clinton's Big State Lie 
    

By Hank Edson

No matter who the Democratic Party nominates, that candidate ought to win hands down--following as he or she will, the worst administration in history, during which the Republican Party controlled all three branches of government.

That's why diverting the political discourse into considering any other alternative is to put oneself at odds with the interests of the Democratic Party.

We, the people of the Democratic Party, already have a resounding victory.  Don't tell us our victory is at risk; it is not.  Don't tell us you will save us; we don't need to be saved.

We don’t need a candidate selection process, in fact; anyone will do. Make no mistake about this.

The fact that we would like a genuine leader does not mean that we are in doubt about our victory over the abusive politics of Republican rule.  It does not mean that we are looking for an answer to our fears.  We are not afraid.  We are eagerly anticipating election day and the victory it will bring us.

Clarity on this single point is now the deciding factor that we, the people of the Democratic Party, should apply in choosing a nominee for the presidency.

The one who get's this point is in.  The one who doesn't is out.

This is why our nominee must be Barack Obama.

Hilary Clinton’s bid for the presidency has been whittled down to the “big state” argument: the argument that she won the large states with the most electoral votes, which tend to be won by Democrats, and that Obama won the small states, which tend to be won by Republicans.

The Clinton team argues that Obama won’t be able to beat McCain in the general election because the states that supported him during the primaries will be won by McCain and the states that McCain would otherwise lose, won’t vote for Obama because they wanted Clinton to be the nominee.

It’s bad that Clinton has been reduced to making such a stupid argument, but it’s disqualifying that she has chosen to make an argument so contrary to the interests of the people of the Democratic Party.

Clinton is willfully projecting for her own benefit a scenario in which the Democratic Party loses small state after small state to John McCain. And then she is insanely suggesting that Obama can’t win California, New York, Texas and Florida because her success in those states demonstrates their undying allegiance to all things Clinton.

On one hand, this argument might suggest that Obama can’t win these states because her success indicates a Republican leaning amongst these voters. On the other hand, it might suggest that Obama would somehow so anger the state’s democratic voters with his electoral victory among pledged delegates that democrats in big states would simply not vote.  No matter what it suggests, this argument is absurd, self-serving, and a grave disservice to the Party.

We already have a win. We don’t need Clinton. And we don’t need her suggesting our victory is in doubt.  We definitely don't need to entertain her desperate rationalizations of why democrats must nominate her, even though she doesn't have the votes.

I urge my fellow democrats to think about this and announce your support for Barack Obama--if you have not already--based on this principle: Democrats are going to win big in November and we don’t want a candidate whose nomination depends on calling that victory into doubt.

We are done with Republican rule.  Our every spoken word should explain why.

Copyright © Hank Edson 2008

By Hank Edson

As the number of Americans killed in President Bush’s deceitful war surpasses 4000, this shameful milestone ought to be the Democratic Party’s bully pulpit for a saner, safer, more humane government. On one hand, it ought to be a bully pulpit that speaks for itself. The leadership of the Democratic Party ought to circle the American people around it for a moment of profound and deliberative silence. On the other hand, it ought to be a bully pulpit from which the tragic aftermath of Republican rule of all three branches of government during the majority of Bush’s administration is reviewed with eloquent and angry common sense.

One thing is sure, with 4000 Americans killed by the Republican management of foreign policy, the general election should already be won by the Democratic Party. John McCain’s showing in the polls should be as low as George Bush and Dick Cheney’s approval ratings. He has been their lapdog, after all, throughout their administration. The Democratic Party should be dancing circles around a helpless McCain, giving him a thorough work-over before delivering the knock-out punch. It is March 2008 after more than seven disastrous years of Republican rule. The Democrats should be able to send Dennis Kucinich into the ring and be assured of leaving McCain unconscious on the mat.

To forget this fact for even one second is an injury to the American people. Any talk that proceeds on an assumption that the facts could be otherwise is inexcusable. We voters need to assert our independence on this score. The politicians and the talking-heads have the broadcast strength, but we must remain clear and confident in our own sober conviction that the Republican Party has lost its legitimacy, its honor, and, finally, its cover.

We, the people in the Democratic Party, are the Democratic Party and we are going to register a searing condemnation of Republican rule in the upcoming election. Our elected leaders in the Democratic Party may not have had the integrity to properly condemn such rule through impeachment, but rest assured, whoever the people of the Democratic Party nominate as their champion, he or she is going to kick some ass. I make no excuses here: eloquent and angry common sense, I said, is what this moment calls for.

John Edwards, where are you now?

Copyright © Hank Edson 2008

   
By Hank Edson

Americans want change. A spirit of optimism is awakening in the new generation. A new rule of equality and justice for all waits to be born in the politics of our nation. A secret is being whispered from ear to ear by the young and the visionary. The secret is our non-negotiable unity as human beings.

The old generation doesn’t understand this point and their failure to understand it betrays a lack of commitment to truly advancing humanity through democracy. Even when the heroes of the old generation proclaimed our essential equality, they proclaimed it only for “all men” and then continued to hold many as slaves. The pattern they gave us has been flawed from the start, flawed by its violation of our non-negotiable unity.

We now see where the progress of this pattern has led. We see that the old generation has built a political process in which the campaign contributions of the top 5 percent matter more...READ MORE!

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A Positive
 
Vision

 
of 21st
 
Century
 
Democracy

We need to be as ambitious in envisioning political process integrity as John Edwards has been honest in talking about political process corruption.

By Hank Edson

For supporters of John Edwards, the end of his 2008 campaign for the presidency should not be spent in either deep gloom or false bravado.  The future of the cause Edwards champions remains open and John Edwards’ influence on the rest of this campaign and perhaps on the next four years is unknown.  We would be mistaken to write him out of our script just because he has bowed out of the race for the presidency.  At the same time, clearly his campaign is lost and what is most appropriate in the face of this political loss is to take stock of the lessons we can learn from it.  They are not Edwards’ lessons to learn alone, but are instructive to the entire nation.

What we learn from the Edwards campaign is that American politics requires from its populist candidates the highest standard of vision:  It requires much more than the ability to see and speak the truth about corruption.  It requires much more than the ability to set forth a ground breaking plan to address our problems.  For a populist candidate to win in America, he or she must ring the bell of our ideals loud and clear.  We need a positive vision of our democracy that is pitch perfect, resounding, and inimitable.

Back in August when John Edwards began to aggressively challenge the Democratic Party to look honestly at the corruption and inequality in our nation, he promised his campaign would be about “real change,” saying: ... READ MORE!

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What the
 
Reagan-Flap
 
Really Says
  
about Obama, 
  
Clinton,and
 
Edwards

By Hank Edson

The recent flap over Barack Obama’s comments on Ronald Reagan speaks volumes about what distinguishes our three democratic presidential candidates. But what it says is not complementary to either Obama or Clinton. Instead, once again, it shows us that John Edwards is the real candidate all Democrats should support.

Obama’s Intent

When Obama described Reagan’s Republican Party as the “party of ideas,” his intention was to use Reagan as a sort of yardstick for measuring whether or not a candidate has the mojo to rally a large majority of the nation’s political support. By invoking the concept of “the Reagan Democrat,” Obama intended to show that the Clintons did not measure up to the Reagan yardstick and to suggest, however, that he would.

Obama was thus casting a Clinton White House as one which would lack a governing majority, one that would only perpetuate an entrenched partisanship the nation would not willingly choose if offered an alternative.

By contrast, an Obama White House, he implied, would, in a Reaganesque manner, make the Democratic Party once again a “Party of Ideas,” capable of maintaining a governing majority. This governing majority would attract “Obama Republicans” discontented with the Presidency of George W. Bush, who, however, would never vote...READ MORE!

By Hank Edson

It was primary day in the forest and so Goldilocks told her mother she was going to go vote. Goldilocks was a democrat and she was terrified at the terrible condition of her country. Her vote today mattered a great deal to both her and her country.

She left her home and went down the path to the local library where the voting booths were all set up. The kind young man at the welcome counter had her sign her name in the register and gave her a voting card to take into the poll booth.

When Goldilocks had pulled the curtain closed behind her and sat down on the stool in the voting booth, she was surprised at what she saw. Instead of a computer screen with a touch pad, there was a counter with a slot for her voting card in the side and three porcelain mugs resting on top. Each mug had the face of a different candidate on it.

Goldilocks impulsively picked up the Barack Obama mug. She had heard so much “buzz” about him. Below his picture were the words, “It’s not about me; it’s about you.” Goldilocks wondered why, then, it wasn’t her face on the mug. Then she looked at what was in the mug, and much to her disappointment, the mug was empty. At the bottom of the empty mug, she read the words, “The people are thirsty for change.” Goldilocks did not know what to make of this mug. She was thirsty, but the mug was empty. She set it down. “There’s nothing there,” she said to herself.

Then she picked up the mug with Hillary Clinton’s face on it...READ MORE

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By Hank Edson

They all can win in the general election; therefore, the question is which will be best for our nation? Consider:

The Survivor: Hilary Clinton has a record of change. She also has a record of failure, a record of compromise, and a record of working with corporatists who have corrupted our system and turned it against the American people. Clinton, in short, has the record of a survivor.

She aspired to heroism in attempting to overhaul our health care system in ’92, but the abuse she suffered taught her to be more calculating. Her husband had the strength and intelligence to balance the budget, but this achievement was a matter of fiscal common sense; it was not a demonstration of a moral commitment to justice and liberty for all.

If our country was a corporation, Bill Clinton might be regarded as the best leader we ever had, but our country is much more than a corporation. If our political system wasn’t corrupt, if we weren’t fighting an unprovoked, unjustifiable war, if the debt and financial peril the American people are currently shouldering did not exist, Hillary might be the perfect candidate for “getting things done,” but we need much more than a government that just gets down to “business.”

We need a government that is principled, a government that will stand up...READ MORE!

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Why the Progressive Movement
Needs to Unite Behind John Edwards

By Hank Edson

Last August I proposed in two sequential opinion pieces that perhaps John Edwards was the man progressives should rally around in order to have the most beneficial impact on our direction as a nation. (See Edwards, Does He Mean It and Edwards/Kucinich 2008? )  At that time, however, we were still months away from the primaries and many readers were not persuaded by my argument. I am hoping that following this weekend’s New Hampshire democratic presidential campaign debate, the time may now be ripe for an organized effort to demonstrate unified progressive endorsement of John Edwards for President of the United States.

Saturday night saw four democratic candidates at the debate podiums: John Edwards, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, and Hillary Clinton, from left to right across the TV screen. Each candidate urged the voters to apply a different standard in selecting who should be President. Roughly put, the candidates made the following claims:

Edwards argued that what mattered was whether the candidate had a personal commitment to reclaiming for the people the power stolen by corporate special interests.

Obama argued what mattered was whether the candidate could rally the American people to support an agenda for change.

Richardson argued what mattered was whether the candidate had the independence and experience required to build effective political coalitions for getting things done.

Clinton argued that what mattered was whether the candidate had a record of actually making change happen.

Here’s why we all need to get behind the Edwards campaign today with an unprecedented demonstration of energy and organization as a progressive movement:

First consider Hillary Clinton:...READ MORE!

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Halliburton Rape Cases

By Hank Edson

The Facts

The facts are despicable, criminal, worse than animal, just absolutely ugly. In 2005, 20-year-old Jamie Leigh Jones of Houston, Texas had just signed on to work in Iraq for a Halliburton subsidiary, Kellogg, Brown, and Root (KBR), one of the private military contractors most used by the United States military. Just two days after arriving in Iraq to begin her job, a group of several of her American co-workers drugged her, gang raped her, and left her naked to wake up bleeding and in pain, still groggy from the drugs she had been slipped. Jones writes that she would eventually need surgery because “my attackers tore my pectoral muscles due to the brutality of the attack.”

When she got back from the Army doctors who told her she had been repeatedly raped “both vaginally and anally,” however, Halliburton/KBR’s immediate response was to place Jones under guard inside a shipping container where she was held for over 24 hours without food or water. KBR officials warned her that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, “There won’t be a position here, and there won’t be a position in Houston.” Jones had to be rescued from the container by a State Department official from the Iraq U.S. Embassy, which only happened because one of Jones’ guards had pity on her and lent her a cell phone to call her father, who then contacted his congressman, who then contacted the State Department.

After two years of seeking justice for the crimes committed against her, Jones has been forced to file a civil suit because the justice department claims it can’t prosecute private military contractors in Iraq. The civil suit, however, may end up in arbitration where no public record of the proceedings is allowed under the terms of Jones’ employment contract. Jones’ case is not the only civil rape case filed against Halliburton/KBR, nor is rape of American co-workers the only instance of grossly lawless conduct by private military contractors in Iraq. Earlier this year, the private military contracting firm Blackwater was the center of a scandal when its employees were accused of murdering innocent Iraqi civilians.

The Bottom Line

There is a lot to say about this terrible state of affairs, but we have a responsibility to get to the heart of the matter. Here it is:...READ MORE!

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