Dumping Obama
Tuesday 30 October 2012 - Filed under Uncategorized
Though in my experience, most of those who self-describe as a progressive are little more than hacks who want to empower politicians to force their own sense of social and economic morality on others, it does seem that the few truly principled progressives, though many of their remedies to social ills may be antithetical to freedom, are abandoning Obama. Robert Prasch at Translation Exercises:
My point is a simple one: a betrayal has indeed occurred. It was not instigated by Glenn Greenwald, Matt Stoller, the Black Agenda Report, or any other progressive voice. All these writers have done is put these betrayals before the public. The people who betrayed the once-vibrant and hopeful 2008 coalition that elected Barack Obama president are lodged in the White House. Their betrayal was not a consequence of circumstance. It was the inevitable playing out of decisions taken before January 20th, 2009. The above list of appointments amply affirms that Barack Obama and his leading advisors knew, at the moment that the oath of office was taken, that their priorities and agendas would be in many, if not most, instances antithetical to the priorities and agendas of its supporters. There was to be, neither then nor later, a glass “half-full” or even a “quarter-full.” If anyone tells you otherwise, just ask him or her to show you the glass.
The fact is that the Obama Administration, like the Clinton Administration before it, knowingly engaged in a cynical wager. They bet that they could pursue a host of policies fundamentally odious to their core supporters and yet be reelected. The calculation depended on the premise that rank-and-file Democrats would have no other option. Unsurprisingly, the Obama Administration and its surrogates have invested considerable time and energy convincing its former supporters that there is no option.
[. . .]
Well, here’s some news: He’s just not that into you. We’re adults. It is time to get over it. You owe him nothing because he has done nothing for you and plans to do nothing for you – unless you count the positive harm of cutting Social Security and enacting the Trans-Pacific Partnership. If voting for such a person “rocks your boat,” feel free. But surely it can be understood why more than a few people may feel differently.
The quicker that people realize that voting their own conscience, rather than the supposed “lesser of two evils” or being a team player, is the ONLY way to affect real change in America, the better. Voting third party is the ONLY moral choice that can be made.
2012-10-30 » madlibertarianguy