politics
Politics does not dictate our collective cultural mindset as much as it simply reflects it; We've got to look in the mirror sometimes, and we've got one.
Douglas Emhof makes history with his wife Kamala Harris
Douglas Emhof has made American history without even trying. He is married to Kamala Harris who is the Vice President-elect now that it is official that Joe Biden has won the 2020 presidential election. Harris will be the first female as well as the first woman of color to hold the VP office. Her father is black and from British Jamacia and her mother was Indian from Southeastern Asia. Emhof will be the first gentleman whose wife is the Vice-President and also an American with non-European and non-African slavery heritage. Emhof is also the product of two Jewish parents.
Cheryl E PrestonPublished 4 years ago in The SwampI Voted
Growing up in the United States many of us were taught that America was a country where any would be welcome and where all cultures, beliefs, and forms of love and lifestyles could come together in peace. As we grew older, each of us learned in one way or another that this was not how the United States came to be, nor is it the country we live in today. Instead we have come to know a world where people hate incessantly due to differing beliefs and viewpoints, where others believe that they should have the power to choose how their neighbors live, and where people pick and choose what parts of another culture they will tolerate when all should be welcome to live how they like. Today our country is divided, and this division has been seen more prominently than ever with the recent election. People have forgotten that while the America we live in today is not what we were taught it was in school, it is still a possibility. If only each of us could try to understand rather than refute the unknown, could respond to differences with kindness rather than a closed mind, and could choose to allow others to live the way they choose without trying to impose their own viewpoints and beliefs on another’s way of life. The United States of America is meant to be a place where people have the freedom to make their own choices and to build their lives into what they have always dreamed they could be.
Sara SplendorePublished 4 years ago in The SwampPOLITICS
As I wait in line at a polling location during early voting, I look at my granddaughter and wonder what her and her brothers life will be like. Here we are wearing masks because a airborne virus that could of been controlled months ago, but in stead it went viral in every state.
Debra BernatovichPublished 4 years ago in The SwampWhat We Have Here Is A Failure To Communicate
The results of this past election proved once again that the Democrats had a golden opportunity to capitalize on the failings of the Trump Presidency but, fell short of a nation wide mandate. A mandate to seize the gauntlet of the progressive movement that Senator Sanders thru down a little over four years ago. The opportunities were there from the very beginning even before this pandemic struck. In their failing to educate the public of the consequences of continued Congressional gridlock, conservatism, and what National Economic Reform's Ten Articles of Confederation would do led to the results that are playing out today. More Congressional gridlock, more conservatism and more suffering of millions of Americans are the direct consequences of the Democrats failure to communicate and educate the public . Educate the public that a progressive agenda is necessary to pull the United States out of this Pandemic, and restore this nations health and vitality.
Dr. WilliamsPublished 4 years ago in The SwampFrom my desk 6th November 2020
Last week a picture of Nigel Farrage appeared on various social media platforms. Nothing unusual about that as the man thrives on publicity, of any sort. This one picture showed him in Washington DC proudly displaying a betting slip purporting to confirm he had placed $10,000 of his children’s inheritance on Donald Trump to win a second term at odds of 15/8. As I am writing this on Friday evening (6th November 2020) that bet is not looking too good.
Alan RussellPublished 4 years ago in The SwampDo Something With It
Neither Democrats nor Republicans have anything to be proud of this political season in the United States of America (that includes myself). We have all become so partisan and so overwhelmed with the need to be right or be the winner. We know this election will come down to decisions by courts, and nothing we say or do from the sidelines will make any difference now that votes are cast. So how come we are wasting all our energy on this?
Cheryl DuffyPublished 4 years ago in The SwampI Didn't Vote
Yes, you read that right. I did not vote in this election. Honestly, I'm tired of defending myself and my choice to abstain from participating in an institution that is mostly corrupt and does not care about its people. People claim that we live in one of the greatest democracies in the world. But where is that democracy?
Jay CorderoPublished 4 years ago in The SwampAmerican Presidential Election 2020
Donald Trump did not even think so. Will win the election - he was confident. But he did not seem to understand what had happened. He is losing his second term as the first incumbent president since 1992. Through a nuclear disarmament deal with North Korea, the arch-enemy of the United States, through mediation to normalize Middle East relations with Israel, and through a trade war with China, he may have thought he would gain greater support in the country. So he became desperate to win the election. But he may not have known that the coronavirus issue had eaten him to the ground like a worm. He has canceled a historic nuclear deal with Iran signed by former President Barack Obama.
Md Zahirul HaquePublished 4 years ago in The SwampHidden benefits
Although this week is marked by the US election, in Canada we also vote to bring in our government. When I was younger before I could vote, I always used to wonder why everyone seemed to get angry when discussing their vote. Like with everything else in our lives, we have our own opinions. I don't think that anyone can say one party is their exact vision, so we go with what's really important to us and which party holds more of those ideals important as well.
Yvette McDermottPublished 4 years ago in The SwampA Socialist Argument Against Marxist Orthodoxy
For new socialists, Marxism, and its most popular schools of thought; Maoism, strict Bolshevik-Leninist (Trotskyist), and Marxist-Leninist (Stalinist) arguments are among the least accessible, most difficult to understand ideas in socialist and communist thought. This may be why Trotskyists, Stalinists, and other Marxists in general are considered, or perhaps consider themselves, to be the most intelligent, crème de la crème of socialism. Is this perception valid? Largely, this is debatable. The most frustrating aspect of this school of thought for new, young socialists, those just starting out in their socialist thought after leaving neoliberalism, is the inaccessible, ivory tower reputation of orthodox Marxism. Orthodox Marxists of all stripes may view this as an unfair criticism, or an inaccurate analysis, but it pays off to maintain perspective regarding the new socialists, to have an eye for the new “recruits” to socialism, in an effort to grow socialist thought in the United States and elsewhere.
Johnny RingoPublished 4 years ago in The SwampThe American Working Class and the Failure of the Left and Right Wings
America’s working class has had it hard from day one. Ever since the presidency of FDR, and the creation of Social Security, or the so-called “welfare state” to take care of America’s disenfranchised workers (thereby creating what has come to be known as “the middle class”), American workers have struggled to be taken seriously by a political establishment that seems cut off, separate from, and blind to the struggles of working Americans. There seems almost a palpable hostility to the average working American, whether that American is a documented immigrant working hard and raising a family, a working mother holding down two or more jobs to feed her kids, a single father struggling to go to work and take care of a baby in a state with “at will” employment that can fire him at any time, for no reason, or the average nuclear American family, with one or more spouses working full time to keep food on the table, and trying to prevent their house from being foreclosed on.
Johnny RingoPublished 4 years ago in The SwampThe USAPATRIOT and USAFREEDOM Acts
The USAPATRIOT and USAFREEDOM acts, as well as their historical parent legislation such as FISA, Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, and the various Alien and Sedition acts throughout American history, are glaring examples of hostility, distrust, xenophobia, and racism as a matter of public law. To me, it is no different than Jim Crow, or the Dredd Scott 1857 ruling. PATRIOT and FREEDOM are draconian legislation, and an authoritarian’s wet dream. The instituting of PATRIOT into American domestic policy was intended, just like FISA and Order 9066, to give credence to war hysteria, paranoia, and to justify violence. Historically, sources have reported that following 9/11 and the passing of PATRIOT (the fastest legislation ever to be pushed through Congress and enacted as law in centuries), violence against brown-skinned immigrants by American citizens rose somewhere close to 800% when compared to pre-9/11 citizen-on-immigrant violence. A similar rise in violent crimes against ethnic minorities has increased 500% if memory serves, in recent years following the Trump inauguration.
Johnny RingoPublished 4 years ago in The Swamp