Reply #36: I agree with you, but...

[Kutjara]

...my primary goal at the moment is to prevent another Republican from sitting in the Oval Office. Sort of like the basic first aid I learned in school: first stop the bleeding, then check for broken bones and internal injuries. At the moment, this country is hemorrhaging from the throat, so it seems urgent to me that we remove from the scene the party that inflicted the wound in the first place.

I would dearly love to see a truly progressive (hell, a truly socialist) candidate win the election. The closest I got this time around was Kucinich, but he got elbowed out of the picture pretty quickly. Now we're inevitably left with the usual choice of Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dum. Not a hair's-worth of difference between them. Latest in a long line of corporate shills and television hand models. Bought and paid-for. Yet still infinitely better than the murderous alternative on the other side.

I don't think Obama or Clinton will usher in any kind of golden age. They'll probably spend most of their presidency just trying to patch up the stuff Shrub & Co. broke. If they're lucky, they'll get things back to where they were in January 2001. I hold up little hope of even that. But at least they won't be doing any MORE damage. In this century, that's about the most we can expect.

Even so, independent (or "green" or whatever) candidates like Nader don't improve the picture. They just give the disaffected somewhere to dump their vote so they can feel better. Nader has absolutely no chance. This is his fifth time as the Pity Party candidate. If anything, he's just another manifestation of the illusion of democracy in America. "Look. Anyone can run for President if they want to!"

Short of revolution, I can't see how any of this will change. Corporations will still be in control, politicians will still be their lapdogs. The people will still be apathetic as long as they can supersize their Happy Meals and watch American Idol.