I am so tired of the primaries.

[alarimer]

I can't even go into GDP without wanting to hurl. The nastiness is so bad on both sides. I've long said that I am sitting this election out. I still think I will do that. Mostly because I no longer give a rat's ass about politics. And I live in Texas, where my vote doesn't really count anyway. But I'm too worried about my own life to give a crap, to be perfectly honest about it.

But, essentially, I have given up on the Democratic Party entirely. A party of centrists and spineless weasels is not for me any longer. So I guess I call myself an independent. In any case I only plan on voting for true progressives from here on out. None of the candidates are. They are all corporate shills, bought and paid for buy Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Military-Industrial Complex. Most of Congress owns stock in some of the very corporations profiting from this bullshit war, so how do we expect them to stop it, when they personally profit from it? And it's not just Republicans either.

Do you honestly think these clowns running for President are going to actually change anything? Give me a break. They've taken too much money from corporate lobbyists. Obama is not the second coming, folks. He's a snake oil salesman. Well, he's a politician so by definition he is a snake oil salesman. Let me be clear- I think Clinton and McCain are also snake oil salesmen (salespersons? whatever). And it's quite clear to me, that racists and sexists still are the majority in this country, judging from many of the comments on here and from interviews with voters following recent primaries, as well as the people I encounter every day. The jokes alone are enough to convince me that we are, in fact, going backwards. And as times get worse, minorities and women will take it on the chin once again.

I will be one of those losing my job if gas prices continue to climb. State agency budgets do not allow for huge increases in the price of gas. Many of our programs depend on the use of trucks and boats, which use a lot of gasoline. I can't imagine we will get through this without any RIFs. I am almost 40 years old and I am terrified for the future. If I lose my job, I face age discrimination in getting another, probably not as much as if I were 10 years older but it still exists. So my future is in doubt, as is everyone's. I honestly do not think any election is going to help any of us. None of the candidates is talking about doing anything about putting a check on the rampant speculation that is driving up prices. No, all we get is that free market bullshit.
Well the free market is hurting us all right now.

[Ilsa]

1. Hi alarimer! Please don't give up yet.

I'm in Texas also, and I think we are starting to see some results from the work we've done over the last ten years. Yes, as long as there is money, there will still be corruption, but I do believe we can make a big difference overall.

Most of my friends are older than me, and I am about ten years older than you. Yes, they have seen age discrimination when looking for another job, but have managed by keeping their skills up.

I wish there was more I could offer you other than an encouraging word. Stay here at DU, and hang in there, okay?

[alarimer]

2. Thanks.

That rant has been milling around in my head for some time. I think it just needed to escape.

But I am seriously more worried about gas and food prices and the state of the economy that I am about the Presidential election. I guess Obama will probably win, which won't be so bad I guess. I just don't think it will do a bit of good if he does.

Certainly there are a lot of local races that might go well for us, here in Texas and elsewhere. I will vote in the down-ticket races, that's for sure. Oh, probably I'll vote for Obama, if unenthusiastically.

[bdamomma]

6. just vote.

[Ilsa]

7. Oh, you are very welcome. DU is a great place to come vent

about almost anything, including loss of faith in the candidates, the process, even life in general.

I think you are very acutely aware of what we could be facing. I think all DUers are worried about the aforementioned. And many are worried to varying because of how it affects others and the economy at large. Even highly paid airline pilots could end up worried about their livelihood if the market falls apart. And most are worried about those at risk, including yourself, even if we don't know your particular details of risk.

It sounds like you are working on your plan for what may be our reality soon. Stay focused on the planning and what you can control. That's how I am handling it for now. There is also a Frugal Living forum for some ideas. I think someone proposed a new DU group for job seekers.

I'm voting for Obama, also, but I haven't been out working for anyone. None of them inspire me except McCain (to vote for Obama or whomever the Democratic nominee is).

[Warpy]

3. Consider the election of 1932. The GOP had held all 3 branches

of government long enough to do exactly what they've done now: rob the working and middle classes to fatten the rich and generally send the whole economy into a tailspin by concentrating debt at the bottom as a substitute for fair wages.

The Democrats offered a rich man's heir, a solid centrist, establishment type who didn't look like he'd do a damned thing to change the GOP economy that was destroying so many good people across the country.

Franklin Roosevelt was that man and he surprised everybody by putting together a solidly liberal program that scraped the obscene wealth off the top and recirculated it at the bottom in the form of public works wages, putting money into pockets and creating demand for the goods and services that would create the longest sustained boom this country has ever seen.

It's been argued that he did only enough to stave off a socialist revolution, but what he actually did was create a mixed economy that represented the best deal working people in this country ever had. He created an economy that surprised everyone, an economy that didn't favor his own class.

In other words, an establishment, centrist Democrat has the capacity to surprise us. We know what we're going to get with the GOP, more of the same shopworn economics that always leads to economic feudalism and then depression.

[alarimer]

5. Yes, I am willing to allow that Obama could surprise us

But I don't think the times would allow for another FDR. Everything is all focus-grouped an polled to death. Politicians can't pick a cereal for breakfast without taking a poll these days. And then of course there are Republican dirty tricks. I am skeptical of Obama's desire to work with them. Sooner or later we will get bitten. Of course if the Democrats have a larger majority, it may be much easier to "work" with them.

[backscatter712]

12. Obama's a good man.

Sure I don't agree with him on everything, but he's certainly not one of the corporate elites - he started out at the bottom as a community organizer and earned his way up into Congress and into the Democratic Presidential nomination. He only recently became wealthy, mostly because of earnings from The Audacity of Hope, and up until a couple years ago, lived in a modest townhome.

I firmly believe he's the guy who will genuinely fight for us. Not a perfect man - we still need to convince him on some issues, but he's not one of the sociopathic bastards who've been robbing us blind for the past decades.

[Warpy]

13. Roosevelt had to steamroll them and so will Obama

if he is elected. I doubt he'll be as compliant as Carter was. He seems like he'll notice the daggers in his back far sooner than Carter did.

The only way to deal with the GOP is to throw them out and keep them out until the economy is starting to work, just rolling right over the few who are always there and complaining about how mean Democrats are and never remembering just what their party has done to us.

[madinmaryland]

4. You might want to check this out...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6086915

:hi:

[KharmaTrain]

8. The Real World Is Dealing With Real Problems

I feel like its a luxuary these days to watch the political bloodsport circuses on the tube and pay any heed to the residual fight by Team Clinton. My primary was 4 months ago and I've moved onto November...so have many other people...and our focus is on a far bigger picture than the vanity bloodsport the primary turned into.

Looking only at the Democratic party as being whose at the top of the ticket is both unfair and self-defeating. The problem in the beltway has been a culture that had made lobbying the only way things is done. To condemn the problem as systemic short-changes a whole generation of new candidates that have come along and work against the ultimate goals many of us are working for out here...and that is to develop a more grassroots and "people-powered" party. In many ways we're developing our own lobby...one where progressive and liberal causes can be given a fair hearing and using our votes, donations and energy as our quid pro quo.

In the short-term, we're all eating a shit sandwich and will continue to do so. All these years of corruption and stagnation can't ge swept away with a magic wand...especially when you still have thieves in control of the most powerful levers of government. As we've seen, quick fixes only lead to bigger troubles down the road. But change can't come when people opt out and blame the world around them. It's this mindset that allowed Repugnicans to gain power from the 80's until just recently...apathy has been their greatest ally.

[Ilsa]

9. Just a reminder that it DOES Matter who runs the Executive branch:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3330928&mesg_id=3330928

I'm tired of the primaries also.

[UTUSN]

10. Tell me about it!1 HALF of this year is almost over & we've been obsessing about these MANUFACTURED

events, raging at our own comrades, and otherwise not-getting-this-time back!1

[Johonny]

11. seems to me I heard this crap before

This was the kind of crap I heard during Gore-Bush. Oh they are the same type of person. Thier policies aren't really that different. Neither would significantly change the course of the country set by Clinton. Boy in 8 years did Bush certainly change things. I have enough data points in my lifetime to know the President of the United States can significantly effect my life quickly and dramatically. I have no reason to doubt with all the troubles currently facing my nation the next president will do so again.