On Voting

I turned 21 and thus became eligible to vote in November 1967. The first presidential election I could vote in was in 1968. I honestly don't recall how I voted that year. I had just begun graduate school in UC Berkeley, and I was very active in SDS and the issues of the day. In 1972, I voted for George McGovern, though I wrote a letter to the New York Guardian explaining why I was opposed to endorsing McGovern (it's in my FBI file). In 1976, I voted for Jimmy Carter who started out sounding and acting progressive, but by 1979, it was clear that he had shifted sharply to the right, especially about Israel. He was the last Democratic presidential candidate that I voted for. In ensuing elections, I voted for candidates like Jesse Jackson, Ralph Nader, and Jill Stein. I voted for Peace and Freedom candidates and later for Green candidates.

My approach to voting is strongly influenced by some important writings by Lenin, in which he said that the main function of elections in capitalist countries is to assess the political consciousness of the working class. If they vote for their class enemies, as most do in the USA, they are politically backward. If they have their own parties and their own candidates and vote for them, they are more conscious. Still, there is no expectation that elections can challenge the fundamental inequities built into capitalist society. The best we can hope for are some temporary reforms.

For these reasons, I always vote and encourage others to vote for candidates we can support, candidates who reflect our views and represent them. I do sometimes vote for Democratic candidates. I voted for Ron Dellums and his successor, Barbara Lee, though I did not vote for her in 2014 when she voted for more arms for Israel while the Israelis were again committing genocide in Gaza. I also strongly opposed her vote in 2008 for the financial bailout, but I probably will vote for her again in 2016. I never voted for Dianne Feinstein, though I did vote for Barbara Boxer and will likely vote for Kamila Harris this year. I make those decisions based on what I know of the candidates and their records. In presidential elections, I see the failure to desert the Democratic Party when it puts forth unacceptable candidates and platforms as an impediment to building a genuine movement to challenge the self-destructive system that runs the USA and the world. Every four years, fear mongers denounce me for not voting against the Republican menace. In their hysteria, they paint my Green vote as being a vote for the Republican candidate, which is a strange form of mathematics that no mathematician could parse. I see their argument basically saying that because millions of Americans are too politically backward to vote for their interests outside of the Democratic Party, therefore I must join my backward friends in voting for the Democratic candidate.

To me, that is totally illogical. It makes no sense. I refuse to be manipulated into voting from fear, into voting for a candidate I despise to stop one I am told to despise more. In my view, this approach to politics makes the USA the most politically backward country in the world, and I refuse to join my well-meaning friends in wallowing in that backwardness.

Attempts to Muzzle BDS Are Essentially Fascist in Nature

I doubt that most people understand the pernicious nature of the Israeli-instigated assault on the BDS movement. It is certainly legitimate for people to disagree on whether boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel is something they support, but the actions of New York Governor Cuomo (with other states threatening to follow) and, perhaps, language in the Democratic Party platform, are explicitly fascist in nature because they try to control what people think and how we exercise our democratic rights. I am not exaggerating. If you have any concern for civil and democratic rights, you need to investigate these dangerous trends and take a stand. Supporters of Israel are unable to defend the apartheid state with rational arguments so they are resorting to very heavy-handed and openly fascist tactics to suppress dissent. That cannot be tolerated.

The European Union's "New Clothes"

In all the discussions I have so far seen on the Brexit vote, there is something obvious missing. Why have we seen no thoughts on whether there is something wrong with the European Union and what might be done to change it, to make it more democratic, more responsive to the needs of most people, less dominated by the wealthy and powerful corporations, and so forth? Perhaps austerity needs to be imposed at the top of the economies instead of at the bottom. It seems obvious to me that these are legitimate concerns of British voters, even though leaving the EU per se does not directly address them. It is also clear to me that these are essentially the same issues raised by the malicious TPP, TTIP, and similar "trade" treaties, which surrender control over our governments and our lives to corporations. These are also the issues raised by the Sanders campaign and likely the issues, however distorted and malformed, that motivate support for Trump. It's obvious that the EU is dysfunctional if we look at its inept and heavy-handed handling of the Greek crisis and similar crises in the wings to erupt. Rather than rail at British voters, perhaps the economic and political underpinnings of the current global economic system are what need to be examined and radically transformed. Is the emperor, indeed, wearing any clothes?