Disclaimer.
You may notice that this entry speaks critically against the corruption of the Democrats and Hillary Clinton not so much with Republicans who are guilty of the same.
The purpose of this post (and my blog in general) is to speak up on truths that are unpopular or inconvenient.
Most rational human beings with even some semblance of a moral compass understand that the Republican party is a nightmare for the poor, the sick, for women, children and minorities. Most understand that Republicans are the architects of the offensive and dangerous crony capitalism that is destroying our economy and our planet.
Republicans; I don’t endorse you now or ever. Your policies are a horror.
But it’s time that the Democrats “get this work”
(Loaded Lux anyone?? No.. ok.. I’ll move on…. )
-I dedicate this entry to the spirit strength and courage of Harriet Tubman.
A woman who was faced with the ultimate lose-lose situation-
to face slavery or be killed trying to escape.
She instead accepted neither fate;
Teaching me that you don’t ever have to choose the lesser of 2 evils-
Conscience:
“the part of the mind that makes you aware of your actions as being either morally right or wrong”
To talk about consciousness, we are essentially talking of moral values and passions.
What’s important to you?
When you quiet the outside noise and examine the rhythm in your heart,
for what and for whom is it beating for?
For me, the words justice, peace and love are at the center of my conscience.
The ones who mean the most to me are those on our planet who are being intentionally excluded from being able to share in the wealth and prosperity of this nation either because their race, gender or bank accounts have been deemed unworthy by the corporate elite and politically corrupt.
This is why I can’t support Hillary Clinton
I’m from the south side of Chicago.
The parts that most would call undesirable.
I feel incredibly blessed and yes, THANKFUL that I have lived on the margins of systemic poverty and under the weight of a cold, system of unchecked, immoral American capitalism.
It is because of my blue collar upbringing that I have the level of empathy, love and perspective that I have for disenfranchised people all over the world.
The poor. The sick. The hungry. The vulnerable. The abused,. The abandoned.
They aren’t just some pet causes that I need to watch Rachel Maddow or John Oliver in order feel connected to.
These are literally my friends, neighbors and family.
They are me and I am them.
I live with the effects of Republican hatred and Democratic greed everyday.
Which is why I could never EVER vote for Hillary Clinton.
Even when staring down the barrel of Trump’s gun.
When you know better , you do better. And I know know better than to continue to fall in line with a corrupted Democratic party that continues to hide behind the fact that they are not as obviously ill-intended as their Republican counterparts.
What’s troubling about our current political state of affairs is the continued attempt by politicians and and news media to make us increasingly numb to corruption.
Whether it’s Mrs. Clinton taking $200,000 per speech for Wall Street Banks or Hillary’s many capitulations on environmental issues in way that appeases her wealthy donors, Democratic voters seem to be more comfortable with many of the things that they would rightfully excoriate Republicans for. They are becoming voters against their own self-intrest much in the way poor and middle class Republican voters have been since he years of Reaganomics.
Many Democrats have acted as if we have to accept and ignore Mrs. Clinton’s frightening comfort with war, imperialism and corporate influenced government because if we don’t, then Donald Trump will ruin us all.
But this kind of intellectual laziness is part of the reason why we are still stuck to a very broken, 2 party system.
This laziness makes it easier for folks to feel empowered by condemning an OBVIOUS danger like Trump & the Republican party
than it is for them to wrap their minds around the fact that Democrats are also responsible for the protection f the greedy to the detriment of the needy.
If you can vote for Hillary Clinton and have no moral conflict, good for you.
Even though I have no desire to be as disillusioned as you are to waste my vote on war-hungry, anti-environment multi millionaire who uses her political power to sell access to the highest bidder- on some level, I greatly envy you.
I envy your ability to either look outside of your window and not see the results of a country in which Republicans AND Democrats treat you as if you don’t matter.
I wish I could live in your world.
I’m envious of your neighborhoods that apparently haven’t been neglected by Republicans and Democrats who cut education and health-care infrastructure in order to increase profit margins and continue to privatize an already unbalanced system.
I envy your ability to ability to go to a bank, apply for a loan and not have to worry about facing discrimination based on race, which then makes it less likely for you to generate meaningful wealth for you and future generations.
I’m jealous of your ability to look into your wallet and not be on the brink of financial ruin due to the economic policies that Hillary and others have supported. Our country is driving more into poverty while the powerful establish more of an oligarchy.
I know that many Clinton supporters and in News media like to whitewash all anti-Hillary progressives as being mostly white, Bernie-Bro , millennial, wanna-be hippies who whine about corruption from a cozy 2 bedroom in Williamsburg.
But I am not white. I’m not wealthy or even middle class.
I am certainly not living in some spoiled, gentrified, hipster utopia with fro-yo and fair trade coffee shops on every corner.
I’m a Black American, from the segregated South Side of Chicago.
And despite occasionally finding good paying work as an artist, my family is still trapped in poverty. We are apart of the working poor- which in reality means you’re just one or two unforeseen circumstances away from homelesness.
I also have a brain, political awareness and critical thinking skills.
So I can’t be swayed when someone tries to persuade me to vote for one socio-economic disaster over another.
Attempting to shame myself and others into deciding between Trump or Clinton on the basis of the “lesser of two evils” argument
is like those twisted games of “would you rather” that many kids play in highschoool.
“Would you rather eat a 2 month old piece of lunch meat off the cafeteria floor or make out with the 80 year old art teacher?”
Asking someone to be comfortable with choosing between the lesser of two evils is like asking them to be comfortable with choosing which way they’d prefer to die and
instead of working with them to figure out better ways to live, you instead just insist that death is inevitable so “deal with it”.
My voting conscious should not be baited using the same “you gotta pick one”
logic that we expect out of high school children.
It has been disappointing to say the least to see so many become apologists for Democratic corruption by juxtaposing it with Republican anarchy.
We can in fact stand up to both if we choose to have the courage and will to do so.
I come from the blessed social justice traditions of Harriet Tubman, Nat Turner, Dr. King, Malcolm X, Huey Newton, Muhammad Ali, Harry Belafonte, Cornel West, Michele Alexander and many others who were and are committed to using truth as a vehicle for equality, no matter how inconvenient those truths were.
These visionaries were courageous enough to not passively accept corruption, racism and greed as inevitable. They were not comfortable with simply choosing a lesser evil.
When Harriet Tubman was planning to help slaves escape to freedom, I’m sure she had doubters who tried to discourage her.
Her only options seemed to be either rot in the horror of slavery or face certain death by attempting to escape. Thankfully, this bold woman looked them in the eyes and chose neither. She helped to free over 70 friends and family members.
It’s because of the courageous of people like Harriet Tubman that I don’t tolerate folks telling the disenfranchised what can’t be done.
I don’t like swearing when I type, but please spare me this weak bullshit about how “no-one is perfect”, all politicians have some dirt on them and any other attempts to justify how I should be ok with Hillary’s corruption because of the Trump alternative.
Even more frustrating, I’m sick to death of Democrats who are cloaked in the comforts of empty, feel-good symbolism- tell progressive social justice adovcates like myself who are actually LIVING with the day to day realties of economic apartheid and injustice- that Hillary isn’t just better than Trump by default, but that she is actually a friend of the down pressed and the vulnerable. BULL!
Colin Kaepernick is right. When you choose between the lesser of two evils, you’re still left with evil.
Yes. Trump is a force of frightening evil.
But you know what else is evil?
Hillary Clinton willingly accepting the hard saved dollars of poor and middle class voters who believe that she will save them from the greed of Wall Street banks and other powerful companies
while privately met with the big banks and assures the banks not to be alarmed by promises she makes to voters publicly.
You need a public position and a private position.
That’s evil
You know what’s evil?
Claiming to be a candidate for the oppressed but intentionally remaining silent as we witness a modern day trail of tears in Standing Rock.
While our Native brothers and sisters are fighting energy companies for their land and their dignity, Hillary has strategically stayed out of it because she knows that she is on the side of the oppressors and not the oppressed.
You know what’s evil?
Hillary’s knowing the fragile state that our global environment is in but then openly celebrating the fact that she has promoted fracking around the world.
That’s evil.
You know what’s evil?
Claiming to be on the side of women while opposing raises to the minimum wage and other social tools that would greatly improve the lives of so many hard working women (especially single mothers) around the country.
Many Clinton supporters ask voters to imagine a world where Donald Trump would have the nuclear codes.
That’s a very grim thought.
But evil is a woman who voted for the Iraq war and then 10 years later as Secretary of State, said that America should look at the instability in Iraq as a great business opportunity.
Need I remind you all that hundreds of thousands of people have lost their lives due to our intervention in Iraq.
But Hillary is like Rihanna.
“All I see is is dollar signs”.
If you’re endorsing Hillary simply because Trump is so vile, unqualified and unaware, I have absolutely no problems with that. Trump should not be President.
But if you are willing to lie about Hillary Clinton’s record of lying and multiple conflicts of interest, then that either means that you will be well off in spite of Hillary’s corruption
or you are comfortable with corruption itself.
For me and many people like me, we can’t afford either of the horrible choices of the 2 party system. Our children, our elderly, our sick, our disenfranchised and our environment can no longer accept business as usual.
Lesser or greater; evil is NEVER an option.
the conscience cloud 