ON BOARDING THE TITANIC

Van Jones, community organizer, recently said, "I thought I was on the Amistad and the goal was to free the slaves. Instead I was on the Titanic."

Before the current depression began, more than one billion adults on this planet were unemployed. No jobs existed for these hungry people. Most of them, of course, lived in the Southern Hemisphere--out of sight, out of mind. They won't always be out of sight. They are beginning to act on Sam Kinison's exasperated advice: "Go where the food is!"

The absurd economic and political systems around the world, run by corporate executives, balmy dictators and kings, are crumbling. I take no pleasure in that because I have no idea what is coming next or at what speed, but one prediction seems safe: progressives need to prepare for change.

Hail to the Republicorp

Move-On has an ad out in which a woman from the future attempts to persuade us to vote in a way that will head off the coming "Republicorp," which is the next step in our social evolution. Consider our future pledge of allegiance: "I pledge allegiance to the flag and to the multi-national for which it stands, one corporation, indivisible. . . ."

Anyway, I bring this up to try to clear up a major issue. Many Democrats are critical of Obama for having done so little. Yes, he's edging our troops our of Iraq and he passed a comprehensive but flawed health care bill and he got unemployment benefits extended and he saved General Motors, but there is a long list of jobs he's left unfinished. Why didn't he also do X, Y and Z?

The basic reason Obama did not do X, Y and Z is that he couldn't.

Those of us who think of the President as the most powerful person in America are living in the wrong century. There are probably a hundred corporate CEOs with more power over legislation than Obama has. The President's best hope has been to squeeze through some minor progressive adjustments. One step over that line, and his entire program would have been brought to an end by the Republicorp.

Does this mean that the Democrats are as corrupt as the Republicorp? Not hardly. If the Democrats are the same as the Republicorp, why have the corporations rained hundreds of millions of dollars on the teabagging Republican lackies in an effort to dump Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid?

Share the Wealth

About one billion people on this planet lack jobs. Some of them live in France. The French government's solution? Raise the retirement age two years. No wonder the French are in the streets.

I have a suggestion. Drop the retirement age to 55. Then everyone who wants a job can find one.

Reality Check

Our last three Presidents smoked marijuana (and probably still do), but they advocate prison for today's users. If Clinton, Bush and Obama had been clapped in prison for puffing weed in their youth, none would have become President. But now they are willing to ruin the lives of others.

The hypocrisy is contemptible.

Back in the 1960s, some police officers in Buffalo confiscated a pound of marijuana from a kid and then began to roll joints and light up. "This stuff is good," they explained to a friend of mine, "Too good for hippies."

The federal attorney general has issued a threat to the voters of California: if they pass Proposition 19, legalizing marijuana, the feds will crack down on the state. It's hard to know what to make of this. It might be a ruse designed to enrage California voters and ensure passage of Prop 19. Or, the only real alternative, it might be the same bluff that was tried when medical marijuana went to a vote. You might recall the result of that threat: nada, nothing, nil. We have medical marijuana. Anyone in California who wants dope can get it. No one cares. The feds are quiet. Washington isn't quite stupid enough to make open war on the voters of California.

I intend to vote yes on Proposition 19 and make marijuana legal, safe and taxable.

The Compromised

At the moment I think of the Left as consisting of three factions. The first (and smallest) consists of those who support dictators--many dictator-supporters mean well but have a loose grip on reality.

Moving on quickly, we find a larger group of activists whose heroes are writers. These voters follow Amy Goodman, Molly Ivans, Studs Terkel, Malcolm X, Alice Walker and Howard Zinn. So far, so good. The problem with following writers is that they are ineffective leaders. In the cases of Noam Chomsky and Ralph Nader, they can be worse than ineffective. The writers are insightful, entertaining, informative and well-fed, but they don't get much done. They don't know how. They don't hold office; They can't get elected.

The largest group of voters on the Left takes its inspiration from pragmatic leaders who actually lower themselves to participate in making hard decisions: Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, FDR, Hillary Clinton, the Obamas, Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer. These leaders master the skills needed to run for public office and the skills needed to govern and work for progressive goals. They really get real laws passed. Real laws, of course, are compromises. Effective office holders are always compromised. Even Lynn Woolsey compromises--and gets denounced by vocal parts of the Left.

Prop 23

Proposition 23 is an effort by oil companies to roll back a law that limits greenshouse gas emissions. Giant multinational oil corporations make the usual Republican claim, which is that limiting greenhouse gas emissions is anti-business and will cost California jobs.

Multinational corporations could not care less about jobs in California. In fact, a war on greenhouse gas emissions will create jobs in the clean technology industry.

What is of more interest are the greed-driven people who run these oil corporations. They are enormously rich but unsatisfied: they want to own everything that exists. They want to own your house and rent you the shoes on your feet. If it's needed to reach their goal, they are quite willing to make the planet uninhabitable for humans, including themselves. Oil Corporations are staffed by the insane.

I guess I will vote no on Proposition 23.

Is Obama a Human Being?

According to about 24% of GOP voters, President Obama is not a human being. He is, instead, the Anti-Christ.

What GOP insanity calls to my mind is that we are one month away from an election that might put the Tea Party in control of Congress. Yet some on the Left are attacking the Democrats. They have reasons, and they have the right to tell us that it makes no difference if Gore or Bush/Cheney becomes President or if the Insane Party or the Democrats chair key committees in Congress.

Maybe because I grew in a working class family, I vote more pragmatically. I sort out the two or three candidates who have a chance to win, and then I vote for the one who will do the least harm. In 2000, for example, I saw that either Gore or Bush would be the next President. I asked myself which one was more apt to kill ordinary people in bunches? Which one will more strongly support Social Security?

American elections are about how much pain will be inflicted on real people, the poor, the middle class, the defenseless around the world. Make your choices.