Recently a few people have blamed Obama for his lack of leadership and ability of breaking short lived promises. Critics mostly point financial and health care issues as a result of his political failure. Truth is the Bailout of 08, was a mixture of wild capitalism, corporate decision makers, and no government regulations. Thanks to the pressure of some Lobbyist, the Glass Stiegel Act bill, signed by Bush allowed, an early century law during the 30’s depression, to come alive and allow markets to regulate themselves. But the idea comes back to the Reagan era. It could be argued that both republicans and democrats are in fault of the financial problems the U.S. is currently experiencing.
The question is: Does it really matter whether Mitt Romney, Barack Obama, Ron Paul, are elected and would it really change anything?
Protesilaos Stavrou.
“While the idiosyncrasy and political agenda of a president is always important in shaping decisions; these alone will not have a major impact under normal conditions. Even if we assume that the congress does not stand as a stumbling block to every effort of reform; we will have to face a multi-faceted and greatly complex financial system, which goes beyond the standard understanding of capitalism, whether regulated or not.
The complex, interweaving web of causes that has allowed the aggrandizement of banks, is not just insufficient or bad regulation; but rather the very relations between the financial elite and the state apparatus. Banks are enjoying a near-symbiotic relationship with the state, meaning that they defy the rules of standard capitalism. A thoroughgoing reformation of the financial system is necessary, one that will put an abrupt end to the collusion between the government and the financial elite, through a mixture of new regulations and a withdrawal of privileges”
Claude Nougat.
“I think it will make a huge difference whether Obama or Romney are elected – Romney represents (and is himself) Big Money, in short the One Percent, and the Republican platform is clear: it is anti-government and anti-tax. Nobody knows how the government budget will ever be balanced once the super-rich stop paying taxes (they already are paying very little since Bush junior’s days – less than anywhere else in the developed world). This is a fundamental issue Romney does not address and cannot address.
Majia Nadesan.
“Widespread corruption in finance might be tackled by Paul given his desire to audit the Federal Reserve Bank, as well as the endless expansion of US wars abroad and domestic surveillance at home. However, moneyed interests representing finance and the military-surveillance-
My biggest concern with Paul is his laissez-faire approach to environmental protection. Furthermore, he supports nuclear energy, which is a genocidal boondoggle that couldn’t exist without extensive government and taxpayer subsidies. So, I don’t see any of these candidates as capable of true reform of a vastly corrupted system.”
Ronald Bleier.
“I suspect it would be difficult to find a similar example in American history where both major party contenders are so clearly the wrong people for the job and are sure to exacerbate the coming crises.
Robert Steele.
“To keep all this in perspective, I believe we have to acknowledge that the Reagan Administration began the one trillion a year borrowing, and Newt Gingrich destroyed the bi-partisan nature of Congress as a separate branch. I was a Republican and even a Reagan nominee for Deputy Assistant Secretary of State position, so I am not a Democrat trying to blame the Republicans.
Where I believe all progressives are making a HUGE mistake is in sticking with the Democratic Party as the lesser of two evils. BOTH parties are evil, and we DO have an alternative course of action as I outline in my presentation below, delivered to the Hackers on Planet Earth in NYC on 13 July.
I feel very helpless right now. I know exactly how to get this country back on track, see We the People Reform Coalition, but I cannot reach the 100 million people that need to contribute $10 each to kick the two-party tyranny out of office in time for November 2012.”
Steele's original complete response
I ran for President for six weeks, accepted by the Reform Party, listed at Politics1, interviewed for On the Issues. I ran for two
reasons: 1) to get all the good ideas in one place, We the People Reform Coalition (http://bigbatusa.org), if this way setting the gold
standard for what a presidential campaign with both intelligence and integrity would look like. The other reason was to be able to write
and/or meet all the other presidential candidates less Obama and Romney. I did, and I found them all wanting. My public report
briefing to Hackers on Planet Earth and soon to be on YouTube can be seen at this URL: http://tinyurl.com/PBI-HOPE-
Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich are not being completely honest with us. Ron Paul is very wealthy and not really interested in breaking up the Republican Party. He was bought off long ago with his own District. Dennis Kucinich has served his purpose and been fired by the
Democrats, losing his District, but totally unresponsive to my written plea that he come back fighting and lead the Electoral Reform Summit. The others are all lacking — from deer in the headlights to one trick ponies to huge egos witless of collective intelligence, the automated payment transaction tax or other innovations able to restore the integrity of the electoral process.
My briefing to Hackers on Planet Earth clearly outlines my views on what we should all be doing in September. I failed to connect with
Occupy, and they have blown their November 2011 capital and been sidelined and scattered. As I note in the brief, the Bloomberg circus
marches on (NO LABELS, Americans Elect, and IndependentVoting.org), It could be “turned” to good use, but only if Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich, Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney, and the presidential candidates of the four legitimate but disenfranched small parties (Constitution, Green, Libertarian, Reform) come together to implement the ideas in my briefing and at We the People Reform Coalition.
I am not holding my breath, but I am as positive as I could be that 2012 can be rescued by concerted action. Imagine 100 million voters
giving $5 each to a Democracy Now fund. My frustration is strong — every do-gooder outfit in the USA, without exception, lacks both
intelligence and integrity — they are all focused on their tiny little hand-outs, all trying to keep the two-party tyranny alive
because they know how to beg at that table. We need a complete break from federal hand-outs to non-profits, and we need for MoveOn and
MeetUp and all othes to get serious about substance in a holistic sense….public intelligence in the public interest. That is why I founded Earth Intelligence Network, a 501c3, it went silent when I lost everything in 2008, but I am bringing it back up now, and I personally am most interested in any possible means of getting me all over the country to rouse the masses to a unified victory over the
two-party tyranny.
Absent such a victory, we are looking at four more years of looting, crisis, and more and more of these terrible acts of violence such as
occurred in the theater–it's called cognitive dissonance. There's even a book about it, Rage of the Random Actor (I also recommen
Harvest Of Rage: Why Oklahoma City Is Only The Beginning). As I have stated and written (ELECTION 2008: Lipstick on the Pig), and as others have written (Running on Empty: How the Democratic and Republican Parties Are Bankrupting Our Future and What Americans Can Do About It; also Grand Illusion: The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny, and my personal favorite, Matt Taibbi's Griftopia: A Story of Bankers, Politicians, and the Most Audacious Power Grab in American History), we now have a Congress of crooks and misfits; there is nothing wrong with America the Beautiful that cannot be fixed by an electoral reform summit that flushes the present congress down the toilet and either achieves electoral reform, or changes Congress to a form of jury duty, average americans chosen by lot, one term and out, no staff, all hearings open, all legislation posted for the collective before it can be passed.
Where I believe all progressives are making a HUGE mistake is in sticking with the Democratic Party as the lesser of two evils. BOTH parties are evil, and we DO have an alternative course of action as I outline in my presentation below, delivered to the Hackers on Planet Earth in NYC on 13 July.
I feel very helpless right now. I know exactly how to get this country back on track, see We the People Reform Coalition, but I cannot reach the 100 million people that need to contribute $10 each to kick the two party tyranny out of office in time for November 2012.