Op-Ed
From what I can make of the presidential election campaign, there are differences and also disturbing similarities in the respective policies of Obama and Romney. In the end, I choose Obama over Romney as, in Phyllis Bennis' words, the "least worst option."
As Election Day 2012 approaches, I find myself haunted by memories of Election Day 2004, November 2. At that time I was volunteering with George Soros’ organization, America Coming Together. I was working with a lot of people from outside Ohio. There was a woman from California, others from the eastern seaboard and even a man who had been living in France for a number of years had come to help turn the tide of the election in Columbus in the bellwether State of Ohio. Early in the evening, about a half-hour before the polls closed, three of us were driving up and down Cleveland Avenue in the Linden area of Columbus, to see what was really happening or on some unremembered errand. It was raining, cold, and the dark streets glistened bleakly in the rain. Our hopes were at first buoyed and then quickly erased as the radio reported first a hopeful indication of a Kerry victory based on exit polls and then, in less than a half an hour, a Kerry defeat was abruptly announced based on the “actual” results.
“I have no secret plan for peace. I have a public plan.”
I listen to these words with fresh awe, 40 years later. They pierce the soul. Once upon a time, presidential politics was this open, this responsive to moral concerns. The speaker, of course, was George McGovern. The words, delivered during the Democratic National Convention in 1972 — and the campaign that followed — represent the political high-water mark of the social change movements of the 1960s.
“And as one whose heart has ached for the past ten years over the agony of Vietnam, I will halt a senseless bombing of Indochina on Inaugural Day.”
George McGovern’s death this week at age 90 is a stunning wakeup call — in the middle of an intolerably narrow, superficial presidential campaign, in which such compelling issues as war, peace and climate change are off the table, “the lesser of two evils” is the best choice voters have and almost everyone accepts this choice as the best democracy has to offer. It’s been 40 years since progressives have stood at the threshold of national political change.
I listen to these words with fresh awe, 40 years later. They pierce the soul. Once upon a time, presidential politics was this open, this responsive to moral concerns. The speaker, of course, was George McGovern. The words, delivered during the Democratic National Convention in 1972 — and the campaign that followed — represent the political high-water mark of the social change movements of the 1960s.
“And as one whose heart has ached for the past ten years over the agony of Vietnam, I will halt a senseless bombing of Indochina on Inaugural Day.”
George McGovern’s death this week at age 90 is a stunning wakeup call — in the middle of an intolerably narrow, superficial presidential campaign, in which such compelling issues as war, peace and climate change are off the table, “the lesser of two evils” is the best choice voters have and almost everyone accepts this choice as the best democracy has to offer. It’s been 40 years since progressives have stood at the threshold of national political change.
When I was a philosophy grad student in the ancient times at the U. of Virginia, some over-smart logician pointed out to me that voting is not rational, since a single vote is never decisive. It's all the other stuff that's rational: appearing to have voted, applying a sticker to your bumper, registering voters, making phone calls -- because all of that stuff has the potential to spread sufficiently to make a difference in the election, or perhaps in a future election or in other forms of civic engagement.
But, of course, unlike the model "persons" in philosophical or economic mental experiments, actual people tend not to be sociopaths. Pretending to vote without voting is far more work than actually voting, which -- while it may be irrational -- does no harm. And so, good citizens tend to vote even understanding its irrationality, and even when there are no candidates worth voting for.
But, of course, unlike the model "persons" in philosophical or economic mental experiments, actual people tend not to be sociopaths. Pretending to vote without voting is far more work than actually voting, which -- while it may be irrational -- does no harm. And so, good citizens tend to vote even understanding its irrationality, and even when there are no candidates worth voting for.
Representation on behalf of the five Lucasville defendants condemned to death has been frustrated by the prosecution’s unwillingness to turn over to lawyers for the defense the records of its own interviews with potential witnesses. Finally, during the winter of 2011-2012, lawyers for four of the five capital defendants won the right to see summaries and transcripts of investigators’ interviews (for the most part conducted by officers of the Ohio State Highway Patrol) with Lucasville prisoners. The labor of collecting and evaluating this material has barely begun.
What this, and the several following essays, will report is what can be concluded at this time as to each of the ten murders and the case against each of the five capital defendants.
The Death Squad
All the murders during the eleven days were horrific, inasmuch as they were to some degree premeditated, and were carried out against unarmed and helpless victims.
What this, and the several following essays, will report is what can be concluded at this time as to each of the ten murders and the case against each of the five capital defendants.
The Death Squad
All the murders during the eleven days were horrific, inasmuch as they were to some degree premeditated, and were carried out against unarmed and helpless victims.
Ever notice the way certain basic human values quietly transform into their opposite on their way to becoming national policy?
At the human level, the immorality of murder is fundamental, and most people understand the insanity of armed hatred. Keeping these dark forces under wraps is essential to the existence of human society. So why is it, then, that at the abstract level of nationalism, those forces are honored, worshiped, saluted, extolled as glorious, and given command of an enormous budget?
Why is it that their perpetuation via increasingly sophisticated technology is equated with national security and no one talks about the completely predictable negative consequences of basing security on murder and hatred?
And why does it feel so naïve to be asking such questions?
At the human level, the immorality of murder is fundamental, and most people understand the insanity of armed hatred. Keeping these dark forces under wraps is essential to the existence of human society. So why is it, then, that at the abstract level of nationalism, those forces are honored, worshiped, saluted, extolled as glorious, and given command of an enormous budget?
Why is it that their perpetuation via increasingly sophisticated technology is equated with national security and no one talks about the completely predictable negative consequences of basing security on murder and hatred?
And why does it feel so naïve to be asking such questions?
As a young woman, I think that the Birth Control Mandate is a crucial part of the Affordable Care Act. It is so important that women have the opportunity to access birth control without having to pay additional out of pocket costs. Every woman deserves the right to decide if/when she wants to get pregnant; it is not fair to have to make a choice between buying books for class, and gas for your car or birth control. This is the case for many women who rely on Planned Parenthood’s health care services; this mandate will save women up to 600 dollars a year in co-pays. The Affordable Care Act is also beneficial because it eliminates any out of pocket costs for preventative care such as cancer screenings, and screenings for diabetes and high blood pressure. Planned Parenthood has been providing healthcare services to women for over 90 years and will be here for newly insured women who want quality healthcare from providers they can trust.
Acacia Cook
Acacia Cook
The working class and people lost a great leader, activist, fighter for justice and equality this past week when 94 year old GEORGE EDWARDS died. While his accomplishments were many, significant and will have positive influence on our lives for generations, what those who knew George will remember most was his all abiding humanity. While a lifelong champion of worker’s rights, civil rights and peace, George was as at home with a beer watching the game, gardening, hiking, camping or visiting friends as he was at a meeting of his beloved steelworker unionists.
Born in 1918 in South Dakota, his family moved to Tennessee and homesteaded land in what is now the Great Smoky National Park. His father worked in the Indian Service until becoming frustrated with mistreatment of native peoples.
Born in 1918 in South Dakota, his family moved to Tennessee and homesteaded land in what is now the Great Smoky National Park. His father worked in the Indian Service until becoming frustrated with mistreatment of native peoples.
Romney would like to deal with the jobs’ problem by rewarding the corporate rich, often way up there in the top of the 1 percent of income and wealth distributions, with further tax cuts for themselves and others like them and for their corporations, coupled with corporate-friendly regulation, and government spending that favors the interests of their corporations. The Romney/Republican approach to jobs is based on a trickle-down, neoliberal, free market economics that assume that only the rich, particularly the corporate rich, can bring the U.S. prosperity and robust economic growth that will make everything just fine for the majority of Americans.
It’s not just suicide. It’s also drug overdose, car crash — quasi- or secret suicide, carried out in fearful isolation.
Young Iraq and Afghanistan vets are dying in increasing numbers by their own hands in “a largely unseen pattern of early deaths that federal authorities are failing to adequately track and have been slow to respond to,” according to a recent story in the Austin American-Statesman based on a six-month investigation of the causes of death of 266 Texas veterans, out of the 345 known to the Veterans Administration to have died since their return from duty. At least 142 of those deaths were self-inflicted in one way or another.
These are the forgotten dead. Their autopsy reports, the American-Statesman story tells us, “paint a mosaic of pain, desperation and hopelessness among a significant number of Texas veterans.” And of course it goes beyond Texas. Similar numbers, similar stories, similar wreckage, can be found in every state.
Young Iraq and Afghanistan vets are dying in increasing numbers by their own hands in “a largely unseen pattern of early deaths that federal authorities are failing to adequately track and have been slow to respond to,” according to a recent story in the Austin American-Statesman based on a six-month investigation of the causes of death of 266 Texas veterans, out of the 345 known to the Veterans Administration to have died since their return from duty. At least 142 of those deaths were self-inflicted in one way or another.
These are the forgotten dead. Their autopsy reports, the American-Statesman story tells us, “paint a mosaic of pain, desperation and hopelessness among a significant number of Texas veterans.” And of course it goes beyond Texas. Similar numbers, similar stories, similar wreckage, can be found in every state.