Bombast substituted for
substance. Vital facts about the state of the nation and world were excluded.
Viewers wasted two hours watching. What they most need to know wasn't covered.
Instead they were bombarded by duplicity and indifference toward growing human
needs.
Duopoly fascism in America
excludes alternative voices. Third party candidates are virtually shut out.
Getting ballot access alone presents enormous challenges. Major media coverage
is denied or too little to matter.
How many American know about
other parties, let alone who represents them? Major ones include the Libertarian
Party, Constitution Party, Justice Party, and Green Party.
Libertarian Party candidates
Gary Johnson/Jim Gray were denied Michigan and Oklahoma ballot access.
Constitution Party candidates Virgil Goode/Jim Clymer got on only 26 of 50 state
ballots. Justice Party candidates Rocky Anderson/Luis Rodriguez managed only
19.
Green Party candidates Jill
Stein/Cheri Honkala were denied access on 12 state ballots. There's more.
Alternate party candidates are excluded from presidential "debates." Just
showing up to watch is hazardous.
Ralph Nader learned the hard
way. In 2000, he was accosted and threatened with arrest for trying. Having a
valid auxiliary viewing room ticket didn't matter. Nader sued and won partial
vindication.
Doing so didn't erase the stain
of America's farcical democracy. It exists in name only. USA-style fascism comes
wrapped in an American flag. It's harsh like other versions but isn't
discussed.
Only targeted victims feel its
sting. Step out of line and become one of them. On October 16, Green Party
candidates learned firsthand.
Stein/Honkala's web site explained. It headlined "Jill Stein
and Cheri Honkala arrested, call tonight's debate a mockumentary," saying:
Iron-fisted fascism showed up
in Hempstead. Stein and Honkala were "forcibly prevented from entering the
grounds of tonight's presidential debate…."
Corporate/party boss-run
Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) members exclude alternative voices.
Money power operates secretly with no public oversight. A sham process repeats
each electoral cycle.
Real democracy is mocked.
Discussion of major issues is excluded. Hardball crackdowns target
challengers.
Stein and Honkala "were
arrested by local police when they tried to enter the grounds of Hofstra
University…." They remained in police custody for hours.
At 2PM Tuesday, they "walked
with supporters" toward Hofstra's "town hall" venue.
"There they were met by three
ranks of police officers in uniform and plainclothes. At this point, the Green
Party candidates held an impromptu press conference in which Dr. Stein called
the CPD debate a 'mockumentary,' saying that, 'We are here to bring the courage
of those excluded from our politics to this mock debate, this mockery of
democracy.' "
Both candidates "turned and
began walking" towards the debate venue. Police "physically stopped them and
pushed them back." They sat down and were arrested.
They were charged with
"obstructing traffic." None was visible at the time. CPD bosses call the shots.
Cops don't represent ordinary people or independent political candidates.
They serve money power.
Hardball crackdowns prove it. Even independent presidential candidates taste
their harshness.
On October 17, Stein/Honkala's
web site headlined "Now free, Stein, Honkala
pledge ramp up fight for open debates," saying:
After spending eight hours
"handcuffed to a metal chair in a remote (Long Island) police warehouse,"
they're free. Exercising democratic rights got them accosted and arrested.
That's how fascism works. Opposition isn't tolerated.
On release, Stein said:
"It was painful but symbolic to
be handcuffed for all those hours, because that what the Commission on
Presidential Debates has essentially done to American democracy."
In custody, both candidates
were isolated. Phone calls were denied. So was access to lawyers or staff. At
10:30PM, they were released. Honkala called her incarceration "extremely
uncomfortable, but standard for what so many Americans face on a daily basis in
our corrections system."
She and Stein know what gulag
harshness feels like. It's much worse for many thousands doing hard time. Many
are innocent victims of fascist brutality. Innocence is no defense when
targeted.
Challenging authority risks
prison. Some end up dead. Many face torture and abuse. It's the American way.
Media scoundrels conceal the nation's dark side.
Stein's campaign manager Ben
Manski expressed outrage, saying:
"These arrests and this
treatment are outrageous and disproportionate. Who do the police think they are
protecting here?"
On October 18, 22, 23, and 30,
Stein will participate in four alternative candidate debates. Online streaming
will cover them. Expect serious discussions of real issues. Expect what duopoly
power excludes.
Watch and see what democracy
looks like. On November 6, it's excluded from ballot consideration. It's never
been there and isn't now. The state of the nation is dark and getting darker.
Equity, justice, and freedom are just figures of speech. The worst is yet to
come. That's how fascism works.
In her 1951 book, "The Origins of Totalitarianism," Hannah
Arendt explained. It's "never content to rule by external means, namely, through
the state and a machinery of violence; thanks to its peculiar ideology and the
role assigned to it in this apparatus of coercion, totalitarianism has
discovered a means of dominating and terrorizing human beings from
within."
It's based on:
"(1) an elaborate
ideology;
(2) a single mass party;
(3) terror;
(4) a technologically
conditioned monopoly of communication;
(5) a monopoly of weapons;
(and)
(6) a centrally controlled
economy."
America qualifies. Duopoly
power rules. What Big Money wants it gets. State terrorism is policy. So are
permanent imperial wars, targeted assassinations, and police state
harshness.
Managed news misinformation
substitutes for the real thing. Elections are farcical. Money power runs
everything. Democratic freedom is more illusion than reality.
In 2003, Laurence Britt explained 14 common fascist
elements. America reflects them. They include:
(1) "Powerful
and Continuing Nationalism." Expressions include flag displays, lapel pins,
mottos, slogans, songs, symbols, and other ways to rally people for a common
cause.
(2) "Disdain
for the Recognition of Human Rights" and civil liberties. Affording them hinders
elitist ruling power.
(3)
"Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause." Alleged threats and
enemies are invented. Patriotic frenzy is rallied against them. Popular support
is needed. Political advantage is sought.
(4) "Supremacy
of the Military." National wealth and resources are disproportionately allocated
for it. Domestic needs are neglected.
(5) "Rampant
Sexism." Male dominance is enforced. Women are considered second-class
citizens.
(6) "Controlled
Mass Media." Censorship is policy. Public or private media promote power elite
policies. In war time, control is especially rigid.
(7) "Obsession
with National Security." Fear is used as an instrument of control.
(8) "Religion
and Government are Intertwined." A dominant religion manipulates public opinion
even when its ideological tenets differ from state policies.
(9) "Corporate
Power is Protected." A mutually beneficial relationship benefits political and
business officials.
(10) "Labor
Power is Suppressed." Unionism is co-opted or eliminated. Political and
corporate dominance is unchallenged.
(11) "Disdain
for Intellectuals and the Arts." Intellectual and academic freedom is denied. So
is free expression in any form.
(12) "Obsession
with Crime and Punishment." Police state terror rules. Gulag harshness awaits
non-believers. Equity, justice, and other democratic freedoms are denied.
(13) "Rampant
Cronyism and Corruption." Privileged government and corporate officials benefit
at the expense of most others.
(14)
"Fraudulent Elections." Free, fair and open ones don't exist. Predetermined
results are arranged. Centralized control disenfranchises voters. Theater
substitutes for democracy.
America
reflects all of the above. Few benefit at the expense of most others. Electoral
choices are none at all. Challenge authority and taste police state
harshness.
Imagine what's
coming if ordinary people on their own don't change things. It won't happen any
other way. It never has, never will!
