Friday: Fast II and call to action

Ok, folks, it looks like this ball is starting to roll. With HCFP doing a haka and Steve Corbett at WILK launching Operation Turndown today, we are seeing thousands of people finally losing patience with the DNC and pushing back against Obama as the inevitable candidate.

We know that Clinton is the stronger, more qualified candidate. We know that the Republicans would like nothing more than to be running against an unvetted, inexperienced weak candidate like Obama. And we know that Obama got to be where he is by suppression of Clinton voters by a.) undemocratic caucuses in heavily Republican states, b.) the active participation of the DNC Rules and Bylaws committee who imposed an unnecessarily harsh penalty on Florida and Michigan c.) the refusal of the Obama campaign to work towards a solution for those two states before the primary season ends , d.) discouraging donors from contributing to Clinton’s campaign or any outside group that might be friendly to her and e.) the unconscionable media narrative of the past two weeks that Obama is now our nominee with the clear intention of depressing voter turnout. In short, Barack Obama “wins” by suppressing the votes of his opponents.

In this, he is aided and abetted by a corporate media and Republican operatives in that media landscape and the DNC itself. The party has turned against Hillary Clinton in order to expunge the “old coalition” of working class, elderly, ethnic and female constituents for a smaller “new coalition” of affluent liberals and African-Americans. The purpose of this purge may be to install a more technocratic, more libertarian power base that is relatively unburdened by entitlements or to elect a weak executive who owes his power to coalitions lent to him during his campaign and to whom he will be beholden. This plan necessarily involves making sure that Clinton does not reach the number of delegates she needs to become the nominee. It involves sitting on FL and MI until Obama suppresses enough voters or pays off enough superdelegates to join his team.

Additionally, the working class, elderly, ethnic and women voters have been told they are no longer wanted in the Democratic party. Women especially have been under attack because Clinton is a woman. Media attacks on her have gone unchecked. Neither the DNC nor any party members have objected to the egregious behavior on the part of male commentators against Clinton. Obama’s campaign has also deliberately created a rift in the party by accusing Clinton and her supporters of racism. The repercussions of these two actions will be felt for years to come. Since no one was held accountable for the overt misogynism of the primary months, we can expect similar behavior to spill over into everyday life whenever a male wants something a female is obstructing and setting back the advances in gender equity that we gained in the past 4 decades. The charge of racism is character assassination and is intended to prevent voters from expressing their approval of the candidate of their choice. Instead of promoting a discussion of race as an important issue, Obama has used race as a weapon against members of his own party for his own benefit. The cynical use of race by a candidate of color may have unintended consequences for future African American candidates.

In short, the DNC and Obama’s campaign have pursued a scorched earth policy to install Barack Obama as the party’s nominee. However, they still fully expect the party rank and file to vote for Obama in November by telling us our vote is theirs.

Our vote is *not* theirs. We have something they want; they have to earn it. We can choose to give our votes to the Democrats, give them to the Republicans, write in an alternative candidates name, choose a different party or withhold them altogether. But one thing is for certain: The Democrats are NOT entitled to them. If they wish to pursue a trainwreck in November, they will do it without our help. The DNC and party members will need to address our protest immediately and before the nominee is chosen for us if it has any expectation of winning in the fall. In the meantime, we suggest that disenfrachised and disowned voters demonstrate their resolve by taking the following actions:

1. If you live in a state that has already voted, re-register as an “unaffiliated” voter. Tear up your current voter’s registration card and mail it to the DNC with a polite little note to tell them that if they don’t resolve the FL and MI delegation issue immediately, so that these states help determine the outcome, they can not count on your vote now or in the future. Also, encourage them to push Hillary and Obama to form a joint ticket with Hillary on top as this is the only viable option for averting an electoral disaster in November. They created this rift in the party. It’s their responsibility to unify it. Not ours.

2. Have a news moratorium for the next two weeks. For the next two weeks, turn off every network and cable news program and catch up on your gardening. Watch only C-Span. If you have TiVo or a DVR, the cable and satellite companies do disk diagnostics every night to determine what you’ve watched and they pass this info onto the networks for ad sales purposes. You will make an impact if you abstain for the next two weeks.

3. Friday Fast: Save your breakfast, lunch and dinner money on Friday and send it to Hillary. The Big Boyz have been very effective in discouraging people from donating and volunteering for her. As a consequence, her campaign is heavily in debt and Obama’s campaign is using this as leverage to get her out of the race. She has funds socked away for the General Election but can’t use them now. The primary season has been unusually long and expensive. But we can help with small donations. If you send in $10 on Friday and everyone reading this does the same, we can help refill her coffers. Also, one day of fasting will give you presence of mind and remind you of what is so important here. There are millions of Americans who are one paycheck away from insolvency, who have to use a food pantry every month to feed their families and these people are going to get written off by the “new coalition”.

4. Volunteer for Hillary in Kentucky and Oregon if you live in one of those states or one of the surrounding states. Hell, you don’t even need to do much. Just go there and stand at the side of the road with a sign. Let the country know that you aren’t going down without a fight.

This election season is unlike any other we have seen in the Democratic party. Where we might have fallen in line behind the party’s chosen nominee in years past, we cannot do it this year because, *we*, the Democratic base, have been disparaged and attacked by our own party. We don’t expect Obama and the party to change after the wedding so we’re calling off the engagement. We might be old, working class and female. But we’re not stupid.

Pass it around.