It is well known that the Americans have been striving to shake off this yoke, which has become intolerable, and that in spite of all they can do they continue to sink ever deeper in this swamp of corruption. It is precisely in America that we see best how there takes place this process of the state power making itself independent in relation to society, whose mere instrument it was originally intended to be…. We find here two great gangs of political speculators, who alternately take possession of the state power and exploit it by the most corrupt means and for the most corrupt ends – and the nation is powerless against these two great cartels of politicians, who are ostensibly its servants, but in reality exploit and plunder it.” Frederick Engels, 1891. Commenting on the illusion of democracy presented by the American two-party electoral system in which both the Democrats and Republicans in reality merely take turns oppressing and misleading the nation in the interests of the wealthy elite. (via socialismartnature)
reagan-was-a-horrible-president:
This is cool!
Political commercials from 1952-2008.
Thanks to illdrawanyone for letting me know about it.
Steve Benen, Washington Monthly
A wave of new Republican-driven election laws will make it harder for millions of eligible voters to cast ballots in 2012. The most significant restriction requires Americans in several states to present state-issued photo IDs when they vote. It is estimated that 3.3 million eligible voters in the affected states — Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin — don’t have such IDs now. The GOP insists the new rules were needed to stamp out voter fraud. The Left maintains these laws add up to a coordinated effort to suppress the Democratic vote.
(via theweekmagazine)
what's wrong with ron paul?
- He doesn’t believe in the separation of church and state.
- He believes abortion should be illegal.
- He doesn’t support the repeal of DoMA and didn’t support the repeal of DADT.
- He doesn’t support putting more money into inner-city schools, but does support vouchers for religious schools.
- He believes creationism should be taught alongside evolution in public schools.
- He doesn’t believe HIV causes AIDS.
- While he doesn’t support a federal ban on gay marriage, he also doesn’t support a federal law legalizing gay marriage. Some see this as a states’ rights issue, and this is how he frames it, but he does support other federal legalization movements (drugs, for example).
- His newsletter spouted horrible racist content for twenty years. He denies writing any of it, but if he allowed this content to go out under his name, he either approved it or was so ignorant of both the type of people he associates with and the type of content going under his name that he shouldn’t be trusted to run anything.
- He believes in reinstating the gold standard, which most economists believe was one of the major causes of several financial crises at the turn of the century, including the Great Depression.
- He believes in free market capitalism.
- He wants to get rid of Affirmative Action, which has been shown time and again to be ineffective and not good enough.
His stance on drugs and wars win him a lot of liberal fans, but only if they don’t look at literally anything else he stands for.
Better, shorter article: what isn’t wrong with Ron Paul?
The newsletter thing bugs me beyond belief. Last thing we need is closet racist in the White House and I do not want to take that chance.
(Source: steviemcfly)
“We must make it clear that a platform of ‘I hate gay men and women’ is not a way to become president of the United States.”
—Jimmy Carter, relevant now more than ever. (via gaywrites)
Ladies, gentlemen, and those outside the gender binary, JIMMY FUCKING CARTER.
