Let them eat cake

Today, I received a very cryptic email from Kahlil Byrd, the CEO of Americans Elect, explaining that none of the candidates had received sufficient support clicks and the board was reviewing its options.  A part of me wanted to ask the simple question, did he just get off the boat?  The candidates and delegates have known for months that none of the candidates were ever going to get close.  There are lots of reasons why but none of them matter because we have known for months that it wasn’t going to happen.

Now, at the final moment, the AE board is soliciting ideas about what should be done.  That’s a lot like the new fracking regulation, we fracked and fracked up your land, now what should we do about it.  Understandably, some of the candidates are upset about changing the rules.  Evidently, they presumed that a promise is a promise but well this is politics, right.  Some say, Buddy should get it for all his hard work in bringing delegates, maybe.  But what is really important is drawing voters interest.  For that we would be better off with Ron Paul.  I can’t stand his economics but he would get 10% of the vote letting us come back again in 2016. That’s such a defeatest attitude but well you work with what you got.

Whether Buddy can win is academic right now, we’ll know in November.  When AE started letting go the staff in March and returning donor money, the writing was already on the wall, they gave up.  It’s a shame because we were on the right trajectory just late getting started.  What we need is another 2 months to build interest through debates, discussions and meetings.  What the AE board should do is just put it off to July 15th, it’s not like the delegates are in a hurry to decide.  One former representative said there are some deadlines in 5 states so we need to hold the primary in June. I say screw those states, getting the best candidate is more important than ensuring ballot access in all 50 states.

If the board chooses to call it off and admit failure, the failure is on them because as one of my comrades mentioned, the rules are not the US Constitution.  Extending it 60 days, affords candidates to build deeper networks.  Connecting the AE Townhall into the website provides a social media site for candidates to interact with supporters.  Hosting a series of 5 debates between different groups of candidates will generate the public interest more than anything.  The board has to move beyond the “what they want” to what the delegates want if they are ever going to attempt this again in the future.

I believe we can win in November, we just need the right message from the right pair of candidates.

The End Game

One of the constant refrains of the past several months has been how much the Americans Elect Board has been out of touch with the delegates and candidates.  However, one must remember that the AE board has a stated mission, a plan, and a path to achieve its goals.  The dilemma is that lacking a certain amount of transparency, those goals are not always clear to the candidates and the delegates.  I subscribe to the theory that if it is my money my rules, your money, your rules.  I suspect the AE board does as well.

All of us sit upon the cusp of moving forward or putting an end to what could be more than just a nascent political movement.  Without question, the Americans Elect movement will grow stronger over the next several years with or without the assistance of the board.  In fact,  there is no reason why the AE movement could not move as one to the Justice Party or fracture and its members fill the ranks of the Green and Libertarian Parties.  The idea that reasonably intelligent folk can put aside partisan differences and party loyalties to pick a leader may sound pretty straight forward but in practice we are just as fractious as the general electorate.

The primary impediment to moving forward has been the fact that the software was developed real-time with the process.  This limited the ability of the AE movement to capitalize on momentum back in October when the Occupy Movement was at its zenith.  Once the Occupy Movement died down so did the interest by many people along with support.  A second consideration was the unwillingness of people to contribute money to a process.  It’s one thing to contribute money to someone you believe in but quite another to an amorphous group of shadowy figures that may or may not have some secret agenda.

To avoid issues about Internet fraud, the software engages in a very intrusive check of a person’s identity.  This identity check prevented the movement from growing quickly and at times stopped it dead in its tracks.  A simple recommendation would be to leave the process open, assuming the funds are there and continue verifying people for the next four years.  There was an expectation that the candidates would just go out and sign up truckloads of people but it is simply cost prohibitive.  It takes at least 30 minutes to sign someone up and most of the time, one must hold the person’s hand sitting at a computer.  That requires an army of volunteers, computer databanks and mobile facilities  to go around at least 10 states to corral enough delegates.

The support click requirement makes sense to some degree to force candidates to go after delegates but the expectation that candidates would be able to acquire 50,000 supporters the first go-round was a fantasy.  At present, there are about 40,000 verified delegates and one needs about 25,000 to 30,000 supporters to hit the 10-state 10,000 delegate requirement.  50,000 delegates is all but impossible unless one is a billionaire.  That leaves the average Joes out in the cold and the result is that the Presidential campaign remains a millionaires game.  A friend of mine remarked that it’s much like fantasy football.

What I have taken from this process, is that one must start 4 years in advance and build friends on Facebook and other social sites to create the connections to generate support.  This is a national campaign, not a local one.  This can’t be done in a 3-month window or even a 1-year window.  In the two-party world, a candidate can rely on an existing ground team that is there waiting to work within the system, just change the name on the signs and away they go.  Without the support of a party, one is quite literally on one’s own.  Despite having no budget, no name recognition, and no way to communicate with my supporters, I still managed to come in sixth solely on the strength of my convictions and my proposals.  Would I do it again? Absolutely, winning was never my primary objective, getting a progressive message out there to compete with the sanitized version presented by mass media was.

The AE Board must make a decision on Monday about whether to sacrifice the support click rule and move ahead with a primary or throw in the towel.  In some respects, throwing in the towel would prevent having to face a potential blowout in November.  That would be the lowest risk option and some might favor it for their own personal ends.  However,  we knew this was a long-shot when we got into it and nothing has changed.  The other candidates like myself have put it all on the line.  We cannot go back to the comfort of our homes and pretend it didn’t happen.  We are changed and we will continue to fight the good fight.  Revolutions, especially political ones, are not won in one season.  We have thrown down the gauntlet at the  two-party system and we are coming and we will not stop until we achieve victory.

I call upon the AE Board to do the right thing, hold the primary, let us choose one among us to represent us in November, and let’s win the Presidency.  A win not by slight of hand or false promises but one founded on decency and moral virtue.  But one thing remains, those of us who have pledged ourselves to changing the system will not go quietly in the night, we will no longer stand idlely by while the rights of Americans are trampled, we will stand up and be counted and we will not go down without a fight.

Go to Americans Elect and choose a President but mostly choose your future.

www.americanselect.org

The Unknown Candidate

For some, Americans Elect is a novelty but for those of us actively promoting it, it’s become a mission in life because we believe the two-party system is corrupt.  Granted, that is hardly news to most people but every struggle to move forward is made that much more difficult by a compliant media more concerned with their daily revenues than actually reporting real news.  Journalism for reporters like Anderson Cooper and Piers Morgan is news they create not what people actually want to know about.  People on Fox report fair and balanced as long as it’s positive for Republicans and MSNBC, pathetic.  So how can a nascent political movement get any traction in today’s business news environment where the murder of a boy in Florida dominates the news and the plight of 50 million uninsured goes unreported.  How many Americans died today because they did not have health insurance, about 125.  It will be the same number tomorrow and the next day as well.  That number makes the Travon Martin case seem less important in a way.  What’s in a number, after all, they were just poor people working for a living without health insurance, nothing to see here, move along.

With all the important issues going on, what with the President evolving and such, the media does not have time to report on the less important issues like other candidates.  I could be talking about myself but in this case, I want to talk about our next President, Michealene Risley.  Have you heard of her, I hadn’t before I got to know about her at Americans Elect.  But one thing I can say is she is one lady to keep an eye on.  Like Gov Romney, she comes from Michigan but don’t hold that against her.  Risley is a writer and film producer focusing on women’s and children’s suffering.  Given the current Republican assault on women, I think she is just the candidate to take on Gov Romney.  And unlike President Obama, she is an unabashed progressive.  I don’t think we will see the fudged promises and preferences for the banking industry from this lady.  Now before you say she isn’t qualified, let’s look at the competition.  First, you have President Obama, a former community organizer turned failed President for the first three terms and Gov Romney, who can’t remember his years as governor because someone erased his etch-o-sketch.  However, he does remember his days as a corporate raider ripping and stripping the wealth out of companies.  So, why would a women’s rights activist and mother of three want to take on the toughest job in America?  Because, the current occupant of the White House is doing such a lousy job and his supposed replacement is even worse.

If you want to read more about her and talk with her, Facebook her.  Further, if you like what you see, go to Americans Elect and support her.  Don’t wait long because her train is leaving the station and you want to be on board. http://www.americanselect.org/profile-candidate/367871/topic-answer

New Hampshire Republican Debate 2012 – Economic Epic Fail

As I listened to the debate it struck me how utterly out of touch the candidates are.  The questions started off with Gov Romney trying to explain how we need to create 25 million jobs despite the fact that his plan only creates 11.5 million jobs.  How does he plan on making up the difference or bridging the gap, he doesn’t tell us, although later in the debate he starts talking about trade policies and slamming China.  There is a real ideological divide between the reality that the US economy faces and the rhetoric put out by the Republicans.  Gov Huntsman, one of the more moderate and thoughtful candidates, continues this fantasy land idea by stating that America is on the verge of a manufacturing renaissance, as if factories were being planned across America to begin producing goods we formerly imported.  In the following breath he chides Gov Romney and the rest of the candidates for their avarice towards China.  I want to yell at them to wake up and realize what is really going on.

The jobs discussion came about because of some slightly positive news. The economy managed to create 200,000 jobs last month, a stellar performance compared to the previous year.  To give President Obama credit he has dug himself out of a hole of George Bush’s making.  In January 2009, there were about 141 million workers and now there are about 141.8 million workers so there is a net gain of 800,000 workers in three years.  To be fair, that number in 2009 was still on a downward trajectory but Gov Romney is still correct, there are 20 million unemployed or underemployed that need jobs, now.  Over the next four years, there will be another 5 million or so workers entering the workforce because the nation isn’t standing still.  Without a clue as to how they are going to create these jobs, all the candidates rate a zero, everyone of them is unacceptable as our new Chief Executive because they can’t do the job we need.

Another queer moment was when Rick Santorum was tripping over himself trying to explain why the nation needed a leader and not a Chief Executive Officer.  I found it comical how he was trying to extricate himself from that conundrum.  Never having been a business leader, Rick obviously doesn’t understand the role of a CEO in business.  The problem with Gov Romney is not that he was a CEO, it was that he was a Wall St takeover artist who specialized in breaking up companies and extracting the maximum value but that concept seems to large for Rick’s medieval mentality.  You can choose which Rick I am referring to.

All of them were dancing around this notion that the tax system is unfair and needs to be reformed.  Yet, none of them provided any clue as to how changing the tax system would actually yield any benefits beyond putting more money into people’s pockets (the 1%) and increasing the deficit even more.  Ron Paul of course has his magical tax cut that will create a rebirth in America.  He envisions America rising like a Phoenix and being reborn, he has the Phoenix part right because when he cuts 10 to 15 million jobs America will be burning and whatever arises will be a very different America.  One needs a crystal ball to know if that idea is worth pursuing because sheer rationality says, that man is not playing with a full deck.

It was intellectual torture to watch them appear to be moderate when they almost to a man, now that Michelle is not up there, say they are against same-sex marriage. Their justification about society and marriage for 3,000 years has always been between a man and a woman, blah, blah, blah, has nothing to do with anything.  Where did the 3,000 years come from?  The US was the first democratic state in thousands of years and nobody said, we can’t do that, there is no history.  Further, without a viable state interest to justify preventing gay couples from enjoying the benefits of a mutually satisfactory relationship, they were left stumbling around trying to avoid the elephant in the room, the religious right.  To give the sane guy credit, Gov Huntsman did suggest the notion that civil unions were the appropriate solution to this problem and I give him credit for standing up to the pitchfork wielders and stating the obvious.  When it came to adoption, the Republisaurs were almost unilaterally opposed to it, and I would have liked to hear something from Huntsman on that.  I guess they wanted to avoid mentioning Huntsman and adoption in the same breath with Ron Paul standing next to him.  If I were Jon, I would have been tempted to slap that old geezer for his rudeness.  Of course giving into temptations on national television won’t get you into Heaven, I mean the Oval office.

Despite their blathering for an hour, the candidates did not present a credible jobs plan, a way to provide affordable health insurance to the 50 million uninsured, a solution to the massive foreclosure problems facing homeowners, nor the student loan debacle.  To be fair, the President hasn’t offered one either.  Happily, we did not have to listen to a litany of lies about the environment but that only means that the positions of the various Republicans have not changed, they are still in denial.  And, Santorum made it known he was a coal miner’s son on more than one occasion, I guess he supports coal.  Santa knows what he wants next Christmas.

Which brings us back to why we would entrust the care of our nation, the future of our country, or even the management of a dog kennel to any one of these guys.  Without a detailed plan to create the jobs that we need over the next 4 years, they are an economic epic fail.  Until they can present a plan to fix this nation’s problems the Republicans should not receive any support from the American people.

Mike Ballantine is a Green Party candidate for US President on Americans Elect.

Let’s have a real debate.

Probably the most boring reality TV show this season is the Republican debates.  After the first three episodes, there wasn’t much new information, instead everyone listened for nuances or changed positions.  I’m sure Rick Perry would love to remember them but he may have forgotten the third one.  They have really been exercises in patience for the vast majority of the electorate because they have not focused on the real issues.  Let’s have an honest debate between candidates not coached for soundbites and ridiculous policies designed to excite a base fed with a strictly red meat diet.

I propose that the candidates for Americans Elect hold a debate with the Buddy Roemer, Gary Johnson, Jill Stein, and Rocky Anderson.  Let’s get the different parties and their views out there to enlighten the electorate and present valid choices.  None of us should be afraid of putting our policies out in the open and getting people to judge them. I even have a proposed forum, TYT/Current TV.

Former VP Al Gore needs to build audience participation in his new venture and a debate hosted by Cenk Ugyer, Keith Olbermann, and a few other worthy parties could really present an informative moment for everyone as well as real entertainment.  It might be nice listening to people who did not think US territory extended across the Mediterranean into Israel or that the only way to solve our deficit problems was through tax cuts.

I propose that we hold a webcast between the South Carolina primary and the one in Florida, another mid-February, and then one in mid-March after Super Tuesday.  To further broaden the appeal, one of them could be held on the Real News and another on C-Span.  Instead of soundbite answers, respondents could be held to a two-minute rule.

This is a year when we need to get a broader picture of whom the electorate can choose from and with the flexibility that the Internet offers, the debaters could simply skype into the event instead of traveling because in the end it is the substance that we want, not the entertainment.

Mike Ballantine is a Green Party candidate for US President on Americans Elect.

Obama – US Military on a Diet

Today, President Obama announced the US military will be trimming some programs to make it leaner and reposition its missions in the Asia/Pacific theater instead of Europe.  Given the realities that the Cold War ended about 20 years ago, it’s about time the military began to think of a new strategy.  The question is why do we have to prepare for a conflict in the Asia/Pacific region at all?  I get the idea that China and India present competitive threats to our economic progress.  However, the military is needed to impose our will on others, not to develop or sustain economic activities.  We are no longer operating in an imperial era when nations maintained far flung colonies requiring vast naval forces to fly the flag and scare off competitors.  The US continues to apply 19th century thinking to our military strategy.

Instead of maintaining this great naval fleet at greater cost to the American taxpayer, we need to ask our partners/allies to shoulder the burden. After all, they have an economic interest as well in maintaining open seas.  The Japanese are adequately equipped to patrol the Pacific sea lanes.  The Australians can patrol the South Pacific.  The Indians can patrol the Indian Ocean.  The South Africans can patrol African waters, etc.  This notion that the US has to be the big bully flying its flag in every water is absurd, expensive, and unnecessary.  We need to trim the US military budget, but we need to cut back on some muscle as well.

America is spending $660 billion on defense right now compared to $120 billion by China, you can do the math.  It is an obscene amount when compared to $490 billion for all our discretionary spending, almost as obscene as the TSA budget of $60 billion.  President Obama proposes cuts of about $500 billion over the next 10 years, whupteedoo.  We need some real cuts, Mr. President because you are projecting an ongoing deficit of at least $700 billion for decades to come.

Some will argue that cutting defense spending is bad for the economy.  Here are the facts, according to the PERI Institute, defense spending creates 6,700 jobs for every $1 billion spent and education creates 26,500 jobs for every $1 billion spent.  We could cut defense spending by $1 and transfer $.50 to education and end-up job creation positive by 2 to 1.  Defense spending is a serious drain on our economy and one of the most inefficient ways to create jobs.

The nation’s security depends on a healthy robust economy and right now, our economy while showing signs of life, is neither robust, nor healthy.  Defense spending needs to be cut to a defense only level.  No country is challenging the US militarily despite this confusion about Iran.  There is no immediate or short-term reason to expect the US to need to go to war in Asia or the Pacific region.  One could argue that Iran presents a challenge, and one would be right.  It is a diplomatic challenge, not a military one.  It needs to be treated as such and the saber-rattlers need to be caged.

China presents an economic challenge to the US and it is illusory to think that we can challenge them militarily given the distances between Asia and the US.  Flying the flag only creates hostility and produces bellicose behavior, it does not make the region safer or provide stability.  In fact, it makes the region more unstable because China must engage in an arm’s race to maintain parity. Take away the American challenge and the dragon will go back to sitting on its treasure pile in its lair.

We need to not only rethink the true challenges the US faces militarily but where the new trade and business opportunities will occur.  The US cannot afford to spend more than 2% of its GDP on defense without sacrificing investment opportunities.  We need to create 20 million jobs in the US and by cutting defense spending and redeploying those funds into better job creation opportunities, we will strengthen our national security.  Hence I propose cutting the defense budget by $310 billion and eliminating the TSA for a total cut in spending of $360 billion each year.  I would redeploy $100 billion into education and an average of $70 billion each year into space industries.

If we cut defense spending by $310 billion, we will lose a little over 2 million jobs.  I offset this by spending $70 billion in the space industry which will create about 800,000 permanent jobs employing many of the workers displaced by defense cuts.  Spending in education will create 2.65 million jobs with a total net job creation of 2.45 million jobs all without changing taxes or expanding the deficit.  These are the kind of innovations that President Obama needs to make if he wants to get serious about job creation.  Of course the naysayers scream, but what about our enemies?

The enemies we fight carry AK47′s and ride camels. I think an Army composed of special forces carrying M-16s and riding camels would be more effective than large scale naval fleets, intercontinental bombers, and advanced tanks.  I am being a little snarky but we need to match our force strength to the perceived enemy.  If the Chinese really decide to get pushy, we can always increase spending but spending now is a complete waste.

We need to cut our carrier fleet to a more affordable level.  Each of our Nimitz class carriers requires a full complement of ships.  We currently have 10 on station and we could cut this number to 4.  In addition, we have 9 assault carriers for smaller operations that can be deployed to troubled regions if we truly need to project force.  If one is going to a knife fight, you don’t take a tank.  We can cut our Army from 548,000 personnel to 250,000 personnel and still maintain a strong enough capability in the event there is a small regional flare-up.  We can do this by emptying our bases in Germany, Japan, South Korea and elsewhere without sacrificing operational strength.  We are not going to be fighting any big land wars anytime soon with this Army.  It simply is not big enough to take on Iran so let’s not even go there.

Once we set a budgetary target, then we create a force structure to match it.  The defense hawks will scream bloody murder because we are making ourselves vulnerable to their imaginary enemies and all those cave dwelling Kalashnikov toting radicals, whereas, the chickenhawks will complain about the negative effects on the economy.  It’s all rubbish and we need to rebuild our national economy now, not continue a failed military policy.

Mike Ballantine is a Green Party candidate for President on Americans Elect.

Iowa Caucus Results – Santorum the Winner

The Iowa caucuses have come and gone with no clear frontrunner.  Many pundits will point to Mitt Romney’s squeak past Rick Santorum as evidence of his staying power and overall support in the Republican heartland but I see a loss for Romney.  Rick Santorum came from out of nowhere and if he had had another day would have gone sailing past Romney.  Romney has been in this campaign since he lost in 2008.  He campaigned heavily in Iowa in 2008, he’s well known and yet the best he can do is 25%. That is not a vote of confidence, that is a disaster.  Santorum on the other hand has performed well enough in the debates, represents a harsh conservative position, and can continue to attract conservative votes.  Romney needs to put together a better strategy than going negative to try and slow the Santorum rocket.  Santorum is almost as clean-cut as Ron Paul without the Libertarian baggage and Mitt could find people making excuses why they are deserting for Santorum.

Ron Paul on the other hand did as well as many expected but not enough to set the world on fire.  Had he fallen third to Newt Gingrich, then the establishment could have accepted it as meeting expectations but instead he came in third to Santorum.  That puts Paul’s ceiling at about 20 to 22% of the Republican electorate with less nationally, possibly not enough for him to make it into the national debates.  Michelle Bachmann gracefully bowed out of the contest and we’ll see if she has any ire for the candidates.  I expect her to endorse Romney at some point because he has more to offer her.  Rick Perry chose to stay in to keep things interesting but he is just acting as a spoiler to siphon votes from Santorum.  I wonder if somebody put him up to it.

New Hampshire is a bit of a wildcard.  With latent racism and homophobia ever present at the margins, I anticipate a strong showing for Santorum.  Romney has been holding steady above 40% but I predict that his margin will shrink to 35%, Santorum will eke out a second place finish with about 18%, Paul at 14%, Gingrich at 10% and Huntsman playing clean-up at about 6%.  The real loser of the Iowa race was Jon Huntsman as voters who were disappointed by Romney moved to him.  They will now feel comfortable moving over to Santorum.  Huntsman’s credentials aside, there is a latent concern about religion and his oblique support for President Obama.  The independents will be turned off by the negativity and will rally for Paul but not for Huntsman.

I think Romney will still be the candidate and if Santorum can avoid going nuclear on Romney, then he would be a strong possible for the VP slot.  Often the Republicans go outside for another candidate but should Santorum maintain some strength, he will have enough delegates to get on the ticket.  Paul will be shut-out and forced to run a Libertarian campaign.  I predict it will be a Johnson/Paul ticket attempting to spoil the election for the Republicans.  To avoid another spurned lover going independent, I expect Buddy Roemer to get an invite to the debates to fill the Bachmann hole, we can hope because Buddy will be far more entertaining than the current reality show contestants.

As for Americans Elect, there are 10 days and counting until we can start the campaign. Once we get started, there will be no going back and we will be the game changer.  Wish us luck.

Mike Ballantine is a Green Party candidate for US President on Americans Elect.

The Pollution of Language

With the campaign season getting into high gear, we find ourselves treated to the contortionist antics of Frank Luntz.  According to Cenk Uyger of The Young Turks, capitalism is no longer a positive word and it should be avoided or replaced with free-marketer or other.  The rich and wealthy are no longer rich, they are job creators.  One of the biggest complaints of the electorate is that politics is not transparent and this twisting of language simply makes it more opaque.  The media is just as guilty as Herr Luntz for his lexical phantasms because they allow the candidates to twist the meanings of words in a ridiculous pirouette of Orwellian doublespeak.  However, even Lutz is beginning to run out of catchy phrases and despite Stephen Colbert’s attempts to improve on corporate personhood through new language forms, we are really faced with a bunch of used car salesmen selling us lemons.

This year we have to call the candidates out for twisting reality with language.  There are no job creators because no one has been creating jobs for a decade.  What we have are wealth accumulators that like vampires suck the life-blood of our economy for their own hedonistic satisfaction.  The Republicans in mad ecstasy proclaim that cutting spending will increase growth by redeploying inefficient government spending into the private sector when bank deposits have reached record once in a lifetime levels.  Are they thinking that by piling more money on top of existing money, it will eventually weigh down the currency enough that it will begin to push-out into the marketplace?  Of course if we were to consider any type of stimulus spending, that would be socialism when in fact it is just economics.  Socialism is when we transfer profits from group of people to benefit another group of people to achieve a social benefit.  Employing stimulus spending to solve an economic downturn is how economics works.

One of the most misused phrases is the free-market.  Everyone proclaims that the US is a free-market society but the reality is that you cannot be both capitalist and free-market.  Free-markets require perfect competition and the absence of regulation allowing anyone to enter and exit either buyer or seller without restriction.  This does not exist in the real world which is why economics often has as much validity as Immelda the Fortune Teller.  Despite this fantasy world where Hobbits and Goblins roam freely across the countryside, Austrians and Paulites decry anyone who would stand in the way of the free-market.  We must achieve this perfect expression of life by eliminating all regulations, all rules that inhibit the free-flow of goods and services allowing perfect competition with the Chinese, and everyone to decide for him or herself what they should do.  Right.  I think someone has been dipping into their stash a little too often.  The free-market is an economic construct for discussion purposes, no one wants to actually have one. The last time we got rid of all the regulations and protections from government we had…we never have had that.

So if we start using the euphemism, free-marketer, let’s refer to them as they really are, Goblins, Ferengi, or whatever childish name comes to mind because in the end, these people are just parasites on our society , sucking the life-blood from our economy.  They are the wealth accumulators and care nothing for our needs, our dreams, or our lives.  They will frack our lands to death until every square mile has been holed, our water polluted, and our health exhausted.  They will cut the budget, reduce the spending, and eliminate the possibility that anyone can rise above their station.  The “job creators” or the “free-marketers” should be called by their proper name, leeches.

To open the new year campaign season, we will now refer to the job creators as leeches.  A symbolic creature that feeds upon its host without regard for the host’s health, draining it dry of its life-blood.  Now we just need a term for the tools of the leeches that enable them to feast upon the American people, right now, we just call them Congress.

Mike Ballantine is a Green Party candidate for US President on Americans Elect

America – Imperial Hegemon Obama

Today is the first day of the new year, a time when one usually looks forward to new beginnings and new opportunities.  We ended the year with a bang when President Obama signed the defense authorization act which codifies indefinite detention into law.  President Obama claims they made me do it and that he has reservations.  Either President Obama is lying or Senator Levin is lying but one thing for sure is nobody made President Obama sign that bill, he has veto authority.  Given his continuation of the Patriot Act, one can conclude that President Obama supports this bill and will use its authority against “terrorists.”  Let us make it abundantly clear, this law is a violation of the constitution, anyone who has sworn an oath to uphold the constitution and participates in its enforcement will be tried in court, found guilty, and appropriately sentenced.  Make no mistake about it, this act goes beyond the pale and eviscerates 700 years of liberty won by our forebears in England and passed down to our young nation.

To go further in his crimes against Americans, President Obama continues to march us on the path to war with Iran.  He authorized sanctions against the Central Bank of Iran and plans to continue with an oil embargo on Iran.  These sanctions are not diplomatic acts, these are acts of war and will have only one outcome, a war with Iran that will spread across the Middle East and engulf our planet.  There has been no national dialogue about the merits of this war.  There has been no discussion about what we hope to achieve.  There has been no national dialogue about how we will pay for this war.  There has been no national dialogue about where we will find the troops.  In fact, this is a war for profit.  This is a war that will push oil prices up by 100% and allow oil companies to make massive profits on their dwindling reserves at the expense of the ordinary consumer. Further, it will be used to justify opening up protected wilderness areas to the rapacious drilling of American oil companies.  Nothing has been said about the true burdens this war will place on our economy, our livelihoods, and our lives.

The primary justification for this war is that Iran has the temerity to enrich uranium for use in nuclear reactors.  The drum-beaters claim that Iran will build a nuclear bomb and that if they get a nuclear device they will use it against Israel, a country that has undeclared nuclear weapons.  In fact Israel is believed to have 300 nuclear weapons.  One is led to believe that Iran is so evil that they will sacrifice their nation, the people of Iran, so they may strike at the heart of the Israelis and destroy Jerusalem the third holiest city for Muslims.  Not only is this tale so outrageous it defies any rational logic.  No country is going to risk retaliatory annihilation of its populace for a small chance at striking a blow at Zionism.  This argument is a strawman

The secondary reason given by the esteemed Speaker, Newt Gingrich, is that the Israelis will be forced to strike Iran first precipitating a war that they cannot win to protect against an existential threat that they will face by a nuclear armed Iran.  To prevent this war, we must initiate a war first, otherwise find ourselves witness to a nuclear exchange in the middle east.  This is like a “B” movie in Hollywood because it is so ridiculous in its premise.  Let’s start with the basic issue, Israel is our friend but we do not have a military obligation to support them.  Israel is not a signer of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) but Iran is.  Iran is in compliance with the NPT and we are attacking them on the off chance that they might choose to breakout and build a bomb.  It is absurd.  If Israel wants to risk nuclear annihilation by Russia and China, let them take their best shot.  One thing for sure, this is not our fight, we are not Israel and they are not America.

Finally, America, the only nation to ever use nuclear weapons during war is threatening a nation without nuclear weapons and proposing to use nuclear weapons against them.  Can we envision a more hypocritical position or is there one beyond it?  President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the “hope” that he would bring “change” to American foreign policy.  He has brought change alright, instead of moving to the left, he has marched our nation inexorably to the right towards tyranny and fascism.  That is why in 2012, we must send a message to Washington, and the world, that we will not tolerate anymore wars of profit.  We will tolerate the elimination of our freedoms and liberty.  We will not tolerate the reduction in our standard of living that is foisted upon us.  Finally, we will not tolerate a century of war like the past where tyrannical leaders destroyed the humanity of their people.

2012 will be the year of the people and we will elect a new President and Vice-President from a bi-partisan coalition that will create the jobs we need, provide the health insurance we need, forgive the unpayable debts of our homeowners and students, and reinvent our education system.  This team of honest Americans will seek to amend our constitution and eliminate corporate influence in our elections and return the people to our government. Finally, they will negotiate fair treaties with the nations of the world seeking understanding instead of confrontation and produce solutions for the problems that bedevil us.  However, they cannot do it without your support.  Go to Americans Elect and help make 2012 the year of our independence.

Mike Ballantine is a Green Party candidate for US President on Americans Elect.

Americans Elect – Changing America

Many people consider the year 2012 to be one filled with impending doom.  I see it as a new beginning, not only for Americans but also for every global citizen faced with war, hunger, and crushing poverty.  If one picks up the newspapers, surfs online, or talks to friends, there is a sense of doom and gloom for the economy, for world peace, and for the future.  The reality is so much different than the media portrays.  Sure, Durban was a failure but solar photovoltaic costs have come down by 70%.  The US is on the verge of starting war with Iran but freedom is breaking out across the Middle East.  The banks control our economy, pillaging it for their own pleasure but students have come together to resist them and eventually, they will be our leaders.  The 21^st century was delayed for 10 years by the ‘War on Terror’  and now, it is ready to usher in the change from an imperialistic past to a future based on people.

This year America will elect a new President to run our nation.  We can choose a President who represents the financial interests and hope for the bread crumbs they will provide or we can elect a President that represents the corporate elite and accept the meager wages they offer.  However, in 2012, we have an opportunity to change the way we elect Presidents for all time.  We have an opportunity to elect a bi-partisan executive that represents all the people and all our needs.  Instead of having one side pitted against the other, we can have everyone seated at the table.  In this arrangement, there are no winners or losers, we are all in this government together.  The balkanization of our government comes from party politics and the competition that it perversely creates.

Almost every American agrees that our leaders are out of touch with the people.  Nearly every American understands that without fundamental reform our nation will continue to be pillaged by monied interests.  There are many ways to repair this situation, some of them are easy and some are more difficult, but regardless of how we change the way our government works, that change is needed.  The normal election process is dominated by a few party titans that most people have no direct influence or participation in the selection or choice of who runs.  Certainly, there is primary process that eliminates a few undesirable participants but in the end, the people have a choice between bad and worse.  In the case of the Democratic party, there is no choice this year, the people have a choice of one.

Fortunately, the American people have another path to choose a President.  Americans Elect offers an opportunity to promote a candidate of your choice.  Any American voter can register online, express their desire and vote their preference.  There are no pre-conceived participants, no party preferences, and the winning team must put aside their party affiliation and govern for the benefit of all the people, not some thin slice or special interest.  The beauty of this program is that your vote counts, the Iowans or the Floridians do not choose your candidate for you, you choose your candidate.  This is the power of the Internet, and this is the future of our nation. The first step is picking an executive that represents the people and will begin the reforms that we need to make.  The second step is getting them elected and replacing the corporate or the banking candidate.  The third step is sitting down together and finding real long-term solutions, not two month band-aids.

You have a choice, continue with the broken system and accept the bread crumbs that they offer, or make your voice heard, not as a whimper but as a roar.  Go to Americans Elect and sign up, take a few minutes of your time and change our nation.

Mike Ballantine is a member of the Green Party and a proposed candidate for President on Americans Elect.