"Republicans prevented more than 350,000 voters in Ohio from casting ballots or having their votes counted -- enough to have put John Kerry in the White House."
- Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Much has been written on last month's Rolling Stone Article, written by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on the theft of the 2004 Presidential Election by the Bush Regime. We think Kennedy's 4 page article is well worth reading because it reveals the level of corruption and fraud in all national elections in the United States.
As most Axis of Logic's regular readers should now know, we do not hold any more truck with the Kennedys or the Democrats in the United States than we do with the Republicans. This should be evident in many Axis publications and from our boycott of the 2004 elections in the U.S. We believe the Republican Party and the Democrat Party are simply 2 sides of the same coin - 2 political parties invented by the ruling class who offer up 2 choices for the U.S. voter every 4 years, both in service to the Global Corporate Empire.
We see the vicious political campaigns as nothing more than 2 groups within the oligarchy fighting - over the spoils of wars - wars sanctioned by both of them. A subservient electorate is needed to provide an appearance of validity. We refuse to participate. In fact, we boycotted the 2004 elections - a stand we took against which many well-meaning readers reacted. We took this position for 2 reasons:
1. We refuse to lend validity to an election process that at bottom does not reflect the will of the people (e.g. Al Gore won the popular vote but lost the election).
2. We are convinced that the U.S. government cannot, will not, be "reformed" by those who hold a grip on wealth and power.
Power never takes a back step - only in the face of more power.
- Malcolm X 1965
Where did it begin?
The imperialists not only attempt to impose this so-called "democracy" on other nations as they are doing now in Iraq, but have been managing it in the U.S. beginning with George Washington - chosen by the First and Second Continental Congress as Commander in Chief - then as president by the Electoral College. He was first chosen as a delegate from Virginia in 1774 for the First Continental Congress and as Commander in Chief at the Second Continental Congress on June 15, 1775. Washington was unanimously "elected" president by the Electoral College in 1789.
How did the first "George" gain wealth, power and fame?
Because of our public school training, most of us think of George Washington as our hero-numero-uno - the Father of Our Country - who freed us from British rule through his famed military exploits. (Are the people of England any worse off today than we would have been had England won the "Revolutionary War"?)
So what about "Planting Fields of Corn"? - We'll get to that. But first, can we take a look at who this "Founding Father" really was?
Gaining Wealth on the Backs of Slaves
Wikipedia informs us that Washington was a member of the ruling class as a slave-owner even in childhood.
"For most of his life, Washington was a typical Virginia slave owner. At the age of eleven, he inherited ten slaves; by the time of his death there were 317 slaves at Mount Vernon, including 124 owned by Washington, 40 leased from a neighbor, and an additional 153 "dower slaves" which were controlled by Washington but were the property of Martha's first husband's estate. As on other plantations, his slaves worked from dawn until dusk unless injured or ill and they were whipped for running away or for other infractions. They were fed, clothed, and housed as inexpensively as possible, in conditions that were probably quite meager. Visitors recorded contradictory impressions of slave life at Mount Vernon: one visitor in 1798 wrote that Washington treated his slaves 'with more severity' than his neighbors, while another around the same time stated that 'Washington treats his slaves far more humanely than do his fellow citizens of Virginia ... Before the American Revolution, Washington expressed no moral reservations about slavery'."
Gaining Power through Genocide
The "Father of Our Country" first gained fame with his slaughter of Native Americans:
"In 1779, George Washington instructed Major General John Sullivan to attack Iroquois people. Washington stated, "lay waste all the settlements around...that the country may not be merely overrun, but destroyed". In the course of the carnage and annihilation of Indian people, Washington also instructed his general to not "listen to any overture of peace before the total ruin of their settlements is effected". (Stannard, David E. AMERICAN HOLOCAUST. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. pp. 118-121.)
"In 1783, Washington's anti-Indian sentiments were apparent in his comparisons of Indians with wolves: "Both being beast of prey, tho' they differ in shape", he said. George Washington's policies of extermination were realized in his troops behaviors following a defeat. Troops would skin the bodies of Iroquois "from the hips downward to make boot tops or leggings". Indians who survived the attacks later re-named the nation's first president as "Town Destroyer". Approximately 28 of 30 Seneca towns had been destroyed within a five year period. (Ibid)"
Gaining Fame by way of war
Washington assumed command of the American forces in Massachusetts on July 3, 1775 - during the ongoing siege of Boston. He went on to wage war against the English, French and Native Americans until the first plutocracy was established in the Americas.
Effectively, ever since Washington, warmongering has been one of the pre-requisites for candidacy of a U.S. president with the exception of Bill Clinton who had no compunctions about killing people - from his sanctions on Iraq that killed over a million people, to his 1998 cruise missile attack on the medicine-making plant in Sudan that resulted in tens of thousands of deaths - continuing - to his war on Yugoslavia.
The Electoral College
Ever since the "election" of George Washington, the Electoral College (and the Supreme Court in 2004) have insured the outcomes of U.S. national elections, established as a tool of control over the will of the people. Consider what these Inventors of the Electoral College had to say about the citizenry:
"A popular election in this case is radically vicious. The ignorance of the people would put it in the power of some one set of men dispersed through the Union, and acting in concert, to delude them into any appointment." -- Delegate Gerry, July 25, 1787
"The extent of the country renders it impossible, that the people can have the requisite capacity to judge of the respective pretensions of the candidates." -- Delegate Mason, July 17, 1787
"The people are uninformed, and would be misled by a few designing men." -- Delegate Gerry, July 19, 1787.
“The origin of the Electoral College… was to let the elite select our president, and not the mass electorate, like us ....Its purpose is really offensive. And we ought to move toward a system where it’s one person, one vote.”
Jeffrey Berry, Professor
Political Science
Tufts University
Control of Elections through the Capitalist Media
The majority of U.S. citizens are not blind to the fact that the "4th Branch of Government" - the capitalist media - can make or break a presidential candidate overnight via selective reporting, under-reporting or over-reporting. They can do this by developing an undesireable image of a candidate or by revealing things about his personal life.
From dossiers they keep on those rising to power they have the ability, the motive and the will to use hot-button issues to make heroes or villains of those who would be king. Their mukraking material includes plagiarism and fraudulent resumes (Senator Joe Biden), sex scandals (Gary Hart), suggestions of insanity (Barry Goldwater, Tom Eagleton, John McCain, Howard Dean); corruption (Dick Gephardt); "reckless" (Al Sharpton); authoritarian, union buster, luxury living (Ralph Nader); boring ... religious campaign financing from Buddhists (Al Gore); racist (Pat Buchanan); crooked money and luxury living (Elizabeth "Liddy" Dole; stupid (Dan Quale); draft dodger and hiding tax records (Steve Forbes); sweetheart deals (Lamar Alexander); moral crusader and corruption (John Ashcroft); adultery, public sex, pro-military draft dodger (Newt Gingrich); paranoid, obsessive, delusional (Ross Perot), etc.
The capitalist media's role serves the empire well. They can report a candidate's weakness a few times without serious damage as they did with George Bush's AWOL from the Air National Guard and leave his candidacy intact - or they can hammer away day after day until their coverage achieves the desired result among the electorate. Virtually all of these presidential or veep candidates have been accused at one time or another of corruption. Either way, the corporate media can hide behind the fact that they have reported some of "the truth" about these men. However, their targetting of some politicians and not others leaves their journalistic integrity wanting - to say the least.
Blogger kathy@truthisbetter.org said it this way:
"U.S. TV news media are the biggest benefactor of the current campaign system because candidates must buy TV ads to win elections. Therefore TV media in turn gives favorable coverage and makes large donations to the campaigns of politicians who vote against campaign finance reform, and FCC government policies have given a few large media corporations control over American media law. American news coverage is biased. and censored."
And in the words of the late, great Edward Said:
"Certainly it is absolutely true that in the mainstream, discourse is heavily policed: alternative or radical or dissenting voices are either kept out completely or sent to the margins where they have no chance at all of gaining acceptance. So it was with the elections during the past month. No sooner did the Supreme Court make its scandalous decision than the commentators began to put the spin out that American democracy has been restored, national unity established, and so on and on ad nauseam. As if the flaws in the system were forgettable accidents, and therefore not worth dwelling on."
Arguments for Participation and Voting in U.S. Elections
The arguments - I've heard them ... and considered them - All: "The lesser of 2 evils" (Why would anyone want to vote for "evil"?); "My vote is sacred" (What is sacred about participating in a fraud to reinforce the power over corporate-controlled politicians in a corrupt system?); "The minorities already feel disenfranchised; You can't ask them not to vote". What?!; "If you don't vote, you don't have a right to voice an opinion" - Wrong. These arguments all smack of that mindless Vietnam war era slogan by people who seem to like war: "America - Like it or leave it."
But addressing the issue of whether or not to vote is for another time ... another analysis and essay and we won't even begin to discuss here the ease with which electronic, black-box, Diebold election machines can be manipulated. What is sacred is the right of every U.S. citizen to determine the effectiveness and morality of your decision to participate in the system by voting - or to refuse to vote as a "vote" - against the system.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s painstaking analysis of the 2004 election fraud should be read by every would-be voter. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - a cranky capitalist fighting for the spoils of war - blood money. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., representing the Democratic Party who brought us Clinton's "Welfare Reform"; supported the abominable wars on Afghanistan and Iraq; refuses to end the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq; steadfastly funds and supports the racist State of Israel; refused to conduct an honest investigation of 9/11; supports the overthrow of democratically-elected leaders of nations like Venezuela and has supported U.S. violations of the sovereignty of nations around the world since George Washington was first (s)elected as our first president.
Hating America
Now comes the charge from some: "You people just hate America". Are you saying that we hate the people who live in the United States? Are you saying that we hate the land ... the purple mountains majesty? The amazing rivers that run to the seas? The golden shores of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans? Our vast blessing of natural resources? Or are you saying that we hate the system of government under which we live? I for one plead guilty to the latter.
I hate a system whose domestic policies exploit the working class to insure the benefit of the wealthy. I hate a system whose foreign policy keeps "underdeveloped countries" subservient to the ruling class of the Global Corporate Empire through the auspices of the WTO, IMF and World Bank. I hate a belligerant government that overthrows and/or assassinates democratically-elected leaders like Patrice Lamumba, first elected president of the Congo; Chile's President Salvador Allende; and Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide; and many others.
I hate any government that empowers despotic regimes - and killers like Chilean General Augusto José Ramón Pinochet, Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez, Congolese Joseph Mobutu; Indonesian President Haji Mohammad Soeharto (Suharto); Haitian President (Papa Doc) Duvalier, Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. I hate any government that supports the use of torture and death squads to achieve the objectives of a wealthy few who will do anything - anything - to maintain their grip on power.
What is the solution?
What is the solution to the present world crisis? Revolution. It has already begun. The new world revolution is well underway and on the rise. From the demands for self-determination and sovereignty by the Afghan, Palestinian and Iraqi Resistance Forces - to the rebirth of the Bolivarian Revolution in Latin America. The New World Revolution is the first serious challenge to U.S. dominance in 300 years - and it's a challenge that is being taken seriously by the U.S.-led, Global Corporate Empire. These are the most exciting times in U.S. history to be alive and to have opportunity to truly participate - for the sacred objectives of self-determination of nations, globalization of economic fairness, irradication of hunger and poverty, salvation of our natural environment and world peace. The reign of skepticism is over. We have reason to be more optimistic than ever before.
What is your role?
When I was 10 years old, my great uncle, a Mennonite farmer, taught me how to plant corn. He was deaf and couldn't speak a word from the time of his birth. But as I sat on the seat of our John Deere Model B, he pointed to the smokestack atop the front hood of the farm tractor. Then he walked to the far end of a large field and put his hand on a fence post. He used a hand motion to explain that I must line up that exhaust pipe with the post at the end of the field to make my first row. When he returned to the tractor he used hand signals to tell me emphatically never to take my eye off the smokestack and the fence post. After I proudly planted my first row of corn, he showed me how to follow alongside that first row with the rear tractor wheel to make additional rows like the first. My first field of corn had rows as straight as a laser beam at the end of the day.
Your role in the new world revolution is determined by your native intelligence, your constellation of talent and skill and your resolve to invest your greatest wealth - your self - to participate in the inexorable movement toward a new social and political order. We also have a rich history of revolutions from which to draw knowledge and wisdom. We must not allow ourselves to be deceived by the capitalist media portrayals of the Cuban Revolution and Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution. It is important to study these revolutions and to understand those socialist leaders who have left reference points and guidelines for revolution. We can harken back to the work and political philosophy of people like Simon Bolivar. We can study the dynamics and conditions that made the Cuban revolution a wonderful success and we can learn from what is happening today in Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia. We must overcome lethargy and that sense of impotence and futility that is cultivated by capitalism among the masses.
In order to fulfill your responsibilities you must tax your creative energies and find new flexibilities of thought and action - always adapting to the demands of the day and the tactics of the enemy. We cannot allow ourselves to be deceived by enemy strategies like false elections, diverting our gaze from the truth. We must fix our eyes on the smokestack of the inmost voice of our true selves and on the objective - the fence post on the far end of the field. There is much noise that can drown the still small voice within and obscure the objective without. We must self-examine ourselves daily, try to live honorably and always keep our eyes on the reference points that will not fail us in the end. It is the only power we have. It is the true power that will ultimately vanquish the enemy.
The pessimists and those currently in power ask, "Revolution to what?" True revolutions have always begun with the masses - revolting against the oppressor. We must continue to organize, publicly protest that which we know is wrong, bring down those in power and create new ways of governing ourselves. It begins with each one of us, individually and collectively. Revolutions throughout history have always developed according to the times, the people and cultures in which they took place. But of one thing we can be certain. The current World Revolution is one that is revolving toward national sovereignty, self-determination and a new social order through the new pandemic socialism pervading the earth with new hope and a living promise.
"Now is the time to not allow our hands to be idle or our souls to rest until we save humanity."
- President Hugo Chavez Frias
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Contact the author at les@axisoflogic.com