Lilly Ledbetter but, really, what else?

I mean, what are they talking about here?

Hey, Labor, come sit by us gays! The view is great.

Labor should sit out the general election, union money would be better spent running more primaries in 2012 and making Obama get his act together so he doesn’t lose re-election.

Crap so far isn’t sustainable. And on the basketball court is the only place Trumka couldn’t kick Obama’s ass.

What’s funny is that Ambinder denies the anon was Rahmbo. We all know Ambinder’s lying.

Labor issues a sternly worded statement. I’m so impressed. Not.

The Dims and WH haven’t done anything for labour except to shit on them.

Remember what happened the LAST election we sat out?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKUNyKixbJs

What the democrats don’t get is that although our numbers have stagnated our reach and influence has increased. The working class is realizing it’s the working class and they’re sick of candidates who pander to us and refuse to back it up.

Should we sit out November? No, We should support labor democrats. We should even support democrats who like labor but won’t yell it from the mountains(Such as Mike Doyle), but we shouldn’t support people who will never vote with us. Never again. Not in a single district not in a single state.

The labor movement can hold power without the democrats. The democrats can’t hold power without the labor movement.

I am. They never smacked Clinton’s nose this hard.

I’m amused at Rahm’s chutzpah. He’s blaming unions for trying to run a candidate that would have a much better chance than Blanched Corporatist in the general? If that be blame, I’ll have the dinner portion, please. With chicken wings.

Labor spent $10 million standing up for their beliefs, in the face of pressure from the WH not to do so.

That’s a bit more than a sternly worded statement.

I’m not on the same side as most FDL’ers because I care mostly about Occupational Health and Safety. This administration cares about this. The problem is the dems and Obama like workers, they just don’t love unions. They think they can solve the problems that plague the underclass and working class. We all know they can’t. That has to be the message. We can accomplish what they can’t.

They’ll send their soldiers from Iraq into helmets to hardhats, but they won’t tell the ones who take the GI Bill to sign a card once they graduate.

That’s all I got:)

Well, you just keep hoping that incompetent labor leadership is an A to the Q, and I wish you good luck with that.

The group photo of Team Obama says it nicely.
Sadly, in corporate America, blowing $10 million to try to get a Senate seat is the price of doing business. Team Obama, even if it isn’t Rahm’s voice speaking anonymously, just wants us to understand that we should never cross them and their mighty corporate sponsors. There will be a lot more of that as the elections continue down their path and Team Obama attempts to rally the “centrist” troops.

Well now we know the democratic leadership has truly morphed into republicans. They expect their supporters to take whatever the hell the deem we need need, and to keep our damned mouths shut. In their minds, they think that sham of a health care bill constitutes something substantial for their supporters, wrong! They still don’t get it, and they never will. We progressives have to continue to make a statement to the democratic leadership and make them understand they have to fear us more than they fear corporate america and conservatives.

Labor, even if the leadership were competent, is so far behind the curve, it’s pitiful. Smackin’ noses really about sums it up.

Eggzacktly.

Rahm, Clinton, Obama and the other Third Way types think they can keep big business funnelling dough to them in the general. Fat chance — once the corporatists know that they’ve offed actual Democrats like Halter in favor of half-Republicans like Blanched, then they know they’ve guaranteed a pro-corporate, anti-person gunsel will win either way. And since they’d rather have a real Republican than even a half-Republican, they’ll go with the real one — especially when that real one is shown in every poll worth mentioning to be ahead of the half-Republican by at least twenty points.

I think that, unfortunately, the dims have lost a large portion of their support among those of us ordinary folk. The dim leadership takes every voting action as proving that they should move further right and kiss up to the corps even harder. I certainly made a mistake in voting for obamarahma. I didn’t expect a saviour, but I didn’t expect bushiii.

Just a little nit-pick, but I believe that in the next to last sentence you meant “they are going” where you wrote “there are going.”

The unions have been softened up enough by the Republicans since Reagan that perhaps the Obama political team now believes they can land a knockout blow. Unions do not fit into Obama’s post partisan fantasy world and if he could land a knockout blow he might be able to peel off a few Republicans to support his “initiatives.” With Obama, bipartisanship is the both the means and the end.

I can’t say I’ve seen a lot of support for workers from the WH. No tax penalties for companies who move overseas, health insurance mandates, etc. I’m a Wobbly so I see labour issues from that perspective.

There’s some D congresswoman on WJ, sounding about as lame as anyone possibly could.

It’s not noon yet in NYC, you can’t hit the booze this early. Seriously, considering the forces arrayed against them, they did pretty well here. If Garland County hadn’t been shut down — and there’s already at least one lawsuit in the works over that — Halter would have won.

Dear Senior White House Official:

As an American that wastes his life getting up in the morning and going to an ultimately pointless job which barely makes ends meet, I want to say thanks for the boost of confidence. I realize all too well that there are class differences in this world. The people running the company where I work are my lords and masters and don’t let me forget it. The profit that is made is for them and the stock holders, period. Asking for a raise is another pointless exercise because they lie about money being tight even as they hand out year-end bonuses to the same spewing liars who let it be known that I should be happy I have a job.

Maybe this is the world that Senior White House Officials want to live in — a world where people who struggle and suffer and work to put food on the table and a roof over their heads are denied the chance to see a light at the end of the tunnel. I know that those in Washington see this country as their toy, something that is there to provide a few people at the top with power and the ability to make a lot of money. I don’t want to make a lot of money, just enough to provide my wife and me with security so that we don’t have to worry each day about the next bill that’s in the mail.

Perhaps the lesson I should be learning from Senior White House Officials is that I am where I am because I am just not as good as they are. I deserve to struggle because I am lesser than they are. Maybe that’s true, I don’t know because I’m not smart enough to know it. What I do know is that I’m quickly growing tired of it all. I have a finite time on this earth and I want to be happy and do those things that fulfill me. I’m not going to get these things after I’m dead so I’m going to go after them now in any way that I have to. If that means spending my money and time trying to put the fear of the people into candidates like Blanche Lincoln, then that’s what I will do. What I won’t do is have any respect for jerks whether they are in or out of the White House. Senior officials, Senators, House members and the President work for me and others like me. I know that I don’t have an Ivy League education or any college degree at all but I have enough decency to realize that America is not only for you and your ilk, it’s for all of us.

Now please go fuck yourself.

any chance of Halter running as an Independent in November, hell that’s what Crist is doing, maybe this is the path towards getting a third party by getting more Independents voted into Congress.

FDR was faced with a union movement that was on the streets challenging the establishment with the threat of revolution in the air. Obama doesn’t have to deal with an aggressive militant union movement so they can be ignored and marginalized.

Despite the results from Arkansas last night, the whole “progressives will fall in line” meme has been proven over and over to be just wrong. What is the point in getting excited and giving money and spending effort to elect people when the only difference between Democrats and Republicans is cosmetic? Big business owns the Democratic Party every bit as much as they own the Republicans. The only real difference is that the Democratic party still has enough contempt for the voters to continue to lie about it.

You’re operating under the assumption that Democrats are separate from unions.

They aren’t.

The problem is multifold:
– unions are very strong at grassroots level, but the machine (read: old school DLC clique) is not the grassroots;
– unions were disenfranchised and manipulated during the Clinton years; Bill Clinton did dick-doodley-squat before, during and after his term to truly build both the Democratic Party at grassroots and the unions as well.
– because only machine-approved manage to survive, the folks that unions truly need rarely make it into office;
– and because corporate money in politics has become even more endemic in the wake of the Clinton years while union jobs have been offshored, unions are handicapped even further as are grassroots Democrats.

Never, ever confuse someone like this Democrat with the anti-union elements of the current Democratic leadership. Think about it: do you think for a moment this would have happened if Howard Dean were in the White House? or head of the DNC? Hell fucking no.

How’s that card check union joinin’ thingy workin’ out for ya?

Done a lot for labor, eh? Compared to the trillions funneled to save and subsidize big business these corpocrats haven’t done shit. Dear White House: Piss off.

Purging the unions of socialists and communists in the 40′s and 50′s probably sounded like a good idea during the McCarthy period but the consequences to the strength and survivability or organized labor in the U.S. has had dire consequences.

From a report filed yesterday from the America’s Future Now! conference, Dispatch: The Eye of the Needle at America’s Future

What lies beneath the festivities here, is that the older activists are angry, they voted for Change, with a capital “C,” and they know that it did not happen, and the younger activists, who live in change, and are disappointed at the changes that have occurred. It is the eye of the needle to be threaded, an older base that has a historical ruler to measure against, and a younger group that has not yet lived through a political cycle. It does not feel the same sting, because it has not seen the flurry of activity that a crisis can bring. . . .
. . . While Obama is indisputably the President, and indisputably the head of the party, his leadership of the party and the country is being challenged, and most specifically, by labor.
This is not surprising. It is labor that has born the brunt of the down turn, it is labor that did not get EFCA, it is labor that saw little from health care reform – and even more so labor unions. It is labor that is being told, again, to wait their turn. It is labor that has a channel, however, of money and muscle, to challenge the political operation of Obama. . . .
Labor’s political positioning problem is the conference’s raison d’etre. On one hand labor will not get far by antagonizing Obama. Nor will it recruit new young people by frontally attacking a man who is, or in many cases was, their icon. On the other hand, the undercurrent is a very real anger at the failure of the Administration to directly attack the legacy political economy of the neo-liberal era.

I was among the first to scream about the problem of Obama accepting neo-liberal economics, when the appointments of Summers and Geithner were announced. And again when Bernanke was reappointed. In the middle of May 2009 I asked  Will Obama forfeit a second term because of Wall Street?

I believe my warnings have been borne out in full.

Amazingly, the only thing the professional political class seems to care about is how much economic conditions affect electoral outcomes — not how much economic conditions are destroying everyday Americans.

on some other blogs, folks from AR are claiming Lincoln won because alot of repugs switched parties and voted for her so she could lose against Boozeman, any way of finding out if that’s true.

I’ll never give another dollar or another minute of my time to the national Democrats again, and no one ever should.

Give your money and your time to individual candidates. If you let the pros channel your money and time, they’ll use it against you. They have a strategy, all right, and their strategy is aimed at keeping us out in the cold forever.

Got that right.

Don’t be surprised if you hear the Democratic establishment begin to say “you’ll get pie in the sky when you die.”

Apparently so. Chomsky sez the only reason why New Deal got passed is the U.S. communists worked tirelessly for it. There is no Left left in the U.S. anymore.

Well said.

Yeah, taming the unions was the goal. The Republicans mostly hated all unions, and Democrats were afraid of independent, militant unions, so they busted them. The unions have gotten weaker by the decade, and so have the Democrats.

Between one thing and another, a lot of Democratic pros (and mercenaries) do very well for themselves even when the Democrats lose. The incentives aren’t right. We should figure out how to change that.

For you SD.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEH3Fm3pQw4&feature=PlayList&p=CF87970C9A2D009F&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=39

One of the great insights I’ve had in recent months (can’t remember who to credit it to, so no link; sorry) is that pols don’t care if they win any given election. If they don’t win this one, they know they’ll win the next one on the ‘throw out the bums’ phenomenon, after which they’ll get their next opportunity to rape the public.

Well said. I hope you find satisfaction in work outside of work.

I don’t understand why a so-called Democratic administration thinks a 10% unemployment rate is something we should be grateful for. As Atrios said a few months ago, the WH says that the unemployment rate is “unacceptable”, but they haven’t lifted a finger to not accept it.

There is a left here in the U.S.; you’re soaking in it.

And we’re not done.

The more disconnected the existing administration becomes from its base, the more likely they will be up against a primary opponent. I am already hearing rumors.

And then we’ll see who’s going to waste some money.

Here’s where I type that if I, an ex-Wall St. economist, define the Left in the U.S., then the Left is truly bankrupt.

Beautiful! I agree with everything you said.

A simple kiss-and-make up with the White House won’t be enough to make it up here, to be clear. If the White House has any expectation of labor lifting a finger in November and beyond, there are going to need big, significant lift from the President to prove that they “did a lot for labor.” Cause right now, there’s really nothing at all.

Yet more beaten dog syndrome. Why are you wasting energy even discussing the possibility of engaging with the Corporate Stooge and his criminals? There is no point to it. You will get beaten more, and harder each time.

Disengage. Protest. Strike. Set up a new party. Make it revolutionary while you’re at it.

A left sitting at keyboards blogging is just where the Republicans and the WH want them. Harmless and easily forgotten. When the left is on the streets organizing and agitating among the victims of neo-liberalism then watch the plutocrats take notice. The left, including the labor movement, should be at every unemployment office in the country educating the people. Where are the sit ins, teach ins, the marches? Blogging is a fine means of information and communication but it is not a “movement” and without a movement there is no progress.

The more disconnected the existing administration becomes from its base, the more likely they will be up against a primary opponent. I am already hearing rumors.

But you just tried that and it failed. Stop engaging with the criminals. Oppose them front on from outside. And fight them to the death.

No. You don’t define the left. But you come to see us and alternatingly rant with us or piss us off.

And perhaps not all economists represent the right in this country, and perhaps not all Wall St. is fully aligned with the right, either.

Hey, big labor. Welcome to the fraternity of “f**king ‘tards”.

You is correct.

DW

Should “absolute idiots” be seen as a promotion from “effing retards”?

elected democrats have not shown any ability to pass a democrat agenda.

any money spent helping incumbent democrats is wasted money.

Exactly!

(Sorry, this is to theloneapple)

One of these days even the stupid will be tired enough of carrying these heartless SOBs that that they’ll quit interfering with our efforts to get them off our backs.

Sorry you’re so sensitive to criticism.

FDL’s positions are mostly in line with what the majority of the polls show that’s what voters want. By my def., that’s not Left, it’s center. Just because the pols call it Left doesn’t make it so.

Apparently, by standards of earlier decades, the U.S. needs some movement much farther to the left than what most citizens want, as a counterbalance to the power of the corps. I don’t see any evidence of that.

Dear Employee,

If you don’t like your job or situation then find another one because no one is making you work here. Go back to school, try another industry because you know it does work. Maybe not at first, but people do progress and improve their situation through hard work and perseverance – it’s the American way and dream. Because you know if you sit around and bitch and whine ‘poor me’ well, that’s a self-defeating strategy and you might as well learn to appreciate what you have cause that’s the best it’s gonna get.

Here’s another thought… tell the unions that just dropped $10m to give you a job or some of that money? Instead hating on those that create jobs perhaps the unions can create some themselves or at least give you some of that money. Probably won’t do it because one they can’t create jobs, and two they need to keep you pissed off so you’ll send money that they can drop on elections. That’s their business model. But hey, it’s worth a try.

Anyway, best of luck…

Sincerely,

Corporate America

Bluetoe2 — I don’t spend all my time at the keyboard, nor do most of the blogging activists I know. They go and they work their asses off in the field. Frankly, there’s been one helluva lot of traction over the last eight years towards rebuilding the left in this country. Our problem is that we assumed it would be easy and take only one or two congressional terms to take the left back from its co-option. We were n00bies and we were wrong; we were up against billions of corporate dollars and their legion of PR flacks and fundamentally disengaged and politically lazy average non-activist Americans. As Ted Kennedy said, the work continues and the dream goes on. We are not fucking done.

goto100 (43) — This bit right here?

Disengage. Protest. Strike. Set up a new party. Make it revolutionary while you’re at it.

Horribly naive and uninformed. There have been disengagements – it got us George W. Bush not once but twice. There have been protests – millions got out to protest the Iraq War and immigration reform and nothing came of it. Strikes? in the middle of a depression? You have to be smoking something, seriously.

The revolution will not be anything you dream of with limited mental programming.

My husband is in the IBEW and I can tell you that the unrest is palpable. These guys are talking about “revolution” and they are very unhappy with Obama. WAY unhappy. There are two areas hitting these guys hard.

1) jobs
2) finance (can’t get credit)

I don’t think Obama realizes how these two issues are taking a crap on middle america.

Yes!!

Criticism? bring it on. Be effective while you’re at it.

And perhaps the polls do show the substantive majority of public has moved left, where we’ve already been waiting for them — but the leadership of this country has been well and truly captured by your former employers and in turn their owners, so that there is no center, only the people at one end and the Masters of the Universe at the other.

FDL and its minions are the center??? Ha!… thanks for the great laugh.

Greatly appreciated. Thank you.

The finance issue is HUGE. My husband’s company cannot do any expansion of business, is spending a lot more time trying to figure out how to land work which is right there for the taking, but without any capital.

Which means longer hours for existing staff, no new hires.

BTW, my sister is a co-chair of IBEW local. Nice to meet a “family” member!

I’ve listened to Jessie Jackson’s “Keep Hope Alive” radio call in show every week and have been heartened to here there is a growing disillusionment in the black community with Obama. Obviously the same can be said about the unions. There has to be a certain degree of frustration within the gay rights community. The immigration reform/latino community may well be the next to register their disillusionment. Perhaps out of these will germinate a nucleus from which people can coalesce giving birth to a real movement that has the power to challenge a corrupt and ossified plutocracy.

Karp’s “Indispensable Enemies” is a must-read.

The parties have their own interests which are different than the interests of their militants, their voters, or even their donors. Everything a party pro does is for his own good.

Democrats and Republicans cooperate to split up the pie. They have little fights, but they band together against outsiders who want to horn in or upset the applecart. A lot of their fights in Congress are fixed like pro wrestling.

Karp goes overboard often enough, but once you’ve read his book you’ll never think of politicians the same again.

What’s needed is a real people powered movement with brains, not just a Left version of the Tea Idiots. A movement with concrete goals rather than stupid slogans and amorphous concepts like “restoring” the Constitution.

Word, Mr. Chief-of-Staff:

If putting 100% assholes in, to replace 90% assholes, is “costing us the house”, you can count me IN.

There were dozen’s of strikes in the depths of the first Republican Depression. Perhaps you missed that when you were reading the history books, unless you were reading only history approved by the Texas School Board.

Generally speaking, I think the White House is right about this.

At any rate, it is hard to dispute that the union money was not well spent.

If for no other reason than to prove to you that you can’t take us for granted. You shit? We shit back. You’re from Chicago. You ought to know that.

I already ‘never think about politicians the same way,’ but I’ve put Karp in my shopping cart & will look forward to reading it. Thanks.

The White House brain trust preparing to piss off voters.

I love the caption. It sums it all up.

I hope workers start understanding that the Democrats don’t give a shit about them. At all. After all they’ve done for labor?? That’s just plain deluded.

Frankly if Obama loses in 2012 I won’t mourn. Not even W gave us such a shitty year as the Obama brain trust has. I understand it’s not all his fault, but he has been found wanting in every major issue he’s faced, starting with the financial crisis and the puny “stimulus” that fixes nothing, then toadying up to industry with this ridiculous health care “reform”, again toadying up to industry with ridiculous financial “reform” that does nothing, then acting as a fully owned subsidiary toady of BP when faced with the worst environmental catastrophe in our history (for which he is not entirely blameless). He has shown no understanding of what people are facing, has given us no leadership on any issue that matters. And he is worse than useless because Dims in Congress go along with every hare-brained Pragmatic idea.

Sorry for the rant. But I’m sick to the core about what is happening in my country.

Well, not only that, but when unemployment is high, the stress on the guys is a safety issue. This is something I don’t think people who don’t live it, realize. When you push these workers beyond reasonable limits, they make mistakes and accidents happen. The current situation is that there are 250 guys on the bench, where we live. The lobbying and targeting funds are used to “win” jobs for the guys on the bench. These funds augment the bids so they can compete with non union labor where non union labor doesn’t offer disability for injuries and sometimes does not even offer health care.

My town is pro corporate and anti union. The union crew won the bids only because of targeting funds that allowed them to compete. The atmosphere at these jobs is horrible. Perfectionism. (not a little but alot) and speed are the rules of the day. Hurry up, hurry up, do it faster, and get written up if you make a mistake. My husband has been non union and union and has never faced this kind of pressure. My husband is one of the hardest workers I know. Never misses work, always at work a half hour early and physically like a 20 year old at age 50. He feels he cannot keep up. The non union contractors resent the unions. My husband asked for time off to get a root canal on a tooth that was killing him. (he’s in AA and takes no pain killers). They said he could take it off but they would write him up. The next week, I was in the hospital with a MRSA infection in my abdomen. He could not take time off without fear of losing his job. This kind of pressure is wrong. But it’s what these guys are working in as they are working in dangerous situations. One guy hacked off his foot recently.

It’s not just that they have to work harder, but for union guys is also life and death. And those lobbying funds, those target funds are the only way to compete in an environment where skill and safety don’t matter to corporate America. To corporate America my husband is just a body. Not a human being. I was raised in a white collar home and never fully appreciated the unions until I saw first hand what happens to “humans” where corporate America and greed are in charge. It’s not about working hard or being skilled. It’s about the fact that when there are large numbers of folks needing work, a body is just a body. (dead? injured?
…you just replace it)

This was in partial answer to a you as a “family” (Hey there!!) member and to the pro corporate rant above.

The unions spent tons of money on Obama, and didn’t get much for that either.

Rahm pretends he’s on our side and he’s very nice about giving us helpful advice and constructive criticism, but he’s not on our side.

We had a fucking diversified media then, too, or did you miss that in your own perusal of history?

The amount of corporate money involved in races was an entirely different animal, as was the kind of PR/marketing work done to promote a candidate.

Just for starters. This isn’t the 1930s, or you’d see genuine outrage because people would be starving in the streets and there’d be breadlines in every city. Unfortunately it’s the past successes which have prevented the American Idol/Survivor/LOST addicts in this country from seeing the truth of their country’s current condition.

‘Gold, I think it was worth a try. The main thing is, that anything that has oRahma pissing and moaning, can’t be all bad. In fact, since that little sibling of “fucking retards”, pretty much spells out what O. and his centrist clowns are made of, the further exposing of them (If that was needed) was worth the money, itself.

Blaming the progressives, when we came pretty close to turning out one of Obama’s pet corporate shills, is just one voice in the shreiking we’ll hear when the voters get done with them in the mid-terms. Coming from these “centrist” drama queens, it’ll be music to my ears.

The black community sees exactly what the rest of us see.

The unions, likewise.

Your suggestions @ 44 are the way “forward”.

However, as I’ve have been saying, until we may fashion compelling narratives of the “world” or society we would ALL like to see, rather than simply expressing our reasonable and appropriate outrage, until we can suggest a future that others would readily agree is better, then we are not yet ready to have a successful movement.

I see no appetite, anywhere, as yet, on the left, to take these necessary first steps.

Presumably the “learning” must needs continue a while longer?

I would suggest that more and more people are paying attention, I fact, I would say that a clear majority of the human beings living in this nation DO understand the “problems”, they just have not yet been offered ANY solutions.

Apparently, many, on the “left” are satisfied to be appalled and outraged, on a daily basis, rather than DO the hard work of putting themselves at the risk of taking the next step.

DW

My unprofessional opinion is that Halter lost because of turnout.

May 18
Blanche Lincoln 145,207 45%
Bill Halter 138,600 42%
DC Morrison 42,349 13%

June 8

Blanche Lincoln 133,897 52%
Bill Halter 123,490 47%

There’s a difference of 68,769 votes between May 18 and June 8. Both Halter and Lincoln received fewer votes on June 8 than on May 18. The vote on June 8 was only 79% of the vote on May 18.

Dr. Weevil; sorry, but why are you sorry for the rant?

I thought it was a fine rant. I felt better, reading it. :o)

The WHITE HOUSE and the MSM are acting like Blanche Lincoln won the general election.

It is almost like Blanche Lincoln wanted a run off, wanted to be primaried, etc. etc.

Blanche Lincoln gets to go to the finals, against another republican. Blanche has to win November, to stay a senator.

How is Blanche going to do this without Progrssives help?

Labor and Progressives hurt Blanche “the phony democrat” chances of winning in the general election.

The same can be done to any Democrat including Barack Obama

A great rant but you were wrong about one thing you said. It’s not “our” country, it’s “theirs.” Saying it’s our country is tantamount to a serf saying, it’s his land, not the lord of the manor’s.

Is it Rayne or Rahm?

Very good. Bears repeating.

Was American Idol on the evening of the election in Arkansas?

WADR, DW, I think the necessary first step is to pull the political rug out from under Obama and his crew. We aren’t going to “win” in the mid-terms. The real gain is going to come from the voters telling him:

“We, in no uncertain terms, hired you to do a job; one in which you spoke well and forcefully, of your plans to do it. Now, we find out that you are either unwilling or unable, to pour piss out of a boot, or, perhaps, more appropriately, to stop BP from pouring oil INTO the GOM boot. We don’t have a lot of faith that anyone we’re putting in, is going to do any better, but dumping someone who unspinnably pitched himself and his planned administration as doing a LOT better, is a pretty good first step.
See you in 2012! The voters.”

The so called “centrist clowns” are ther largest voting block in the country. It breaks down roughly like this: Centrists: 45%; Conservatives: 35%; and, Progressives: 20%.

This is the key to understanding what so many here rage about daily.

“If Garland county hadn’t been shut down, Halter would have won” Uh, sorry, he wouldn’t have won. The voting was consistent in all Arkansas Counties. Turnout was low, and the numbers matched. Even if you gave Halter the same amount of votes from Garland he had last time, he would STILL lose. A lawsuit would be sour grapes. The people of Arkansas voted and made THEIR choice, whether a lady from Arizona or a guy from Florida disagree with them or not.

If everybody who voted for Bill Halter on May 18 voted for him on June 8, he would awaken today as the nominee.

Bluetoe, I think it IS still ours, and if, most likely, when, the voters hammer Obama and the democrats this November, and speaking as a lifelong liberal, I think that will be pretty good proof of it.
Obama and his coterie are doing something that to me, is genuinely perverted:

They have the same sanctimonious attitude of the certainty of rightness of their actions in sustaining so many of bush’s worst policies, as did bushCo, as they misuse the power which we gave them BECAUSE of the fuckups of the Bush administration.

If it’s true that the preznint and his character and worldview set the tone for the country, and in good measure, the world (and I think it is) then this summer, and the rest of the Obama administration’s stint, are going to make the mad-hatter’s party look like Mohandas Ghandi and Mother Teresa having a beer in a bar.

Yes, “that” is a “step”, tanbark, the people MUST let Obama know that we are not impressed, however we must think post-Obama, as Obama, clearly represents what is wrong, we must think post-politics-as-usual.

What kind of a society do you want?

Rather than telling me what it would look like, I ask you to engage in a thought-exercise and tell us what the world or society you would like to inhabit would feel like.

It is this visceral “understanding” that I am speaking to, because such consideration allows sanity and reason to reign, rather than fear and manipulation.

DW

So if ya spend money and lose it wasn’t money well spent? Must have a tangible roi?

Horseshit.

I think you’re right. They haven’t made the crucial conceptual leap of understanding to realize that our financial woes are systemic. I think they really still think all they need to do is make a few teaks, get the banks on their feet again and dust them off, tighten our belts (our not their) and everything will right itself. But that’s a bit like getting Tiger Woods drunk again and putting him back in his car. The system is broken and needs a major restructuring. Unfortunately Obama is no FDR.

I think it’s crucial that unions educate their members on the basics of these issues. The elites still have great success in playing workers against each other. The latest Republican meme is that public sector unions have it too good in these hard times, thus misdirecting voter anger away from the real culprits. Democrats, needless to say, are doing nothing to defend them and may even concede the point, to appear “reasonable” (just as Obama conceded the point on activist judges).

Do your homework. You apparently have no clue who you think you are baiting.

Given the high unemployment numbers for youth in the inner cities begs the question, Will this be a long hot summer in the cities?

OldGold; not exactly true. Those “centrist” didn’t double the electoral votes for John McCain and the GOP, on behalf of Obama and the dems because they wanted him to behave as a real centrist. We are in deep shit, and the solutions for it are not going to be very “bi-partisan”, and when WE went into the voting booths and put paid to the republicans and gave Obama that real mandate, they weren’t doing it so that Joe Lieberman could write the healthcare reform bill, to steal Jane’s apt phrase; they were doing it for the real stuff. Now, with Obama’s standing naked, as the weakling he is, I’m pretty sure WE are going to withdraw that mandate.

Choir, preaching — I hear you loud and clear, get it from the union brethren whenever I run into them (like last night at a fundraiser).

Would you consider taking that comment and modifying it into a post at The Seminal? I think it’s really important for more people to hear it, especially with the number of workers’ deaths in mines and now offshore at the Deepwater Horizon rig. Cutting corners to save money literally costs lives.

Well, when you get upset by a marginal candidate in this anti-incumbent atmosphere, it doesn’t suggest the money was well spent.

Remember what BO said to the press about those union teachers in Rhode Island? “They should be fired.” That was it for me.

What? Do you consider yourself a person of such significance I’m supposed to know who you are? A wee bit pretentious no? I just read your snotty reply earlier and thought it was ridiculous. I don’t have a clue what you think you represent in the broader blogosphere. I actually don’t care much either to be honest.

But anyhow. “Homework” is stuff I do for worthwhile topics. Politics and self-important people’s opinions not amongst them.

It is not clear that these terms, Conservative, Centrist and Progressive, are really meaningful any more. Both of the major parties are pro-corporate, anti-worker, anti-environment, etc. On the political spectrum they span the range from infrared to red. At the same time, a large fraction of the population is really pissed with the way things are going in this country, and these terms tend to focus peoples thoughts into a narrow area. If people are channeled into thinking that the only options are bad Democrats and unspeakably bad Republicans, they may not realize that there are better ways of doing things.

If we look back at the civil rights and anti-Vietnam-war movements, the politicians did little until the weight of public opinion forced them to. I don’t think we can expect most politicians to enact policies for the long-term benefit of the American people, unless the force of public opinion gives them no option. A difference between now and 50 years ago is that the media did report the civil rights demonstrations and the anti-Vietnam-war demonstrations for at least a while. Now the corporate media are uniformly engaged in deceiving the American people into acting in ways that are against their long-term interests. If there is a ray of hope, the corporate media are gradually becoming less and less relevant.

Halter wasn’t even a progressive. He was talking a good game, but would have taken similar positions that Lincoln has considering that the people of Arkansas are not too keen on left-wing politics.

Agree, Rayne. The whole thing is sooooo Soviet. One bright spot in all of this is the exposure of the WH’s animosity towards working people. Hell, if the AFL is the only voice out there saying, “we not stooges for the DLC,” then we have potential. What would a REAL union movement look like? Solidarnosc?

aldous. That’s very logical. How is it then not possible for aligned, marginalised interest groups, the self-same ones who financed Halter (the ‘progressive’ . Mwahahah) to instead collect funding for a new, third, national party? If all funds that flow to the Corporate Party are suddenly diverted to a new entity, you’d have something viable very quickly. How can this not be possible? There is so much money flowing around US politics. It’s actually obscene. A little bit of that would be enough to get the ball rolling in the right direction.

Why isn’t this blog exclusively aiming to do that? Why is there any engagement at all with that bunch of evil, plutocratic whores called the Democratic Party? Why is this blog not in clear, open, and total opposition to them, just like it is to the Republicans, whilst offering a genuine, untainted, and independent alternative?

You are throwing some high heat! Speak it, my brother.

My comment first thing on Swim this morning was

“Win some, lose some. Next project, please.”

I’m not upset about Halter losing nor am I upset about any money that was spent trying to get him elected.

I do think we have time to find and cultivate better candidates for 2012. I’m not one of those who have to have the whole enchilada right now or I take my toys and go home.

I believe they do see it. They just no longer no how resist. The civil right movement had teach ins to teach people protest and political activism.

This was typical Jared Bernstein arrogance and White House studidity. Just look at the wonders this administration has done for Labor. Nada! We are incurring half-trillion dollar trade deficits annually that could be converted into domestic production and jobs by the simple decision to enact an updated version of the “Balanced Trade Restoration Act of 2006″ by Dorgan and Feingold. It got nowhere under Bush but should be a major jobs initiative for Obama now – create 4 to 5 million jobs within two years and with no deficit spending, while also eliminating the ruinous trade deficits where we must borrow $2 billion every day to cover. Why doesn’t economist Bernstein get Joe Biden to take charge of this idea and be a real hero instead of just a cheerleader.
Ken Davis
Stamford, CT

Why is this blog not in clear, open, and total opposition to them, just like it is to the Republicans, whilst offering a genuine, untainted, and independent alternative?

Because blogs that back obscure third parties don’t get on MSNBC and CNN? Sorry to be uncharitable, but I too don’t understand the unwillingness to “go there”.

…Pelosi/Reid/Obama did a lot for labor

great thread – illuminating comments

let’s take a look at what “a lot for” is, shall we ?

in the final stages of the HCR battle, Congr Leadership did some kind of back end/carve out to stave off taxes on so-called ‘Cadillac Plans’ correct ?

IOW “a lot for” equals not taking away something Labor already had and making things worse period. ‘We didn’t fuck you” is some kind of favor aint it ??

DW; gladly.

As I said, we can’t just go to positive works. That’s not how things are done in american politics. In the situation we’re in, instilling political fear, that their jobs, their worldview, and their “legacy”, whatever it is, are at risk, is the first step.

Let’s go back to when Obama first came in. If he had, in his first 30 days:

Closed the prison at Gitmo, no matter if he had to put them in portables on the White House lawn, that would have been the earnest money that he meant business.

If he had, in his first 90 days:

Taken a good look at the regs for offshore drilling, and then toughened them up, or, better yet, put his administration behind RADICAL and fairly immediate changes in the mileage requirements for cars and small trucks, he could have shut down the diciest of the drilling, that is, the deeper ones, or have closed off that entire environmental crapshoot for new oil fields, and we would never have missed a drop of it.

Still working on the 90 day thing:

He needed to shitcan Petraeus and Odierno, and some other warbots; put in some brass who would then wait a couple of months and say: “That’s it. We’ve done all we can do; time to go home and let the chips fall.” Obama could then have taken large steps to get us out of both shitmires within 6 months. Now, he’s escalated in Afghanistan, and is releasing trial balloons about not sticking to his 18 month withdrawal plan, in Iraq.

He could have handed Reid a real HCR bill, with a strong public option, a provision for re-importing generic drugs, a provision to end the exemption from anti-trust laws that the health insurance industry currently enjoys, and said to him:

“Put this on the floor of the Senate. If the repubs want to filibuster, let them. I don’t care if you’ve got to sleep in your seat and shit in a Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket for a month. Bring it up for a vote at least twice a week, and we’ll see how their mandate compares with mine.
Harry? If they don’t cave in three weeks, I’ll pay for the longest-legged, highest-assed, hottest hooker every to work a K Street lobbyist, for you for a weekend.”

DW, admittedly, I’m shooting fish in a barrel here. These were some of the more obvious failures; the ones which are now starting to chomp on his centrist ass.
Your question of what kind of a society I want? Probably pretty close to what you want. Economic democracy. People judged (if we must judge) as MLK said, on the content of their character, not the color of their skins, nor their gender, nor their sexual orientation, nor their religious beliefs or lack of them.
Most importantly, an understanding that the pursuit of ever-increasing amounts of money is, in fact, very degrading to the quality of life for most of us. As the old saying goes: Even if you’re winning the rat race, you’re still a rat”.
In a phrase, I’m a secular humanist. People, and their happiness and well–being matter more than corporate well-being or religious fervor, or even political philosophies…especially those political philosophies that regularly result in mayhem and pointless bloodshed.

But these things are not going to descend on us from heaven; they derive from a humanistic understanding that they are more important than some corporate ethic. And to that end, we need to dump politicians who are such free-marketeers that anything goes with them, and who believe that the Fortune 500 is something akin to the Vatican with no costumes. And, of course, we need to find others who agree with us. Both things are currently difficult to do, but, at the risk of stealing a recent nifty-if-perverted slogan: yes, we can.

God. If that’s true, and I agree, it may be, then there is literally no one you can trust, and they are indeed ALL now pod people.

Just asking, but why the hell did anyone vote for Carly Fiorina or Meg Whitman? They are businesswomen, not politicians. Look at what Carly did to HP, outsourced everything, wiretapped and followed reporters illegally. They are the people that citizens are putting up on pedestals to run as our representatives?!?!

What the hell is wrong with this country?

Another thing I don’t understand is how can Blanche win by 2% (from what I could find), but everyone makes it seem like that this was a resounding endorsement of her views.

How is that going to work out for her in November? Do you truly believe that people are just going to go out and vote for Blanche because she is the lesser of two evils? I think people are waking up to the fact that politicians, especially those from Wal-Mart do not represent the people as a whole.

It is definitely a sad day in American politics. Also, I really hate how CNN is saying how “The women won”. If this was a typical election with a bunch of old white guys running with a smattering of women and the men won, they’d be accused of being sexist. Nice double standard CNN.

I don’t like typing that, because Glenn Greenwald and Jane Hamsher are the two sole people that I trust and admire in the political arena. But what the fuck is FDL waiting for? Let’s go!

Dude. Seriously. If you have a worthwhile project, find it.

Well said, tanbark.

Thank you for the depth of that analysis.

My concern is the dialogue necessary to truly transform our society and our world.

“Tweaking” what we “have” is mendacious nonsense.

If we seek a revolution of understanding, which is what is necessary and what is also happening, as the elites reveal for all to see the essential paucity of their “philosophy”, then it is needful that clear visions of where humanity must “go”, or what it must become (more human), be developed and shared, for a shared vision is the essence of revolution and critical, absolutely, to any possible success.

DW

Morning, DW. It seems clear now that we can no longer work “within” the Democratic Party. and must find a way to work “without” the Democratic Party. Starting anything new is very difficult but I suggest that the time is ripe to start a new movement with like minded people. The first step is the hardest but I think we should do it now.

Good morning to you, Twain.

If those of us who are older are willing to forgo the dubious comfort of resting on our “laurels” (or whatever we want call it) and stand up for what matters, as “our” risk is merely a short amount of “time”, if we are honest, then our example (which I regard as our obligation) might well serve to inspire those who are younger to seize the moment, which, really, by all that is rightful and just, should be “theirs”, and the future then will not be filled with dread, hatred, violence and greed.

Someone has to dare to begin.

(Of course, we all “began” this thing long ago, and have been waiting for just this moment all our lives, even if many of us do not realize that fact.)

Time and humanity demand nothing less of us.

Twain, you are an ally whom I cherish beyond words.

DW

Ignoring you in future, starting now?

The White House doesn’t give a whit about labor. If the Rs win, Obama’s efforts on behalf of Oligarchs & Kleptocrats will not miss a beat, so from their perspective – it’s all good.

I quite understand. This is currently the hardest maybe-truth of all to face. But as with Obama, never suspend disbelief. It will only get you killed.

The absolute idiots are the ones in the White House and in the right wing of the Democrat Party. They are content to lose in November rather than listen to their party’s base. I agree with f***no — these clowns are perfectly happy to pass off Congress and later the Oval Office to the GOP because it will still be business as usual.

I keep telling them that, but like any abused spouse, they just are too afraid of leaving. The abuser has the abused spouse convinced that she can’t make it without him. Likewise, the Democrats’ base cannot fathom politics without the Democrats. They don’t want to have their heads caved in with a lead pipe, but the prospect of having it caved in with a brick somehow seems a lot scarier. It matters not that they’re still getting their heads caved in.

How is Blanche going to do this without Progrssives help?

I wouldn’t worry about progressives staying home in November. Jason will simply order them not to be “Naderites” and progressives will line up like dutiful little Democrat pups to vote for Lincoln. Oh, wait, that didn’t work out too well in Massachusetts did it? Sucks to be Blanche Lincoln and her fellow corporatists, doesn’t it?

Harry Truman once said, “Given the choice between a Republican and someone who acts like a Republican, people will vote for the real Republican all the time.” I don’t know why Democrats today refuse to learn this fundamental lesson. Maybe they really are just f***ing retarded.

That’s very kind of you, DW. I don’t think starting a “new” party should even be mentioned. It freaks people out – “it’s too hard, it costs too much” etc. We need to start groups and begin to build on our principles. It’s certainly not impossible.

That dosent mean that they wont continue to dump money on blue dogs in primaries. probably since blue dogs are losers, so its a winning formula for them and they will have even more of our money in the near future, they will increase the amount they spend on the blanche lincolns of the world.

That is the proper place for such beginnings, Twain.

Inevitable is the word, it is merely a question of when …

“Impossible”, in terms of “sustainability” is what we have now.

(It cannot long continue without destroying everything, including humanity)

Principles are the basis civilization, and should be the essence of humanity itself, otherwise we shall have neither.

DW

One of the biggest failings of the union movement was its failure to make it clear that the union movement raises all boats.

A lot of white collar workers not only don’t get that unions were necessary to protect workers from the callous attitudes you describe, but that those protections expand. Just as wages and benefits increase for white collar workers when unions get them.

Now union members are to be punished for having the audacity to think they should have any rights whatsoever. Too bad those cheering this on, don’t get that they are next.

I think many people are misreading the extent of the negative consequences of failing to dethrone Lincoln last night. This was the battle royale pitting progressives against the corporate whores and the whore won. What message does that send to the Blue Dogs, the New Democrats, and the other DINOs like Lincoln? It tells them that the progressive coalition doesn’t have the clout to take out even a severely damaged overt corporate whore in a state where advertising is cheap and the population poor.

So why should people like Dan Lipinski or Chuck Schumer or Kent Conrad or Jane Harman be concerned about being taken out from the left? No reason at all. They will feel free to move as far right as necessary to rake in the corporate $$$ without fear of retribution. We will be hearing comments in the near future like “Progressives don’t have anywhere else to go, we own them. They’ll take what crumbs we give them and like it.” The AR primary was the big showdown and we lost. Unions lost and workers lost and the country lost. If Halter had won, the message would have been that incumbents will pay dearly if they ignore progressive demands. Instead, the message is that unions and progressives, for all their screaming and blogging, are ineffective lightweights who can’t really punish anyone.

The real question after this stunning defeat is where do progressives go after this? Crawling back to the Dems in November? Another futile attempt to form a third party in a system heavily rigged against such initiatives? For myself, I’ve had enough. I was born in 1940 and have lived through better times and it has been very discouraging to watch the country slowly turn into a fascist, militaristic, prison state. I worry about what kind of sick world my grandkids will have to live in.

I am fortunate enough to have earned enough enough money during my working career as an engineer to live on comfortably(not extravagantly) for the rest of my life. Everything I own is paid for and I have zero credit card debt. So I am giving up trying to change the world or the government. My wife and I have a nice place near the water up here in Canada(a much more civilized place than the US) on Vancouver Island and I am going fishing. No more money to politicians or causes, no more high blood pressure from getting pissed off at corrupt political hacks, and no more disappointment with my fellow man. I wish you youngsters success, but I have just seen too much of the ugly to waste my time any longer.

It’s so interesting to me that in the south, people have no clue what unions are about. Therefore, they hate them. This is, of course, due to the usual lack of information and being told by business that unions are bad. We badly need to do some education re this.

Try. Real hard. Better yet, go work on your worthwhile project. You’re merely clogging up the pipes here.

Hey Teddy, you should look a little closer at the Lily Ledbetter act before you buy the assertion that this was a victory for organized labor.

Labor did not lobby heavily for it: It was the trial lawyers who did all the heavy lifting.

Any good collective bargaining agreement will already have protections for union members like those addressed in the Ledbetter act.

People are not mad at private business unions. They are mad at the public unions. The pensions are unsustainable, and the taxpayers are fed up with sub-standard services. Unions and politicians are polling very low.

Sincerely,

The President of the United States, for
Corporate America

Fixed.

Why is Pres. Obama smearing labor unions these days? Labor union members are an important part of America’s middle class. Apparently, some high official in the Obama White House claimed that labor unions “wasted” ten million dollars trying to defeat the Blue Dog Dem in the Arkansas Senate primary election. Pres. Obama is certainly not a progressive. He is not even a liberal. He is a corporatist and an imperialist and a royalist, thorough and through. I know that many Dems and progressives want to believe otherwise, but check out Pres. Obama’s actions over the last sixteen months; forget his words…

Look at what Obama is willing to let happen in the Gulf of Mexico. If that horror has been left unattended to then imagine what the condition of the country will be when he is gone in 2012. There is NO way he will be reelected.

And with this, I officially wash my hands of Obama and this corporatist, take-your-crumbs-and-smile line. I’m done with the democratic party, and I hope what’s left of the labor movement in America does likewise.

I’ll be voting republican if the democrat in the race is a blue dog, just so we can at least have proper labels on our politicians. For everything else, I’m voting the furthest left third party I can find. It’s time for the Left in this country to reclaim it’s independence and it’s ideology from the democratic party.

Amen.

For the millionth time I will state: things are bad, but they simply ARE NOT bad enough. Things need to deteriorate at least twice, maybe 3 times worse. Then maybe the sheeple will crawl out of their easy chairs and start striking some sparks. Until then . . . * YAWN*

Topcat?
It was a somewhat battle royal, Arkansas is not a Union or Progressive strong hold. For progressives to make such noise in a southern state is an accomplishment.

We are fighting an enemy that understands the ART of DECPTION.

The USA new govt structure.

Level 1 = The Corporate Elite and Corporate Media
Level 2 = The Corporate Dem Party and The Corporate Rep Party
Level 3 = You have Corporate Politicians who are really Lobbyist

The american people have been shut out of their govt.

Don’t buy into to much of what the MSM says TopCat, for all practical purposes Blanche Lincoln political career is over. The people of Arkansas get to elect a real republican not one acting calling herself a Democrat.

The MSM protects most phony Dem senators from the Left and the majority of americans. Do you think the majority of americans love the individual mandate that all these phony dems voted for without a public option?

OBAMA is a trojan horse, Progressives and others were fooled, into supporting BUSH lite.

A lot for labor?

Unemployment officially is at near 10%, unofficially closer to 17%. The Senate won’t renew COBRA and unemployment benefits and rather than enhance the stimulus they are talking about cutting it back, and then cutting SS and Medicare.

Are these people unconscious or unconscionable?

Actually the reason that public unions pensions and benefits are unsustainable are the same reasons that private businesses are dropping health insurance and bridges are in danger of falling down.

One is an unavoidable consequence of a greedy private insurance system that doesn’t work for anyone really and is unsustainable for everyone period and should be scrapped for single payer. The second is the result of the same thing that happened for many private corporation benefit programs. The people who should have been funding didn’t do it. A few years ago here in NY, a real journalist ran the numbers of the benefits plans for cops, firemen, teachers and transit workers and found that if the city had invested an amount equal to 6 percent of those payrolls in municipal bonds covering the average time of employment there would be no problem funding the benefits. Others have run similar numbers for various private industries complaining about the cost of benefits. Not having invested the money they were supposed to invest is what has made this unsustainable.

You see the problem is that governments, and private corporations, were fine with signing those contracts because it worked for them to have lower wage increases. What they weren’t willing to do was to actually live up to their obligations. Just as they are fine with ignoring the need to repair and upkeep their infrastructure. They’ll run huge pr campaigns for various things, and give tax cuts to businesses that don’t really do what they promise, and in the case of NY even build a hugely expensive emergency services headquarters that the services themselves said was a waste in a place in that all the security experts said was stupid because the mayor was a bully and an ass. Too bad it was such a waste since it had barely been in existence when it was destroyed. Better that money had gone into some municipal bonds.

The other way to look at this is the compensation system in this country is horribly skewed. That picking up your garbage, teaching your children, protecting your family, and fighting fires at your home and your place of business should be the standard of compensation. Not sports stars, or Wall Street traders, or television talking heads or most certainly Masters of the Universe who produce nothing but ways to gamble other peoples money, it should be the people who actually work to make where you live a better place.

I think the sad thing is that many people angry about this are angry because they have lost so much ground not realizing that most of the people egging them on don’t want anyone to have it because that means less for them, and if you get people focused on that jealousy thing they miss that the problem isn’t the cops and the teachers, it is the corporate culture that believes that business owes nothing to their community, their customers or their employees, and hell any more their stockholders. So they whip up that resentment even though they make more in a minute then some people do in a year. Because that resentment will help keep wages low and let them keep bonuses that would make a working class family weep with joy and gratitude because they could put a child through college. And keep up resentment about unemployment and cobra and social security so that their taxes stay low. The saddes thing about that is that when THEY leave jobs they screw up royally they get money that would equal pension payments to a cop for a year or two or more while the average Joe hopes that unemployment will cover the rent long enough for them to find a job without going homeless.

Sorry, I just hate that we can’t make it clear that mismanagement isn’t about having these contractual obligations now, but in not living up to their obligations in better years and that the waste hurt everyone.

Oh, and I won’t vote republican, but I won’t for the Democratic stooge either. I’ll sit it out. But just so that it is clear to the establishment, I’ll let the democratic candidates, DNC, DCCC, DSSC and the White House know I’m not voting because they have refused to give me a candidate worth my vote. I might even waste time on registering the letters…

Could I suggest that, instead of sitting out the elections, you vote for third-party, such as Green, candidates? I think it sends a more powerful message, since you made the effort to vote — just not for someone with a (D) after his/her name — rather than saying, in effect, “whoever you want is OK”.

I know Mike Doyle, and I think you’ve unfairly attacked him in saying that he doesn’t yell his support for labor from the mountains. I saw him literally yelling his support for steelworkers from the Capitol steps 10 years ago. Capitol Hill is no mountain, but doesn’t that count? And a quick check on Youtube produced this more recent example of him giving labor a shout out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwTLDSvad1w. I’m sure there’s more footage out there. And I didn’t have time to look it up but I’m pretty sure he’s got close to a 100 percent voting record on labor issues. Yelling, check. Voting, check. So what’s your beef with him?

Not voting doesn’t provide information on “why” you didn’t vote – are you busy, lazy, angry, etc. For the near future, until we truly get some changes, at least write-in a candidates name or choose a different party to make a point that you are unhappy with the candidates provided.