Stephen Lendman
On October 16, Hofstra University (Hempstead, NY) hosted the second Obama/Romney charade. Demagogic blather again took center stage. Ritualistic theater was featured. Grade F spectacle defines it.
Bombast substituted for substance. Vital facts about the state of the nation and world were excluded. Viewers wasted two hours watching. What they most need to know wasn’t covered. Instead they were bombarded by duplicity and indifference toward growing human needs.
Duopoly fascism in America excludes alternative voices. Third party candidates are virtually shut out. Getting ballot access alone presents enormous challenges. Major media coverage is denied or too little to matter.
How many American know about other parties, let alone who represents them? Major ones include the Libertarian Party, Constitution Party, Justice Party, and Green Party.
Libertarian Party candidates Gary Johnson/Jim Gray were denied Michigan and Oklahoma ballot access. Constitution Party candidates Virgil Goode/Jim Clymer got on only 26 of 50 state ballots. Justice Party candidates Rocky Anderson/Luis Rodriguez managed only 19.
Green Party candidates Jill Stein/Cheri Honkala were denied access on 12 state ballots. There’s more. Alternate party candidates are excluded from presidential “debates.” Just showing up to watch is hazardous.
Ralph Nader learned the hard way. In 2000, he was accosted and threatened with arrest for trying. Having a valid auxiliary viewing room ticket didn’t matter. Nader sued and won partial vindication.
Doing so didn’t erase the stain of America’s farcical democracy. It exists in name only. USA-style fascism comes wrapped in an American flag. It’s harsh like other versions but isn’t discussed.
Only targeted victims feel its sting. Step out of line and become one of them. On October 16, Green Party candidates learned firsthand.
Stein/Honkala’s web site explained. It headlined “Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala arrested, call tonight’s debate a mockumentary,” saying:
Iron-fisted fascism showed up in Hempstead. Stein and Honkala were “forcibly prevented from entering the grounds of tonight’s presidential debate….”
Corporate/party boss-run Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) members exclude alternative voices. Money power operates secretly with no public oversight. A sham process repeats each electoral cycle.
Real democracy is mocked. Discussion of major issues is excluded. Hardball crackdowns target challengers.
Stein and Honkala “were arrested by local police when they tried to enter the grounds of Hofstra University….” They remained in police custody for hours.
At 2PM Tuesday, they “walked with supporters” toward Hofstra’s “town hall” venue.
“There they were met by three ranks of police officers in uniform and plainclothes. At this point, the Green Party candidates held an impromptu press conference in which Dr. Stein called the CPD debate a ‘mockumentary,’ saying that, ‘We are here to bring the courage of those excluded from our politics to this mock debate, this mockery of democracy.’ ”
Both candidates “turned and began walking” towards the debate venue. Police “physically stopped them and pushed them back.” They sat down and were arrested.
They were charged with “obstructing traffic.” None was visible at the time. CPD bosses call the shots. Cops don’t represent ordinary people or independent political candidates.
They serve money power. Hardball crackdowns prove it. Even independent presidential candidates taste their harshness.
On October 17, Stein/Honkala’s web site headlined “Now free, Stein, Honkala pledge ramp up fight for open debates,” saying:
After spending eight hours “handcuffed to a metal chair in a remote (Long Island) police warehouse,” they’re free. Exercising democratic rights got them accosted and arrested. That’s how fascism works. Opposition isn’t tolerated.
On release, Stein said:
“It was painful but symbolic to be handcuffed for all those hours, because that what the Commission on Presidential Debates has essentially done to American democracy.”
In custody, both candidates were isolated. Phone calls were denied. So was access to lawyers or staff. At 10:30PM, they were released. Honkala called her incarceration “extremely uncomfortable, but standard for what so many Americans face on a daily basis in our corrections system.”
She and Stein know what gulag harshness feels like. It’s much worse for many thousands doing hard time. Many are innocent victims of fascist brutality. Innocence is no defense when targeted.
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network
The political system in America has been broken for a long time. As such, it is up to the people to abolish it and begin down a new path. But everyone is to fat and lazy to care.
I got myself 2 bud lights and a big bowl of butter popcorn and sat down to watch the debate. The moment Odumster opened his mouth and started out with his Chicago Style Aggressive Beat Up Your Opponent while assuming the Public is Stupid, attacking Romney, and disregarding the question from the Student. I turned off the debate and inserted my copy of Independence Day to watch how a Fictional Great America can kick the butts of Aliens and bring all the nations together. I was sitting on the fence for who to vote for but decided it’s time for a change and realizing that the last guy that promised change gave us his version of change rather that the change his promised and we expected. WE NEED BI-PARTISIAN COOPERATIVE POLITICS. WE DON”T NEED EXECUTIVE ORDERS AND SIGN IT NOW READ IT LATER STUPID POLITICS, Like Obama Care.
There is only candidate but you already cast him out thru legislation but maybe you can beg for his return time is running out start today get back to God