West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval & Voting Tomorrow
Monday, November 1, 2010 at 12:05PM I didn’t make it to the Rally to Restore Sanity (and/or Fear) in DC, but I had a blast attending the West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval in my hometown last night, along with 200,000 or so others.
And you know what? It was a spirited showing of what America (and the first Amendment) is all about – freedom of expression. The crowd was a microcosm of the diversity that makes our country great. The night was a celebration of our inherent creativity and the ability to accept that of others. Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Gay, Straight, Old, Young – some came purely to revel, some to make the Guinness Book of World Records for Time-Warp Dancers on the 35th anniversary of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, some to issue political statements with flare – saying yes to prop 19 to legalize marijuana was a popular costume – the pot-infused air pockets punctuated the sentiment. The cops took pictures, instead of arresting people.
Beyond being one of the largest street parties in America, the Weho Halloween Carnaval is about participation. Unlike the Parade in New York City, where people line the sidewalks to watch the extravagant and awesome floats – people here ambled together - participants and audience intermixed. It struck me walking with the crowds in my short-skirt and high-heels – that this is what democracy is all about – people gathering to express themselves as individuals, while being part of something bigger, and more wonderful, as a whole.
Tomorrow is election day. The media and a slew of pundits and polls have talked all about voter disillusionment, as if false promises are the property of one party vs. another, rather than politics as we know it. All that posturing hides the real truth - people are sick of being lied to. Rhetoric doesn’t get you a job or save your house. The promise of change doesn’t guarantee that health insurance companies wont hike your rates another 14% next year, like they did this year (Blue Cross Blue Shield doesn’t play party favorites.)
Here in California, the two major party candidates for governor Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown, spent nearly $170 million dollars to get us to believe them. They blocked ‘fringe’ candidates, left, right and liberatarian – most appallingly exemplified by the arrest of Green Party candidate, Laura Wells, for the shocking act of trying to attend a debate two weeks ago. Whether you are a Democrat, Republican, Independent, Green, or Libertarian – that act of anti-participation and expression is not what American is about. We should have more collective balls than shutting out voices outside the realm of well-funded majorities. We shouldn’t be afraid of opinion or options.
Whatever happens tomorrow, I hope it marks a new beginning for sorely needed hyper-expression beyond the voting booth, of the Weho Halloween Carnaval kind – in public forums, in blogs, at universities, in our homes, in the streets.
Reader Comments (5)
Well said!! I am the state chair for the Libertarian Party of Nebraska. The major parties have increasingly made it more difficult for 3rd parties to participate in this state. A couple of elections ago there were 5 politcal parties in the state, now 3. Keep up the good work.
Great! I read "It takes a Pillage" and glad you spoke about the Wall street stuff!
Now how are we going to fix it?
Could you be a candidate for a D.C. Economic policy job?
Gene - I'm sorry that it is harder in Nebraska, too. Though it's not surprising. Keep up your work!
Phil - Given that I'd be straight with everything that's wrong and what's needed to fix it - like taking away federal support for bank screw-ups, as they continue to wreak havoc on the national economy - and go from there....I doubt anyone is rushing to hire me, but I'd be happy to take up the challenge.
I am glad to see that Californians have finally come to their senses and shouted a resounding no to Meg Whitman And Carleton Fiorina.
Now for my take on the election:
Deconstructing American Political Theater
Please allow us to look behind the curtain for a brief moment, and see what really goes on there.
When Bill Clinton was elected president the first time back in 1992, he was elected with a minority of the vote (only 40 percent, or thereabouts), thanks to the spoiler Ross Perot, who entered the campaign to draw away votes from President George H.W. Bush.
Why was this? Because Bush had failed to deliver N.A.F.T.A., and the banksters were annoyed. H. Ross Perot, heavily indebted to the banksters for funding, and extremely heavily indebted to the Texas democratic political machine for his education (nomination to the Naval Academy), his early out from his military obligation, and his fortune thanks to sweetheart government contracts, answered the call.
It is crucial to explain that Perot’s brother-in-law happens to be Ramsey Clark, President Johnson’s former attorney general and a member of the highly influential Clark family of Texas, a multi-generational political family not unlike the Bush family, but to a lesser degree.
Next the republicans take over the House and Senate in the next national election, so logically, they should put forth their strongest candidate against Clinton during his re-election campaign, but that isn’t the plan.
The plan was to keep their man Clinton in as president, therefore the weakest candidate, Bob Dole, is run against him and loses handily.
Now one cannot blame the economy on President Obama; the American economy was dismantled over the preceding 35 years, but Obama has resolutely continued the economic policies of Bush-Clinton-Bush-Reagan, while in reality what America required was a super-F.D.R. (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) in the White House.
Now their obvious plan is to continue with Obama for a second term, thereby realizing their economic program of control fraud. President Obama was a majority-elected president (unlike the weaker Clinton), and in a much stronger position for a second term.
The only way to circumvent their plan is to replace Obama with an authentic democrat and an authentic progressive.
To present an idea of the ease of their manipulation of the American airwaves: a typical “news interview” show features speakers from Peter G. Peterson’s Peterson Institute, or
Peterson’s Fiscal Times, or Peterson’s Concord Coalition, or Peterson’s America Speaks, or Peterson’s Peterson Foundation.
Also featured would be speakers from David Koch’s Cato Institute, or Koch’s Heritage Foundation, or Koch’s Americans for Prosperity, or Koch’s American Enterprise Institute or the jointly financed (Koch and Peterson) Aspen Institute.
This is a loose approximation of what passes for the American corporate media today.
This political theater, just as the ancient Roman circuses and gladiator games, is for the benefit of the manipulation of the masses, and the economic elites laugh at their little enterprise and the wasted energy it consumes.
[For those who cling to Santa Claus and their fractured fables, they can rest assured that the health insurance legislation (oddly referred to as “healthcare reform”) will be subtly disassembled, leaving in place only those passages which strengthen the control and power of the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. Further free trade agreements will be passed, hastening those remaining jobs being offshored and the continuing demise of what remains of the American economy.
Also, the Financial Crises Inquiry Commission has done remarkable work in uncovering widespread criminal malfeasance and should any justice prevail in the USA, their findings would cause members of the former Bush administration, and present Obama administration, to do jail time. But this recent election will almost certainly negate that event.]
Totally agreed on Whitman and Fiorina..
That's a very interesting take on Obama potentially getting a second term. I think there is even more momentum now to get another Republican in the WH, then there was in 1994, but there is that long-term twisted logic that as you write, has been at play before....and only a true progressive would change things - which the Dem's will ensure doesn't happen.
and I stand corrected after reading your post.......it is health insurance, not health care reform - and either way, is a gift to insurance companies that neither the Dem's or Rep's will alter from the respect.