DON'T GET STUPID, VOTE

Every single presidential election, I wind up feeling like there's a republican running for president that will end the United States as we know it. Except for the two Barack Obama elections, I've always voted for the lesser of two evils. I suppose it follows that I never felt like there was a real difference between the two, three, or ten white people trying to be top dog on the democratic ticket. 

That many if not most black people feel differently now is a very big sign that black people are in a much more powerful place now than we have been in decades. 

As I watch small documentaries and Ted Talks and interviews of black people from other countries like England and France, I'm beginning to realize that we,  black people in the United States, have had a lot of social and political power for a long time, comparatively speaking, and that we had this power long before we turned Barack Obama into President Obama. 

So I started thinking maybe it's time for me to change and focus on which white candidate I am for instead of which white candidate I am against.But then I thought back to who black folks seriously wanted to keep out of office over the last few decades. 

Richard Nixon.  An aide of Nixon's, John Erhlichman, just recently(?) admitted that the War On Drugs was a scam to put black people in jail.     (We've known this for so long it's hard to wrap my head around this being new information to anybody, anywhere)

Ronald Reagan took Richard Nixon's War On Drugs and put it on steroids. He made it look like it was an entirely black and brown problem and put thousands of black people in jail. He tripled the homeless population, partially by cutting off  federal funding to psychiatric hospitals across the country which resulted in a lot of the mentally ill being put out into the street. His Star Wars bullsh** made America so hated it wasn't safe to travel outside the country for a more than a minute; and he made the terms "Welfare Queen" and "Black-On-Black Crime" into this...alternate reality that seems so tangible that people, white, black, latinx, and asian still believe that these two things exist to this very day.  And these beliefs affect policy, who is seen as criminal, who is seen as dangerous, who goes to jail and for how long --to this very day. 

Bush Jr. basically told us,  'All those brown people in the Middle East all look the same to me.' and "He tried to kill my Daddy.  That's why he looked at a not-white man connected to Saudi Arabia, who had training camps in Afghanistan and ran planes into buildings in the U.S. who was hated by another not-white man who ran Iraq THEN SOMEHOW decided to bomb Iraq -- even though Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein were enemies and Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.

When Bush had Saddam's sizable Sunni Army disarmed not only did the U.S. lose control of Iraq (if the U.S. ever had control), those unemployed Sunni soldiers reportedly moved into a branch of Al Qaeda. Then when Arab Spring happened, Assad next door in Syria gasses his own people. So Al Qaeda Iran finds like minded group in Syria and became Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (a.k.a ISIS) -- who has built a coalition with groups like Boko Haram.

And please keep in mind that the 

worst thing 

that would have happened 

if Reagan, Bush, Bush Jr.'s 

democratic opponents 

had won the presidency instead 

is nothing. 

And I keep thinking that "nothing" is probably what we'll probably get out of Hillary and very likely what we'll get out of Bernie Sanders -- as far removed as he seems from the realities of power and money in this country.

But nothing is not what we're going to get out of Donald Trump.

Forget what kind of an effect this buffoon will have on our international reputation. For a moment, you can even forget how fearful outsiders are, already tired of the United State's imperialistic nature, how they might move to more extreme positions (into ISIS) as a result of Trump's racist/fascist statements. Forget that economists are worried about the world economy collapsing if Orange Trump becomes president. Forget all of this and think about the fact that this moron thinks that this is a presidential comment about a tragedy that's befallen an ally. 





This moron will turn our allies into enemies --and there only frienemes now. 

So those of you fighting over Hillary or Bernie can't afford to get stupid.  No matter which one of them winds up on the democratic ticket, you need to vote -- especially since the white folks have drastically underestimated their own group's racism, again. 

The white folks were sure Donald Trump would have disappeared once the racist "fringe" had had their day in the sun. Only that's not what happened. The most racist, homophobic, misogynistic, Islamaphobic Trump becomes, the more white people flock to him.

Believe me! The white denial is outrageous. There's no telling how this election is going to go. I wouldn't assume a democratic win because Trumps a  racist, homophobic, misogynistic, Islamaphobic idiot.  

Again, the white denial is deep and wide. I just read an article where a white man managed to write an entire article on why young men are flocking to Donald Trump and didn't mention that the young men he's talking about nearly all white (e-racing 1/3 of this country's men) and also didn't mention "racism" or any other -ism --in an article about Donald Trump, presidential candidate

It remains to be seen if Trump will draw votes from the middle and the left, if white men will vote republican to the tune of 64-66% this time like they did during the midterms. But the thing I know for sure is that we, black people and all people of color, cannot afford to get stupid.

If Hillary Clinton wins the democratic nomination, I'll vote for Hillary Clinton.

If Bernie Sanders wins the nomination, I'll vote for Bernie Sanders. 


Bernie Sanders is a lot different than Hillary based on philosophy. If I look into my crystal ball and see two possible futures, one with Hillary as president and one with Bernie as president, I don't see a lot of movement for black people.

For all Bernie's rhetoric, I don't see a lot of movement for poor people either (including heavily over represented black and brown people).  He seems incredibly naive about the viciousness and power of the rich folk. In order to even have 20% of a chance of his ideas to actually take root and flower he'd need a democratic senate and a democratic house, both. And, economically speaking, I think Bernie is so far left a democratic house and democratic senate might not help him that much.

I've mostly been reading about Bernie. So I can't say I've really committed to doing the research yet to see who is "best" between Hillary and Bernie because, quite frankly,  I'm still mourning Obama leaving office and he hasn't even left yet.

But Bernie's inability to speak off the cuff on Black Lives Matters in Oregon matters.  Bernie's believing in unicorns as far as what he thinks he can get done right up until you start talking reparations, bothers me.  Not that I think reparations CAN get done by anyone. It's just that reparations don't seem any MORE unlikely to get past congress than his other ideas.

So I ain't feelin' the Bern.

There's tons about the Clinton legacy that bothers me, even the stuff that is attached to strictly Hillary and not Bill. And I can say Bernie's being on firmly on the left, always and forever, is great big positive over Hillary.  Then again, Bernie followed Dr. King, got out of picket lines and then moved to the whitest state in the country, Vermont (tied with New Hampshire at 96%.) Bernie hasn't put his foot in his mouth in regards to race because he hasn't had the opportunity to do so.  He just keeps going on about how a rising tide raises all boats-- as if race and racism isn't very real to him. 

But the reality is this:

1) I don't vote based on who looks like they love black folks best. The very idea is laughable.

2) Even if the lesser of two evils between Hillary and Bernie is Bernie -- based on character and personality, there are other things to be considered.

*** WHICH ONE might energize the right enough to get them running to the polls just to keep "a socialist" out of office is the big thing on my mind now. We have to think about who people are going to VOTE FOR and who people WILL VOTE AGAINST at the same time***

Yes, white republicans threw "socialist" at black Barack Obama just to label him as "other." I know that. But I don't discount what that "socialist" label might do to the election, regardless of what "socialism" really means. I know the fear-mongering around the word "socialist" in the United States has been somewhat successful in the past.


This election is NOT entirely a battle of ideas and ideals. There's appearance and perceptions too. A professor told me that researchers asked people why they voted for Bush Jr. and the answer was "He seems like somebody you could have a beer with" There were similar answers when people were asked about why they voted for President Reagan. 

These elections are a lot less about economic policies and foreign policies and more about "Is that candidate LIKE ME?"

Appearance matter too. Bernie looks, moves, and generally SEEMS a lot older than Hillary despite there only being a critical 6 year difference.

When I decide to get over my disappointment that politics and pundits will be dang near all white again, I'm going to have to decide who is most likely to beat the republican candidate. 

Keeping the republicans out of office often makes a big difference. We've been in two wars that prove it thanks to Bush Jr. And Reagan multiplied by many times, Nixon's drug war on black people. Yes, this war on drugs and on black people continued under a Bill Clinton that was appeasing a white republican party that is NOT the joke (I hope) it is now. And with the crack epidemic happening at the same time, drive by shootings being what they were, Clinton had black support in the inner cities as far as getting tough on crime goes. A lot of black people in cities affected by crack never wanted to see some of crack dealers again. And I don't blame them. 

Again, the republicans in the 1990s were strong enough to do a LOT MORE than sit on their hands, obstruct, pontificate and act foolish on television. Today's republican party must be 20% of the strength of the 1990s version.  The 1990s version of republicans reminded me that the best thing about white democrats is that they tend not wipe us out at the same rate of speed as the republicans.

So don't get stupid. 

No matter which democrat 

is on the ticket.  

VOTE

Register, stay registered, get your voter ID together in those actively disenfranchising states, and VOTE.

And vote in the smaller elections too. 
- Vote out people who change your water source to the Flint River after that river was a known dumping ground. 

- Vote out people who say they are going to close your child's school somewhere near April 8th this year if they can't pass a budget in Detroit. 

- Vote out the prosecutor that sets murdering cops free. It's been done. We can do it again. 

- Vote out the prosecutor who has mistaken himself for a murderous cop's defense attorney.  

-Make sure you're eligible to be on the jury the next time a Tamir Rice is shot. Be on the voter registration roles.


Click the link below then
Register to Vote
http://www.voterparticipation.org/register-to-vote/?gclid=CMLR97qT1ssCFceBfgodxgIPDw

and then


VOTE!!!