Opinion:If You Vote Third Party and Elect McCain/Palin, This Is Who You Empower!

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editor’s note: normally I don’t preamble opinion submissions. But since there has been so much articulate and well written material making a number of cases, and since we are so close to Nov. 4, I thought I would reiterate the op-angle. Activists, thinkers, and advocates have been driven into such a corner by the erosion of rights - to global effect - by what the Bush–yes I’m going to say it — regime has engaged in. Even Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn, certainly no ready advocates of the 2-for-1 party systen, have op ed’d into out-of character-commentary. As I recall Daniel Ellsberg saying to me in 2004, repeating a the theme of an address he delvered in June:”vote for [your conscience] in solid Blue states, but vote Kerry if you’re in a Red state…”

 There is so much to write about and expand on. And let us not forget the corporate media’s overt responsibility in abetting this system. Ever. Ever Ever Ever.

 It also makes me sad for the fantastic, strong, and eloquent candidates that have emerged from so may places this cycle. “What Is to Be Done”? editor@globalpundit.org

If You Vote Third Party and Elect McCain/Palin, This Is Who You Empower! DON’T DO IT!!

~by Linda Milazzo

To underscore that voting third party or not voting at all will help elect McCain and Palin, and thereby re-empower the self-righteous ideologues who berated progressives, liberals, democrats, greens, libertarians, etc., for the past 8 years while their leaders were on board, I’ve asked my fantastic vlogger collaborator, Sharona L. Smith (VoiceOfAmericans2008), to compile a short video of some of the harassment we’ve endured.

Before you decide NOT to vote for Barack Obama, who I view as our most realistic HOPE to restore some sense of sanity to our rapidly failing world, I implore you to watch Sharona’s masterful 4+minute compilation of pro-Obama/pro-McCain confrontations… and more:

Please understand that these pro-war, pro-torture, anti-women, anti-science, racist, bigoted, uninformed, self-righteous taunters will be re-empowered if THEIR candidates are elected to office. This would be a travesty! Please tell me: do you really want McCain and Palin elected? Do you really want to empower these vicious right wing zealots and fanatics who support them?

I know you’ve debated ad nauseam on your choice to vote third party. You’ve stated and restated your case. And there lies the rub - IT’S YOUR CASE! It’s right for you. It’s justice for YOU. But is it right for America and is it right for the world? Will a Barack Obama presidency really be as bad as John McCain?

I know Barack Obama didn’t vote as we wanted on FISA. I get that his policy toward Afghanistan is WRONG. He shouldn’t have supported the bailout. I’m still angry at his first vote in the U.S. Senate to confirm Condoleeza Rice. I get it. The guy AIN’T PERFECT. But he’s still got to win. Barack Obama is the ONLY candidate who can defeat McCain and Palin.

I understand the need for a Third Party, and a Fourth Party, and a Fifth. But timing is EVERYTHING. We have to defeat McCain and Palin!! If we don’t beat McCain and Palin we elect an apoplectic madman and a manipulating twit. There’s no other way to put it. This IS THE TRUTH!!

No matter how much you respect Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney for their progressivism, and Ron Paul for his libertarianism, they’re not going to win. No matter how much Bob Barr wants to save our privacy, he’s not going to win. Voting for Nader, McKinney, Paul and Barr in a heartfelt act of passion will provide YOU a moment of pleasure and the world insurmountable pain.

If you buy Obama’s mega-lead as sold by corporate media, you’ll be ill-advised. Even if it’s true for right now, THERE ARE NO ABSOLUTES!! Republicans are dirty tricking every second so Obama will lose. For weeks now, conservatives led by Rush Limbaugh and CNN’s Lou Dobbs, have been instigating the challenge to an Obama victory by charging ACORN (Association of Community Organizations For Reform Now), a grassroots bottom up organization, with purposeful voter registration fraud. The fact is, ACORN has been around for 40 years mobilizing and assisting the disenfranchised our society has left behind - while Lords Dobbs and Limbaugh have been living lives of riches. I’d trust ACORN any day over these class-monger race-baiting whores.

This election cycle, with the possibility of the first African American president, voters are more energized than ever and registering in record numbers. While conservative media is smearing ACORN and working to incite violence if Obama wins, MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS, a legitimate news source, is reporting THE TRUTH that will hopefully drown out partisans like Limbaugh and Dobbs. As MCCLATCHY reports, ACORN was sloppy with its registrations - NOT fraudulent.

With this throng of new registrants there will be a percent that aren’t valid. This is nothing new. There are registrations in every election that are discarded after vetting. What’s different this year is the vast number of new registrations. By law, ACORN must turn in EVERY registration - even those it has flagged as questionable or false. Nonetheless, right wing activist Dobbs calls ACORN a “radical left wing activist group.” Sadly, for racist Dobbs, any organization that is predominantly non-white and non-rich is radical, self-serving and left wing.

Point of fact, John McCain and Sarah Palin are a danger to our nation. Electing them would be a travesty. The only way to ensure their loss is to vote for Obama in record numbers. Even though the popular vote doesn’t win an election, the larger the popular vote the more legitimacy is afforded a challenge to a questionable election. I want Obama and Biden to win this nation in a landslide. Don’t you??

Yes, I want a Third Party - but I’m still going to vote for Obama. Call me a hypocrite if you want to. But this year I’m chasing the rainbow. AND I’M BEGGING YOU TO CHASE IT, TOO!!

 ~Linda Milazzo

 Linda Milazzo is a contributor and her work has appeared in such outlets as HuffPo and OpEdNews. She is a member of CodePink.

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admin @ October 27, 2008