Friday, September 12, 2014

Howie Hawkins for NY Governor - Press Conference



Hawkins for Governor

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for Governor, discusses the primary election and its impact on the campaign as well as the upcoming march for climate change in New York City, the status of gubernatorial debates, fracking, and other issues of concern to NY residents.

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Are you a registered Green who votes Democratic? If so, like many other Greens you probably do so because you see the Democratic candidate as the "lesser of two evils," and a vote for the Green candidate as a wasted vote.

Let's now take a view from the other end of the looking glass, so to speak, with the goal of understanding the mindset of The Powers That Be in the Democratic Party.

They know that you, an otherwise conscious and informed person, will continue to vote for the Democratic candidates no matter what, simply because they are not "the greater evil," the big bad Republican candidates. Thus do you surrender any and all political leverage you might otherwise have had. From their perspective, they OWN you. They don't have to respond to your concerns; they don't have to keep their promises; they can walk all over you and come election day you will still cast your vote for the Democratic candidates. This leaves them the option of moving ever further to the right in hopes of chipping away at the Republican Party's base. It also leaves them free to do the bidding of their masters...the corporations...who are their masters only because you have abdicated that role. If you look back over the last few decades you can clearly see this happening.

Your vote can be effective only if it contains an implicit threat that you might withhold it. Voluntarily surrendering that threat amounts to political suicide. In other words, your sordid little lesser of two evils game has shifted the political center of gravity to the extreme right, boxed you into a corner, and effectively disenfranchised you. Your vote counts for nothing, and is a mockery of your core values. Some political strategy...The only thing it's good for is a round of hearty laughs at cocktail parties in the Hamptons.

It's time to wake up and take back the reins of political power. Stop being the butt of jokes. Stop being a chump. Stop voting for evil, even a so-called lesser evil. Vote your conscience, vote your soul, get mad, and get even. BE the powers that be.