Winter has Come

Hola mi gente,
I had to write this quickly. Welcome to Trumpland, welcome to twilight of the Empire.

(Note: As always, all links open up in a new tab/ browser)

Winter

Clinton, along with other white, neoliberal feminists, attempted to manipulate the illusion of herself as a trailblazer for all women in her grab for power. This despite the fact that every policy she has advocated has disproportionately caused immeasurable harm to women the world over -- especially marginalized Black, Brown, and Indigenous women.

And she lost... And the fault is hers and hers alone.

For over a year I have been warning that so-called “pragmatic progressives” had this election all wrong from the get. This election was about a legitimate and profound disappointment with a status quo that is crushing the working class. Trump manipulated that disappointment by playing to the crowd and offering a bait-and-switch scheme.

The out of touch, spectacularly ineffective Democratic Party thought they could offer someone who could manage this dysfunctional state of affairs and the people, rightfully so, rejected it. The tragedy is that if the Democrats had the cojones and foresight, they could have tapped into the same middle class and working poor angst by getting behind a wildly popular, ground-up movement. 

Imagine what today would’ve looked like had the vast sums of lucre and resources had been poured into a genuine people’s movement? Imagine if the DNC had gotten behind those enormous rallies happening across the nation -- tens of thousands of people from all walks of life clamoring to get behind a people’s power political platform. Imagine a platform that addressed concerns about a rigged economy, crushing student debt, a bloated and cancerous military budget, and corrected an insurance (not health) reform law that came straight out of an extreme right-wing think tank.

What the DNC did instead was to rig the primaries and then spit on that burgeoning movement. What the Democrats did was try to use fear of Trump to win an election. In the meantime, they stood for  nothing and got nothing. This demonstrates that the DNC cannot be reformed or counted upon. This demonstrates the need for a movement that creates its own party that is responsive to the needs of the people.

But that will never happen with the DNC because Trump is right: the DNC (and RNC) are totally beholden to their corporate masters. Shit, cockroaches poll higher than these congress critters.

So what’s next? 

I plan to tackle that tomorrow. 

My name is Eddie and I’m in recovery from civilization… 

Lesser Evilism Sucks

Hola everybody,
As I type, the TV machine is announcing that Trump has won Florida. He’s also won Ohio -- two major battleground states.

That sound you hear? That’s the collective clenching of the anal sphincters of millions of Hillary supporters -- you know the “pragmatic progressives.”

The NY Times is saying that Trump has a 92% chance of winning the election.

Wow!

Lesser Evilism Bites You in the Ass

What this says is that a DNC masquerading as “republican lite” is not resonating with the US public and highlights the failure of a two-party system that’s under the thrall of corporate dominance.

The one possible good thing that can come about from a possible Trump presidency is that it will be easier to mobilize people. It will finally convince many that the lesser of two evils has been a huge failure that we cannot continue down this road if we want to fight corporate dominance.

Really…

More later.

My name is Eddie and I’m in recovery from civilization…

The Evil of Two Lessers

Hola mi gente,
One of the proudest moments in my professional life was being recognized in 2012 by my peers for my advocacy work. As many who read me know, Citizens against Recidivism will be holding their annual awards dinner Saturday, October 22 at The Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Center.

I would like to give a shout out to this year’s honorees:

Donna Hylton & Laura Whitehorn

Johnny Perez & Dinah Ortiz

Andre Ward

Darryl Johnson

Michael Pass

If you’re going, consider purchasing the tickets from yours truly. I will hand deliver the tickets wherever you want if you buy them from me (cash only). Drop me a line and let me know.

The Evil of Two Lessers

Ultimately we know deeply that the other side of every fear is a freedom.
 -- Marilyn Ferguson

No, I didn’t watch last night’s debate because I refuse to support corporations that stand to make profits while they make a mockery of our electoral process. Period.

It’s really hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that this was one of the most watched debates in the history of POTUS campaigns. 

It’s as if the US electorate was looking forward to an honest, enlightened and enlightening discussion of the important crises of our time, and how best to resolve them, by two dedicated public servants with a desire to help others and save the world, each of whom will use their best understanding of the actual facts and logical argument to persuade the electorate that they have the most compelling plan to achieve their vision of the future, as well as clearly explaining why their vision of the future is something we should all look forward to achieving.

There are many reasons why I will not be voting for Hillary Clinton. I’ll put it this way: What we fear from Trump, we have already seen from Hillary Clinton. I will expand on this in the comings days, but just know that eight years of Hillary would be a disaster.

I will I will be supporting and voting for Jill Stein and other genuinely progressive candidates, and I hope you will consider a similar strategy. I will say this much: the prevailing narrative, masquerading as “sensible” or “adult,” of the lesser of two evils, is the opiate of the masses. Hillary will be a horrible candidate who will continue the same policies that redistribute wealth upwards and advocate for endless war. If you believe otherwise, please contact my people. I have a bridge for sale.

My name is Eddie and I’m in recovery from civilization… 

Hillary Derangment Syndrome and The Mini Me

Hola mi Gente,

I’ve been accused of suffering from “Hillary Derangement.” I assume that to mean that I suffer from an unreasonable and unhinged hatred of Hillary Clinton. I got this because I cited (with documentation) some key policy areas in which Trump is to the left of Hillary. What’s that? You shouldn’t be surprised. Hillary has a long history of corporate-friendly and right wing policy stances. If you doubt me, think of her long and recent history advocating for mass incarceration and her ties to the private prison industry. But don’t take my word for it, you can find out more here and here.

I will submit that Hillary derangement Syndrome exists. Hillary Derangement Syndrome is the unreasonable belief that voting for Hillary will result in different outcomes than the neoliberal/ neoconservative outcomes she has produced throughout her career. Hillary Derangement Syndrome is the belief that committing the same actions (i.e., voting conservative) will produce different results.

I’m reposting the following because it reminds me a lot of the Clintons and Trump.

* * *

The Mini Me

and the Creation of the Personal Novela

Human beings are driven by a core wound, this kind of madness that something’s missing. The more conscious they get, the more desperate that becomes...

 -- Saniel Bonder

In Shakespeare's play, Othello, the protagonist and his young Venetian wife are deeply in love. Othello is a noble and simple-hearted soldier who trusts those around him. Desdemona, his devoted wife, loves him deeply and hangs on his every word. It is Iago, Othello's advisor and apparent friend, who plays one character against another, creating an atmosphere of separation and distrust. He whispers doubts into Othello's ear, inciting in him a violent jealousy that ultimately leads to a senseless tragedy.

We are all Othello's at heart -- open, trusting wanting to see the best in each other -- and we are seduced and driven to insane action by our own invisible Iagos. Our Iago is a state of mind; he cannot be seen, he lives in the shadows. Yet his work can be seen everywhere. Iago whispers to us both from within and through other people: it is the voice of a collective conditioning.

Our Iagos are like the “mini me” from the Austin Powers movies -- a smaller, angrier, and spiteful version of ourselves. A tragically funny alter-ego. Most of us live with a painful sense of separation from others, a sense of something missing, and a deep experience of limitation, fear, and desire -- we experience ourselves as small. As a result, we engage in a flurry of activity to avoid the objects of our fear and obtain the objects of our craving.

This is best exemplified in the current electoral cycle. This is the dance of fear-based living and, although widely perceived as normal, it fuels an endless drama of struggle. It's the main character in our personal novela -- like the over-the-top Spanish-language soap operas my mother watches. And no matter how hard we try, the poison seeps through the cracks in our armor, manifesting as disease, conflict, and failure.

On a personal level, it can manifest as a general anxiety, or a body image problem. On a community level, it can sabotage something as seemingly simple as a blog (if you want proof of the mini me, just take note of the widespread pettiness on social media). Globally, as manifested in the likes of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, it is expressed as war, as economic and environmental madness. This force has been given many names. I have heard it called “The Gremlin,” or (for the fundamentalists here) “Satan.” I call it ego-based living, or the “Mini Me.”

Unlike the movie, we cannot see or measure the mini me directly; we only know it by its effects. It is like a thief in the night: you actually do not see him, but you know he has been there because your valuables have been taken. This mini me is state of mind -- a social conditioning of sorts and it possesses certain qualities:

Sense of Lack This is the essence of the mini me. Enough is never enough; we are never spiritual enough, skinny enough, smart enough, or hip enough. We perceive everything through this sense of lack. We can’t do the big things and must settle for less.

Sense of Separation Constantly reaching "out there" to fill up our sensed emptiness keeps us focused on a “me-oriented” reality, reinforcing our separateness.

Addiction Gripped in the throes of craving and lack, as soon as we sense that something external will “do it” for us, we latch on to it and become addicted. In this way, the mini me can lead us into unhealthy attachments to wring-headed and pernicious social policies, work, sex, food, drugs, the internet, or even romantic relationships.

Fear Once desire and addition take over, we are overcome by a sense of non-specific fear. If we believe the right politician will alleviate our sense of emptiness, immediately loneliness becomes a terrifying fate.

Suspicion fear makes us suspicious, we trust no one completely.

Strategic Living We always plan for the worst -- something bad can happen any moment (politicians are notorious for using this aspect of the mini me).

Anxiety There is the notion that something is wrong, that we should be doing something more to be “complete.”

Hostile Competition this is especially true in the realm of politics (and dating). If there is this notion that there is not enough, we must fight others who are trying to get it too! This is hostile competition as opposed to co-creation.

From a political standpoint, how do we get back to a vision of a society where ego-driven madness doesn’t rule? How do we (or do we want to?) get back to our collective original self -- connected to something more powerful than mere desire, aversion, and grasping? I do know this much: we don’t get it back by participating and electing the same candidates and expecting different results.

My name is Eddie and I’m in recovery from civilization…