I am not watching the debates. Instead I have been entranced by this video of two ladies who are on the ballot in enough states to be elected President and Vice President of the United States. They are being arrested for blocking traffic:
My good friend, Tom Cahill, believes that the United States has been a corporate fascist dictatorship since 1963 with rotating leadership at the behest of corporate masters. I’ve never agreed with Tom on that. Now, I think I finally have proof that he is wrong. There it is on youtube. Local police are arresting Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein and her running mate Cheri Honkala. The candidates are so overwhelmed by corporate dollars in advertising that they have to spell their names for the reporters. Why in the world are they arresting them ? Can’t you see that Doctor Stein is smiling ? It would be one thing to be run by corporate masters, but stupid corporate masters. I just can’t buy it.
I interviewed Jill Stein for an hour quizzing her on her background and the Green Party platform, including the parts that she is not emphasizing like the wealth tax and land value taxation. The lady is amazing. She answers the question. If she is really that big a threat to two party corporate hegemony a couple of hundred thousand dollars on attack ads using clips from that interview should be able to put a pretty big dent in her support. Instead they arrest her.
I’m not going to paint the negative picture for you, but it would be pretty easy to paint one. Instead now she is the lady doctor who cares about the environment who is in jail, because powerful people don’t want her message to be heard.
More than anything it reminds me of the story that is told in the great book Arguing About Slavery by William Lee Miller. In the 1830s, there was a great desire that slavery not be discussed anywhere particularly on the floor of Congress. Congress had no business meddling in slavery so what was there to talk about ? Well there was the District of Columbia, where Congress was in charge. Congress was flooded with petitions to abolish slavery in the Distinct of Columbia. Reading all those petitions was really annoying so all sorts of parliamentary maneuvers were made to stop the flood of petitions.
John Quincy Adams after having served as President of the United States was asked by people from his district if it would be beneath the dignity of a former President to serve in the House of Representatives. He answered that it would not be beneath the dignity of a former President to serve as a selectman of the town if the people should elect him. Since it was against the House Rules to talk about slavery, he never talked about it. He just talked about the right to petition. He kept bringing forward petitions that he had received to ask whether they violated the rule. Eventually a lot of people were enraged against the “slave power” not because they cared so much about other people’s freedom as they did their own. The House leadership never tried to put the old man in jail, but there was a motion to censure the former President, which is just what he was waiting for
Adams recast the censure debate into a forum attacking slavery and slaveholders with venom. The Massachusetts Whig dared his enemies to expel him and force a special election to fill his vacant seat, taunting them with the promise, “I have constituents to go to who will have something to say if this House expels me. Nor will it be long before gentlemen see me here again!” Finally, after two weeks, Adams consented to cut his defense short, if the resolution would be tabled “never to be taken up again.”
Jailing and censuring people because you don’t want them heard from is really not good strategy. It did not work with Martin Luther King or Gandhi. It is not going to work with Jill Stein.
You can follow me on twitter @peterreillycpa.
Originally published on Forbes.com Oct 16th, 2012