By Timothy V. Gatto

Who is Barack Obama and how is he any different than George W. Bush? Tell me, why do so-called “Progressives” continue to support this man and his fascist policies? It is becoming increasingly clear that this President will do nothing to impede the corporate agenda of control over the Federal government that will become the cornerstone of worker repression throughout the country.

1. The loss of public sector jobs was a blatant attempt to break the power of unions in this country. The largest percent of unionization is in the public sector. What is a so-called “progressive” doing, feeding the military on a scale much larger that the Bush Administration, while breaking the backs of the Unions in America? This just illuminates exactly what the Democrats have morphed into. The Republicans under eight years of power haven’t done as much damage to the worker’s movement than Obama has managed to do in the last two years!

One must turn to the public sector to see how Obama’s policies have resulted in the loss of thousands of teachers throughout the nation. Who is this man that proposes a longer school year in order for American students to “catch up” to the other nations across the globe while he presides over the firing of so many teachers? How can he justify 14 trillion dollars to bail out Wall Street while the people that are charged with educating our children are fired due to budget cuts? How can he justify spending 450 million dollars a day on foreign wars that do nothing for our general population while he has no clear objective or substantive reasoning except for the red-herring “War on Terrorism”?

2. Speaking about this “War on Terror”, we in the United States are being subjected to a campaign of terror from our own government! When the Defense Department puts “mini-nukes” in the hands of field commanders to use at their discretion as legitimate weapons of war, this sets the stage for a Third World War that will certainly bring this planet to extinction. As Fidel Castro wrote on Global Research;

“The Nuclear Winter theory has shown that "If such weapons did not exist, they could not be used. And at present, there is absolutely no rational argument for their use. If they cannot be used, they must be destroyed. By doing so we would protect ourselves from accidents, mistaken calculations or any bouts of insanity."

"...Any country that at present may be considering the nuclear option must acknowledge that by adopting such a decision, it would be endangering not only its own population but the entire world."... The use of nuclear weapons in the event of a total attack against an enemy would be suicidal due to the anomalous cold and darkness caused by the smoke from the fires generated by the bomb."

This is something that most people in the United States do not understand fully. The knowledge that the United States government has decided to put the use of nuclear weapons in the toolkit of regional commanders is something that many U.S. citizens know nothing about. I blame the corporate-government controlled mass media for this ignorance of the nuclear policies of the United States. To put it bluntly, the government does not want this to become general knowledge. Even the rogue state of North Korea signed a pledge that it will not be the first to use nuclear weapons. Unlike North Korea, the United States maintains a first use prerogative. Who is the terrorist state and why do Americans accept this?

These are but two issues that Democrats must consider when they go to the polls. I don’t know what the alternative to the two corporate parties is at the moment, but there must be an alternative sooner than later! We cannot exist as a country, or as a species, if the use of nuclear weapons becomes commonplace. You can thank your “Democratic” President for this new policy of first-use nuclear “strategy”.

Of course it is too late to change the dynamics of the political situation in this country prior to the next elections. Still, one must understand that most of the candidates presented, whether Republican or Democrats, are foisted upon us by their corporate benefactors. The everyday people have no real representation on the Federal level. This is a situation that must change, and change soon.

The United States is losing the war in Afghanistan, with 25,000 Taliban fighting 150,000 US and NATO troops to a standstill. This government in the United States must know that we have the third largest country by population in the World (as well as being the wealthiest country in the world) and most of us possess weapons. It is pure common-sense that if they can’t stop an insurgency in one of the poorest nations on Earth against 24,000 fighters, what makes them believe they can stop an insurgency here in America? I’m not proposing anything like that, but if unemployment continues to run rampant, and the bulk of our tax dollars continue to go to the military-industrial complex that gives the American people nothing, something has to give way.

I could care less who is in Congress at the end of this election. The Republicans are no different than the Democrats. The Democrats have done nothing to restore our civil liberties by rescinding the invasive “Patriot Act” (the U.S. Enabling Laws similar to Nazi Germany) the Military Commissions Act or The John Warner Defense Bill that scrubbed the longstanding “Posse Comitatus” that refuted the use of Federal troops for law enforcement or end these imperialistic wars for resources. If the Republicans control Congress, nothing much will change except the rhetoric you will hear from the White House. The truth is that the Democrats have ceased to be the party of the people and like the Republicans are the party that represents the multi-national corporate world that have no interest except to turn a profit. Maybe it’s time to take a fresh look at Democratic Socialism, maybe the Unions should look to the Socialists and start to reevaluate their allegiance to the Democrats who have done nothing but ravage the Unions. Maybe it’s time we all started to look at political power in a whole new way before we find ourselves incinerated or facing a nuclear winter because of the belligerent policies of Washington. We can become serfs or control our own destiny, this is the challenge.

We still have choices. It is about time we started taking our choices seriously.

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timgatto@hotmail.com Read Tim's Book "Complicity to Contempt" and his Novel "Kimchee Days or Stoned Cold Warriors From Oliver Arts and Open Press and available on Amazon and all other online bookstores.