by Chris Hedges
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Truthdig
Dec. 7, 2009
Liberals are a useless lot. They talk about peace and do nothing to challenge our permanent war economy. They claim to support the working class, and vote for candidates that glibly defend the North American Free Trade Agreement. They insist they believe in welfare, the right to organize, universal health care and a host of other socially progressive causes, and will not risk stepping out of the mainstream to fight for them. The only talent they seem to possess is the ability to write abject, cloying letters to Barack Obama—as if he reads them—asking the president to come back to his “true” self. This sterile moral posturing, which is not only useless but humiliating, has made America’s liberal class an object of public derision.
[…]
via Truthdig
Copyright © 2009 Truthdig
Chris Hedges spent two decades as a foreign reporter covering wars in Latin America, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. He has written nine books, including Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle (2009) and War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (2003).
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Updated: Dec. 10, 2009
[Chris Hedges discusses this article with David Sirota on his radio show.]
David Sirota: The Demoralized Democratic Base
http://www.huffingtonpost.com
December 9, 2009
[…]
NOTE: To hear more about this, listen in to my interview this morning on KKZN-AM760 with author Chris Hedges here [mp3]. Tune into the show on AM760 every morning from 7am-10am MST (9am-12pm ET) at ww December 9, 2009 1w.am760.net.
via David Sirota: The Demoralized Democratic Base
[Chris Hedges’ interview starts almost halfway through the MP3]
see
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Chris Hedges warns of pageantry’s perils By Brad Buchholz
Ralph Nader: End the War on Drugs + Book Fair with Ralph Nader and Chris Hedges
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Voter apathy does damage too. Less talk and more action would help. More parties – not just 3, with proportional representation. Limit terms that Senators and Congressmen can serve. This would help reduce corruption. Every bit helps.
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As Chris Hedges pointed out:Obama is not the problem. We are.
There should be a third party but this will never happen with the way our voting system is set up.
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You said it. Great article.
Even when I was a kid and knew nothing about politics or current affairs, I would see the Democrats pulling this crap of “oh, we can’t vote for (McCarthy, Nader, whoever) ‘cuz then the evil Republicans will win! Oo, be scared!”
…or…”Oh, we can’t actually (defend welfare mothers, end a war, fix health care) because the evil Republicans won’t let us! Waah!”
The Republicans keep moving farther to the right and the Democrats only want to be a little bit nicer than the Republicans, so they get dragged that way, too.
So true–yep, Clinton was it for this Socialist.
One point, for mmckinl–I agree, but, the unwashed masses are much more honest and often just dont vote, which is better than enforcing the status quo….no confrontation intended.
I call them the faux left … They are consumed by the cult of personality known as Obama and have given him a pass on just about everything important …
Yep, the same people who deride the hoi polloi, the celebrity mongers, the uninformed masses are just as susceptible to the propaganda and lies as the unwashed peasantry.
When do they grumble? When Obama does what he said he would do all along … escalate in Afghanistan? Pure hypocrisy.
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