{"id":4538,"date":"2016-11-02T19:35:40","date_gmt":"2016-11-02T18:35:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kpnet.dk\/blogs\/?p=4538"},"modified":"2016-11-02T19:35:40","modified_gmt":"2016-11-02T18:35:40","slug":"usa-elections-a-revolutionary-view-by-ron-ridenour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kpnet.dk\/blogs\/ron-ridenour\/usa-elections-a-revolutionary-view-by-ron-ridenour","title":{"rendered":"USA Elections: A Revolutionary View &#8211; by Ron Ridenour"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/kpnet.dk\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/my-sons-wont-die-or-kill-for-oil.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"4550\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/kpnet.dk\/blogs\/ron-ridenour\/usa-elections-a-revolutionary-view-by-ron-ridenour\/my-sons-wont-die-or-kill-for-oil\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/kpnet.dk\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/my-sons-wont-die-or-kill-for-oil.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"580,435\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"my-sons-wont-die-or-kill-for-oil\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/kpnet.dk\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/my-sons-wont-die-or-kill-for-oil.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-4550\" src=\"http:\/\/kpnet.dk\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/my-sons-wont-die-or-kill-for-oil-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"my-sons-wont-die-or-kill-for-oil\" width=\"516\" height=\"387\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kpnet.dk\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/my-sons-wont-die-or-kill-for-oil-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kpnet.dk\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/my-sons-wont-die-or-kill-for-oil.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 516px) 100vw, 516px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em><span lang=\"en-US\">by Ron Ridenour<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en-US\">Perhaps the biggest perceived political dilemma for the world right now is what will happen in the United States, and thereby to the world, depending on which of the two becomes president. Because of this unprecedented hate-filled election campaign, many pundits consider this election to be the most important in USA history.<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en-US\">I have long postponed making a prediction about what could occur with either Donald Trump or Hilary Clinton as president. I also vacillated about making a prognosis regarding Barak Obama when he first campaigned for the presidency. The main reason for both hesitations have to do with the two main moral principles in my life\u2019s political struggles for over half a century: always fight against racism-racial\/ethnic\/gender inequality, and against war and for peace.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en-US\">What happened, though, with many of the extremely brave civil rights leaders and activists, as well as many peace activists? In the effort to gain \u201cpolitical influence\u201d many went into the Democratic Party and deemed it \u201cnecessary\u201d to support imperialist wars and the capitalist economy. This has been the case with several SNCC leaders such as John Lewis, and the Black Congressional Caucus in general, and with the independent \u201csocialist\u201d Sanders.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\" lang=\"en-US\">When it came to Obama\u2019s first election campaign, it could seem that I would be abandoning solidarity with black people if I severely criticized him and opted to support no presidential candidate or a decent one with no chance of winning. And now eight years later, if I come out against Clinton, it could seem that I support an avid racist-foreign hater-sexist reality show buffoon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"western\"><span lang=\"en-US\">Returning to 2008, I finally decided to write something about Obama just after he won the election.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat do I feel? Justice won, justice denied; on-going pain of war, mass murder, torture, unnecessary starvation, unnecessary sickness and early death. Disappointment at not being able to cry with unrestrained gladness that , at long last, my people in kinship have achieved a political and a personal victory of such gigantic proportions. The knowledge that the joyful feeling exists for many makes me feel good in its self. The knowledge of why I can&#8217;t cry out of pure joy is most disheartening, though. The permanent war age will continue.\u201d<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ronridenour.com\/articles\/2008\/1106--rr.htm\">Reflections on Obama<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-GB\">And it did! Obama continued and extended the wars. In 2013, I wrote that Obama had become the worst <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">president in US history, because of these war policies; because of his economic policies that increased corporate profits by 171% after taxes, more than under any other presidency since World War 11; and most assuredly the worst, because his color convinced so many blacks and progressive whites \u201cto give the man a chance\u201d.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ronridenour.com\/articles\/2013\/0309--rr.htm\"><span class=\"overskrift\">Obama: The Worst US President Ever<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\">And now, it is a female capitalist-imperialist who will most likely take over the reins instead of the buffoon, unless&#8230;! She promises to support women gender rights won through long struggles, which the male chauvinist promises to repeal. She promises to support non-white and non-Christian minorities while her opponent castigates them. Maybe she will be better on these important issues.<\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">What is telling, though, is that during her husband\u2019s administration with its criminalization legislation, through their joint law firm that does the white ruling class\u2019s bidding, and their \u201ccharity\u201d foundation consisting of millions of dollars from wealthy Americans and foreigners seeking political favors, black people are as poor as ever and more blacks are imprisoned than ever.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">What is also telling and negligibly treated by the Establishment media is that Trump states that he will curtail making regional wars and a potential world war. Because of this, Clinton actually accuses him of being a Vladimir Putin \u201cpuppet\u201d. She seems to be saying, if you are a patriot you should stand for warring against Russia, which could escalate into a nuclear world war. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">What is not presented to the public is a basic economic law that when seeking causes to policies, one must trace the money. Trump is not as dangerous as Clinton because he makes his money from domestic endeavors. He has no invested interest in imperialist-capitalist endeavors that facilitate or necessitate warring on foreign nations as does Clinton\u2019s rich clients and supporters\u2014Monsanto, oil and mineral industries, Haliburton, Goldman Sachs and, of course, the weapons industry. <\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-US\">Down to the wire, we learn even more about Clinton\u2019s arrogant neglect of the nation\u2019s own holy National Security by sending hundreds of thousands of emails over her private mobile telephone when she was Secretary of State, hardly an example of a trustworthy person for the presidency.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<span lang=\"en-US\"><b>The worse the better\u201d <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">Almost no major US medium endorses Trump. The entire Wall Street capitalist class is against him. The Political Establishment of the two-branch one political-party system is against him. Most of the military and secret service elites are against him. Nearly all US\u2019s European ally politicians and media are against him. So, from OUR standpoint there must be something good about him. \u201cOUR\u201d can be understood as revolutionary, radical left, or just those who do not want wars to escalate. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">Trump wants NATO to be less aggressive, less expensive. He wants to curtail US\u2019s funding 70% of its lavish budget, and no war against Russia or China. He opposes the corporate proposals for more international trade deals: TTIP, TPP, CETA \u2026 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">OK, we can\u2019t count on what he says. He lies just as does Clinton. And if he did win, he might well surround himself with a cabinet and advisors who would be pro-war, just like those Obama embraced from Bush and Clinton\u2019s time. Nevertheless, if he does win, the European Establishment and many misguided European citizens could well become disenchanted with the United States because of this scary buffoon, and because behind him are tens of millions of scary voters many of whom support more guns and violence, more racism, sexism and plain old hatred. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">With Trump in the big saddle, Europeans might begin to look for the reasons behind all this bigotry\u2014the fact that contemporary racism is ingrained in an America founded on genocide, slavery and military interventions and wars. Europeans might also seek their own solutions to their issues rather than being captive and dependent upon a United States policeman-of-the word regime.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">Today though, more Europeans than ever hope to see a particular presidential candidate win the US elections, namely Clinton. In Denmark, where I live, an August poll found that 88 % of Danes wanted Clinton. Trump received 2.3 %, an historic low for a US presidential candidate. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">Some European political parties are encouraging Americans living in their land to vote for Clinton. The former anti-war Socialist People\u2019s Party (SF) in Denmark, for example, paid for a huge ad on buses depicting Trump in a ridiculous manner and appealing for Americans to vote against him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">BBC wrote in October that most Brits look on with a \u201cmixture of fascination and horror\u201d as the campaign \u201cdescends into the gutter.\u201d<br \/>\n<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/election-us-2016-37676976\">US election 2016: Presidential campaign alarms Europeans<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201c<span lang=\"en-GB\">In Eastern Europe, in particular, Mr Trump&#8217;s flirtation with Moscow, his praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and his disparaging remarks about the Nato alliance have caused serious concern\u2026A recurring theme of his campaign has been&#8230;the US should and would be prepared to walk away from existing alliances. <\/span><\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-GB\">\u201cMr Trump has also taken aim at the European Union, predicting that it will \u2018break up\u2019, and supporting the Brexit campaign in the UK.\u201d<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en-GB\">\u201cHillary Clinton by contrast\u2026is steeped in the tradition that allies in Europe form an important part of the American view of the world\u2026[including support for] her adversarial hawkish relationship with Russian leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-GB\">That is precisely why I hope for a victory for those less bellicose viewpoints, not that I could actually vote for the narcissist. <\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">My view of the US election fiasco is associated with the way I judged the UN COP 15 climate summit held in Copenhagen, December 2009, which most viewed as a \u201cfiasco\u201d. I worked there as one of two PR advisors for Bolivian President Evo Morales. I wrote that the summit was a \u201csmashing success\u201d namely because it forced many people to understand that the Establishment would not cure the climate ills it had created.<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ronridenour.com\/articles\/2009\/1221--rr.htm\"><span class=\"overskrift\">COP 15 After-word: Smashing Success Sketches<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201c<span lang=\"en-GB\">I have heard many debates in the UN where presidents condemn climate change but they never say\u2014cowardly enough\u2014what causes it. We say clearly that it is caused by capitalism,\u201d President Evo Morales said in closing. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">And so I hope that if Trump does win, many more people throughout the world as well as in the US will be able to understand that it is not the Man or Woman, white\/black\/brown\/red, or Establishment political parties that can or will make a better world for us. It can only be us on the streets struggling from the grass roots that at least have the potential to stop their wars, their ingrained inequality and racism, their greed and their hatred. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"en-US\">If Clinton wins, it will be more difficult for that consciousness to develop. As with Obama\u2019s first reign, it will take a long period before a protest movement will flourish, and it will take much more than protest to accomplish our common mission. I hope that progressives, traditional liberals and social democrats will see that their hopes for building a better world by supporting the Kennedys, Clintons and Obama has not succeeded, and that they will understand the need to act militantly to eliminate capitalism and its wars\u2014that is a revolutionary view. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span lang=\"en-US\">November 1, 2016<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p>As I was about to send my story out, an important development occured. For the first time in its 107-year history a sitting director og UK&#8217; domestic secret service M15 gave an interiew, and did so without indicating why.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/2016\/oct\/31\/andrew-parker-increasingly-aggressive-russia-a-growing-threat-to-uk-says-mi5-head\">MI5 head: \u2018increasingly aggressive\u2019 Russia a growing threat to UK<\/a><\/p>\n<p>But his main point is: Russia is UK&#8217;s (read: Also US\/The West) greatest threat. Not even mourderous Jihad terrorists are such at threat.<\/p>\n<p>The timing can&#8217;t be mistaken given that Hillary Clinton could still loose to Trump whom she considers to at Putin &#8216;pupet&#8217; friend. So, the domestic FBI spy director James Comey &#8220;intervenes in the election&#8221; on Trump&#8217;s side by &#8220;reviving the email scanadl&#8221;. Three days later, UK&#8217;s FBI counterpart Andrew Parker &#8220;intervenes in the election&#8221; on Clinton&#8217;s side.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Ron Ridenour Perhaps the biggest perceived political dilemma for the world right now is what will happen in the United States, and thereby to the world, depending on which of the two becomes president. Because of this unprecedented hate-filled election campaign, many pundits consider this election to be the most important in USA history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogs"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p451d4-1bc","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpnet.dk\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpnet.dk\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpnet.dk\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpnet.dk\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpnet.dk\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4538"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/kpnet.dk\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4549,"href":"https:\/\/kpnet.dk\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4538\/revisions\/4549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kpnet.dk\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpnet.dk\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kpnet.dk\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}