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Indybay Feature

Democrats convene in Denver amid police state security and a sea of corporate cash

by wsws (reposted)
Tuesday, August 26, 2008 :Nothing could more graphically expose the political fraud of the change you can believe in mantra promoted by the Democrats and their presidential candidate Barack Obama than the reactionary atmosphere surrounding the partys national convention, which kicked off Monday in Denver, Colorado.
The more than 4,000 Democratic delegatescovered by an army of some 15,000 members of the pressare convening in what amounts to a political bubble surrounded by security measures consistent with those of a police state. The convention itself, not to mention the lavish parties being thrown for the delegatesmany of them elected officialsis being paid for largely by major corporations looking to buy political influence.

The media has focused the bulk of its attention on the conventions first day on speculating as to whether lingering bitterness on the part of Obamas principal rival for the nomination, Senator Hillary Clinton, and her supporters will detract from the unity message that is meant to predominate. Most of this coverage is cast entirely in terms of personal frictions and identity politics, without a hint of any substantive political issues involved.

This is in keeping with the general tenor of the convention itself, which is packaged as a $60 million, four-day infomercial, with no question of a debate over policy breaking out on the floor of Denvers Pepsi Center, where the delegates are assembled. The media, with very few exceptions, functions as an uncritical conduit for this process, accepting its narrow parameters as given.

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by let the 3rd parties debate one another!
One of the reasons many people are turning away from BOTH the Democrats and Republicans is that both of these parties play off each other's willingness to exclude any other voices from the political process..

If McCain says "Drill here! Drill now! Drill everywhere!" , the response we get from Obama is "Drill a little bit in certain offshore locations.", and this may sound like a lesser evil, though where are the voices for true alternative energy and finally ending our addiction to petroleum? Censored no doubt by the corporate Dem/Rep duopoly and their sponsors from Big Oil..

The solution to this censorship may be for the third parties to come together and debate one another, sort of a "losers debate" if you will, but at least these "losers" will be far more honest than the "winners" in the corporate funded Democrat/Republican parties..

The third party debates could include;

the Greens (Cynthia McKinney), Independents (Ralph Nader), Libertarians (Bob Barr) and Peace and Freedom Party (Candidate unknown?)

to have a fair and balanced debate and provide the audience with some actual facts and honest dialogue instead of the watered down soundbytes we'll be hearing from the Obama/McCain debates..

Third parties may disagree with one another and openly discuss their preferred approaches to problems like WTO/NAFTA free trade policies, the U.S. foreign policy of military domination for resource control (ie., Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabian all have ongoing U.S. military presence for purpose of oil control), and other issues both Dems and Reps are afraid to discuss for fear of losing their corporate sponsorship..

Here's the links to the four main third parties that could debate one another outside the duopoly of Republican/Democrat censorship;

Green Party USA;
http://www.gp.org/

Independent;
http://www.votenader.org/

Libertarian;
http://www.bobbarr2008.com/

Peace and Freedom;
http://peaceandfreedom.org/home
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