Who's Marianne? My new favorite 2024 presidential candidate. If you are as amazed and disgusted as I am that our nation may be faced with a choice between two duopoly candidates seemingly chosen by that duopoly to be the worst possible choices, so as to increase the share of eligible voters who choose not to vote (now between 37 and 50%) to an even higher number—at a time when maximum participation of that electorate has never been more crucial for the survival of humanity—you should check out her website and view her social media presence. In short, she's a candidate that over 90% of that electorate might choose as their president if they just look, listen, and read.
Here's the message I composed for her and sent to her campaign, where I now volunteer, and Realprogressives.org, where I also volunteer. (Revised Nov. 6, 2023.)
The DNC has announced that there will be no primary debates between Democratic presidential candidates in 2024, and (barring acts of God) Biden will be the nominee. Faced with challenges to that foregone conclusion by Marianne and others, they will ignore them the same way they ignored the challenge to Hillary's candidacy by Bernie Sanders: if sued by non-Biden-supporters, the DNC will doubtless get the court to throw out the case, again, with the same argument—that the "Democratic Party" is a private corporation and not only is the DNC outside the jurisdiction of any court, but it denies any obligation to follow its own rules (since they can be changed at will) or to honor the wishes of the voters in its primaries.
I am certain that Marianne has a zero chance of becoming the nominee of that "party" in 2024, or any other year. Her campaign is one of revolutionary change, whereas the "Democratic Party" is an antidemocratic institution, owned and operated by the same kleptocrats who ultimately own the equally-bogus "Republican Party."
I see only one rational alternative: Marianne must gain ballot access as an independent candidate (without any party affiliation). We need "power to the people," not "power to the party."
I'm reminded of the cartoon meme of Bernie using a torch to set fire to a straw donkey with the caption "Bern it down." Doubtless, lifelong "party" loyalists were offended. How dare he? (Of course, the real Bernie, after assuring his supporters that they should follow their consciences, quickly honored his "party" pledge and backed the "party" nominee.)
What might make "party" loyalists abandon their straw-stuffed icon in favor of a real revolutionary who credibly pledges to uphold their interests and oppose the interests of the corporate mega-donors who are pledged to burn down our republic, and obliterate our democracy? "Party" is in quotes above to remind the reader that to leave out the quotes grants the kleptocrats their need to frame the word as if it still means what it's assumed to mean, and not a euphemism for the loose-knit cabal of corporate con men who currently own and operate the "two parties" to provide the electorate with the illusion of choice. One set of owners, one corporate duopoly; heads they win, tails we lose. Of course, they always seem to be locked in an eternal battle with each other, but only over issues which do not challenge their continuing control. (What part of "illusion" is unclear?)
In the words of president Eisenhower, “If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power.” (Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1956.)
To be sure, the "two parties" have different approaches to ignoring the electorate's wishes; for the "Democrats," a corporate-compliant candidate is chosen by the DNC without reference to primary results (see the first paragraph above). The "Republicans" focus more on choosing their voters through gerrymandering and suppression (theft) of the votes of likely non-Republican voters. If these tactics fail, they simply declare victory by declaring that the "other side" MUST have cheated somehow, without evidence acceptable by even Republican-appointed judges—or concoct illegal schemes like replacing legitimate Electoral College delegates with shills who were not even on a ballot. (See gregpalast.com.)
Like Ike's warning to us of the profound danger to our democratic republic by the "Military-Industrial Complex," his warning about parties-in-name-only has also come true. More recently, George Carlin warned us to beware of another term in the kleptocrat newspeak arsenal: "The word bipartisan usually means some larger-than-usual deception is being carried out." If Patrick Henry were here, he might counsel us that "Now is the time for all good men to burn down their party and elect representatives of the people, not straw-stuffed effigies of kleptocrats."
Consider the fact that the largest sector of eligible voters in the United States (ranging from 37-50%) is the sector which does not vote at all. The largest percentages of actual voters by party (where those percentages are available) identify themselves as "Democrats," 38.78%; "Republicans," 29.42%; Independents/No Preference, 28.5%, and "Other," 3.25%.
Currently, this sector is ignored by the "political class" as irrelevant. Perhaps non-voters, rather than being indifferent to voting, are just painfully aware that their "representatives" don't care whether they're alive or dead, as evidenced by websites like represent.us.
Marianne, don't trust your ballot access to kleptocrats disguised as a party machine, who'd prefer you were dead because they can't control you. Keep appealing directly to your fellow Americans, instead. God is not dead, but "both parties" ARE. Americans want and expect their representatives to represent THEM, not lobbyists for corporate oligarchs (ie the "duopoly"). So-called party politics in America is dead, because the "2-party system" is a walking, talking zombie, performing political theater. The zombie will retain its grip on our political system until the electorate sees it for what it is. When that happens, the party's over, replaced by true representatives of the people, advancing causes that are right and that are moral. Who will that be? The people will decide—that is, the people who vote.
Will you be among them, or will you be among the over 80% of the electorate who won't even be able to pretend they're represented in government?
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