There’s a simple reason why the Democrats in Washington, D.C., can’t end the wars or shrink the military or close Guantanamo or legalize union organizing or create a real health coverage system or repeal NAFTA or tax carbon or (fill in the blank).
But the simple reason keeps changing.
In 2005 and 2006 it was that they were in a minority in the House and Senate.
In 2007 and 2008 it was that they lacked the White House.
In 2009 and 2010 it was the filibuster.
In 2011 and 2012 it
12.28.10 Former Chair of the Libertarian Party of Virginia Rick Sincere and Author David Swanson join Coy to recap 2010. Two well known voices in Central Virginia, Swanson and Sincere touch on what they view to be the most significant national
Charlottesville–Right Now: Rick Sincere and David Swanson join Coy Barefoot Read More »
The fall and decline of an empire can take many years, but certain “benchmarks” (as imperial courts have been known to call them) can measure the progress in one year alone. Take, for example, the year 2010.
This year opened with the United States Supreme Court claiming further power to rewrite the U.S. Constitution, specifically by further opening up elections to the highest bidder. The year closed with congressional elections that cost more than before and in which money spent by
A Year of Fall and Decline Read More »
You say protests are outmoded because the corporate media ignores them (unless they’re corporate sponsored). I say the corporate media is outmoded because it ignores protests.
The coming year is going to see intense resistance to the plutopentagonocracy from volunteer representatives of that majority of Americans that opposes its agenda. We are not going to ask for the media cartel’s approval or permission. We are going to continue developing our own communications systems, which
2011: Year of Resistance Read More »
By David Swanson
By popular demand in response to a lengthy blog on war-to-peace economic conversion, here’s the attention-span-adjusted introductory version.
Our main industry is weapons. The U.S. is far and away the world’s leading exporter of weapons. We fight wars with and against weapons we’ve produced. Our largest public expense, eating up over half of every tax dollar, is also weapons and wars — including wars in which we fund both sides, as in Afghanistan where
Short Guide to Political Salvation Read More »
A Nonviolent Exchange of Views in Four Parts
1. Don’t You Know That You Can Count Me Out – In
By David Swanson
Ted Rall’s new book “The Anti-American Manifesto” advocates for violent revolution, even if we have to join with rightwingers and racists to do it, and even if we have no control over the outcome which could easily be something worse than what we’ve got. We have a moral duty, Rall argues, to kill some people.
Now, I much prefer a debate over what radical
A Debate on Violence: Ted Rall and David Swanson Read More »
By David Swanson
On Friday evening, Charlottesville, Virginia’s liberals were lined up the length of the pedestrian street known as the Downtown Mall waiting to get into an event with President Obama and Congressman Tom Perriello. Meanwhile the rightwingers (or some of them, because the Tea Party had an event elsewhere) were at an Americans for Prosperity event in a nearby park. And we misfits were handing the same flyers to both groups and observing the different reactions.
We were unable
A Tale of Two Tribes Read More »
Charlottesville Right Now– Author and Blogger, David Swanson talks with Coy Read More »
The World Justice Project on Thursday published a “Rule of Law Index,” and there’s no easy way to say this. Let me put it this way: as when rankings on education, infant mortality, work hours, lifespan, retirement security, health, environmental impact, incarceration rates, violence, concentration of wealth, and other measures of quality of life come out, it is time once again for we Americans to shout “We’re Number One!” more loudly than ever. Because, of course,
The Rule of Law Is Alive . . . Abroad Read More »
