Once a politician, always a politician
To the millions of people around the world who jumped for joy upon hearing of Barack Obama's victory; enjoy this hopeful moment, because it won't last long.
It's time to meet the new boss, same as the old boss. All we've done here is replace a white bumbling idiot with an articulate black man, and although that in its self is historic, the ‘change we can believe in' was just a campaign slogan, not a promise.
Obama spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to convince Americans to vote for him, but where did all this money come from? The world got so caught up in the frenzy of the possibility of change that we forgot to follow the money. We need to ask; who paid millions to put Obama in the White House, and what do they expect now in return? It's interesting to note that for one of the first times in history, Obama, the Democrat, raised a lot more corporate money for his campaign than his Republican counterpart, John McCain, did.
Maybe the fact that Obama voted to give the major banks a $700 billion bailout helped the corporate lawyers come around to his side. But it's not just corporate lawyers, it's also the pentagon and military contractors. They like Obama because although the U.S. presently spends more on its armed forces than it ever has since World War II, Obama wants to increase this budget even more. Obama also wants another 92,000 soldiers trained and armed and ready to go to Afghanistan where he says the U.S. should stay ‘until they win.'
Obama has also repeatedly threatened Iran with military actions, has warned Pakistan not to interfere with U.S. incursions into their territory, and has proclaimed his intention to start more conflicts with ‘terrorists' everywhere else in the world. Will he ‘bring the troops home from Iraq and dismantle the permanent U.S. military gases?' Very Unlikely.
The only recent change Obama made was move closer to the right, when he switched his vote from against to FOR warrantless wiretapping of domestic ‘enemies.' Instead of standing with the vast majority of people in America who oppose these types of police state tactics, Obama stood with Bush and Cheney and has been tapping your phone ever since.
Finally, the environment. What is Obama's ‘hope for change' going to look like in terms of saving mother earth? Well you might as well ask the oil industry, coal industry and nuclear industries directly. These eco-cidal industries all pumped so much of their blood money into Obama's campaign that they basically run the show now. So don't expect Obama to challenge any of these industries while in office. He can't invest in clean green energy, because dirty energy is invested in him.
So what the hell has actually changed other than the leaders' skin colour? Obama has become the first black president, while one million other black men are stuck in prison, and he won't be able to change that either. His hands are tied and the puppet-masters now pull his strings. They've cleverly tricked into participating in their electoral spectacle this year, millions went to the polls to elect a new pre-selected oppressor. They somehow managed to maintain the dominant power structure yet renew millions of disenfranchised voters' faith in this rotten system.
Democrats serve as a pressure valve during times of political unrest and use their status as the ‘lesser of two evils' to swallow mass movements, incorporate them into the system and reaffirm that illusion ‘that the system can work for you, and that we should work within the system for change.
The silver lining with this Obama victory is that it will free up hundreds of thousands of left-leaning democrats to work OUTSIDE the system now that they've completed their work inside the system. Also, as people start to realize that Obama can't or won't change anything, they will get angry and disillusioned with the system and look for ways to fight the entire system. This means that membership and participation within grassroots organizations and social movements will grow, and progressive people everywhere can go on the offensive in the fight for social, environmental, and economic justice.
Fight the power? Yes we can!
Live without hierarchy and oppression? Yes we can!
Take back control of our own lives and our communities Yes we can!
Live without rulers at all? Yes we can!
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
It's time to meet the new boss, same as the old boss. All we've done here is replace a white bumbling idiot with an articulate black man, and although that in its self is historic, the ‘change we can believe in' was just a campaign slogan, not a promise.
Obama spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to convince Americans to vote for him, but where did all this money come from? The world got so caught up in the frenzy of the possibility of change that we forgot to follow the money. We need to ask; who paid millions to put Obama in the White House, and what do they expect now in return? It's interesting to note that for one of the first times in history, Obama, the Democrat, raised a lot more corporate money for his campaign than his Republican counterpart, John McCain, did.
Maybe the fact that Obama voted to give the major banks a $700 billion bailout helped the corporate lawyers come around to his side. But it's not just corporate lawyers, it's also the pentagon and military contractors. They like Obama because although the U.S. presently spends more on its armed forces than it ever has since World War II, Obama wants to increase this budget even more. Obama also wants another 92,000 soldiers trained and armed and ready to go to Afghanistan where he says the U.S. should stay ‘until they win.'
Obama has also repeatedly threatened Iran with military actions, has warned Pakistan not to interfere with U.S. incursions into their territory, and has proclaimed his intention to start more conflicts with ‘terrorists' everywhere else in the world. Will he ‘bring the troops home from Iraq and dismantle the permanent U.S. military gases?' Very Unlikely.
The only recent change Obama made was move closer to the right, when he switched his vote from against to FOR warrantless wiretapping of domestic ‘enemies.' Instead of standing with the vast majority of people in America who oppose these types of police state tactics, Obama stood with Bush and Cheney and has been tapping your phone ever since.
Finally, the environment. What is Obama's ‘hope for change' going to look like in terms of saving mother earth? Well you might as well ask the oil industry, coal industry and nuclear industries directly. These eco-cidal industries all pumped so much of their blood money into Obama's campaign that they basically run the show now. So don't expect Obama to challenge any of these industries while in office. He can't invest in clean green energy, because dirty energy is invested in him.
So what the hell has actually changed other than the leaders' skin colour? Obama has become the first black president, while one million other black men are stuck in prison, and he won't be able to change that either. His hands are tied and the puppet-masters now pull his strings. They've cleverly tricked into participating in their electoral spectacle this year, millions went to the polls to elect a new pre-selected oppressor. They somehow managed to maintain the dominant power structure yet renew millions of disenfranchised voters' faith in this rotten system.
Democrats serve as a pressure valve during times of political unrest and use their status as the ‘lesser of two evils' to swallow mass movements, incorporate them into the system and reaffirm that illusion ‘that the system can work for you, and that we should work within the system for change.
The silver lining with this Obama victory is that it will free up hundreds of thousands of left-leaning democrats to work OUTSIDE the system now that they've completed their work inside the system. Also, as people start to realize that Obama can't or won't change anything, they will get angry and disillusioned with the system and look for ways to fight the entire system. This means that membership and participation within grassroots organizations and social movements will grow, and progressive people everywhere can go on the offensive in the fight for social, environmental, and economic justice.
Fight the power? Yes we can!
Live without hierarchy and oppression? Yes we can!
Take back control of our own lives and our communities Yes we can!
Live without rulers at all? Yes we can!
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
