Partisanship is toxic. It makes muddy eyes, less capable of internal dissent and criticism. It places myopic blinders that are unhelpful to informed democracy.
Examining similarities between the Obama and Trump administrations, like their ocean oil drilling policies, can help unravel the DNA of this problematic pathogen of partisanship. Once we decode the nucleic acids, we can construct a vaccine, or a scalpel to surgically excise this blinding disease.
For the sake of the most central of all issues, species and planetary survival, we must become more nonpartisan. Or, we must become partisans for Love, Truth, peace, and justice for the human species and planet Earth.
Something must be done about the status quo, bipartisan environmental holocaust embodied by profit over people economics, particularly in terms of climate change, water pollution and mindless destruction of vital soils and forests.
The corporatist empire has led destruction of half of the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth, rainforests and coral reefs. We are facing mass extinction of many animal and plant species for short term profits. Our aquifers are unsustainably being drained, and rivers, lakes and oceans heavily polluted with factory farmed animal waste, petrochemicals and plastic.
We are disrespecting and desecrating our sacred home, and killing the real economy, where sustainable food production and clean water are most vitally fundamental.
This profound ecological ignorance is suicidal to our species and a massive Fuck You to our children and grandchildren. Politicians that care not for the environment are not “pro life”, but sickening liars.
The other gravest challenge is confronting endless bipartisan wars and most ultimately the threat of nuclear war, which has a horrific end. Again, politicians that sickly love war and nukes are not “pro life” either.
In addition to Obama and Trump violating the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty by supporting the $1 trillion upgrade to the nuclear arsenal and threatening nuclear war, they continued endless illegal Middle East wars and they both are guilty of vast expansion of oil drilling.
Obama bragged about opening “more than 75 percent of our potential oil resources offshore” in our oceans. Today, Trump opened the rest of our oceans to plunder and pollution.
To add insult to injury Obama gave his speech in front of pile of oil pipelines:
“Now, under my administration, America is producing more oil today than at any time in the last eight years…Over the last three years, I’ve directed my administration to open up millions of acres for gas and oil exploration across 23 different states. We’re opening up more than 75 percent of our potential oil resources offshore. We’ve quadrupled the number of operating rigs to a record high. We’ve added enough new oil and gas pipeline to encircle the Earth and then some.”
Why is examining Trump-Obama similarities and advocating nonpartisanship so crucial? Bernie Sanders, for one example.
Numerous partisan Democrats said they opposed Sanders because he wasn’t a partisan Democrat. I would argue this was one of the best things about him.
Although legitimate criticism of Sanders can be made, I personally believed many of the ideas he represented were a significant step in a better direction. I campaigned for him. Most polls showed Bernie would soundly defeat Trump, while most polls showed scandal-plagued Wall Street Warmonger Hillary neck-and-neck with the other most disliked and distrusted candidate in polling history.
I know numerous Bernie supporters that switched to Trump as the lesser evil. The greatest evil is war, particularly for empire and profit, and on this, it was too close to call if Hillary or Trump was more dangerous.
Indeed, Trump promised war crimes, but Clinton had already led wars of aggression, especially Iraq and Libya, both “Supreme International War Crimes”. The Middle East wars not only cost $5.6 trillion so far, but killed over a million people, vastly increased terrorism, caused over 23 million refugees, and created slavery in Libya.
Assange was right, the choice was cholera and gonorrhea. I could support neither in good conscience.
Also, we must not forget Obama and Hillary sold record arms deals to one of the most brutal dictatorships, Saudi Arabia. Trump broke these records.
Let’s not forget that the Saudis are the largest institutional source of terrorism funding and ideology, with extensive extremist Wahhabism promotion. Read Medea Benjamin’s book, Kingdom of the Unjust, or watch our World Citizen Wire interview with her.
Let’s not forget that the Saudis are most repressive to women and regularly execute gays and dissenters. Hillary and Obama were feminist, LGBT supporters DOMESTICALLY, not so much abroad.
Let’s not forget Obama and Hillary also massively supported the Saudi coalition’s war crimes in Yemen, causing millions to face death, starvation and disease. Trump doubled down on this too.
Right wing Republicans obviously care nothing for the environment or peace. Democrats say they do, but right wing neoliberal Democrats in the mold of Hillary and Obama prove this a lie. A minority of Democrats, and Bernie, show some willingness for real progressive leadership on peace and the environment.
This leadership division can be witnessed clearly by examining the supermajority of Democrats recently voting for a massive war complex budget BIGGER than Trump requested. The minority of 67 Democrats, Bernie and the very few Republicans that voted No should be praised for leading, and are the only ones deserving support.
Thus, if partisan eyes can be cleared, there is a chance that citizens can differentiate between hopeless misleaders and the minority of real leaders. Either these real leaders can be elevated and the Democratic Party massively transformed as Bernie has tried, or the party is hopeless and must be abandoned for the Green Party or some other party. Even with another party, partisanship must still take a back seat to issues, ideas and principles.
Peace, People and Planet must always come first, instead of party, profit and flag.
Yet, politicians and parties are of secondary importance. Public opinion is the ruler, even in a dictatorship. That is why dictators work so hard to control information, so opinion doesn’t conclude revolution is necessary.
The importance of public opinion is also why our mainstream media strongly limits certain information, limits the scope of debate, limits historical context, and massively omits or de-emphasizes most vital stories. This is why they elevate more meaningless “news” and infotainment, burying the most important news with a cacophony of static.
Despite massive shaping of public opinion and other forms of manufactured consent, on issue after issue, the American public is still far ahead of our politicians.
With a citizenry free from blinding partisanship, focused more centrally on key principles for human survival, we can differentiate between real leadership and lying misleadership.
We must demand better. To achieve something better will likely take at the very least a mental revolution, public opinion evolution.
Once mass public opinion clears its eyes of mud, blood and oil, it can sees clearly our predicament. Revolution of mind and opinion must precede physical revolution.
With a united, mass mental coalescence for peace, people and planet, the mandatory mass nonviolent physical actions in Washington D.C. can become far larger, sustainable and effective.
We can take the power back once we know exactly whom it needs taken from.
It ain’t just Trump or Republicans. It ain’t just Obama, Clinton or Democrats. Yes, we need to take power back from them, but also far more. Our systemic diseases are deeper still, including all the massive monopolistic corporations, especially Big Media, Big Banks, Big Oil, and Big War.
We must recognize that wealth is power, and that massive concentrations of wealth by corporations and individuals is inherently corrosive to democracy. Concentrated wealth is buying most of our politicians from BOTH parties, and consequently our government and laws.
Only the wealthy can buy TV networks and expensive TV ads to dumb down public opinion in their interest. Only the wealthy can afford armies of lobbyists to besiege our lawmaking systems. Only the wealthy can buy significant ownership stakes in Wall Street, and control boards of the interlocking corporate directorates. Only the wealthy massively profit from war. Only the wealthy can buy massive tracts of property to quickly exploit and pollute for a quick profit. Only they can buy and build extensive rental property for profit, making housing unaffordable for the poor and driving many into homelessness. This list could go on forever.
Ultimately, we need decentralization of governance and economics, while maintaining and improving federations. Global federation is crucial for peace and environmental agreements.
Thankfully we have signs of hope for serious change. A nonpartisan Poor People’s Campaign is kicking off in 2018. This is an effort to complete the final campaign of Dr. King, which was disrupted by his assassination. It calls for deep social and economic justice and transformation of the war economy.
Perhaps this will be the Revolution. Perhaps public opinion is already on track. A plurality of 43% of Americans now identify as independent, not Democrat or Republican. What happens at 51%? It could be a critical mass tipping point.
Perhaps 2018 will be the year we begin to break free from our chains.
May Peace Prevail.
Abel Tomlinson 