Jim Karger writes that:
Voting is the illusion of influence in exchange for the loss of freedom.
Both Obama and Romney are men of privilege, Romney born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and Obama gifted power. Romney is the poster child of the power elite and Obama is clearly acceptable after four years of doing their bidding.
Obama has clearly enjoyed his four years of high rolling, playing at least 100 rounds of golf in 3 1/2 years of being POTUS, while his wife has imitated the rich and famous, sporting a personal staff of 22 and taking extravagant vacations on the taxpayers' dime with not a hint of embarrassment.
Romney is equally unsympathetic. Michael Cohen, a good friend and political observer, summarizes Romney as follows: "Romney"s father was a CEO, a governor, and a candidate for President. He was born to great wealth and status and privilege. He attended the poshest private schools, where he was a bully. At Stanford, he demonstrated publicly in favor of the Vietnam War while he sat it out as a missionary in the steamy jungles of Paris, France. He got filthy rich by starting a fund that bought companies and, for the most part, ran them into the dirt, and the seed money for this noble venture came from immensely wealthy Central and South American families who supported right-wing death squads but also needed to park some substantial money in the US.
"The only rules that Romney thinks apply to him are the rules of rich-people etiquette – how to use snail tongs for escargot, how to talk quietly while your partner is teeing off or putting, how to refer to African Americans without calling them "niggers" or "darkies," which people you can screw (literally and figuratively) and get away with it, and which you can"t. Other rules, especially the rule of law, do not apply to him. The law is for little people. Romney has no need for rules or the law; he is guided by his unerring internal moral compass and incorruptible conscience."
A disturbing choice, indeed, but who will get the nod from the sheeple?
Obama is my odd's on favorite to win in November, if only because half of the US receives a check from the government and intends to continue collecting.
The Republicans are seen as the party of the rich, mostly because they are. Romney is an empty suit, unlikable, and reminds me of the mildly-retarded George W., but without the childlike qualities. He is of the elite. He is not Main Street. He is Wall Street, brought to the general public by the same elites that have and continue to rape and pillage what is left of the markets and violate the law with impunity. He was an absurd choice by a party that has been absconded with by the neocons.
Romney's tax return issue won't go away and there is speculation that the reason he won't release more tax returns is because he hid millions in Switzerland believing he wouldn't get caught. When the Swiss rolled over, he figured he better take advantage of the amnesty because his name would certainly have stood out on a list of US tax cheats turned over by the Swiss government. No one knows, but if that turns out to be the case and is revealed, he is history. Even the rumor is taking a toll.
Finally, Romney's blatant attempt to silence Ron Paul at the Republican convention by refusing to seat his delegates ensures he will lose the vast majority of Libertarians, estimated to constitute at least 12% of the Republican Party. They will either vote for Gary Johnson in protest or not vote at all. Romney's pathetic attempt to appear open by offering Paul a place on the podium was rejected after Romney insisted that he have an advance review Paul's remarks. Dr. Paul would rather be silenced than censored.
Yet, partisans on the "winning" side of this faux campaign will celebrate their "freedom," if for no other reason that they got to choose their dictator.
Americans, except the elite, will be the losers. Again. They will remain debt slaves, tax donkeys and work mules for the owners. They will watch their dollars become more worthless than they already are, become poorer and more dependent, and sooth their pain with the bread and circuses provided by those in control – alcohol and sport. They will cheer on their gladiators, their teenage sons dying in foreign lands, and not even notice they are being strip-searched daily and their phone calls, email and Facebook feeds monitored.
While the spokesman for the owners will change, the owners will not, mostly because most voters on both sides are too lazy, ignorant or disinterested to go further than campaign rhetoric.