Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Impossible Things (Uniting The Left)



Impossible Things

(Uniting The Left)

by. C.A. Matthews

“Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

It might not be quite six, but there is one big impossible thing I believe we can accomplish before breakfast. Call me a cock-eyed optimist, but I’d like to see the Left unite just once and elect a non-duopolist, non-corporate-owned, non-warhawk candidate for president.

Yes, I’m talking about Dr. Cornel West. And, yes, I know the odds are against anyone uniting the American Left anytime this century. A girl can dream though, can’t she?

Perhaps...the time has come to bring the entirety of the Left together in order to mount a strong offense against the duopoly or the “uni-party with two names.” As a Green, Dr. West cannot accept any campaign contributions from lobbyists or corporations like the Dems and Republicans regularly do. That fact already makes him less suspect to persons who view themselves as being on the far left side of the Overton Window.  

So, there’s no chance of Big Oil promising President West a load of cash to sign over more federal lands (national parks/reserves) to them to drill for oil, such as Biden has done recently with the Willow Project. Not taking cash from billionaires/oligarchs and relying solely on the support of regular people like you and me makes Dr. West seem like an honest candidate who will listen to the working classes over the wealthy, doesn’t it?

But where does Cornel West stand on issues such as the proxy war in Ukraine? To Leftists—and I mean real Leftists, not faux ones such as A.O.C. and the Squad—this is an exceedingly important issue. The Military-Industrial Complex or simply “the War Machine” is all about making huge profits at the expense of human lives and the care of our environment. It’s safe to say that Dr. West running as a Green is decidedly pro-humanity and pro-environment. 
 
Dr. West’s Christian belief in seeing the image of God (imago dei) in the face of every human being and taking seriously the directive in the book of Genesis of being a “good steward of the earth” prevents him from starting a senseless war for profit. The idea of starting a war to grab resources, such as natural gas, while destroying hundreds of cities and killing thousands of peoplewhile polluting an entire country’s croplands with depleted uranium shells from US given ordinance in the processwould be anathema to Cornel West. Depleted uranium is radioactive, and it’s been linked to cancer, birth defects, and environmental damage in areas it’s been used, including Iraq, where US forces frequently fired the toxic munitions. Its impact is still being felt there today.

How refreshing it is to contemplate having a US president who possesses no desire to shed blood either at home or across the globe! Since Dr. West is running as a Green, he must agree with its pro-peace/anti-violence and pro-environment platform. Rest assured, a West administration will not start another conflict such as Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Grenada, Vietnam… just to make the CEOs of Raytheon, General Dynamics, and Lockheed Martin happy.

The unhappy faux leftists (a.k.a. the Democratic Party) will try to throw dirt on Dr. West because of his well-articulated, humanity-loving beliefs. I have no doubts that some Dems will call him “antisemitic” because he has openly declared his support of the Palestinian people and their struggles to live in peace.  

Once again, as a professing Christian, Cornel West doesn’t want to see any of God’s children suffering and dying. He has said so on many occasions. He has clearly stated that he supports and cares for all people—poor, rich, black, white, brown, indigenous, gay, trans, straight, leftists or right-wingers. Why would he approve of the modern state of Israel bombing and taking land away from Palestinians? Why wouldn’t he want to bring about a peaceful end to the hostilities there and elsewhere?

Podcaster Briahna Joy Gray asked Dr. West about his support of the Palestinian people as compared to DNC candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s pro-Israel stance. West answered her quite plainly:

“You want a presidential candidate… who has a backbone… If [RFK Jr.] thinks somehow that each [Palestinian] baby who was killed somehow was never in any way, intentional, deliberate, [Israel] didn't know what they were doing—he needs to really get off the crack pipe.”

Faux leftists like RFK Jr. and Marianne Williamson stand to receive a lot of money from a political action committee funded by the Israeli government, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee or AIPAC. AIPAC is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to the legislative and executive branches of the United States and has over 100,000 members, 17 regional offices, and “a vast pool of donors” according to their website. Their annual revenue in 2014 was over $77 million dollars. 

Faux leftists like RFK Jr. and Marianne aren’t necessarily bloodthirsty or racist or genocidal toward the Palestinian people. It’s just that they love all the money they get from lobbyists like AIPAC just by being Democratic Party duopolists. Why would they give up so much money and their party’s possible nomination just to save the lives of innocent Palestinian children? Remember: “Rich, White Lives Matter” too! 

I could go on about how I believe Cornel West is the candidate to unite the Left because of his integrity and compassion, but I like to keep these posts under 10,000 words. Besides, there’s plenty of time to articulate many more points before November 2024. For now, I just want to plant a seed in the mind of the American Left and let it germinate and grow, perhaps to blossom into a strong movement of activists determined to wipe out the corruption and warmongering that has dwelt for far too long within the halls of government. 

Too many are suffering from hunger, homelessness, lack of health care, overwhelming student debt… We owe it to them to fight for a candidate who will speak up for the oppressed both at home and abroad. Let’s sit down and talk things over about how a Cornel West presidential campaign could bring the Left together and attract others to the cause of building a better world. We owe it to future generations to cooperate now in order to get rid of the lesser evil mindset of the duopoly and, in turn, mandate beneficial change for the greater good.

“Our problems stem from our acceptance of this filthy, rotten system.” Dorothy Day, peace activist 


Related articles and other fascinating links:

Green Party US Ten Key Values: https://www.gp.org/ten_key_values

Green Party Four Pillars: https://www.gp.org/4_pillars  

 


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