[PAA-Discuss] Corporate Presidential Campaign Giving Surges

[Amy Branham]

I think that the massive, unprecendented number of voters that have been coming out to vote this election season is proof that people are waking up and they want change.  The large number of voters voting for Obama, who touts change, cannot be ignored.  People are waking up more and more every day.  Maybe not as quickly as we would like, but they are waking up.

I'll take my changes with an unknown who shows promise of change rather than vote for a candidate that will maintain the status quo -- and also a candidate who has a pretty good chance of winning over a candidate who has no chance whatsoever (sadly).  

I'll take my chances with a candidate who says he will restore habeas corpus, who will end the war within a certain time frame of his taking office and has a plan to do it (better than McCain's 100 years of staying in Iraq).  I'll take my chances with a candidate who says he will talk to the leaders of other countries and try diplomacy before we attack another country again...  

Obama most closely matches the things that are important to me, personally, right now.  the other candidates that I liked (Kucinich, Edwards) are no longer options (makes me damn mad, too.  I would have liked to have had the chance to vote for them!).

Amy
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Ron and Kris Graham 
  To: 'Amy Branham' ; Discuss at paa-tx.org 
  Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 11:24 AM
  Subject: RE: [PAA-Discuss] Corporate Presidential Campaign Giving Surges


  We cannot hope to affect any kind of positive change, Amy, if we keep ourselves in a collective state of delusion. Only when we wake up fully and realize we are in big trouble and the current crop of candidates is not going to get us out of this trouble will we begin to mobilize together as a society to bring about the much needed change. I compare our current situation to that of an alcoholic or drug abuser. The alcoholic or drug abuser has to hit absolute rock bottom and then ADMIT he or she needs help. Then that person must seek the help on his or her own. Nobody but nobody is going to do it for that person. This country is going to have to hit rock bottom before its people will finally admit that capitalism doesn't work and the current political system doesn't work. Then they - WE - are going to have to actually put aside our prejudices and differences and work together to build the kind of world we want to live in. It sounds utopian, but it's not. It is doable. We merely need to have the will to admit we have a major problem and then go about fixing the problem(s). Admission of a problem is the first step to taking many necessary steps to fixing the problem.

   

  This country is in denial, Amy, and continuing to cling to a glimmer of hope is not going to change anything. I understand that people need hope, otherwise they fall into despair and give up, but perhaps what we need is to fall into despair and then pick ourselves up TOGETHER by our bootstraps and begin to coalesce and make the necessary changes in order to survive and even thrive. Pretending that one man is going to rise up and lead the people in a positive direction that will benefit all is not going to get it done. Barack Obama is not going to save this country, and he's not going to help the poor and middle class. It's going to be more of the same with Barack and with all the front running candidates. 

   

  The elected leaders have no interest in listening to us. They've proven that time and again. We are going to have to make the necessary changes in our own attitudes and belief systems before we can make any kind of substantive change in our government and our way of life. The coming days and years ahead are going to be painful, but we are going to have to collectively feel the pain and then work to heal the wounds this country and the rest of the world have suffered on behalf of us, the American people and the U.S. government that supposedly represents us. 

   

  The rest of the world is looking to us to see what we are going to do. As the United States goes, so goes the rest of the world. People all over the world are looking to the American citizens to rise up against their oppressors and change the status quo. It's not going to happen at the polling place unless people collectively work to either get Ralph Nader on the ticket or the Green Party nominee or we are going to have to have a General Strike as the people do in France when they want to send a message to their government.

   

  Voting for the lesser evil didn't work with John Kerry, and it's not going to work by voting for Obama. 

   

  We have to wake up.

   

  Kris

   


------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  From: Amy Branham [mailto:amybranham at comcast.net] 
  Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 11:02 AM
  To: graham2639 at mindspring.com; Discuss at paa-tx.org
  Subject: Re: [PAA-Discuss] Corporate Presidential Campaign Giving Surges

   

  Kris,

   

  Maybe some of us HAVE to cling to that little, slight glimmer of hope that some way, somehow, Obama can bring about some kind of change.  What other options do we currently have at this point in time?  Hillary and another coPresidency with her husband?  McCain?  Romney?  

   

  The citizens of this country ARE waking up, finally, and I think it's exciting.  Sure, they don't have as much knowledge and experience as you do -- you've been politically active and involved for years.  Now, if we can find a way, all of us, to get those elected "leaders" to listen to us...  That would be really nice.

   

  peace,

  Amy
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://paa-tx.org/pipermail/discuss_paa-tx.org/attachments/20080204/75fefbe1/attachment.htm>