It sounds like some kind of bad joke: A republican, a democrat, and an independent walk into a bar. Bartender says, “Hey, didn’t I see you guys in the presidential horse race?” “No,” they say, “you wouldn’t have seen us; we’re against the war.”
Imagine turning up at the track to bet the fate of humanity on a horse race, but after the bets are down, it turns out some of the horses aren’t listed in the racing form and the announcer calling the race is making everything up.
In the democratic race lots of good horses lined up at the gate: Dodd, Biden, Kucinich, Gravel: lots of experience, lots of strong voting records, lots of original ideas, and lots of loud voices for peace. Between them, however, they didn’t get the millions of dollars needed to make it past the first lap. “Don’t fear,” the candidates yell to the crowd, “democracy shall triumph!”
Kucinich emerged as a favourite; he voted against the Patriot Act and the war in Iraq, he has a charismatic wife (who has hinted at a possible cross-party alliance with Ron Paul), he has the endorsement of Sean Penn, and led the attempt to impeach vice president Dick Cheney for pouring tax money into his arms dealership. Kucinich showed strongly in many polls, but the racing form decided to only print polls he didn’t win. He distinguished himself in the debates, but a court judge ruled at the last minute to exclude him from the New Hampshire debate. MSNBC announced that he dropped out of the race, which wasn’t true, but by the time he got news out that he’s still in the race it was too late and he starting to worry about losing his congressional seat. It was over. The Obama and Clinton horses, running on gender and ethnicity, and having continuously voted for more war, are the choice determined by the track long before the race even started. The crowd stands dazed, asking “Why do we keep bothering to show up at these things?”
It’s a good question. In a nation that should have known in 1968 and 1972 that the race is fixed, why keep betting on a fix? Even if they somehow missed the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr, Robert and John Kennedy, Malcolm X, and John Lennon, why didn’t they just stay home after the fiascos of 2000 and 2004? A voice from the Republican race answers: “Because if you don’t gamble, you can’t win.”
Ron Paul, the revolution horse, against all odds came up so fast from so far outside, it was all the pundits could do to keep him off the radar. He’s the only Republican horse against the illegal war, but that’s just the start: GQ named him their “Dark Horse of the Year 2007,” he is the most prominent candidate on the internet—boasting the highest campaign contributions in a single day in history, including by several times over more contributions from soldiers serving oversees than all other candidates combined. He’s a Congressman from Texas, a doctor that delivered thousands of babies, who was nicknamed “Dr No” in Congress for having continuously voted against both the Democrats and the Conservatives on the war, taxes, the Patriot Act and more. His first week in office would eliminate the IRS. He appeals to young people paying money into social security funds they’ll never see again. People turned up in droves, his signs were everywhere across the US, and perhaps the only candidate with signs even in Vancouver, Canada. (The Marijuana Party Headquarters at Cambie and Hastings endorsed him). Groups rallied for Paul around the globe. As he came out of the gate the crowds watched from the grandstand, watching from beyond hope because Paul has also said that he wants to eliminate the CIA, and how could a horse like that get past the snipers poised at the finish line, anyway?
Right from the break he emerged as a lone voice of reason in a crowd of puppet candidates, one human on a slate of robots, smearing Giuliani off the map in the first debate, citing the 9-11 Commission’s report saying that the CIA called 9-11 “blowback” for US involvements in the Middle East, a report Giuliani seemed unfamiliar with in the battle now known as “Educating Rudy,” Paul having sent Giuliani a reading list. Giuliani was never heard from again and Paul won an immediate Fox News poll on the debate. But the news casters said the people were wrong: Paul hadn’t won. Fox didn’t invite him to their next debate and henceforth he was allowed less than five minutes per debate, compared to fifteen to twenty for Fred Thompson, who dropped out, and then Romney, who dropped out, and then McCain, followed by Huckabee, who dropped out. The news was stuffed with meaningless information about these android candidates, and it was like the journalists don’t even know Paul existed.
Stephen Colbert gave Paul the “Colbert Bump,” and he appeared on Bill Moyers’ Journal in January. Huge crowds gathered at every appearance like he was a rock star, as many as 7,000 turning up at talks at universities. Every appearance and snippet of debate or coverage is immediately posted and circulated on the internet, then blacked out and smoke screened in the mainstream press. “Maybe they don’t like our message,” is Paul’s reply.
On February 25th, anti-corporate consumer-advocate Ralph Nader announced his candidacy as an independent against the illegal war, with even mainstream journalists admitting that the announcement would probably be the last the mainstream spress ees of Nader until November.
On February 27th, just after Romney dropped out, Paul sent out a video message that conceded that there would likely not be a brokered convention, but vowing to continue to run so long as the support was there, suggesting a march on Washington at the end of June. CNN reported about the video on March 7th under the headline “Ron Paul Will End Presidential Run,” and claimed the video was released on March 6th, just after Huckabee dropped out. This attention, the first CNN gave Paul in a year, made no mention of the march on Washington. On March 19th, the 5th anniversary of the war in Iraq, people marched all over the nation and the globe, 32 having been arrested for gathering to shut down the IRS in Washington. And in San Francisco, 140 people went to jail in what may only be the beginnings of manifestation.
“That’s the end of the show, folks, come back in November,” says the announcer, and the crowd turns, their ripped ballots littered at their feet. How many look up at the chuckling coming from the private booths? Did enough people see the puppet masters’ strings? Is five percent enough for a revolution? Is ten? The track is crumbling apart as the people realize that there wouldn’t be a horserace without them, the only real horse in the race all along, and they realize that ours is a corrupt democracy forced on the world down the barrel of a gun. Hopefully the world is ready for revolution. Hopefully it’s not too late.
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