As the first year of President Obama’s term has worn on many people on the left including me have tried to answer this question: Will Obama continue and promote the militaristic endeavors and culture of the Bush era? I got my answer observing Obama’s reaction to the illegal attack/offensive against Gaza this past December. His “neutrality” on a “war” (more like low-intensity genocide imo) that killed over a thousand civilians and leveled one of the most densely populated and poorest regions of the world says a lot about his “anti-war” stance.
I have come back to blogging in the wake of a upshot in my political activity in the last few week and numerous political and philosophical arguments with associates and friends. The subject of one of my discussions went to arguing the socialist alternative to a form of pure free-market capitalism. This person I was talking to argued basically that government should not do ANYTHING else aside from protecting life and private property. He argued that this would allow all to be truly free and would actually hasten the progress we have made so far under capitalism. I of course disagreed and this entry will outline my argument against the free market in any semi-or pure form.
As of today we have begun a new era and entered a brave new world. This world is not one of just "hope" and "change" but one of confusion and uncertainty also. The newly elected president of the US, Barack Obama has promised to right the wrongs of the Bush Administration and move American into a new direction. Obama's Rhetorical America and world is that of community and unity in peace and justice. The real world though is not that simple and clean and Obama or any President or elected official isn't the path to justice ans peace. We the people are seeing an era in which anything is possible, if we want it to be. Obama and the new rulers of the American Empire realize this and as of tomorrow will be in the process of repairing the neo-liberal capitalist system and the empire from the damage the reckless Bush Administration has wrought on it. Our job as the people is to ensure our place in this new world in a meaningful way (or at all considering the alternatives) and my job as a socialist is to show the people one way we may be able to do it.
Many of you dear friends of mine are probably confused or disgusted as to why me as a black man and a liberal won't vote for Barack Obama in the upcoming elections. After numerous facebook arguments and even real one (especially after church) I decide to sit down and make my case against Obama (and McCain by default). Also I will make my case for 3rd party candidates like Ralph Nader or Cynthia McKinney.
