This is the latest Ghion Cast that discusses this racket and duopoly that that these two parties present to us as Democracy. Read who I endorse for governor of Virginia below this video.
During the battle of the Bulge, which witnessed some of the most lethal combat on the western front during World War II, the Germans made inroads and were threatening to break out. This was a last gasp for the Nazi war machine; the war was effectively lost, but if the Germans retook the initiative, there was a chance they could sue for peace on Hitler’s terms. Consequently, Bastogne became the linchpin of the Third Reich’s war effort. They almost succeeded in turning the tide of war; German troops were threatening to overrun the allies and take the war back to France after suffering successive months of defeat.
General Anthony McAuliffe was instructed in no uncertain terms to hold out and defend Bastogne at all cost. Faced with an imminent collapse and the threat of being outflanked, he was offered way out as the Germans gave him an ultimatum to surrender or face the onslaught of the Luftwaffe bombs and a blitzkrieg rush. When McAuliffe was presented the offer to surrender or face certain defeat, he responded with one word. “Nuts!” When given a choice between two equally bad outcomes, he decided to go out with pride than to face humiliation in defeat and in the process give his hands to the evils of Hitler.
In the spirit of McAuliffe, I’m referring to the World War II general and not the current slick talking DNC created governor of Virginia, I am endorsing “Nuts” for governor of Virginia. I know for those who have been trained to see politics through the bankrupt duopoly we have before us and who can’t see life away from the equally bankrupt Democrats and Republicans will see this as a radical position that I am espousing. I humbly submit, however, that doing the same thing every four years and expecting a different result is the very radicalism we need to step away from. If we, as a society, do not find a way to break this two party monopoly that Republicans and Democrats have erected, voting will be a philosophical exercise that has no impact beyond empty symbolism.
Beyond being a futile endeavor, if we keep voting between only parties and choosing one of two pre-selected candidates, voting actually becomes a means to solidify institutional corruption and systematic graft. Our civil responsibility is a lot more than pushing a button and putting on a “I voted sticker” on our chest—it is our moral obligation to do no harm. Voting between Democrats and Republicans is doing harm to ourselves and the future of our children; both parties are irredeemably corrupt. I know there are good people who are involved in politics on the local and state level, but that does not take away from the fact that both parties are bought and paid enforcers of corporatism and complicit in the continued fleecing of America in order to feed the 1%. Though Ralph Northam and Ed Gillespie are different on the margins, at the core they are both in bed with big business and creatures of the military-financial complex.
Ed Gillespie is a former lobbyists—which is like saying a former alligator—who has spent a lifetime siding with corporations and espousing the virtues of trickle down economy. What he terms conservatism is actually more like government interference in the affairs of citizens. On choices that should be left to individuals, Gillespie has time and time endorsed radical positions that sought to impose his views on Virginians. Gillespie is a fundamentalist in a suit who pushes his morality on others while enhancing private interests at the cost of the public good. Republicans are dead set on turning Virginia into a corporate fantasy land. If you love more toll roads, less workers rights and tilting the economic scales to the affluent, Gillespie is your candidate.
If only Ralph Northam offered a different vision. Democrats in Virginia and nationally are just as beholden to corporatism as are their counterparts in the Republican party. Northam personifies the shell game that is played between these two parties in the Commonwealth of Virginia and throughout America. Did you know Northam voted for Bush not once but twice? Did you know that he gave a strong consideration to switching parties when political expediency came knocking. There are partisans who are currently running around with their hair on fire talking about how extreme Gillespie is. But all of it is hyperbole and nothing more, what we are being asked to do is yet again choose between the lesser of two evils. Tis’ better to not vote at all than to rationalize a vote for someone you believe to be a wee bit less wicked than the other guy.
Yet, even though Gillespie is different than the current governor McAuliffe on style, when it comes to the substance of economic policies, the two are the same and Northam is not different. I live in Virginia, this is not something I’m pontificating about from a distance. I don’t write this as some form of political nihilism, I believe that the only way we can make progress is if we shatter the grip these two parties have on governance. There is a reason nearly 70% of Americans who can otherwise vote refuse to do so, they have realized the fraudulence of these two parties. It is the 30% of Americans who do vote that gives credence to these two parties, and a government by extension, that is clearly illegitimate and governing without consent.
In light of this continued fraudulence of our two-faction governance, I ask Virginians to vote in defiance if they must. Revert to the spirit of General McAuliffe and write in “Nuts” and let that symbolic act be a gesture of our collective stand against the institutional graft that is emblematic of these two equally immoral parties. If our choice is between two equally malignant parties and two corporate puppets, at least let us keep our pride and in the process make a small dent against the wall of malfeasance that are the Democrats and Republicans. Given the choice between Northam and Gillepsie, I encourage you write in “Nuts” and let the political class know that Virginians won’t go down without a fight. #NutsForGovVA
Check out the Ghion Cast below as I discuss how both Democrats and Republicans are hoodwinking us and feeding us to the wolves. Be independent and stop being the “base” for those who thrive at our cost.
Teodrose Fikremariam
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