At the risk of taking Gingrich’s nonsense seriously, just imagine for a moment what translating his proposal into action would mean. The government would round up 3.3 million American Muslims, then “test” them to see “if they believe in Sharia,” a notion about which Gingrich doesn’t have the remotest clue. Sharia is the Arabic word for “law”; there’s no guidebook of official Sharia, and Islamic scholars have a multitude of ideas about how Koranic ideas could or should be translated into civil rules. But even if there were, Gingrich is literally proposing to prosecute thought crimes, as well as jettisoning the First Amendment to throw people in jail for visiting certain web sites. And where is he going to “deport” the Americans whom he decides believe in Sharia to?
Frankly, I think we need to ask just how Newt Gingrich got radicalized, and what caused him to reject the values of the country that gave him so much. Was it some radical cleric who did this to him? Is there a church somewhere in Georgia we need to be monitoring?
Look at me. Look me in the eye. On November the 8th, 2016, one of two things will happen: Hillary Clinton will become president, or Donald Trump will become president. These are the only two possibilities. The superdelegates aren’t going to switch. An indictment isn’t coming. There is no third possibility. There is no space between the spaces where you can hide. Every vote for Donald Trump requires two Hilary Clinton votes to overcome. A Hillary Clinton vote can only be overcome by two Donald Trump votes. If you stay home, a Donald Trump vote doubles its power. This is the real, actual reality of the situation. There is not one other option.
And there’s no ctrl-alt-del for the election. Read up on 2000 if you doubt this.
And to those of us who supported Bernie, he WANTS you to vote for Hillary. If you believe in him and his mission you will follow his advice. He knows that writing his name in, or voting for anyone else besides Clinton, is effectively voting for Trump.
Refusing to vote for Hillary is a vote for Trump, no matter how much you scream and say how it’s not. And if you’re standing by to do nothing in regards to taking down Trump, then you ARE grouped along with the rest of the people in this country that ruin things for everybody else.
No, seriously, go read about the presidential election in 2000.
If you weren’t old enough to remember and/or understand the ramifications of the 2000 election, I WILL TELL YOU.
Do not let Trump win. Please. I beg you. I went to grad school with people who voted for Nader in 2000 and my FB feed is full of them begging others not to make the same mistake they did. Bernie has his priorities straight, and the priority is stopping Trump.
And if that doesn’t do it for you, this is the Republican platform 2016. It calls for:
Conversion therapy for queer kids.Let me repeat that. CONVERSION THERAPY FOR QUEER KIDS. Some members of the RNC even wanted to endorse it more explicitly than they did.
Zealous opposition to same-sex marriage. Here’s the quote:
The official position of the Republican Party is that 1.4 million transgender Americans should be forced to use restrooms that do not match their authentic gender expression. The official position of the Republican Party is to put 1.4 million Americans at risk of arrest, imprisonment, psychological harm, and physical/sexual assault EVERY TIME THEY USE A PUBLIC RESTROOM.
If you vote Republican, you are actively supporting the oppression and dehumanization of 1.4 million of your fellow Americans.
If you FAIL TO VOTE DEMOCRATIC? You’re doing the same thing, but passively. Yay?
Register. Vote. Win. Be on the right side of history.
Welcome to the club! Spain hasn’t had a government since December 2015 despite re-running the general election on June 26, and Britain doesn’t have a Prime Minister and considering the mess the last one caused maybe we’re better off this way
So on July 2nd we (Australia) are having our Federal Election, the course of our country for the next few years will be up to all of us.
I have been a scrutineer at polling stations before, I have seen the donkey votes, the dicks instead of numbers, and the manifestos written in the margins. When you do this, you are not being funny, or edgy, or alternative, you are being a blistering, raging, fucktrumpet and your actions have consequences.
This Federal Election is arguably one of the most important decisions we have to make as a country. There are many decisions that need to be made in the next few years that will have long term consequences, and cannot easily be reversed.
To quote the late, great Joan Kirner put it, “There is no such thing as being non-political. Just by making a decision to stay out of politics you are making the decision to allow others to shape politics and exert power over you. And if you are alienated from the current political system, then just by staying out of it you do nothing to change it, you simply entrench it.”
Or as Howard Zinn put it, “I don’t believe it’s possible to be neutral. The world is already moving in certain directions, and to be neutral, to be passive… is to collaborate with whatever is going on.”
The Coalition government are already setting us on a course towards a neoliberal nightmare, the likes of which Thatcher and Reagan would most certainly be proud. To defeat this party of the conservative, elitist, xenophobic, and homophobic requires all of us.
On July 2nd, do not piss away your vote, do not collaborate with what is going on. By failing to discharge your democratic duty, you are saying you are fine with what is going on, and what is going on IS. NOT. OKAY.
