NP - US false political dichotomy

[Mark Kohut]

And I love your mini-autobigraphy, socially embedded autobiography, not a
me-me-me at all....

On Mon, Nov 17, 2025 at 4:53 AM matthew cissell <mccissell at gmail.com> wrote:

> Howdy folks,
>
> I try not to use this chat for things other than TP and related (tech.,
> etc.) content. However, I have to put this out there. It goes out to fellow
> US voters.
>
> Let me put some frame on this. I was born in western KY in 1972 and raised
> in small towns in southern and central IL. That means I grew up with
> Reagan. I lived the changing fortunes of what is now the Rust Belt. Small
> family farms got sold and auctioned off. The town I moved to in 1980 had
> one prison when I arrived and 2 when I left 12 years later. (Jobs. And
> faithful GOP voters.) The factories that had been good jobs are now gone;
> first they shifted south to the Sun Belt (right-to-work laws and less
> environmental enforcement) and then went overseas. My hometown is like
> many. Despair is as plentiful as the crack, speed or fentanyl.
>    My first real job was detasseling corn at 13; it's hard hot work and I
> was not very good. My first union job was working at the bottle factory,
> which was one of the best paying jobs with good benefits thanks to the
> strong union. I was there when NAFTA was being voted on. I've worked many
> jobs since then (like some of you on the list): forest work at the
> university, a bakery, some franchise gigs, a genetics lab, freshman
> composition teacher, and even some under the radar work. My day job now is
> teaching English. I only get by because of my partner and the fact that I
> do not reside in the US.
>    I was happy to vote for the Dems in 1992, my first Presidential
> election. Growing up with the GOP's vile and absurd "war on drugs" (that
> they have never meant to finish) I was ready to vote for anything more
> lenient. Later, after 8 years of George II (the Stupid) I was ecstatic with
> the idea of an Afro-American President.
>    But as Bob sings, "Things have changed." Cornel West says that Barack
> punted on the second down, others note that he changed his economic
> rhetoric and really didn't reorient the party from the direction it had
> taken (thanks to Bill Clinton) which is to keep the Brahman class dems
> happy and make noise on the narrow Venn diagram of topics they would fight
> for. The liberal nationalists really don't differentiate themselves from
> the GOP because they can't. We are then given a false dichotomy: vote for
> the Dems if you don't like how things are going and if not - what are you
> going to do?
>
> The answer is to reject the false dichotomy. And the best way to do that is
> to reject the present leadership of the DNC: Chuck Schumer and Hakeem
> Jeffries do not deserve to lead voters that want a real change. But I'm
> really aiming at Chuck. Do you know Chuck the Schmuck?
>
> Charlie the Schmuck Schumer was born in 1950, just 3 years after my mom and
> dad. In 1974 he was elected to the NY state Assembly and began his career.
> He has been in politics ever since, climbing up the greasy pole. Let's be
> clear. He has never worked a day in his life. He has never done anything
> but make speeches (badly). According to Forbes he has a networth of 7
> million dollars, but it could be more. He didn't inherit his wealth. He
> hasn't generated it through hard work and entrepreneurial effort.  He
> consults imaginary constituents (the Baileys) instead of listening to real
> people. However, if the people of New York choose to vote for him, that's
> their business. But he has no right to pretend to be some kind of leader
> when his actions scream cowardice, capitulation and appeasement at every
> turn. He's no leader, he's a spineless slug.
>
> I have written to both of my Senators, one of whom is among the treacherous
> 8 that voted with the GOP for the Make Rich People Richer and starve the
> Poor bill. I gave Dick Durbin the 2 barrels I can't literally give him. I
> wrote to Senator Duckworth to urge her to move with others to have Schumer
> removed from his position as Minority leader in the Senate.
>
> The present DNC leadership will not change course. They see no need to do
> so. Their logic is clear: as things get worse more people are likely to
> vote for us because they have to. That means more status quo
> non-leadership. And this is not about 53 yr old me or you. This is about my
> 15 year old daughter. Your young nieces and nephews. The children that have
> not been born yet but are everyday more likely to live through a very
> hellish lifescape while the fat old tech-bro paid-off politicians retire on
> some island.
>
> So, please write to your Senators and urge them to remove Charles Schumer
> from his position.
>
> Sincerely,
> Matthew C. Cissell
> --
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>