Anyone who doubts the downside of hubris should think of the losing campaign of Hillary Clinton.  Like cholesterol in arteries, extreme arrogance can block seeing political realities.

And Barack Obama is exhibiting horrendous hubris by, for example, flip-flopping on his pledge to use federal campaign financing for the general election, and for displaying an Obama seal in public events that closely resembles the official presidential seal.

Welcome to the audacity of arrogance.

This article was previously published on OpEdNews (May 21, 2008)).

What a stupendous, what an incomprehensible machine is man! Who can endure toil, famine, stripes, imprisonment & death itself in vindication of his own liberty, and the next moment ... inflict on his fellow men a bondage, one hour of which is fraught with more misery than ages of that which he rose in rebellion to oppose.   --Thomas Jefferson

The biggest political issue receiving no attention by the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates is the powerful plutocracy that has captured the government to produce rising economic inequality.

Both major parties have enabled, promoted and supported this Upper Class plutocracy.  Myriad federal policies make the rich super-rich and the powerful dominant in both good and bad economic times.  Meanwhile, despite elections, the middle class sinks into one big Lower Class as the plutocracy ensures that national prosperity is unshared.

Long before the disastrous George W. Bush administration, I had been waiting for profound, systemic changes in our political system.  Perversely, I saw the upside of Bush as motivating more Americans to demand political change.  And that happened.  But the national yearning for change was co-opted by Ron Paul on the right and Barack Obama on the left while John Edwards with the most authentic populist change message fizzled out early.

This general election more than most will test the courage of voters to avoid lesser-evil strategic voting that has propped up our two-party plutocracy.  People with intelligence and conscience must resist peer pressure and the temptation to vote against John McCain by voting for Barack Obama.

Of course, a McCain presidency that pursues much of the same policies and values of the totally inept and morally bankrupt Bush administration is something to loathe.  But lesser-evil voting sustains our corrupt political system.

Many say they are voting for Barack Obama in a most enthusiastic and positive way.  For me, this does not work.  I see no compelling evidence in Obama's history that he has what it takes to be a true, solid reformer.  All I see is a young, inexperienced terrific talker that has used slick rhetoric to sell himself.  With intellectual and ideological elitism and an aura of superiority and academic smugness, he has successfully fooled millions of people who are so disillusioned with our corrupt political system that they have let themselves be manipulated by poetic promises of change.  In reality, he is just another super-ambitious, lying mainstream politician that has taken considerable money and support from all sorts of corporate and other special interests.

Mr. Hannity: The new appeasers claim that UN (United Nations) authorization is needed for war. (pp. 139-140)

and help Americans, Ralph Nader is running for president again.  He deserves the support of all Americans that see themselves as progressives, dissidents, independents, and patriots who want to remove the stranglehold of the two-party plutocracy on our political system.

Because he wants to salvage American democracy When it comes to being an honest, proven and trustworthy change agent, Nader is the gold standard.  So why are so many Democrats going ballistic and spewing hate towards Nader?

They are in denial about both Obama and Clinton.  Both owe much to the corporate and business world that Nader has waged war against for decades.  Like Clinton, Obama has taken huge amounts of money from several business sectors.  Both refuse to advocate a single payer universal health care system that Nader champions; this protects the enormously profitable health insurance industry.

Never have so many hoped for so much because of rollicking rhetoric and pulsating platitudes.  A tsunami of hope has plunged America into electoral euphoria.  In its path is the wreckage of critical thinking about what ails the US and what bold, revolutionary actions are needed.  Barry Obama has accomplished semantic alchemy, turning justified but grim distrust and outrage with government and politics into hallelujah hope.  But most hope never materializes and is a terrible predictor of reality.

Perhaps a global political apocalypse has already arrived.

Activists and dissidents should understand that evil forces and tyrannical governments have evolved.  Just as human knowledge and science expand, so do the strategies and instruments used by rulers, elites and plutocrats.  By learning from history and using new technology they have smarter tools of tyranny.  The best ones prevent uprisings, revolutions and political reforms.  Rather than violently destroy rebellious movements, they let them survive as marginalized and ineffective efforts that divert and sap the energy of nonconformist and rebellious thinkers.  Real revolution remains an energy-draining dream, as evil forces thrive.

After many years of political disappointment, more progressives, liberals and conservatives - and certainly moderates and independents - know in their hearts that voting for Democrats or Republicans is a waste.  Just imagine if voter turnout was cut to 25 percent or less!  Let the whole world see Americans boycotting a broken and corrupt political system and rejecting what has become a delusional democracy.  To keep voting in an unjust political system makes us willing political slaves that the rich and powerful elites exploit.

In my previous diary, I intimated that we Americans should channel our dissatisfaction with our corrupt politicians into grassroots organizations and movements, and suggested the possibility that if we can "Save Darfur", we should be able to save our own country. Now in order to prevent disappointment, we should avoid getting our hopes up too high for the immediate recovery of democracy in the US. Washington, DC has been the prime target of corporate fire for many years, so we should not expect to rebuild it in a day--or in a couple of years. What we need to do is start with small, simple choices and build up momentum gradually.

Thomas Jefferson and Al Gore. Both spokesmen for truth, both statesmen of exemplary principle. But are we truly heeding their words?

My hope that we have not labored in vain, and that our experiment will still prove that men can be governed by reason." --Thomas Jefferson to George Mason, 1791. ME 8:124

"I have so much confidence in the good sense of man, and his qualifications for self-government, that I am never afraid of the issue where reason is left free to exert her force." --Thomas Jefferson to Comte Diodati, 1789. Papers 15:326

I originally wrote this two weeks before I read Al Gore's The Assault On Reason. I am posting it again after reading his book because these words mean even more to me, even though he has stated that impeachment is not an option now. I really don't know if he truly believes that in his heart, but I do know that since reading his book I am even more convinced that impeachment is indeed the only way to regain what we have allowed to be taken from us, and that it too is not a political but a moral issue.

For a number of years now, respected pundits have lauded the American two-party political system as an excellent balance between the dictatorship of a one-party system and the instability of a multiparty system. Yet the two-party system has caused our country great harm. The Republican and Democratic parties have divided the American people over fundamental moral values, they have failed to rectify longstanding national problems, and their existence chiefly benefits special interest groups, politicians, and mega-corporate executives. Most unfortunately of all, however, the two-party setup does not represent the people of the United States.

Patriots for Al Gore, a PAC dedicated to supporting the endeavors of the Honorable Al Gore, writes this press release to announce our pleasure at the release of Mr. Gore's new book, The Assault on Reason.