Imagine this: 1000 unicyclists who all care about real democracy riding together to the White House on December 5th.
‘1 Wheel’ is the perfect metaphor for democracy as it should work. See his website at http://1Wheel1NationGovernment4All.com to learn about the ride and how you can participate.
On November 8th, the 1 year pre-anniversary of the 2016 presidential election, Peter Corbett will begin a unicycle ‘FUNdraiser’ ride from Burlington, VT’s City Hall, the birthplace of Bernie Sanders political career, 550 miles to the White House, where he hopes Sanders will soon live.
Be a part of the ride en route from Burlington - DC.
Come to the final ride into the White House on December 5th.
Sanders is a sheepdog for Hillary and supported her husband’s bombing of Yugoslavia and sanctions on Iraq, which are said to have killed 1.5 million people. “Bernie” later voted in favor of the Authorization for the Use of Military Force that allowed Bush to reduce Afghanistan and Iraq to rubble, and he supported Bill Clinton’s 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which, true to its name, empowered law enforcement to become even more violent. It drastically expanded the number of crimes punishable by death and produced 100,000 extra cops and billions of dollars for prison expansion.
Be careful on your ride, though. Some of the ideals people think they are supporting by campaigning for Sanders are considered a threat by the powers-that-be, and police sometimes attack Critical Mass rides, knocking people off their bikes by the light of a helicopter. On a unicycle, you would be even more vulnerable, not to mention conspicuous. I once rode my 29 through an area where a police brutality protest was being extinguished…
To be clear, then-Rep Sanders voted against the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002, HR 107-243; and also, fwiw, against the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 1991, HR 102-1. He did vote for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists, HR 107-40, on September 14, 2001. The only member of either house of Congress to vote against that one was Rep. Barbara Lee of California, who isn’t running for President as far as I know,
I doubt Congress “failed to understand.” Most of them were probably thrilled to write a blank check for war and knew that’s what they were doing. Other than that, though, Barbara Lee’s remarks now seem somewhat prophetic.
Come to think of it, the old 9/11 pretext for war seems to have been shelved, even for pushing the ongoing wars whose beginning it was used to justify. Remember when 9/11 was invoked constantly to justify everything from racial profiling to torture to extrajudicial execution, and seemed like it could be milked forever? Nowadays, we barely even get a vague “He’s killing his own people” before the latest war begins or continues escalating.
Even after all these years of the Global War On Terror, sometimes I am still shocked by how seldom these things are discussed by most people.
It would be cool to have 1000 unicycles riding together for sure. I just can’t see how “real democracy” would imply that someone doesn’t care only because they don’t support one specific candidate for one specific party.
Well, it only took two replies to illustrate that 1000 unicyclists, especially the ones on these forums, aren’t going to all back the same candidate. The biggest groups of unicyclists I’ve ever gotten to ride with were all less than 1000 riders, but they were some really big groups.
If you want to get 1000 unicyclists to ride together, best to make it about unicycling, and perhaps about a not-too-political charity or fundraiser. That could work, especially if combined with another large unicycle event in the same area, like a future Unicon.
While my question got somewhat answered within your post, what is your definition of “real democracy”?
And should this thread be in the Just Conversation forum? Probably.
Government of the people, by the people, for the people.
I read an interesting study, contrasting the local governments in northern Italy and southern Italy, particularly Cicily. The study found that government worked better and more justly for the people in the north of Italy, while in the south, corruption was rampant. The social scientists then looked for reasons why that was so. What they concluded was that there were more active civic institutions in the north, such as clubs, social groups, neighborhood associations, etc., but in the south, there were fewer. The north, in other words, was more democratic because they had practiced democracy more. For me, the take-away of the story is that “small-d” democracy is what is important. Without it, the “Large-D” democracy is not going to happen.
Liberals place too much hopes on “Large-D” presidential elections. Yes, Bernie Sanders has said very little about foreign policy and our permanent wartime economy. Looks like we’ll have to talk about it, instead. And, oh well, if we must talk about it on the unicycle forum, all the better, because despite our disagreements, we’ll all still admire one another for being cool enough to unicycle (unless, maybe, you’re one of those fat tire freaks, or if you think SI is superior to SIF, or if you don’t use the same length cranks as I)!
While I don’t disagree with the conclusion, the example is not ideal as most of the difference probably has more to do with the HUGE economic and social disparity between northern and southern Italy, especially poverty, crime and unemployment… northern Italy is pretty rich and has a really high standard of living, while southern Italy is plagued with poverty, crime and social problems. They’re REALLY different. Probably the biggest and only really “successful” business in southern Italy is organized crime (not at all true in northern Italy).
Ha ha! We got evicted from the forum! Oh well, interesting point about Italy. I agree that high-poverty areas such as southern Italy tend not to have many institutions that promote discussion.
“Bourgeois democracy,” as its name implies, means democracy for the bourgeoisie. If you are not a member of the capitalist class or one of its spokespeople, why should they spend money having you taught how to read, write and debate the issues that shape your world?
That left me kind of wanting more. Democracy with a small-d also lacks a bit of detail. Of course theories of how we would like things to work are great; the hard part is getting them to fruition. Some ideas sound perfect on paper, but then don’t seem to work out as expected in real life.
I’ve been to way-northern Italy (Alto Adige, where Unicon XVI was). It was really nice up there, but it was more Austria than Italy. It’s a really great area to visit.
No, just moved to a more fitting spot. These kinds of discussion can be a lot of fun!
Congratulations, you’ve just earned a seat at the adult table!
Democracy with a “small d” implies participation in local, rather than merely national, politics. Government “of the people, by the people and for the people” means that representatives protect the best interests of the people, rather than the interests of corporations and the rich.
Why bother with “theories about how we would like things to work”, however, when instead we have the reality of how-things-are-working, namely the uneven distribution of resources by our capitalist system and the gains of our economy going to a small number of elites. That’s ‘not’ democracy.
You don’t live in a capitalist society. It’s called fascism. I would also argue that you don’t live in a democracy either. The political process is very corrupted and rigged by the RNC and DNC.
Fascism is a form of capitalism -a violent mobilization of the middle class against the working class. When it gains steam, it will also grow to include some backwards members of the working class, and of course plenty of unemployed people and common criminals. If it manages to seize state power, fascism quickly becomes bureaucratic because it is unable to keep its promises to the middle classes that got them fired up to form their lynch mobs in the first place. The fascist gangs then get absorbed into the regular police force and the government starts to resemble a more routine sort of military or police dictatorship.
It’s true that American capitalism is quickly becoming less and less democratic, and has adopted many policies of fascist regimes, but that’s capitalism in the epoch of imperialist decay. No fascist movement of any size exists here at the moment.
How about an update on the ride? How is it going so far? Do you have others riding with you? What are the details for the final ride into DC? Route? Timing?
It’s a really great area to visit.