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This letter contains (almost) no criticisms of how the Democrats have brought this day of reckoning upon themselves. That -- and where to go from here -- will be the subject of tomorrow's letter. 
Today, we have one job and one job only: Stop the return of the bigger criminal class, the Party of War, the people who (with a few Democratic enablers) manufactured the very mess we are in.
There is good news this morning: The final ABC/Washington Post poll shows that, among registered voters, people still say they prefer the Democrats over the Republicans by 5 percentage points. It's only when the pollsters ask "likely voters" who they want that the Republicans come out ahead by a few points.
So it's clear the majority of voters want the Dems, but the prediction is the Republicans will win because Dem voters are going to stay home.
So, our mission is simple: MAKE SURE NO ONE WE KNOW STAYS HOME TODAY. Here's what I am going to do right now and what I'm asking the millions of you reading this to join me in doing:
1. Email, call and/or text every non-Republican in your personal address book and remind them to vote Democratic today. If they (rightfully) complain that the Dems have been disappointing, tell them they're right, then ask them to watch this editorial by Rachel Maddow last night where she correctly lists the dozen or so things this Democratic congress did right -- the types of things we'll never see from the Republicans if they take over (equal pay for women act, taking student loans out of the greedy hands of the banks, funding for our first bullet trains, boosting veterans benefits after Bush refused to for 8 years, etc.).
2. Post a general reminder to vote (and who to vote for) on your facebook page and tweet it to your Twitter followers.
3. If you have the time, go down to a local candidate's HQ or the local Democratic Party office and offer to make calls or give people rides to the polls.
4. Think local. No matter where you are in America, there’s someone on the ballot today in your town who deserves your vote. Guaranteed. If you're in Wisconsin and you're pissed at Harry Reid for letting Joe Lieberman derail the public option on health care, don’t let that stop you from getting everyone you know to go vote for Russ Feingold. In Florida and furious at the way the Obama administration coddled Wall Street? All the more reason to call every single person you know in the Orlando area to go vote for Alan Grayson. In California and mad about the total Democratic failure on global warming? You can still change the world for the better by showing up with all your friends to vote for Prop 19 to legalize personal use of marijuana (and stop the record numbers of people we put in prison who don't belong there).
5. Explain to anyone who's given up and doesn't want to vote today that Obama was handed a terrible mess that he didn't create. He may now understand he's moved too slow and compromised too much on the big stuff that needed to get done (after all, Goldman Sachs was his #1 private contributor in the 2008 election). But in the last couple months he's made some good moves -- booting some generals, dumping economic advisor/wrecker Larry Summers, and hiring new people like consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren. Things are very bad right now. But they can get MUCH worse. War with Iran? A genuine worldwide Second Great Depression? A Republican Congress will spend every second trying to make it happen.
6. Finally, we must let the Democratic politicians know that our vote comes with one big condition: If they do not straighten up, get a spine and do what we expect of them, we will find alternate candidates to run against them in 2012. And we mean it. Go vote today, but also sign this petition that I'll deliver to every elected Democrat -- the "I'm Voting Democratic But I Will Work to Defeat You Next Time If You Don't Do Your Job" petition, aka "The Democrats on Probation" petition. Let's publicly put them on notice that we'll give them just two more years to start doing the things we elected them to do. If they move one more inch to the "center" or to the right, they will never get our vote again. And we mean business.
Bill Maher said, "We have a center-right party and a crazy party. Over the last 30 years, the Democrats have moved to the right, and the Republicans have moved into a mental hospital." That about sums it up. But he also said, "Sure, I'm mad at the Democrats. I'm also mad at my cell phone compnay. But I don't throw away my cell phone cause I'm mad and then rub dog shit on my teeth." We all know this isn't the best situation to be in. So consider this one last reason to get out and vote:
There are good people the country has never heard of who are running today all across America, most of them for the first time. Somewhere in this great land right now, the woman who will cast the deciding vote in the Senate for single payer in 2016 is running for mayor of your city in her first big race. Somewhere else, the person who will become the first female president of the United States in 2020 is running for the state house for the first time. Their careers will be over and that future will never be if you don’t show up today. Go to theballot.org, find out who’s great and running where you live, and then show up to vote for them. You may help light the spark that will save our sorry ass somewhere down the road. Don't just hold your nose today as you go in the booth -- go ignite a future revolution. The only thing that makes the corporate honchos happier than paying no taxes is making sure as few people vote as possible. They think they've bought this election.
Go prove them wrong.
Yours,
Michael Moore
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194 Comments so far
Show AllIt is important to vote, but I won't fall for the "lesser of evils" crap. The two major parties are rife with corruption, and they do not serve the people of this country. They are purchased puppets who serve multinational corporations, with some notable exceptions.
This morning I got an email reminder from the local green party candidate for county commissioner. Some of the really great candidates out there know they won't win today, but this is no excuse for apathy. If your favorite third party candidate gets 5 percent of the vote, he won't have to apply for ballot access next time. That's why it's important to refer to your voter guides, and vote.
I'm not trying to preach. I was one who was saying I'd sit this one out, that I don't give a shit any more, that what isn't bought is rigged, that there's no point. I have a new lease on life. Things change and movements grow, but not all within one election period.
The reminder email was tagged with this:
If you believe that the death penalty should be abolished,
if you believe that taxation should be progressive instead of regressive,
if you are tired of the influence of large corporations over public policy,
if you are sick of polluted air, the overpumping of aquifers, of our reliance on coal,
then vote Green on November 2.
(end of cut & paste)
We must all decide for ourselves.
Getting over 5 percent pf the vote also encourages more people to look at the Green Party as an option and for it to attract better candidates.
If they get 7 percent and not a single seat they are orders of magnitude better off then 2 percent and no seats. Again don't stay home. I have been voting GREEN In Canada since they were at 1 percent of the vote. We now have ridings where they are into double digits. It will take a while yet I am sure but we WILL elect Green Candidates in time .
I have also witnessed some impressive gains made by the Green party in my province over a decade or so. Even if it seems like your vote is wasted, vote for the party that best represents your beliefs, for me that's always Green. It's important that people know there are others out there who support a different way of life and will work towards it. It can bring in people who feel there is something wrong but may not know exactly what the problem is, or people who are needing affirmation that their personal sacrifices are not in vain, or people looking for a valid choice other than the two parties (Libs or Cons for me, Dems or Rep for you Americans).
We all should exercise our citizen priviledges while we have them!
"we must all decide for ourselves." Thats a tall order for the American flock. Most will succumb to the "Lesser Evil Crap" and allow fear to dictate who they vote for. Sigh.
I agree with you that elections alone don't change much especially when it is hard to elect people who are truly more dedicated towards using their elected powers to make the good changes shine. Yes, it will take more than one election to see a progressive majority emerge and Ted Markow and Photons Feather have had a lot to say about that point in detail. The last line makes you a true progressive at heart while those who say vote and then make up party apologist excuses show their disingenuous thinking.
P.S.: I did a write-in vote for the candidate who should have been on the ballot but was unable to get sufficient number of signatures on time to get there. Her agenda was great too. She was a member of the Green Party too but she put principle over party in an authentic manner. I am glad that I didn't bother sticking around with Robin Carnahan especially after she went back to sinking right after going into "Obama mode".
Please be cautious about voting for people who were "unable" to get on the ballot. I've organized several ballot drives, including two statewide drives, and getting on the ballot is difficult in some states but far from impossible. If a person does not get enough signatures "on time," listen to the message.
Sherry, I am not sure about your last sentence but here is information about my write-in and I had to write it out myself since she is nowhere on the ballot. Have a look at her website and her take on the issues.
http://www.midgepotts.com
Michael, you obviously care deeply about the this country and the citizens in it. You are a great filmmaker, too. I have all of your work, film or otherwise.
Please, stop what you're doing. You're only hurting people by misdirecting their hopes, dreams, energy, time, and hard earned money and embarrassing yourself. The democratic party will never be what you or many of us here at CD envision. Never. Ever. Its over this time, Mike.
After this election, take some long overdue time off, and clear your mind, Mike. Think about making a great inspirational film that might lay the foundation for a new party or movement. That's the best contribution you can make at this point.
Do what you do best, give people the truth, not false hopes. You're better than that. To continue your silly, irrational screeds will only discredit all the good work you've done.
Please, stop.
Sincerely,
A Big Fan
How are the Dems NOT the Party of War???? When did they ever vote to discontinue it's funding? And it's Nobel Peace Prize Winning Leader has expanded it!!
Mike - you just can't admit the truth, can you?
Moore's just another who can't admit he got it wrong. I remember him begging Nader not to run. Guess who had right all along Mikey!!!
Boy oh boy! Election day is finally here, and I for one feel totally energized and inspired! It's like... it's like... well, it's a bit like being a wounded soldier lying on a battlefield, and getting to pick which swarm of noxious flies is allowed to settle on my wounds and drink my blood and eat my flesh. Will it be the ones with the blue colored asses, or those with the red? Decisions, decisions... no wonder the American political system is the envy of the rest of the world!
I'm guessing none of you people who plan to show 'em by not voting, or voting for candidates who cannot and will not win have any children or grandchildren to worry about. I do, and I will not sacrifice them for ideology. You can make all the pleas for ideological purity you want. It never works that way. Ever. Period. Politics is the art of compromise. Perhaps you've heard that before? We've had several thousand years of so-called civilization to back that up.
You people need to pull your heads out of your asses and understand that electing Hitler did not prove to be the antidote for the Weimar Republic. Fifty million corpses didn't help anyone hold their heads high and feel good about their ideology.
The difference in the lesser of two evils can be huge. We should all consider that difference.
Thanks PWayne. I agree the stakes are too big to not be willing to settle for second-best sometimes in this election. Things could get MUCH uglier in this country before they get better. MUCH uglier. 1930's Germany and Italy being very relevant examples, should the Tea Party start to seriously consolidate power.
Conversely, progressive social democracies such as Finland weren't created overnight. The were created through incremental compromise and change over a series of decades. As was every society worth living in.
Huh?
That would be lovely Don, but the USA is no Finland.
Incremental change is not going to happen with Democrats in power, the proof is in the pudding of the recent past.
Things have gotten worse as Dems and Repubs fight over who can better represent wall street and War.
You may get some bones tossed at you domestically with the Dems, but as they have proven, they will butter their asses with corporate compromose over citizens every time.
Read Moyers piece if you get a chance (not being patronizing, its a great piece).
This country can't afford to wait for imaginary incremental change. I hope we can start rebelling in the next two years from the left to gather real progressives, preferably third partiers to challenge the status quo.
But that may be impossible and real violence from both sides will be the unfortunate result.
AMeshiea,
"You may get some bones tossed at you domestically with the Dems, but as they have proven, they will butter their asses with corporate compromose over citizens every time....." Beside the lies and the wars, Bill of Right stuff, what really make the different: THE CROOKS WALKS FREE and we are left holding the bones! Michael Moore wanna the bones?
What in the world are you talking about? Hitler! He's dead, has been for about 60+ years or didn't you know that? Stop all this crap about kids and grandkids . . .you should have thought about that before allowing the Repugs with some Dems and Bush to start two unnecessary, immoral wars of choice and then not paying for those wars.
You should have prevented the Repugs and Bush from giving the wealthy a totally unneeded tax break. 2 wars and a tax break that has caused the lion's share of the current deficits.
You should have prevented all of this deregulation of the finance and real estate industries which has cause all of the financial meltdowns and foreclosures as well as massive job losses.
President Obama did none of these things; although he will bear the brunt of the mess and he will clean up the mess. Maybe, you should have not been drinking so much tea and been out holding the repugs' feet to the fire before all of these mess got so out of hand!
I have already voted in Georgia's early election period and I voted for the first time, a straight Democratic ticket. I can't stand Republicans and those tea partiers make me sick with all of their selfishness and disrespect of others. I haven't a clue about the outcome of the election, but, if the crazies win, well, I will be out again in two years! AND, Hitler didn't have anything to do with the current mess we are in.
If I were to vote for my Democrat option for Senate, I would be voting for someone who has a history of being a proud sponsor of genocide.
To vote for him would make me complicit in his crimes.
I have contacted him on this with no response.
I cannot be an accomplice to genocide.
What is sickening is that Michael Moore holds this Proud Sponsor of Genocide up as a "Progressive".
I do in fact have a child whom I love dearly and that is one of the most important reasons that I am not ever voting for another Democrat! I will never again help enable them to deceive the public and pretend to be liberals and then totally betray everything I believe in. I love seeing them go down in flames. They have earned it and they deserve it. They don't represent me and they don't do any of the things I want them to do, nor any of the things they have promised they'd do. They are pro-war corporatists, no better than the GOP.
Wrong. I will NOT sacrifice my ideals - nor the ideals that hundreds of thousands of Americans have died for since its founding - to vote for ANY evil, be it big or small. I refuse to make those dead Americans' sacrifices mean NOTHING, so that I can hope that maybe, someday, possibly, somewhere in the dim misty future, that smaller evil might just throw a bone to the average American instead of to the Corporate masters whom they work for, despite their track record of repeatedly voting for illegal wars, supporting Wall Street crooks, fucking over American homeowners, refusing to prosecute war crimes and torture, etc, etc, etc.
Those dead American soldiers over the last two hundred and thirty years deserve better, and so do the three hundred million of us still living today.
I say FUCK EVIL, be it big or small.
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."
Speaking of Hitler, a 1968 essay by Hal Draper, contained in Lance Selfa's book, "The Democrats: A Critical History," recounts a dramatic instance of what happened in 1932, when the German Social Democrats opted to vote for extreme conservative Field Marshal von Hindenburg (instead of running their own independent candidate) in order to prevent the "greater evil," Adolph Hitler, from winning:
"So the Lesser Evil, Hindenburg, won; and Hitler was defeated. Whereupon President Hindenburg appointed Hitler to the chancellorship, and the Nazis started taking over... the people voted for the Lesser Evil and got both [the greater and lesser evil].... This is exactly why 1932 is the classic case of the Lesser Evil, because even when the stakes were this high, even then voting for the Lesser Evil meant historic disaster."
So much for voting for the lesser evil.
Okay, I know Moore is right. Voting the lesser of two evils is the best for us.
However, the dems really REALLY need to be punished.
Too bad the progressives couldn't be as creative as the tea baggers in getting their message out. Progressives are out there, doing positive things domestically and internationally. They just couldn't join together to further the cause. This is a real problem. If you can't beat bigotted morons, it's time to find a way to work together. Perot showed that a third party candidate can compete in the established duopoly. All is not lost, but, as Joe Hill said from his prison cell before he was shot,
"don't mourn for me, Organize!"
Tea baggers were not more creative getting their message out. They just had teams of corporate deep pockets designing and managing their message behind the scenes. I think it was on CD where someone explained how the corporations will sort out how they dress up the GOP after the elections.
Yep, keep calling most American's bigotted morons, keep telling yourselves how stupid the American people are, keep on telling each other that these people just don't understand what you are trying to do for them because they are just unenlightened, homophobic, Islamophobic, racist, uneducated, bible clutching, etc.
Keep on patting yourselves on the back for your superiority and laughing at their small minded lack of appreciation of your wonderful plan for a Utopian community when they are concerned about paying their rent and putting food on the table.
Yep, we are the smart ones, "you betcha"!
no you're not one of the smart ones.
Hi mighty, you're right and you should have seen the outrage at the voting booth in my district. It's even worse than what the Democratic Party is already fearing. I've been battling the yuppies too and it's a shame they and guys like you and me weren't allies when we would have been had it been for progressive populism. I still have respect for you and I don't blame you or that young couple I met today for voting Republican. See my post under Loeb's stupid article today. I hate being right about bad omens and the fate of the Democratic Party but partisan politics has gotten worse than what even the Republicans could have dreamt of.
Wow! You think only the poor are morons? You are very wrong. Most of the rich are not intelligent at all. They are cunning. People are being exploited, yes, but they permit this exploitation by the fact that they are mentally lazy and use religion as a means of not having to think. The unintelligent character of the American population can not be ignored. There are many intelligent poor, and enterprising too.Putting food on the table has nothing to do with it, religion, nationalism and a war culture have everything to do with it.
"You think only the poor are morons?"
I don't see any indication of mightymite thinking that. What would make you assume that?
There are too many insightful comments to single out, but I agree with those critics who view Moore's tiresome and sadly predictable plea for what it is: another tragic Battered-Spouse cry from the heart.
Leaving aside the superficial gender identities, Moore is every bit the weary, aching, and anxious Mom lining up the kids to tell them that she's decided to take Daddy back one more time, and pleading for their help and cooperation in making the relationship work.
Sure, Daddy's let us down a few times, and even hurt us. But deep down he's a GOOD man, and if we stay on our toes this time around we'll be able to afford Mom's badly-needed bridgework! And little by little we'll start to look and feel like a real FAMILY again!
Otherwise, the evil landlord will be at our throats again, and the family may be left to the tender mercies of the demonic Social Services.
Sorry, Mom. You're still trapped way too deeply in desperate folly, and I'm not playing along any more.
Nice, really spiffy analogy, Obedient.
Should be required reading for all American voters.
Good analogy OS,
And when Moore and other liberals state that it's the responsibility of the voters to force politicians into living up to campaign pledges, I find that also a corollary of classic spousal abuse syndrome.
"Listen kids, now we have to stay out of daddy's way so he doesn't lose his temper and start to hit. It's our job to make him behave right."
I'm afraid the abusive pattern we're in as a society will continue until we, the people, say loud and very clearly, NO.
MM is wrong. We need to walk away from these using, abusing pols and drop them like a hot potato.
That gave me an insight, iowapinko. The political pattern does not emulate or resemble the abusive spouse pattern. That is backward. The abusive spouse pattern - and we have to wonder how many other psychological problems - emulates, derives from, the abusive political system.
We are all told constantly that we must be winners, or else sink to the bottom. The big winners are extremely abusive. People emulate that - of course they would.
Rather than psychoanalyzing politics, we should be politicizing psychology. When the whole social pattern right from the top down is abusive, is it any wonder that we have the problems we see on the macro level? In which direction is influence more likely to flow? Would it not flow from the more powerful? Or are we to continue to believe that fantasy that somehow what is happening on top is because some sort of bad stuff is mysteriously flowing upward from those with the least power and influence?
How many fields are controlled by and for the ruling class - politics is, of course. Is the purpose of the mental health field and social sciences - wittingly or unwittingly - to adapt the peons to acceptance of the rule of their masters? How about journalism, education, law enforcement? If all of what we think of as the professional fields are actually in the service of our masters, then of course everything - the social ills, crime, corruption, abuse, psychological disorders - is flowing down, and they all have as their source the social and political system - the the modern form of economic exploitation and consolidation of power - Capitalism.
Your Muse is working at full steam today, Two. Excellent comment.
Very like Foucault: See, if you havent already, "Madness and Civilization." He says the very same thing. You are on to something.
Very good analysis, TA. Yes, the game is all about power and control. The capitalist class in the US has the power and authority to define social parameters.
Our justice system punishes the poor when they 'steal,' defined by them as taking something without paying for it. While at the same time, the entire capitalist system is based on exploitation, i.e., taking something (labor) without paying (fairly) for it.
Consciously or subconsciously I think people assimilate these systemic characteristics.
"We are all told constantly that we must be winners, or else sink to the bottom. The big winners are extremely abusive. People emulate that - of course they would."
Yep.
"Rather than psychoanalyzing politics, we should be politicizing psychology."
Yep again. This would actually empower people to understand the capitalist system in a more liberating context.
Are you trained as a social worker like me?
in politics, credibility is almost as important as your platform.
mikey moore should think about long-term strategies, instead of plundering his credibility with this sort of cheap shilling for the bastards.
Well said!
Too late, I think. Michael has lost his credibility by becoming an apologist for the Dems. He's now more of a voice for the Dems than a voice for the left.
Just like elections past, he does it again. I'll tell this fool what I told the other fool.
The voter turnout in my district was very high this morning itself. There were thousands of white seniors all lined up and up in arms just like last year but even angrier than ever before. Even from the younger voters who had supported Obama in 2008, many of them turned out to be disgruntled conservatives because the Democratic Party put them there. Loeb, get this through you. It's a bad omen and I don't think you're gonna like what you see tonight. I talked to a lot of these voters and they were friendly but very angry at how everything was going. I even met a young couple who had campaigned vigorously for Obama two years ago but this year, they're both voting Republican after getting no hope or change that they wanted. The young man has been trying to find a job for more than a year and now he feels that he must return to serving in the military now that his year is up. His wife lost her job 6 months ago after her local bank went belly up and now has to work for Suntrust just to survive. What has the Democratic Party done to alleviate those problems so that the American people wouldn't have to find themselves working for Corporate America and/or the Military Industrial Complex? They've done nothing but continued and padded the neoconservative and neoliberal policies that the Republican Party put forth in the past with some help from sellout Democrats too.
Yes, and DAMN the Democrats for voting to block the extension of unemployment benefits to those millions of Americans who have been chronically unemployed!
Oh, wait. That was the Republicans. Never mind.
There is still time to call and urge fellow citizens to vote. Both MoveOn.org and Organizing for America have on-line web pages that give you a script and numbers/names to call. You make the calls from your own phone (something they should resolve before the next election) so it's better for people with unlimited long-distance.
This is a great set-up for armchair activists. You can volunteer without ever leaving your home (or wi-fi connection). You can even flip back to CD and read all the reasons people think Americans shouldn't vote.
I'm going to have another sip of coffee and then get back to calling.
Cool Ctr-Z,
Can I use the list to convince people to vote Green in protest in stead of staying at home?
AMeshiea sez: "Can I use the list to convince people to vote Green in protest in stead of staying at home?"
I don't know if you could or not. A dishonest person could.
You don't like first choice. You don't like second choice. Run for office.
If what we call the "left" is this torn, (ref. posters on this article), America is in a tough spot, whatever we believe her to be. I will be wiser in the morning.
This article by Moore is just pathetic. That's all I have to say about it.
Dear CD, oh you must publish tomorrow's letter from Michael so we'll know what the Democrats did wrong and what we need to do next! Good grief!
Michael Moore should know better than any of us that the current two party system (both owned by and loyal to capital) is the source of the problem, not the solution. Without a party that represents labor, what's the point? Is that the message in tomorow's letter? I doubt it.
We already know the answer. The Democrats didn't do anything wrong. No, it was the Left - you know, the "f*cking retards" who "should be drug tested" - who are to blame.
After the 2008 results were in a friend and I looked at each other and said, simultaneously, "they have no excuses now."The Dems had a landside election victory for Obama and large majorities in both houses of Congress. They are about to get their clocks cleaned in 2010 and, like we said in'08, they have no excuses.
But, what if we look at the last 2 years in a different way. The Dems haven't failed. They have succeeded. They have done what they are supposed to do...take all the popular discontent, disgust and rage felt for the Bush/Republican administration and channel it into "hope for change that we can believe in." Then...deliver nothing. Make the world once again safe for Republicans, the ruling class's A team.
We have noticed that the entirely predictable stream of "please get out and vote" articles here on CD are not extolling the Dems accomplishments. They don't have any.
They are simply telling us BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID. The Republicans are coming!
I think the Dems really want to lose today. They are much more comfortable as a faux opposition. They can reestablish their credibility opposing the Repub neanderthals. Then, down the road they will once again be the safety valve for popular discontent. And we will play this game all over again in 2,4,6,8 years...etc. And all the while things will continue moving ever rightward.
I'm not playing anymore. I voted YES on library and school bonds here in NM and left all the partisan offices blank. I would have voted Green or Socialist but they aren't on the ballot here. If we want a real alternative to the right we have to build one. Starting tomorrow.