By Roger Blackat

The next president will be be walking into a growing catastrophe.  Our economy is in serious trouble, our armies tied down in wars that Nobody knows how we can win.  A number of ecological disasters loom- from overfishing to smog, ocean dead zones to the dreaded global warming.  And ever day our freedom- the freedom to defend ourselves, take care of ourselves, speak for ourselves, think for ourselves and live our own lives- is trampled more.  We are told who we choose is important.  But what if Nobody can solve our problems?  What if Nobody has the right ideas?  What if Nobody really understands the real problems, and Nobody would do anything about them even if they did?  As an American citizen you have the right to choose (from the choices provided for you), so let’s look at why you ought to Vote for Nobody.

Nobody Needs You!

This year, Nobody is talking about the issues.  Nobody talks about anything but the polls, money or image issues.  Nobody wants to know how we are going to bring jobs back to this country as much as what Barack Obama’s preacher or John McCain’s temper are like.  That’s because almost Nobody gets to decide who the president is going to be.  The media only cover campaigns that have a “viable” chance of winning.  They base this on polls that ask their viewers and public at large which candidates they support.  Not surprisingly the candidates they don’t talk about aren’t as familiar to their audience.  But how do candidates get to the tops of the polls and thus get the headlines in the first place?  Buy having lots o fmoney to pay the media for advertisements.  Nobody thinks it’s wrong that a candidate has to have money to pay TV, radio and print outlets for ads before those outlets will talk about them enough to do well enough in the polls to be considered viable by those same outlets.  Nobody calls it by its real name: a racket.  If the media talked about plicy and specifics, Nobody would be able to tell the viable candidates apart.  That’s because they are chasing after the same cash cow interest groups- trial lawyers, lobbyists, executives and big investors.  Only these people have enough money to pay the media enough for “viability;” Nobody needs your vote as much as they need a rich man’s dollar.  That’s why Nobody Needs You!

Nobody Can Save the Economy

For thirty years now Nobody has been defending federal regulation of business, and “deregulation” has been the policy of both parties.  President Clinton phased out the reserve standards and repealed other New Deal financial protections- he could be sure of bipartisan “unity” for this one.  The result is that banks have lost trillions now, and they have yet to announce the full extent of the damage.  They spent trillions of dollars in reserves on risky speculation thanks to the Democrats andRepublicans finding something they could agree on, and the result is they are now trying to cover their losses by raising interest rates on homeowners.  Nobody is talking about re-regulating banking, and Nobody wants to get to the root of this problem: Wall Street’s deathgrip on the government.

And Nobody thinks that the fact nothing is Made in the USA anymore is a serious problem, because Nobody wants to get rid of the free trade deals that are getting us into this mess.  Wall Street is making money and Nobody thinks that they might not speak for everybody in America.  When American workers are competing with peasants for jobs, wages fall, stay low and people suffer.  Nobody has a plan for reversing the bipartisan “unity” record of redistributing wealth from the many to the few.  Nobody wants to be accused of “redistributing wealth,” Nobody realizes that wealth is ALWAYS redistributed.  Nobody wants to say that the pro-business, capitalist, Wall Street system redistributes wealth upwards.  The cash cows and for-profit media don’t want to hear that, so Nobody says it.  Obama and McCain both support NAFTA, the WTO and every bilateral trade bill they ever had a vote on.  Nobody has a chance of bringing wages, wealth and jobs to the working people of this country as long as Wall Street finances the campaigns.  That’s why Nobody Will Save the Economy!

Nobody Will End the War!

There is enough wealth to feed, clothe, house, educate and medicate every American, but millions skip meals, live in the streets, rely on hand-me-downs and have no access to medicine.  That can only happen if billions and billions of dollars are put into a black hole- destroyed.  The most efficient way to do this is with war.  Every bullet, bomb, dead soldier who has been housed and fed and trained, every helicopter that crashes flushes thousands of dollars down the toilet.  Nobody wants to spend money on ensuring everyone has enough to be free, so we have to burn the money in wars.  As long as the pro-business redistribution of wealth continues, so will the meaningless wars like Vietnam, the Cold War and Iraq.

And Nobody is talking about the fact that the number one industrial export from the United States is arms.  Nobody wants to cut the annual three-quarters of a trillion dollar military budget, because nobody wants to hurt the arms business.  Obama and McCain have both said they will INCREASE defense spending, and Nobody says they will withdraw every US soldier from Iraw.  Needless to say, Nobody knows how to win there because Nobody has any idea what winning would actually mean.  Nobody wants to give the money burned in Iraq to everybody, because then the Wall Street types wouldn’t be that special any more.  That’s why Nobody Will End the War!

Nobody Will Set Us Free!

There are more than 2 million people in prison in the United States; we imprision a higher percentage of our population than almost any other country.Our prisons do almost nothing to help the people who end up there.  Nonetheless, almost all of the people in our prisons end up on the streets again at some point, usually to simply turn around and go back.  This is especially disturbing as sixty percent of the people in prison are sent there for nonbiolent offenses.  Corporate prisons are one of the fastes growing industries in the US, and billions are made off of prioson labor.  Nobody wants to be seen weak on crime, and the new spends all its energy making us afraid of our own neighbors.  Nobody thinks about what a world without prisons might be like.  They can’t because prisons are built for the same reason wars are fought- to destroy wealth without helping people.  Keeping someone in prison costs more than sending a person to college, but if we didn’t send millions ot prison we would have to spend billions in some other way.  The result would be rich people not being quite so special.  Nobody wants to see that, so Nobody will promise to send fewer people to jail.

Even besides our prisons, Bush has expanded the power of the executive to have you thrown in jail without trial, tortured, judged by military officers as opposed to a jury, disposessed of your property and to allow the government to spy on you.  Nobody will give specifics about which expansions of state power they will end if president, because Nobody wants to give that sort of thing up.  Neither Obama nor McCain have said that they would change ANY of Bush’s powergrabs.  Politicians don’t give up power, they seek it out.  As long as there are politicians serving as president, the threats to security- secret arrests, secret prisons, secret surveillance, torture and denial of a trial by jury- will remain on the books.  That’s why Nobody Will Set Us Free!

Vote For Nobody!

So if Nobody is willing to talk about Big Media’s shakedown of our democracy, if Nobody wants to get money completely out of our politics, if Nobody is willing to talk about Wall Street redistributing our wealth into scandals, if Nobody wants to end wars even if they could and if Nobody can stop them as long as they are making billions for a tiny few, if Nobody will start to look for solutions that don’t involve the cruelties of prison and if Nobody wants to rollback the violations of our rights under Bush, what are we to do?  The only choice for someone who cares about our country not being crass, broke, at war or under tyranny is to Vote for Nobody!

How do you vote for Nobody?  It is pretty easy really.  You have three options for voting for Nobody.  The first is the easiest – don’t vote.  People will tell you that you don’t get to complain and that you are failing in some noble duty if you don’t vote.  But if voting had any real chance at changing things, they would have outlawed it long ago.  Neither McCain nor Obama will question capitalism, imperialism, republican democracy or executive power.  So not voting makes a lot of sense.  Another choice is to pick out a Nobody on the ballot.  Everybody knows Ralph Nader, and most people know of the Libertarian Party.  But Nobody has any illusion that these people are going to win.  But they might just stand for what you do, and if enough people vote for them, the major parties will notice that Nobody wants them around any more.  A third and final option is to get your write-in ballot and write the word “Nobody” for President.  If millions were to pick up write-in ballots and put in “Nobody” and millions more were to vote for a third party, we could keep all the candidates under 50% — Nobody really wins.  Sure one of the two Wall Street sponsored candidates will still be in the Oval Office, but with millions choosing Nobody over them, maybe they would have to listen.

In the end, elections aren’t meant to change things – they are meant to make us feel like we get to have a part in the show.  It is like when a parent lets a little kid sit on their lap and act like they are driving: it keeps them entertained while the grown ups are in charge 100% of the time.  The only way to change things is to make the politicians sweat with direct action in the streets.  But we should be happy that we get the carnival of elections every other years, and we should make breaking the ballot an important part of breaking the wills of our rulers.  So don’t forget to register (if you haven’t been to jail yet) and in November of 2008, support the only candidate that REALLY cares about your life: NOBODY!

Check out the author’s website at:

http://www.lightoutblog.blogspot.com

For information on how you can impact the 2008 presidential race, check out:

http://www.unconventionalaction.org

and

http://www.nornc.org

This Saturday, October 18,  if you find yourself in Portland, Maine, I have got a treat for you!  Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to take the ferry out to Peaks Island and see some of the coolest (and often eeriest) modern art installations around, at a progressive and collaborative event aptly referred to as “Sacred & Profane.”

True to its name, this event is both mischievous and enlightening as some of Portland’s most innovative artists exhibit their work in the powerfully dark and somber halls of The Battery Steele.  This massive cement artillery bunker is Peaks Island’s own remnant of World War II.  Because it is a dark, windowless, structure without electricity, artwork is illuminated by candles, place throughout or carried by audience members.  The S&P features site-specific installations by visual artists and performances by dancers, singers, and musicians.  Liberated from the rituals of traditional exhibition spaces, artworks are presented anonymously and artists often collaborate to make unconventional pieces that directly respond to the tone and architecture of the bunker.  The Sacred and Profane has become one of the most eagerly anticipated events of the year and after ten years continues to remain fresh and exciting, boldly advancing the edge of contemporary art in Maine.  The organizers appropriately use the word “feast” to describe the incredible meal that concludes the event and which is included in the modest admission price.

I haven’t been told yet which ferry to take – last year I think it was the 2:15 – but if you catch the right one, you can follow a motley troupe of performers in a procession from the ferry landing to the festival grounds.