SocraticGadfly: Jeffrey Sachs: Third party needed

July 26, 2011

Jeffrey Sachs: Third party needed

when a former capitalsit insider like Jeffrey Sachs starts talking about the need for a third party, the Mickey Edwards of the world should listen. Here's Sachs:
Obama's campaign promise to "change Washington" looks like pure bait and switch. ... Obama has failed to stand up for the poor and middle class. ... Obama and Democratic Party politicians rely on Wall Street and the super-rich for campaign contributions the same way that the Republicans rely on oil and coal. In America today, only the rich have political power.

Who runs America today? The rich and the multinational corporations. Who runs the White House? David Plouffe, whose job it is to make sure that ever word, every action of the president is calculated for electoral gain rather than the country's needs. Who runs the Congress, on both sides of the aisle? The lobbyists, who win in every negotiation. And who loses? The American people, who have said repeatedly that they want a budget that sharply cuts the military, ends the wars, raises taxes on the rich, protects the poor and the middle class, and invests in America's future not just in Obama's speeches but in fact.

America needs a third-party movement to break the hammerlock of the financial elites. Until that happens, the political class and the media conglomerates will continue to spew lies, American militarism will continue to destabilize a growing swath of the world, and the country will continue its economic decline.
A secular amen in spades.

That said, I'm STILL waiting for the Glenn Greenwald who linked to this, the Paul Krugman who decries the MSM's coverage of debtmageddon, etc., to actively tout third-party movement.

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