Cynthia McKinney is on to something. Even if she has a tendency to make charges that she cannot always back up with sufficient proof to keep her detractors from skewing her message, she is on to something. The Republican crossover voters in Georgia who kept her off the Democratic Party ticket should be ashamed of their dirty tricks (and did you follow the seedy story behind the similarly funded Republican Trojan horse Alvin Greene as the nominal Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in South Carolina?) We need people to keep pushing the envelope—maybe Julian Assange and WikiLeaks will bring to light a few of these national skeletons hidden in the closet…

It is somewhat dispiriting to see how, even when the facts are laid out, people still refuse to believe. It is clear that because of the connivance of Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004 both presidential elections were stolen. Perhaps the second time Americans were just blindly following the old saying that in wartime “you shouldn’t switch horses midstream.” As a result, the worldwide economic mess, looted national treasury, and two completely unnecessary and murderous wars left behind by the George W. Bush administration were perhaps even more than the Republicans could stomach—maybe that’s why they allowed the ludicrous McCain-Palin ticket in 2008.

There were a spate of documentaries made during this period in addition to American Blackout, and Michael Moore hit several blockbuster homeruns, from Fahrenheit 9/11, Sicko, and Capitalism: A Love Story, to his first free movie on the Internet, Slacker Uprising. The public went to see them in droves, and they clearly had an impact on the political climate, but it may be questionable as to how long lasting the effects were. They undoubtedly helped to get Barak Obama, the first African-American president, elected. These and other such documentaries also methodically exposed the facts of repeated electoral fraud, the manipulation of events to wage unjustifiable wars in a shameless putsch for empire, allowing financial practices that ultimately resulted in international economic collapse, and pushing tax cuts and spending policies that exploded the national debt and increased the income and assets of the wealthiest 2% in the country.

So, it is hard to believe what has been happening of late. Just this weekend, and just in time for the Christmas holidays, Republican threats of filibuster in the lame-duck Senate were used to block the extension of unemployment benefits unless the Bush-era tax cuts for those earning over $1,000,000 (!!!) were extended. And the wars overseas continue, and the debt continues to rise, and the recently enacted modest reforms in health care are increasingly under attack in the courts, and the almost universally unpopular Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell policy in the military remains in place, etc., etc.

When I went online to check out relevant blogs and videos, I was genuinely shocked at how many were clearly right-wing, and how mean-spirited and downright racist many of them were as well. However, I did find a few good ones. I am not sure who The Young Turks are (see “Cenk’s Rant” below), but they certainly have an interesting viewpoint worth listening to. And, in spite of the fact that much was made of the fact that young voters turned out in relatively small numbers last month, as it happens the numbers have not been all that much different in past midterm elections (see “2010 Youth Turnout” below). Something about the sexiness of a presidential election seems to make the difference… And then there is music (see “Rock the Vote Artist: Tumbledown” below).

TheYoungTurks | November 02, 2010 | 3,020 likes | 145 dislikes

Cenk's Rant After 2010 Election Results

“That’s it—I was right. If anything, I am going to double down, because there was the faction within the progressive movement that said, “No, no, no—Play nice. The Democrats need to be supported, and if, you know, if you just support the Democrats enough, and you cheerlead for them, they will deliver, and they will win and they’ll do this, and they’ll do that…”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDS2LScjkNc]

2010 Youth Turnout About 20%

Comparable to Recent Midterm Years

Jonathan M. Tisch

College of Citizenship and Public Service, Medford, MA – An estimated 20.4 percent of young Americans under the age of 30 voted in Tuesday’s midterm elections, compared to 23.5 percent in the last midterm election (2006). The change in the turnout rate is outside the margin of error (+/-2%), according to Tufts University’s Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), the nation’s premier research organization on the civic and political engagement of young Americans. Almost nine million Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 voted. Almost 10 million people in the same age group voted in 2006. [http://www.civicyouth.org/youth-turnout-about-20-comparable-to-recent-midterm-years/]

Younger voters were racially diverse, voted democratic, and approved of President Obama. They were mostly a subset of the 2008 electorate, and they held mixed views on what to do about the economy. [http://www.civicyouth.org/youth-voters-in-the-2010-elections/]

Featured Rock the Vote Artist: Tumbledown

[http://www.rockthevote.org/music/featured-artist/]

“Arrested In El Paso Blues” by Tumbledown Album: “Empty Bottle” (Alternative—2:28)

Rock the Vote: What does the right to vote mean to you?

Mike of Tumbledown: It's my voice in this country. No matter what the outcome seems to be, knowing that I have or had a part in it is very important to me.

Rock the Vote: What change would you like to see in our society in the next year?

Mike of Tumbledown: I'd like politics to become less subservient to corporations and more policy based on the workers and backbone of America.

Jim McKinney