McKinney or Obama? Don't Waste Your Vote!!

Youngbloods, Elders and Friends:

Why should we vote for Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente? One good
reason is that your vote for Obama will be wasted if you live in New
York, California, New Jersey, Connecticut, Oregon, Washington State,
Washington D.C., Vermont or Illinois, where most of the folks on my
list live. Obama will win all those states by landslides with or
without our votes. The Democrats easily carried New Jersey,
Connecticut, Vermont and Illinois in the last four presidential
elections. In New York and all the other states listed, it has been
at least 20 years since the Republicans carried those states.

All of us would rather have Obama as President than McCain. But most
of us recognize that the Democratic Party and the Republican Party
both represent the same corporate interests that have made the United
States the enemy of people seeking freedom and self-determination
throughout the world. Obama is pledged to continue those evil
policies. Even Obama's so-called opposition to the Iraq war is really
a promise to redeploy troops from Iraq to Afghanistan and possibly
Iran and to continue the U.S. war against "radical Islam." The war
against "radical Islam" is actually a euphemism for American and
Israeli opposition to self-determination in the Middle East and the
rest of the Third World.

We need to build an alternative to the two headed one party system. We
need a party that offers us more than a choice between two evil
imperialist candidates every four years.

During the Democratic convention Cynthia McKinney attended a rally
opposing the occupations of Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Puerto Rico,
Hawaii and North America where the U.S. continues to violate treaties
with the Native Americans. Obama wants to redeploy U.S. troops from
Iraq to Afghanistan, and possibly Iran. He supports the Zionist
occupation of Palestine. Obama calls for the overthrow of Robert
Mugabe in Zimbabwe and Cynthia supports Mugabe's land reform program
to return to Native Zimbabweans land forcibly stolen by European
settlers.

Cynthia and Rosa have consistently supported a foreign policy based on
peace and justice. They support reparations to the victims of
American imperialism in the United States (slavery reparations) and
abroad. They support free public college education, child care, health
care and worker rights.

Cynthia and Rosa won't be elected this year. But they are both young
enough to be elected in 12 to 20 years.

It took 400 years for this country to develop into the imperialist
empire that the United States is today. It will take us more than 4
years to create an alternative.

Cynthia and Rosa need to get as many votes they can in order to show
the Democrats that there are people in this country who will not buy
the lie that Obama is the most progressive alternative we can hope
for. A vote for Obama in New York or any of the other state where he
is guaranteed to win by landslides, won't help him defeat McCain.

On the other hand, every vote for Cynthia and Rosa will do two things.
First, it will show the Democrats (and Republicans) that there is a
growing number of people who won't accept the fact that Obama is the
most progressive alternative we can expect.

Second, your vote for Cynthia and Rosa will help build an alternative
we can believe in. If the Green Party gets 5% of the national vote,
the Party will qualify for millions of dollars of taxpayer matching
funds in 2012. That would change the nature of the political process
since it would end the two party system. The Democrats would have to
negotiate with the Greens or else face the possibility of a third
party continuing to grow and eventually contend for power.

Some of us want to move the Democratic Party to the left and others of
us want to move out of the Democratic Party to create a new
alternative. If you support either of these two goals and you vote in
New York, California or another "Blue landslide" state, the best way
to support your goal is to vote for Cynthia and Rosa.

Nothing can change the fact that Obama is going to win New York,
California and most of the other "Blue" states by landslides. But if
we vote for Cynthia and Rosa we can change the future. Our votes can't
help Obama win those states. But our votes for Cynthia and Rosa will
show the next President that there is a growing third party movement
which the two headed Republican/Democrat ic Party must consider.

Your vote for Cynthia and Rosa will help send a wake-up call to the
Democratic Party. If the Democratic Party refuses to wake up, then
those votes will build an alternative to the two party system that is
leading the United States and the world to more suffering, war and
barbarism.

Vote for the future!
Vote for change we can believe in!
Vote for Cynthia and Rosa!

Ronald B. McGuire