Dear Disappointed,<\/p>\n

Daniel Ellsberg feels your pain.\u00a0 He knows that Obama hasn\u2019t lived up to your expectations. He won\u2019t argue with you on that one. After all, at a hearty eighty-one years of age, Daniel\u2019s nothing if not a die-hard realist. He\u2019s seen quite a few more elections than you have and has raged against the machine in ways that\u2019s put much more on the line than most of you ever will. In short, Daniel–the former military analyst who, in 1970, leaked the Pentagon Papers<\/a>— has earned his creds. This is a guy with no illusions, and a guy who tells it like he sees it:<\/a><\/p>\n

The reelection of Barack Obama, in itself, is not going to bring serious progressive change, end militarism and empire, or restore the Constitution and the rule of law.\u00a0 That\u2019s for us and the rest of the people to bring about after this election and in the rest of our lives\u2014through organizing, building movements and agitating.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So here\u2019s his advice. Take a long, hard look at what a Romney\/Ryan win will mean.\u00a0 Then take another long, hard look at what a Romney\/Ryan win will mean not just for the next four years but for the next twenty or thirty or more.<\/p>\n

Daniel wants you to get real if you\u2019re thinking about going down the path of a third-party, protest vote. And he\u2019s not one to mince words:<\/p>\n

The traditional third-party mantra, \u201cthere\u2019s no significant difference between the major parties\u201d amounts to saying: \u201cthe Republicans are no worse, overall.\u201d\u00a0 And that\u2019s absurd.\u00a0 It constitutes shameless apologetics for the Republicans, however unintended.\u00a0 It\u2019s crazily divorced from present reality.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Don\u2019t forget, this is one brilliant and courageous guy whose not inclined to let you get away with fuzzy thinking:<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not at all harmless to be propagating that absurd falsehood. It has the effect of encouraging progressives even in battleground states to \u00a0refrain from voting or to vote in a close election for someone other than Obama, and more importantly, to influence others to act likewise.\u00a0 That\u2019s an effect that serves no one but the Republicans, and ultimately the1 percent <\/em>[emphasis added].<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What does Daniel want you to know?\u00a0\u00a0 That the stakes in this election couldn\u2019t be higher and that you need to face facts and acknowledge that<\/p>\n

\u00a0. . . to punish Obama in this particular way, on Election Day\u2014by depriving him of votes in swing states and hence of office in favor of Romney and Ryan\u2014would punish most of all the poor and marginal in society, and \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 workers and middle class as well: not only in the U.S. but worldwide in terms of the economy (I believe the Republicans could still convert this recession to a Great Depression), the environment and climate change.\u00a0 It could well lead to war with Iran (which Obama has been creditably resisting, against pressure from within his own party).\u00a0 And it would spell, via Supreme Court appointments, the end of Roe v. Wade and of the occasional five to four decisions in favor of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In short, Daniel\u2019s pleading with you to resist the temptation to throw away your vote. And if you\u2019re still uncertain which way you\u2019re going to go, just remember two fateful words:\u00a0 Florida 2000.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Disappointed, Daniel Ellsberg feels your pain.\u00a0 He knows that Obama hasn\u2019t lived up to your expectations. He won\u2019t argue with you on that<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":19562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1176,255,572,93,172,10,16,1617,573],"tags":[349,2483,693],"yoast_head":"\n