Baldo by Hector D. Cantú and Carlos Castellanos for July 16, 2015

Double Amen! Democrats & Republicans. Two sides of the same corrupt coin.

You do know there are more than 2 political parties. Vote Libertarian for a change.

I thought he lived in California, not Wisconsin…

(HIYOOOOO!)

the honest politician is the one who stays bought—robert heinlein

I wish there was an extra box on the ballot captioned “none of the above”. It’d get my vote!

gardenwitch347: Or Green for grassroots democracy, economic justice, environmental responsibility, and nonviolent change.

gaslightguy: NotA is an item on the Green Party platform. Also vote in order of choice so “minor parties” have a chance – it is better to have a winner most can live with instead of one that most don’t want.

We only have ourselves to blame. By not making choices and demanding better results from our elected officials, then we are a BIG part of the problem. You can’t continually say “My guy is OK, but all the rest of them are bad.” Probably means your guy is just as bad as the rest.

Whatever you say Sergio.

You do know there are more than 2 political parties. Vote Green for a change.

This time we get a chance to deny power to the PACs and to elect someone honest. Go Bernie.

@fbjsr — you have got my state of California completely backwards. Brown served from January 1974-1983 and from January 2011 projected through 2019. When Brown left in January 1983, at the end of his eight years, the state was fiscally sound and had a huge budget SURPLUS. In fact, is opponent in the 2010 election, Meg Whitman, bragged that she came to California when it was a truly “golden” state where “anything was possible” and it turns out she moved to California in the 7th year of the first Brown era, so Brown ran her own ads with that small explanatory addendum and said, “if you want to return to those “golden” years when “anything was possible,” then return the governor who made it happen.” We happily did. The 28 years between the two Brown eras saw our state go from surpluses and fiscal soundness to the worst economic collapse in our history. During that time, 22 out of those 28 years — 78% — our state was mis-managed by REPUBLICAN governors (Deukmejian, Wilson and Schwarzennegr). And yes, it was after Rose Bird and other Brown judges got recalled during the Republican era, that our state collapsed. Now Brown has been back in office and has quickly restored us to prosperity, budget surpluses and fiscal soundness. In contrast, on every metric, Scott Walker and his war on working people has driven his state of Wisconsin from prosperity to economic devastation.

Certainly, in our money-driven political cesspool, both parties are culpable of excesses and represent those who fund them more than those who vote for them. The Democratic Party is far from perfect (though DEMOCRATS are the ONLY ones trying to change the current system), but to say that it does not make a difference in terms of real policies in the real lives of real people is to be either foolishly naïve or the pawn of those who can trick PROgressives into sitting on the sidelines.Here is a little something adapted and updated from a hilarious oldie but very goodie that has been circulating around the Internet for years— REPUBLICANS fear that the government has too much control over corporations. DEMOCRATS fear that corporations have too much control over our government. DEMOCRATS believe it benefits all of us to help the weakest and the poorest among us. REPUBLICANS believe it benefits all of us to help the wealthiest and most powerful among us. DEMOCRATS believe our health care system exists solely for the purpose of making people healthy. REPUBLICANS believe our health care system exists solely for the purpose of making a healthy profit. REPUBLICANS believe large corporations will always do what is best for the American people if the government stays out of the way. DEMOCRATS believe large corporations would disembowel you and sell your organs to the highest bidder if the government didn’t stop them. DEMOCRATS believe Congress should be of the people, by the people and for the people. REPUBLICANS believe corporations are the people. DEMOCRATS believe that corporations have too much influence over Congress due to their lobbyists and huge campaign contributions. REPUBLICANS believe the middle class has too much influence over Congress due to their voting and paying taxes. DEMOCRATS believe that we need to set high standards for clean air and drinking water. REPUBLICANS believe that standards for clean air and water are burdensome over-regulation DEMOCRATS believe too much of our money goes to crooked corporate executives who take government subsidies and pay themselves $80 million salaries. REPUBLICANS believe too much of our money goes to teachers who make $30,000 a year. DEMOCRATS believe that corporations have too much influence over Congress due to their lobbyists and huge campaign contributions. REPUBLICANS believe the middle class has too much influence over Congress due to their voting and paying taxes. DEMOCRATS believe we need to protect victims of corporate negligence by allowing Americans to file lawsuits against corporations. REPUBLICANS believe we need to protect large corporations from lawsuits by Americans who’ve been victimized by them. DEMOCRATS believe that the rich should be taxed more than the poor and middle class. REPUBLICANS believe that the rich should be allowed to keep all their wealth, except for the millions in voluntary campaign “contributions” (bribes) they willingly invest in politicians. DEMOCRATS believe that those who work hard and play by the rules should receive fair compensation for producing real wealth — at least enough so they can afford to buy what they make. In the words of FDR: “The best customer of American industry is the well-paid workers.” REPUBLICANS believe workers should work harder for lower wages on which they pay a higher tax rate, so investors can work less (or not at all) for more money on which they pay a lower tax rate (or none at all). DEMOCRATS believe that too much money in politics produces corruption and destroys the American way of life. REPUBLICANS believe that money and corruption in politics ARE the American way of life.

Dear DDWiz, you flunked Econ 101 didn’t you? I’ll vote for the first one to promise to abolish EPA, due to the damage the bureaucrats wreak on the country. I’m still trying to find one Federal agency – excluding the military – that does more good than damage; pretty sure it does not exist.

jbmlaw — actually, I got A’s in multiple economics courses. The facts are the facts. During the first era of our Governor Brown, this state was prosperous and fiscally sound. During the 28 years between the two Brown eras, 22 of those years (78%) the state was run by Republicans. Run into the ground. Deficits. Economic collapse. Kind of like the same thing that happened at the national level. Republicans: economic collapse. Democrats: economic recovery and prosperity. Republicans: Harding/Coolidge/Hoover (1921-1933): Deregulation followed by the Great Depression. Democrats: FDR/Truman/Kennedy/Johnson (1933-1969, except for 8 years of liberal Republican Eisenhower): longest peacetime prosperity in history. No economic collapses. LBJ leaves office with budget surplus. Republicans: Reagan/Bush: Wall Street crash of 1987. S&L banking collapse and end of S&L system. Record budget deficits more than all previous presidencies in history Democrat: Clinton: inherits record budget deficits, turns them into record budget surpluses. Only two presidents in last 50 years to end with budget surpluses: Democrats LBJ and Clinton. Prosperity and peace. Republican: Bush: Deregulation. Complete collapse of financial and investment markets. Record budget deficits more than all prior presidencies combined including Reagan and his father. Record foreclosures, repossessions and steadily increasing unemployment. Democrat: Obama: inherits new record deficits and complete economic collapse. Turns economy around. Only third president in the last 50 years to have year-to-year reductions in budget deficit, which he did every year after his first, though not all the way into surplus territory yet. Five straight years of monthly employment gains. Sorry, jbmlaw, but those Federal agencies you dislike so much actually work to protect workers, consumers and our shared environment and help the economy run smoothly. Democrats keep proving this. The big banks and corporate bullies want to sell you a load of POOP-aganda about regulation because they want to get rid of regulation of their war on workers and consumers for exactly the same reason criminals want fewer cops on the street. Exactly the same reason. Rob a bank, go to jail. Own a bank, conquer the world.

comicsssfan: Decode your vote on sex? There is a woman already announced in the Democratic, Green, and Republican parties. You should be able to find better deciders even from that narrow (so far) list..Youuu might also consider that the first five women to head governments (not head of state, which would include queens) in the twentieth century were all involved in wars. The first exception was Vingis Swenbogdottér of Iceland in the 1980s.