Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Why Al Franken Should Not Resign

The media is abuzz with claims that Al Franken will resign tomorrow. The Washington Post actually wrote an article on why Franken has to resign and Moore doesn't. They claim it is because Republicans are more accepting of such misdeeds. It is garbage as usual coming from them any more. They used to be a real newspaper; but, they gave that up.

I don't care much for Al Franken, he is one more elitist who thinks he is better, smarter and more deserving than everyone else. He thinks he understands more than you; but, he is just another partisan hack in my humble opinion. Having said that, he has not been accused of a crime, he has not been charged with anything and nobody that I am aware of has actually filed civil suit against him. He is accused of being sleazy, that is not a reason for overturning a democratically elected representative.

One must ask why the Democrats have so quickly turned on Franken that they now call for his resignation. It has nothing to do with Franken. Back in 1985 another famous Democrat, Barney Frank, was accused of improprieties. In fact, his male prostitute friend was running a male prostitution ring out of his house. He was not removed from office and was universally supported by his party. We all know how President Clinton used Monica Lewinsky, a young intern, to dip his cigar inside her private parts inside the oval office and ejaculate on her dress. He was also supported by his party. Why should Franken have to quit? His voters have a right to kick him out, to not vote for him again. They have a right to call for a special election; but, they have not. As long as he is not proven guilty of a crime, he should not be removed.

Anything short of removing someone from elected office for the conviction of a serious crime must be denied. If we allow unproven accusations to be grounds for violating our democracy, we shall cease having a democracy in any form. Let us be clear, there has not even been an official investigation into Franken's actions, it has been the lynch mob of the corporate media seeking political advantage against Moore and Trump. What you say. This is not about Franken, it is about justifying keeping Moore out if he is elected and about removing Trump, not for criminal collusion with Russia; but, for vague, non proven allegations of being a bad person. Today we saw 58 Democrats in congress vote to allow articles of impeachment to go forward against Trump on the ground that he is a bad person. No crime was charged, the constitution was not considered important. Democracy is not about who you like, it is about accepting the will of the voters. It is about majority rule, it is that simple.

If we get no say in government and only the wealthy and powerful get to choose the law, we live a totalitarian oligarchy. If we have no taxation without representation we need not respect nor follow the laws. That is what the founding fathers said. I know many of my readers are conservative and disagree with my more socialist ideas; but, they know I am honest and consistent. If we lose any semblance of democracy, whether it be representative or not, then no laws bind us together and even killing the wealthy would be valid. If we do not get to have a say in the laws then there is no law, that is the essence of the social contract. When it was violated sufficiently in France, bad things happened and a true populist dictator was born. Napoleon.

The wealthy and powerful are scared of democracy, they were scared of the Tea Party, they were scared of the Occupy Movement, they are even more scared of Sanders and Trump as they view it as an effective use of majority rule (democracy) against their elitist control.

Thursday Franken is supposed to talk to the media. The media has been claiming that it is to announce his resignation; but, his staff says that is not what it is about. Tonight, Wednesday, Franken is being approached by a myriad of forces and moneyed interests telling him to resign, promising him the world in exchange for his reputation. That is how these things work.

The public discussion is always a trick, it is always a pre determined narrative to lead you to a conclusion. Always choose democracy and free discussion or you have neither.