Michael Meo: A Voice against Corporate America
Posted by Paul Wilden in Political Commentary |
I’ve written previously how foolish it is to count on any of the candidates from the two major political parties to bring about any real change in this country, and, as if on cue, Barack Obama has proven my point with his recent flip-flop on telecom immunity as a part of the FISA bill currently working its way through Congress. At first, Obama vowed to support a Senate filibuster blocking attempts to pass a bill that includes immunity but this is what he had to say about the recently passed House version that does include immunity,
It is not all that I would want. But given the legitimate threats we face, providing effective intelligence collection tools with appropriate safeguards is too important to delay. So I support the compromise, but do so with a firm pledge that as President, I will carefully monitor the program, review the report by the Inspectors General, and work with the Congress to take any additional steps I deem necessary to protect the lives - and the liberty - of the American people.
The point is not to say that Obama is a liar or even that he’s no better than his Republican counter parts because he most certainly is. A McCain presidency would be a disaster for this country, particularly after eight years of Bush, and should be avoided at all costs. No, the point is that whatever kind of man Obama is, or any other Democrat for that matter, as a Democrat he is far to beholden to the current power structure that is tearing this country apart, the same power structure that involves us in war after war, none of which have served the American people or the people for which we were supposed to be fighting for.
Neither Democrats nor Republicans have the will or the opportunity to break from the corporate interests that actually run this country so that is why I want to bring your attention to a different sort of candidate, someone who knows what is wrong with Washington politics and has a genuine desire to change the status quo and make this country work for us the real Americans to whom this country really belongs.
Michael Meo is running for U.S. Congress from the 3rd District of Oregon, as the nominee of the Pacific Green Party. Meo, who once spent two years in a federal penitentiary for refusing the Viet Nam draft, stands for the real American values of democracy, equality and human rights. From his website,
I am a high-school math teacher who served two years in federal penitentiary in 1970-1972 for refusing the military draft during the Vietnam War. I am running for Congress on the Green Party platform. I am committed to a platform of real democracy, of equality for all not only before the law but also in their human rights.
We are pledged, Green Party members, to work for sustainable local economic activity, for a culture that celebrates contributions from all of its members, of whatever group, and that honors nonviolent solutions which include responsible behavior by government agents.
We propose replacing the rapacious exploitation of the resources of the planet and its human population with an intelligent accommodation by the optimal use of technology for the highest quality of life for all. At a minimum, that requires health care as a human right.
Additionally Meo takes an unequivocal stand on FISA unlike most of our current government servants.
I haven’t yet used this blog to endorse any candidates because I’m far more interested in starting the kind of real discussion needed to break this country away from its corporate manipulators and its minions in both the government and the media who have sold us out. And this post isn’t intended as an endorsement either, particularly as I’ve only just recently learned of Meo’s candidacy. What I want to demonstrate is that there truly are real alternatives to the same old politicians that are paraded before us, election after election and it’s my sincere desire that you’ll take a serious look at what Michael Meo has to say as well as all the candidates we have to choose from.
–Paul Wilden
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June 30th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
I have searched your site for any mention of the uber-anti-corporate candidate, Dennis Kucinich. Maybe I just missed it, but if not, I have to ask. Why didn’t you support him when it might have made some difference?
June 30th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
The reason was, I didn’t want to actually endorse any candidates here and as I mentioned in the post, I’m not actually endorsing Meo either. That may have been a mistake on my part but in any case, while I was interested in Kucinich, the reality is that he probably would have been little different from Obama.
Now that Obama has the nomination he’s making the all too predictable move to the “center” (read: cave in to the right) that virtually all Democrats make once they have the nomination. It’s like it’s written into their handbook, seriously, “play to the base for the nomination,” “move to the center in the election.”
That was really the point of my post. Any of the Democrats would be better than any of the Republicans but nothing will really change until we either go outside these two parties or we force the Democrats to stop being cowards.
These are my thoughts on all of this, I would love to hear yours.
June 30th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Good post on a serious issue. It seems to me that if the telecommunications company want to contend that they released private information about their customers at the request of the government, they can argue the point in federal court, like any other defendant in a federal lawsuit would have to.
July 1st, 2008 at 4:26 am
I strongly take issue with your statement: “while I was interested in Kucinich, the reality is that he probably would have been little different from Obama.”
I know it’s all just supposition, but for instance, John Conyers web site was about 50% devoted to efforts to impeach Bush/Cheney prior to the 2006 elections. However the day after the election, all of that was gone with no explanation whatsoever. 24 hours later Pelosi made the statement that impeachment was off the table. That is typical of the ‘main stream’ Democrat leadership.
However, Kucinich’s efforts have only increased over time even in the face of opposition from the Democratic party and the corporate controlled media. You probably noticed during the Democratic debates, that the MSM essentially did not give any coverage to candidates other than Hillary and Barack, and took special efforts to denigrate the Kucinich campaign. That is because they are afraid of him and well they should be.
Kucinich was the only candidate to propose a truly one-payer national health care system, just as an example. He had many very unique and progressive policy proposals. I believe he would have been a really different kind of Democratic candidate and that is the reason that the MSM - which is owned by the same corporations that control both the military/energy/telecommunications/health care industrial complex and both major political parties - did not want to allow him any exposure.
I think the grass-roots Democrats/Progressives truly missed a very rare opportunity when they failed to stand up to the ‘main stream’ Democratic leadership and failed to stand behind Kucinich.
July 1st, 2008 at 7:24 am
In a sense you’ve made my point. I think Kucinich was the better candidate over Obama but as you have aptly pointed out, the Democratic leadership was never going to let it happen.
The question is this: how are we going to get leaders elected who are not beholden to corporate interests. Part of this equation is finding the right people, like Kucinich. But the much harder part is going to be getting them elected, and without them watering down their platforms to satisfy corporate America. Personally I don’t think this is going to happen through the Democratic party regardless of the particular candidate.
The whole point of my post was to encourage voters to look beyond the status quo candidates who will not bring about the change we so desperately need. Should I have highlighted Kucinich’s campaign? It’s a good question and I very much appreciate your bringing it to my attention but I remain unconvinced that Kucinich, or anyone, could successfully buck the system that they’re an intregal part of. I tend to think that the only way we can break the stranglehold that both Democrats and Republicans have over our country will be through a third party but I’m not absolutely married to the idea.
I hope you continue to comment here, I love it when people challenge me like you have. If nothing else, you’ve made me think.
September 20th, 2008 at 9:02 am
Hey! we all need a universal healthcare in this country!!
September 20th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Originally Posted By Tatiana
Unfortunately conservatives have successfully labeled single payer insurance as socialism effectively killing it, for now at least. Americans need to understand that such a system would be in their best interests as opposed to what’s best for the insurance industry.
September 20th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
I agree with Tatiana and Paul. I would like to emphasize that we already have socialized medicine in the form of Medicare and it is working pretty well. It just needs to be expanded to cover all Americans.
Looks like we’ve got the money to bail out the large investment firms to the tune of over $1T, so their CEOs can retain their golden parachutes, but we can’t afford universal health care which would cost less than half of that.
Isn’t it ironic that the very people who constantly ranted about the need for deregulation and about how the government should not be a “nanny state” went running for nanny when they got in over their heads.
The problem in this case (as Paul has pointed out) is the insurance companies. They are huge contributors to both parties and along with the other large corporations effectively run our country by having co-opted the executive, legislative and judicial systems.
It’s doubtful that there is any means to pry away their grip on this country after the disastrous 8 year Repukelican rule.
September 29th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Kucinich is simply the best.
George W. Bush’s sentence-by-sentence speaking skills are deteriorating. Apparently, this may be due to a mental illness called “presenile dementia.” Bush may or may not be secretly still drinking heavily. Bush suffers from narcissism and megalomania. Moreover, Bush has been arrested three times. Bush was arrested for disorderly conduct. Bush was arrested for stealing. Bush was also arrested for a serious crime—driving under the influence of alcohol. There are reasons to believe that Bush suffers from a learning disability. Bush’s learning disability would explain a lot of things. All in all, Bush is a severely mentally ill individual. Bush is not fit to be the president of the United States.
Submitted by Andrew Yu-Jen Wang
B.S., Summa Cum Laude, 1996
Messiah College, Grantham, PA
November 2nd, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Michael Meo was my sons math teacher at Benson High. I cannot even conceive that he is running for political office. It is an understatement to say that he was incompetant as a teacher. He belittled his students continually, and seemed to have a God-complex we had to call in for the school district to get him to behave. Do not vote for this psycho,