For 30 Pieces of Silver

The war will continue, because the political power structure is not sufficiently independent to put a stop to it. What we're seeing now is politics as usual, perpetrated by politicians who are owned.

On CBS's "Face the Nation" yesterday, the featured guest, Vice-President Dick Cheney, gloated that Democrats in Congress would "not leave America's fighting forces in harm's way without the resources they need..."

What does Cheney know that we don't? Why is he so confident that the "loyal opposition" is on the verge of caving in?

The problem is the Michigan Democrat and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin. The Israel lobby in the U.S. (AIPAC) has been pressuring Congress to keep the war going, and this guy Levin over the course of his career has gotten more AIPAC money than any other Congressman. (The figures are five years old, but you can see the pattern which continues to this day.)

And now he's more than willing to do AIPAC's bidding. Ray McGovern at Truthout.org has the gruesome details.

We need to forget about the Democrats, now and in 2008. The Democrats are not going to help us. Their paymasters will make sure they continue to ignore the will of the people.

There is no democracy. This is not my country.

I don't need to ask why the Democrats continue to do the wrong thing. I know why. What I really want to know is why we still have any faith left in this dinosaur of a political system. Why aren't we taking to the streets by the millions? Why didn't we shut down this country and its intolerable, world-threatening war machine long ago? How can we be so blind?

If people are united, determined, and motivated, they alone, without any outside help, can take down a government and a ruling class, and they can do so without resorting to violence. Look at what happened in Russia and the other Eastern Bloc countries in the late eighties, and in India in the late forties.

We need to awaken from our sweet dreams of democracy, and of Liberty and Justice for all, and get re-acquainted with the real thing.

As for me, I'm through with voting. From now on I'll vote with my feet.