Maine Democratic Party Abolishes Superdelegates

The first precedent has been set on the road to eliminating Superdelegates, one of the many pieces of the poisonous election system in the United States. The Maine Democratic Party has just overwhemingly passed an amendment at the statewide contention eliminating the autonomous influence of superdelegates.

Representative Diane Russell said that the amendment was adopted by a single voice vote (meaning an “aye” or “nay” vocal vote by the people in response to an amendment) followed by chants of “Ber-nie! Ber-nie!” Ber-nie!” Russell said she never expected that kind of a reaction.

The adoption of the amendment means that Maine’s superdelegate votes will now be allocated proportionally according to the overall popular vote, rather than each superdelegate having complete autonomy. Which is to say that the superdelegates no longer get to choose or be influenced by any factor other than the amount of votes–i.e. no more of the people’s voice being disregarded.

The incredible thing is that this amendment does not stop at the state level. Now that the amendment has been adopted in Maine, the Main Democratic Party will petition the Democratic National Committee members to get rid of the superdelegate system altogether AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL. Unfortunately, the amendment is nonbinding for the 2016 election, but will take effect in 2020 and every year after. There was much debate about making it effective for the 2016 election, but Russell had written the amendment with 2020 in mind. It is, however, her ultimate goal to do away with the delegate system entirely and decide the election by popular vote.

This is such an amazing development that I’m not sure how to overstate it. The delegate and superdelegate system was created to keep power with the politicians, as a final trump card against the will of the people. Bernie Sanders is primarily responsible for changing the conversation of politics in the United States. He is the face of the thing, but we, the public and the people are the driving force behind it, the voice that raises the volume and focuses the attention on the real issues. It does not stop with Bernie Sanders, regardless of a win or a loss–we are the future, especially young voters. We will never accept being talked down to or told to respect our elders. Our elders put us where we are, and now the oldest current candidate is showing us the way, and that the revolution starts with ALL of us–Bernie Sanders saw the beginning of the system we live in and has fought his whole life against it. We need to do the same. It might be hard and it might be stressful, and take up a lot of time and energy, but what we’re deciding right now is the future. We need to look forward, not to our children, or to our children’s children to make the right decisions, but to the next seven generations.

Make the movement move.

-ry

Independents Will Win This Election

Donald Trump is the nominee for the Republican Party. That is all but decided at this point. So now what is to be done with this information? The simple answer to this is that we nominate Bernie Sanders as the Democratic presidential candidate.

In all the polls having to do with a general election, we see that Hillary Clinton wins against a Donald Trump candidacy by a margin of about 4 points. On the other hand, a Bernie Sanders candidacy wins against a Trump candidacy, by about 7 points. However, many opinions are that Trump will end up winning against Clinton. Why is this? One reason I would give for this is because the primaries have given us a distorted view of the political playing field. And this is basically because in CLOSED primaries, where independents are not allowed to vote, Hillary Clinton wins those primaries and has won them. On the other hand, in OPEN primaries, when independents are allowed to vote, Bernie Sanders wins and has won. This fact is essential to understanding how a BERNIE SANDERS CANDIDACY WILL BEAT DONALD TRUMP. The vast majority of the voting public this time around is Independent. Each time a CLOSED PRIMARY happens, the voice of the middle ground, the Independent is silenced. The vast majority of the voting public is tired of the 2 party system and is tired of the status quo. In a general election, the Independents will have their voice heard–and by this point, there are far too many voters who have seen through the facade of Hillary Clinton to assume that she will carry the vote in the general election. If the DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE does not nominate Bernie Sanders, the Independents will not turn out. They will see this as another instance where the status quo has triumphed and the last chance for real, working Democracy this season will be silenced and will lose. In a general election where it’s BERNIE SANDERS VS DONALD TRUMP, the Democratic establishment, as well as the Independents of America, will be behind Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders has been an Independent all his life, and a champion of civil rights and is aware of the risks of allowing our political establishment to continue business as usual. Additionally, as much as Sanders has gone after Clinton so far, I feel like Trump would have a field day with the accusations of treason leveled against Clinton, in addition to the amount of Super PAC money she takes and how much of an establishment candidate she is–Trump is self financed and will make a big noise on that topic. I honestly feel that the only chance to avoid a total disaster this voting season is to nominate Bernie Sanders.

Recently, it has also come to light that Hillary Clinton has also been courting the supporters of Jeb Bush and Jeb Bush himself for more money to fund her campaign. In what world does this make sense? Hillary Clinton is already a barely left leaning Democrat–she has been pushed into changing her campaign rhetoric by the incredibly popular Sanders campaign, basically becoming a candidate who parrots Sanders’ progressive policies, but with no guarantee that she will follow through on these things once she’s in office. 15 dollar minimum wage, breaking up the big banks, and other campaign talking points were adopted by Clinton after Sanders had the idea. But now Clinton is actually courting Neo Conservative supporters in the hopes of gaining more monetary momentum in order to beat Sanders. Are we stupid? Does Clinton think that we are a group of dupes who don’t see the strings that are being tied by the minute to Clinton’s person that will serve to hamstring her and make her beholden to the powers that gave her the money to run her campaign? We can’t trust a thing Clinton says because she is not funded by the people–Sanders is funded by the people and thus given authority to act in the peoples’ interests. Which consequentially means that Clinton’s money is corporate, which means that she (if elected) will be given the authority to act in the interest of those parties, not the people themselves, thus continuing the bullshit political climate we’ve been saddled with for DECADES.

Please, if you have the means, donate to Bernie Sanders’ campaign. Talk to your friends about Bernie Sanders. Be the downer who has the conscience and good sense to address the issues that affect all of us, whether or not people would like to believe it. Post about Bernie Sanders on your Facebook…go to family reunions, class reunions, talk to your pizza delivery man for God’s sake. Now that we know that Trump is who the Republicans will have representing them, it’s even more important to READ THE WRITING ON THE WALL. It’s there, whether we want to read it or not. Facts do not cease to be facts if you decide to ignore them.

Be an independent. The voice of the people matters.

-ry

Another Police Shooting of a Black Minor…When Will We Stand United?

It’s happened again.

On the 1 year anniversary of Freddie Gray’s death, a black man who died from injuries sustained in police custody, Baltimore police have shot and wounded a 14 year old African-American boy carrying a toy gun.

On Wednesday, plainclothes officers began chasing 14 year-old Dedric Colvin after they saw him with a BB gun. Police say the officers opened fire, striking him as he ran away. Colvin’s mother said Dedric was shot in the leg and in the shoulder–he’s thankfully expected to recover. This incident also comes 2 days after Cleveland officials agreed to pay 6 MILLION DOLLARS to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of Tamir Rice, the 12 year old African-American boy who was fatally shot by police in what was for all intents and purposes, a drive by shooting, for playing with a toy pellet gun in a park.

Though the BB gun does appear very lifelike–a replica of a semi-automatic handgun–police’s claims that they had no way of knowing whether the gun was fake or not are being contested by eyewitness accounts that say that “[Colvin] turned towards them but the wasn’t turning the gun towards them, and I’m positive I heard him say, ‘It’s not real,'” a witness who identified himself only as “Bryan” told a local NBC affiliate. “He said, ‘It’s not real. It’s not real,’ and that quick, the male officer shot him twice in the leg.”

This report from the eyewitness makes plain that the officers responded too quickly. Local activist and artist Kwame Rose told The Independent: “This speaks to the fact that a young black male was never given the chance to be innocent. He was automatically criminalised and automatically feared by the police.” Mr. Rose addressed the need for “heavy investment” in de-escalation training tactics for the Baltimore police. “Shooting should never be the first action….The only difference between this case and the Tamir Rice case…is that Dedric ran–which probably saved his life.”

Another call in addition to de-escalation training for Baltimore Police has come from Baltimore residents, who called for police reforms to confront “institutionalized racism”. Both topics are key to ensuring that travesties like this do not occur again. This obviously should not only be a localized effort, but instead needs to spread to the rest of America so that there is never another Tamir Rice or Dedric Colvin case. President Obama met with civil rights leaders and Black Lives Matter activists from across the country a couple months ago in February to discuss organization of reforms and the issue of police brutality. Many leaders commented, saying they believed the meetings to have been very productive. However, Aislinn Pulley, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Chicago, declined the invitation to the meeting, saying that she believed the meeting was nothing more than a photo-op for the President. In an editorial for TruthOut.org, Pulley wrote: “I do not feel that a handshake with the President is the best way for me to honor Black History Month or the Black freedom fighters whose labor laid the groundwork for the historic moment we are living in…We assert that true revolutionary and systemic change will ultimately only be brought forth by ordinary working people, students and youth–organizing, marching and taking power from the corrupt elites.” Exactly what actions are involved in that “taking power from the elites” were not stated, but Pulley’s words remain true and striking. Until the people stand up and unite and send a continuous message to those in power, I fear that the systemic racism going on in our country and our police forces in particular, will not be addressed, but instead will have lipservice paid to them without any real specific change.

This is why the Black Lives Matter movement is important, and why it must continue, and why it must gain more and more followers, regardless of race. We have to stand united against a system that is becoming more and more akin to a police state. The officers in the case of Dedric Colvin knew better–they did, and if it had been a White kid with a BB gun instead of a Black kid, I believe that the officers would have found better means for dealing with the individual in question. Bernie Sanders is the only candidate who has discussed real police reform in his campaign. He has called for police transparency and has led a charge to “de-militarize the police”–the rest of the candidates stand firm with the status quo of police brutality and systemic, institutionalized racism.

I believe the Police must take drastic steps in correcting itself before any more of these instances happen. They have to do anything within their power–one idea would be to enlist help from the Police departments of other countries…Norway’s Police, for instance haven’t resorted to killing any suspects in a number of years. Why is it so inconceivable to think outside the box in this way in order to combat the many problems facing our defective Police forces? Why isn’t there a conference held with all the major Police chiefs of all the major American cities with Black Lives Matter protesters and organizers? Has the rift and spirit of enmity between these entities become so entrenched and immovable that we are deliberately looking away from the most crucial actions of peacekeeping and reconciliation? The attitude of both of these groups has become so militant and so stubborn that they are both becoming part of the problem. Why is a meeting with the President more important than a meeting with the Police departments themselves? I don’t believe that any progress will be made in the fight for equality until the tensions and grudges are dissolved between these two developing factions. I call for a respectful and productive spirit in which these issues can be hashed out and dealt with–no more name-calling and passing the buck.

That being said, I believe the Black Lives Matter protesters are right. And I know that they are angry. I’m angry too, that an issue this important and divisive hasn’t been taken care of and put to bed. Some say the issue will never fully be resolved–but I say it’s that attitude combined with unchecked anger and aggression that will prove that self-fulfilling prophecy. We must remember that we are all brothers and sisters, and that when one of us bleeds or is mistreated, we all suffer from. Black Lives Matter, and it’s time everyone joined together in peaceful demonstration to make this dream a reality. Look up Black Lives Matter protests and organizations in your area–if there isn’t one, start one, or find someone who will. Write to your legislators, try to organize conferences. Get in touch with the people who have power to make sweeping legislative change, and then act on your own to sow the seeds of immediate, local change. We are all a part of this together, whether we put effort toward making a change or not. Making the decision to do nothing, is still an action–just one that doesn’t serve anything. Make a change, make a choice to be a part of this voice. Together, the people united will never be divided.

Love. Peace. Unity.

-ry

New York Primary Called in Favor of Hillary–Election Officials Call “Foul.”

Ever since the beginning of the Democratic New York primary, even before the day of the polls opening, we were expecting difficulties with voters being able to cast their ballots. A week before the primary, reports came rolling in of Independents and Democrats alike who were finding out that the record of their registrations had been lost. The irregularities reached even higher on the day of the primary as hundreds of thousands of voters were turned away from the polling place for various reasons. Most of these voters came from parts of New York where Bernie Sanders was polling better than Hillary Clinton–namely in Brooklyn and the more rural areas of New York state. Around 5pm, the New York primary was called in favor of Hillary Clinton. All told, reports are that as many as 3 MILLION VOTERS WERE DISENFRANCHISED EN ROUTE TO CLINTON’S WIN IN NEW YORK.

The Bernie Sanders campaign called the reports of voting irregularities a “disgrace” as local officials rushed to condemn the city Bord of Elections for stripping more than 125,000 DEMOCRATS FROM THE ROLLS. “It is absurd that in Brooklyn, New York — where I was born, actually — tens of thousands of people as I understand it, have been purged from the voting rolls”–Sanders said this during an evening rally at Penn State University.

ELECTION JUSTICE USA, an organization for voter rights, told reporters that it would go to Federal District Court in Brooklyn on Wednesday morning as part of an effort to have provisional ballots from voters disenfranchised by the Board of Elections counted before the primary results are certified. Basically this means that the results will not be final until AT LEAST the provisional ballots from the Primary can be counted. Earlier on Tuesday a federal judge denied a restraining order which would have helped voters vote who had claimed to have been unlawfully listed as Republican or unaffiliated–there were apparently a great number of these instances occurring. At Brooklyn Borough Hall, the polling site coordinator reported that approximately 10 percent of the voters at his polling place were turned away.

New York mayor Bill de Blasio said: “It has been reported to us from voters and voting rights monitors that the voting lists in Brooklyn contain numerous errors, including the purging of entire buildings and blocks of voters from the voting lists…reverse that purge…The perception that numerous voters may have been disenfranchised undermines the integrity of the entire electoral process and must be fixed.” Mayor de Blasio is a Hillary Clinton supporter and even he sees the dirty politics at work in this situation.

The Board of Elections Executive Director denied that there were irregularities–at least not out of line with the normal irregularities seen during elections. However, it’s been reported that the New York voter complaint hotline had received over 700 calls before 4pm, whereas in 2012, it had received less than 150 for the whole day of the primary.

Plainly speaking, this is fucking bullshit. The people are being disenfranchised, taken advantage of by those in power. The Democrats are afraid of losing the status quo, where they can parrot and give lip service to the values they claim to uphold while lining their own pockets with money from corporations and back room dealings. Bernie Sanders is not a Democrat, and he’s not acting like one, and that is why the Democrats are after him. Hillary Clinton is obviously another bought and paid for candidate–a flip flopping liar who is ready to cast her vote and throw her weight into the next war, the next political game to play, the next back room deal to make in order to make her friends and herself even more money. Hillary Clinton doesn’t care about the people electing her–she cares about the people who are paying for her campaign. The Democratic Party is doing all it can to make sure that the special interests in America remain special while the people of America foot the bill for it. As long as there is big money in politics, the only ones who will be served is the big money.

I am so fucking angry about this election, but this primary in particular. Blatant voter disenfranchisement, lying, and manipulating of the electoral system is going on and nothing seems to have changed. Are there seriously people out there who don’t see that as the stakes are heightening and the hour gets later and the more momentum Sanders gets, the more problems there are with people casting their votes?! Is there not enough noise being made to scare these people in their seats of power into doing what is right? What is it going to take to ensure that the right person is elected? An act of God?  Hopefully by the time the dust settles on this issue, the state will be called for  Bernie Sanders like what occurred in Missouri and Nevada. I have to be honest: I pray for the result of this election a lot. Like, a lot more than I’ve ever prayed for anything in my life. I call people for Bernie, I call the delegates and super delegates pledged to Hillary to try and get them to change their minds. I’m angry. And I’m scared. Sometimes I’m more scared than angry, honestly. Hillary Clinton is a felon and a war criminal. A war monger and a corporate puppet. She supports fracking and further damage to the environment. She doesn’t believe in bringing people together. Her latest speech on the state of Israel-Palestinian relations shows that much–her game and her world function on the very basic idea of dividing people rather than uniting them.

If you do anything in response to this, please call your local delegates, the super delegates in your state, sign petitions, share articles about Bernie Sanders or the political race. Sign petitions increasing voter rights and voter access. Google “how can i make a difference in this election” and do what the results say for God’s sake. MAKE SOME FUCKING NOISE. WAKE UP. THIS IS FUCKING IMPORTANT.

Thank you for your time.

-ry

PS: BERNIE OR BUST. WRITE IN BERNIE SANDERS ON YOUR BALLOT IF HILLARY CLINTON WINS THE NOMINATION

DEMOCRACY SPRING PROTESTS CONCLUDE

Yesterday, April 18 2016, was the last day of a week of protesting on the steps of CAPITOL HILL in WASHINGTON DC by Americans to call attention to the problem of corporate money in politics and to bring awareness of the disenfranchisement of voters nationwide.  OVER 1300 PEOPLE WERE ARRESTED DURING THIS WEEK OF PROTESTS. The simple fact is that Democracy is in crisis. This was said by Democracy Spring, when asked why the protests were going on. And it’s easy to see without looking too far that this is totally true. From voter disenfranchisement with new bullshit voter ID laws to felons not having a vote to cast, from Citizens United giving unparalleled power to corporations to sway elections to the corporate media hamstringing certain campaigns. DEMOCRACY IS IN CRISIS.

Though the protests that were planned are over, Democracy Spring has no plans on stopping or slowing its pressure on the powers that be.”We will demand that Congress listen to the People and take immediate action to save our democracy. And we won’t leave until they do — or until they send thousands of us to jail, along with the unmistakable message that our country needs a new Congress, one that that will end the legalized corruption of our democracy and ensure that every American has an equal voice in government,” the Democracy Spring website said. Among their ranks — and those arrested — were actress Rosario Dawson and ice cream entrepreneurs Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield from Ben & Jerry’s. Democracy Spring is part of a larger coalition of groups including 99Rise and Democracy Matters.

There are 4 demands that Democracy Spring has–and they all relate to Bills for consideration to be made into law. They are: 1)Overturn the 2010 Supreme Court decision about Citizens United which allows corporate money in politics; 2) restore protections against voter discrimination previously afforded under the Voting Rights Act; 3) Democracy Spring wants to make the voting process more transparent overall; 4) make sure anyone can run for office without the support of big money.

The candidacy of Bernie Sanders has changed American politics forever. The corporate stranglehold over America and its politics is not long for this Earth. Please share this page and like this article, talk to your friends about it, research the bills that Democracy Spring is supporting, share articles on your facebook and twitter accounts…THIS MOVEMENT STARTS WITH ALL OF US. And I guess get out of the way if you can’t lend a hand, because the new world is coming.

 

LOVE AND PEACE Y’ALL

-ry

THE BILLS:

H.J.Res.22
The Voting Rights Advancement Act
Voter Empowerment ActFair Elections Now Act

DEMOCRACY DAY – MAKE ELECTION DAY A NATIONAL HOLIDAY

Voting is the hallmark of a working democracy. Elections where the people decide who is going to lead them and their voice is heard. It should be that simple, right? Then why isn’t it? There are a number of answers to that question. The first answer I will give you is that ours is not a working democracy, for many reasons–first of all, our system is not a democracy. A democracy is a system of government where a majority of the votes decides the outcome of an election. The popular vote is what a democracy is beholden to. In the United States of America, what we have is a democratic republic. For lack of a better definition, a democratic republic is what we have in our country, where the Electoral College makes the decision of the winner of an election. Delegates and a certain amount of assigned votes to each state are given, and the candidate who gets the highest number of those electoral votes is declared the winner. There have been a number of candidates who have lost elections after winning the popular vote–most recently and famously, Al Gore, whose Presidency might have contained a much different future for our country than what we’re facing now. In a democratic republic, or the awful system of the Electoral College at its core, disenfranchises voters and nullifies the votes of the “losing” side. This system works in favor of the status quo, of the people who benefit from a smaller voting pool. The George W. Bushes of the world, the Hillary Clintons and other corporate puppet candidates. Candidates who represent the will of the people, who are elected by the people and seek to serve the people understand that when voter turnout is high and when each vote is represented, the winner is the candidate who will act in the interests of the people. Bernie Sanders is that candidate this time around. In order to elect the right leader for the country at this time, we need voter turnout to be high. We need to ensure that voting is easier, not harder. How are we going to do this? My first answer would be to disband and do away with the entire Electoral College system–however, this is not a feasible solution and will not be done in time for November. However, there is one change that could be taken to ensure a high voter turnout and a higher likelihood of electing the correct candidates: making Election Day on November 8 a National Holiday.

Why would making Election Day a National Holiday work toward creating a high voter turnout? The answer may be obvious, but I’m going to spell it out. The most common reason for people to not get involved with politics is that they have a job. It makes sense, doesn’t it? People need a job to support themselves and their families, so they have to forego their right as Americans in order to work. Their RIGHT. What kind of honorable political system would make it more difficult for its people to exercise a right of theirs? A “right” is defined as “a moral or legal entitlement to have or obtain something or to act in a certain way.” Which means that it should be the right of every American to walk off the job or not attend work in order to vote for which leader they think will serve their interests in the post the candidate is seeking. Or, in a way that makes more sense, it should be every American’s right to have the day off on Election Day. We have National Holidays for other things: namely, New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Day, Memorial Day,   Indpendence Day, Labor Day, Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. If we can have days off work to celebrate the day we became a country, why not a day to ensure that our country goes in the direction the people desire? The answer is obvious and it’s already been stated above: because it is in the interest of people with power to limit the amount of votes that are cast in an election. Out of all the candidates up for election to the Presidency, only Bernie Sanders has led the charge to make this a possibility. In fact, if you do a Google search for “make election day a national holiday”, the first result that comes up is Bernie Sanders’ webpage, with the html link (www.sanders.senate.gov/democracyday). This is a huge thing, and not enough people are making it a thing.

Bernie Sanders has proposed a bill to designate Democracy Day as a national election holiday to make it easier for Americans to vote. You can read Bernie’s Bill at the link above. Just click the button that says “READ THE BILL”. See for yourself which candidate values the voice of the people and democracy in general. There is only one candidate.
Nationwide, the numbers say that the last election resulted in only 36.6 percent of Americans casting a ballot. 37 PERCENT if you round up. 37 percent is nowhere near a majority of Americans, so why should the Presidential Election of 2014 have decided anything? The majority of Americans did not vote for Barack Obama…the majority of Americans WHO WERE ABLE TO VOTE elected Barack Obama. This is an extraordinary miscarriage of justice when over 60 percent of Americans did not have a voice in who was supposed to lead them. Democracy Day needs to be a thing because in this day and age, it is inexcusable for an American to not be able to vote and raise his or her voice and say who they want to lead them. We should not be satisfied with a system where 60 percent of our people don’t vote and something closer to 80 percent of young people and poor people don’t vote.

It’s as simple as that. We do not live in a democracy, even though we are told that we do. We still won’t be living in a democracy even if Democracy Day becomes the newest National Holiday. But it’s an extremely important step to fulfilling the legacy of democracy and the voice of the people. If you agree with me, please go to this link and sign the petition to make Election Day a National Holiday: http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/call-for-federal-holiday Unfortunately it is not linked with Senator Sanders, so it’s titled Vote Day rather than Democracy Day, but it is a way to make your voice heard and to cast a voice in the direction of giving all other Americans their voice.

Please remember, the only people not voting serves is those who are already in power and who do not want to lose it. Let’s make change happen.

PROTECT CLEAN WATER

What I’m going to tell you: We need to protect clean water. It is a resource that is being increasingly threatened with human activity, particularly with regard to fracking and the use of nuclear energy. Bernie Sanders is the only candidate to support if you believe in protecting clean water.

How I’m going to support it: By citing articles and facts regarding clean water and its status on our planet. By giving my appraisal of Bernie Sanders’ character and comparing it to the character assessments of the other main candidates for the presidency, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. By explaining each candidate’s relationship to water rights and fracking.

Why should you care: Water is the building block of all life. Water is the first thing scientists look for when exploring other worlds via satellite for signs of life. If any one of us today went without water for more than 3 days, we would die. There are already places in the world that are literally running out of water (Pakistan, a very recent example [m.dw.com]).

Hey, water-based life-forms, I’m here today to talk to you about water. Specifically clean water and how it’s being threatened and why this is important. I remember watching Robin Williams’ live comedy act on broadway more than 10 years ago. In it, he did a little bit, adopting George W. Bush’s accent and, holding a water bottle, he pointed to it and said, “This here, one day this shit is going to be more valuable than oil.” It’s not only funny, but insanely true. So true that it was almost unbelievable, ridiculous back in 2000. And now, here we are–Nestle’s ex CEO, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe has already went on record, saying that water is not a human right, and should be privatized. Meaning, he wants everyone to pay for water. This is not only a huge insane amount of bullshit, but it’s also the symptom of the dangerous profit-driven mentality of corporations. Corporations like Nestle apparently don’t believe in humanity, or rights–they believe in profits, especially more than last year. The bottom line. Nestles’ CEO would have us pay for something that is necessary for all forms of life in our planet. And that’s not all. Nestle has attacked GMO labeling as well, lobbying in our government against the people’s rights to know exactly what is in the food we’re eating. Nestle has gone into struggling rural areas and extracted the groundwater from that territory, ultimately bottling it and selling it at a profit, leaving those areas to struggle.

As if it weren’t enough that water rights are being threatened by corporations like Nestle, we also have a bigger problem–water itself, the clean drinkable type, is being threatened. Fracking, one of the most avoidable forms of water pollution, are still going on today. The Scientific American has noted that “fracking operations for oil and natural gas production in the U.S. pose a potentially significant risk of contaminating drinking water sources” because they are shallowly drilled and close to local aquifers. (www.scientificamerican.com) The EPA has concluded that fracking has already contaminated drinking water. (www.insideclimatenews.org/05062015/fracking-has-contaminated-drinking-water-epa-now-concludes). Further fracking studies in Wyoming have concluded with found toxins in the state’s groundwater (www.insideclimatenws.org/news/29032016/fracking-study-pavillion-wyoming-drinking-water-contamination-epa). Aside from fracking, another problem with corroded infrastructure has been pointed out in places like Flint, Michigan, which saw its water contaminated with lead, having switched from treated Detroit Water and Sewerage Department water, to Flint River water which pipes were without corrosion inhibitors, thus leading to lead contamination, causing a serious public health disaster. Four government officials resigned from the crisis, though Governor Snyder still sits in his seat of power. We are in need of government officials who will do what they were elected to do, which is act in the interests of the people. Flint is not the only place where things like this are happening either–Washington DC, Durham and Greenvile, North Carolina, Jackson Mississippi, and Sebring, Ohio were all found to have contaminated water (www.mobile.nytimes.come/2016/02/09/us/regulatory-gaps-lead-levels-in-water-nationwide.html). This is a growing problem that needs to be addressed. Aside from humans who drink water, there are thousands upon millions of species whose world resides in water. Lifeforms whose lives and environments are being threatened by our actions. Most notable and severe of these actions are nuclear power–the Fukushima reactor in Japan’s rupturing 5 years ago has caused in the spillage of radioactive material into the Pacific Ocean. Today, 5 years after the meltdown, the United States is finding radioactive material along its West Coast. According to CNBC, “scientists…say we should expect to see this in the ocean for decades to come. Elevated levels found off the coast of Japan show that the situation is not yet under control, and that the facility is still leaking radiation” (www.cnbc.com/2016/03/10/us-watches-as-fukushima-continues-to-leak-radiation.html). There are already reports of ocean life being found with growths and elevated radiation levels in addition to hundreds of dead bodies of ocean life washing up onto different shores–whales and seals to name a couple different species. This is not being reported as much as it needs to be for the disaster to be taken care of.
There are many organizations that are dedicated to protecting clean water and water rights. Charity: Water is a nonprofit that brings clean and safe drinking water to people in developing countries. MIYA is a company that provides comprehensive urban water efficiency solutions by focusing on reducing Non-Revenue Water, or fresh water that is lost from the distribution system before it reaches consumers. Water.org is a nonprofit founded by MATT DAMON and Gary White that provides access to safe water and sanitation in developing countries. Columbia Water Center, a part of Earth Institute, researches and designs sustainable models of water management. Three avocados, Waterislife, and Puremadi are other very reputable groups that work toward clean water and water rights. If you’re interested in helping out, those are some great organizations to look into.

Water is the building block of all life. Water is the first thing scientists look for when sending satellites and probes out into space to search for life. If a human is without water for more than 3 days, he or she will die. 70 percent of our bodies are made of water and 2/3 of our planet’s surface is covered by water. Of all the people living on Earth, none can afford to go without water. So why are we taking such little care in preserving the resources we have? The Earth is a closed system, much like a terrarium–which means that the same water that is here now has been here for millions and millions of years–we as a species, as an Earth-dwelling race can not afford to count on foreign (from other planets) water resources to sustain us. If we pollute the water we have access to now, we may never recover. Which is why it is more imperative than ever that we elect leaders with a focus on the Earth and its resources. I believe Bernie Sanders is the only viable candidate to lead a more Earth conscious America.

Okay, this is my disclaimer: I am a Bernie Sanders supporter. An avid, ardent, borderline fanatical supporter of Bernie Sanders. I am definitely feeling The Bern. He is the epitome of what I have always felt a politician should be. Ever since I was old enough to care about politics and the news and where the world was heading, I felt like our leaders should be people elected to serve the best interest of the masses who gave them the consent to govern through their votes—not a group of people elected to serve and represent the masses who have made the mention of their very profession akin to a swear word. “Politicians,” we say, with a nasty taste in our mouths, or that feeling of having a really long hair somewhere in your mouth that’s somehow made its way halfway down your throat before you realized it was there.  Anyway, I’m not the only one who thinks this about Bernie Sanders. Cornel West, a popular political scientist has praised Bernie Sanders’ “authenticity and integrity.” Pope Francis very recently said this about Sanders: “I see in Senator Sanders a man of great integrity and moral conviction, who understands these principles and genuinely wants what’s best for all people.” In a recent debate, when Bernie Sanders was asked if he supported fracking, he gave a simple, resounding “No” after listening to a very long, windy, polician-sounding answer from Hillary Clinton on the same question, who concluded that she doesn’t support fracking UNLESS it is heavily watched and regulated–however, as of March 9, 2016, Hillary Clinton still accepts money, fundraising with fracking investors. Many of Clinton’s largest fundraisers are lobbyists for oil and gas corporations. Some of the very biggest represent Chevron, Cheniere Energy, and TransCanada–THESE ARE ALL COMPANIES THAT SUPPORT FRACKING. Also, prior to announcing her candidacy, Clinton received nearly 1 million dollars from the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, which invests heavily in TransCanada and the Keystone XL Pipeline (www.theintercept.com/2016/03/09/hillary-clinton-wants-to-regulate-fracking-but-still-accepts-a-lot-of-fracking-money/) If you believe that Hillary Clinton will accept big money from fracking and then turn around and vote and fight against its interests, please don’t vote, because you are just plain deluded. Hillary Clinton will be just as big a friend to fracking as Donald Trump. Donald Trump’s answer to questions about fracking have led to him claiming that fracking will lead to America’s energy independence from the rest of the world. Though he doesn’t take money from fracking, giving that big a vote of confidence to industries that damage clean water would be a very dangerous move. Even if his claim were true, the amount of fracking necessary would not only result in further water contamination, but it is also becoming apparent that fracking is causing earthquakes in parts of America that were previously generally seismically inactive. As you can see, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are disastrous candidates when it comes to clean water and water rights. Their reputations are also not the type one would like to see attached to a couple of the next possible leaders of the free world. The Nevada Gaming Commission deemed Donald Trump untrustworthy and as such, ineligible for a gambling license to attach a casino to his hotel in Las Vegas. Hillary Clinton has been called “unethical” by people who worked very closely with her–Jerry Zeifman, who worked on the House Judiciary Committee with her, called her “a liar…She was an unethical, dishonest lawyer. She conspired to violate the Constitution, the rules of the House, the rules of the committee, and the rules of confidentiality.”

I hope this has opened your eyes to the dovetailed importance of protecting clean water AND electing the correct person into office who will make it a priority to preserve our clean, freshwater resources. Water is the most precious resource that we have on our planet, and the one that we are not going to be able to increase. We need to learn how to conserve our resources while carefully curating them at the same time. Please look into the organizations I’ve spoken about, write your congressmen and women and senators to ensure that they do not support fracking. And most of all, please do what you can yourselves to conserve water resources.