Notice that I haven’t said I’m going to work on the Kerry campaign. I’m not a big fan of John Kerry, or the Democratic Party for that matter. I wanted to be in Boston in July to protest the Democratic National Convention, where war-mongering speeches drowned out the few voices of dissent allowed inside (the Mainers for Kucinich, for example), and a massive police presence squelched protests outside. I disagree with Kerry’s stance on the war in Iraq (he voted to give Bush the authority to wage war, and he now wants to “win� an unjust war), the so-called war on terrorism (he doesn’t address the root causes of terrorism, instead spouting violent rhetoric about “rooting out� and “destroying� the “enemy�), and military aid to Israel (he does not oppose the Apartheid Wall and ongoing oppression of Palestinians). I wish I could vote for a candidate I feel good about, and I firmly believe in the importance of breaking out of a two-party system controlled by corporate interests (yes, I voted for Nader in 2000). But this time around, there is too much to lose. Yes, I have joined the “anybody but Bush� campaign.

Miami Journal [ Why I'm going to Florida (10/30/04) I Touchdown (10/30/04) I One City, Many Worlds (10/31/04) I Mounting Frustration (11/1/04) I Why the long face? (11/3/04) ]

see related: Florida's Palm Beach County Bracing for the Electoral Storm

There is a big problem.

Millions of people are looking at the U.S. presidential election as a crucial turning point in world events. And at the same time the workings of this system have worked coldly to stifle their voices and choices.

As Bob Avakian, the leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party, says in the online talk Elections: Democracy and Dictatorship, Resistance and Revolution: "Many people want this election to be a referendum about the Bush program and in particular the whole war program, the whole juggernaut of war and repression, this rolling monster that’s unfolding. Well, this election, as [the media and politicians] are telling us, will be a referendum on war, but not in the way we might like and many people who want to vote for Kerry would wish. It is, as they are saying explicitly, going to be a referendum on who could be the best commander in chief