Maybe the Carter Center Should Help the United States Set Up More Democratic Elections

Yeap

The title says it all. Look at Florida in the last two and the current Presidential elections. It is still a place for political manipulation of the voting count at both the primary and actual election levels.
Could the Carter Center help? I don't know what their policy is vis-a-vis the United States but I know their expertise is needed if we are to ever have credible elections in the United States, especially at the national level.

JIMMY DOES IT AGAIN AND SO DO THE IMPERIALIST OPINION WARDENS BUT MAINLY HIS VISIT WAS IGNORED

Now I don't want to go gah, gah about the Carters. Or maybe I do, but I won't really do it because they are only human and as a former U.S. President Mr. Carter has a lot of blood on his hands, as do all of us. He befriended and supported dictators like Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines and, of course, the Shah of Iran. Don't you remember borrowing Imelda's shoes, not all of them of course. See, you too are a bud of dictators. More seriously we pay taxes and otherwise make the empire work in our daily lives, so none of us are morally untainted by the crimes of the empire.

Of coure Mr. Jimmy invented "The Carter Doctrine" ie. the idea that the United States would use nuclear weapons to make the Gulf safe for oil traffic and such, if necessary. Well, if that hasn't scared you away I can go gah, gah. I believe he did propose a national energy policy which was shot down by the fossil fuel industry and their willing tools, "your" elected representatives. The United States still has no national energy plan or policy to speak of.

Mr. Jimmy Carter talked to the Hamas folks of Gaza and they had some interesting things to say and when he came back to the United States to tell us of the meeting he was immediately set upon by narrow minded conservatives of all kinds and quite a few right-wing liberals as well.
[What's a right-wing liberal? How about a blue dog democrat like Representative Moore?]

At first I heard that Hamas would recognize Israel at the 1967 borders which is certainly diplomatic boilerplate for the region by now. Then it was reported that Hamas would not recognize Israel but that they would agree to a ten year cease fire. That sounds like a way to get peace for ten years. Peace is habit forming. It worked in Ireland. Get a little peace going and people love it.

Headlines emphasized the lack of recognition, not the opportunity for peace. Ten years of peace could be a practical way to permanent peace. After decades of war why not go for some peace in Israel/Palestine? Somehow the United States politicians didn't leap on the opportunity for peace. They seem to prefer endless war are willing to subsidize the Israeli military ad infinitum. Isn't that almost four billion dollars a year? For war, not peace. What if we spent two billion dollars a year to make peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians work?

Yeah, two billions for peace, for the peace plan and not just a policy of screwing the Palestinians again, and again and again. That would be very helpful and do not send the money through Israel because that would constitute some sort of colonial control by Israel.

A billion could be diverted from Egyptian military aid or maybe two billion for the same purpose with the Gaza/Egyptian area. Billions for peace. Billions for greener energy and more cooperative energy and water policies.

Weapons and warfare tend to create as many problems as they solve. We can end this cycle of violence or be complicit in it. We need a just peace, all of us.

I don't recall Obama, Wright or McCain saying anything about embracing this opportunity for peace. Even Jimmy Carter had little success in making the Palestinians visible as the United States was subjected to corporate propaganda campaigns about other matters. The ghettoization of Gaza remains unreported and is a matter of little concern for American politicians or the American people.

Still, with a little work the comments of Jimmy Carter can be found and read if the citizen researcher is able to do that work. I have found one very interesting fact, given the fact that we still are being told here in the United States that to negotiate or talke to Hamas is unthinkable.
What is that fact? It is s simple one, one that the right-wing nuts of the United States don't want us to know. About two thirds of the Israelis, yes the Israelis, want Israel to negotiate with Hamas.

Two-thirds, a decisive majority of Israelis, want their own government to do what is supposedly unthinkable in the United States. It isn't the Israelis who are being so narrow minded, so unrealistic, so dedicated to continuing war and injustice. It is some of these Ameicans who don't want negotiations to they trash President Carter because he knows things like the fact that two-thirds of all Israelis want negotiations.

What is wrong with us here in the states that we don't want to negotiate? Part of the problem is that there is an effort to discredit anyone with any accurate information from Israel or Palestine, even if they are a former President of the empire and a Nobel Laureate. Jimmy Carter and Rosalyn Carter have a lot of guts and those criticizing them should be ashamed of themselves and take a little gut check themselves.

Carter's trip was all about talking to people, especially seeing to it that adversaries can communicate effectively. The current American obsession with military technology and military force is tragic. Peace does not come out of the barrel of a gun. Nope, dope!

Nobel laureate Carter and his wife have done more good in this world than anyone can imagine. Although I hope to imagine it one day, which will take a heck of a lot of research. They have played a crucial role in facilitating peaceful outcomes in difficult parts of the world.

Why doesn't the United States government want peace? I hope that the next President will choose to follow a path to justice rather than continuing a perpetual war which is now a principal injustice itself.

Of course the Palestinian right to return cannot be waived because it is a fundamental human right, the right to return to one's country.