Jeff and Rose Roby are long time activists. This and other writings can be found at Saint Petersburg Independents

In response to my last post, many people responded with one simple word, “Stein!”  But many others said, “Wait and see what happens at the convention.”  Maybe a lawsuit exposing Hillary’s voter fraud will turn the tide and the superdelegates will flip.  Maybe Hillary will get indicted.  Maybe Bernie has some secret master plan, and his endorsement of Hillary is just a clever ploy.

There are some facts that have to be faced:

• Hillary will be the Democratic nominee.
• Exposure of Hillary will not turn the tide.  She has been exposed so much and so thoroughly that the lines are drawn and the fix is in.
• There is no master plan for Bernie to seize the nomination.  The campaign delegates are not mindless minions, and cannot turn on a dime should the word be given (and it will not be given).
• Regardless of the law, write-in votes don’t get counted.  If you think voter fraud was bad during the primaries … my advice is to invest in trash can stock.

According to reports from delegates, the purpose of the “very special meeting with Bernie himself,” planned shortly before the convention commences on Monday, is to bring about “unity.”  The only unity this can be about — given all that has transpired in the last 2 weeks — is to bully the delegates so that, if they can’t enthusiastically embrace the Hillary nomination, then at least they’d keep their mouths shut.

The TPP will not be opposed.  The word “Occupation” regarding Palestine will not be spoken.  Given that Clinton’s own representatives on the Platform Committee unanimously voted down opposition to the TPP, it is clear that whatever language is added to the platform will not be honored as Hillary pursues her grand strategy of winning over “moderate” Republicans while counting on progressives to keep their mouths shut.

Already, Hillary has chosen Tim Kaine, you know, the anti-abortion, pro-bank TPP supporter, as her running mate, hoping that he can fill the shoes of Joe Lieberman.  Remember Lieberman, Al Gore’s right wing vice-presidential running mate, the man who did more than anyone to cost Al Gore the 2000 election?

The Hillary juggernaut must be resisted at every step.  We shall fight in the convention hall.  And as Churchill put it, “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”  Our time has come.  Bernie has had a gun at his head from the beginning.  He did what he had to do to get us to the dance.  Now it’s time for us to dance.  The word out is that we should vote our conscience.  That means now, that means “no matter what.”

Hillary supporters are now flooding the social media, calling us fascists if we do not support Hillary, and communists if we support Stein.  Their hysteria level is only a preview of what we can expect once Hillary’s nomination is a done deal.

We can (and should) focus on the down-ticket races.  But the only way to register a big, loud NO! to the steamroller heading our way is to vote for Jill Stein.  Her votes will be counted, they will have impact, and they will be remembered.  Even when Hillary staggers into the White House when it’s all over, those votes will be remembered.

And oh yeah, be there at the “March for our Lives” on Monday, joining with the poor and homeless of Philadelphia in the fight for all of our lives.

— Jeff Roby
July 22, 2016

References:

1-Cautionary Tales by Jeff Roby

2-Jeff Roby on Strategy and Tactics

3-Mass Consciousness and its disconnects by Jeff Roby

4-So You Say You Want a Political Revolution by Jeff Roby

5-An Interesting Conversation on the Way Forward by Rose Roby

6-On Becoming Dependent Upon Incarceration by Rose Roby

7-There are no "Safe Choices"! by Jeff Roby

8-On This Bloody Morning After...  by Jeff Roby