"Jill not Hill" as Congress recesses at mid-term

Patria's 50th Congress (2·L 2015-16) reached the midpoint of its term of office. As Congress adjourned for the summer recess until September 19, 2016 (3·L 2016-17), the traditional Annual Message to Congress was delivered. Although Patria does not endorse candidates in macro-national elections, the address includes an unofficial endorsement in the US presidential election. And it's not Hillary!

The following is the transcription of the Annual Message:

Om vighna nashinyai namah. Adorations to the Mother who destroys all obstacles.  As the Second Session of the 50^th Congress began, so it ends: with salutations and prostrations at the Divine Mother’s lotus feet. With Her blessings, the Fiftieth Congressus Patriaë has reached the midpoint of its term of office.

Over the course of the Second Session, as had been the intention on Inauguration Day two years ago, a more liberal Patria has taken root. A Patria that has let go of the “safe place for social conservatives”, “modest dress for women” and other tired, lame cliché slogans and is open, ready and willing to be completely restructured around the Positive Possibilities that were first elaborated by the Amrita Party, Chakra Party and others in 2010 and that took root in Canada during this session when the election of Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister swept away the dark ignorance of the Harper era. While on the topic of Positive Possibilities, it is worth noting that Parvati’s new song I am Light that debuted in March continues to sell well and gain radio airplay in Patria.

As per tradition, the final act of the session was the ratification vote of Patria’s fiscal 2017 budget. This budget, passed just minutes ago, contains funding for the usual social programs, from free lunches for grade school kids to subsidized tuition for university and college students, that economic and paleo-conservatives, National Unionists and US Republicans decry as “socialism” and “tax and spend” handouts. But even National Unionists travel by train and wish to do so safely; thus the budget also includes sufficient funding to maintain and upgrade Patria’s passenger rail infrastructure, including the installation of Positive Train Control on all trains – from lowly milk-runs to the superfast express trains that link Castoropolis with the precinct capitals. 

The budget also notes that the Reserve Bank of Patria will take appropriate measures if necessary to prop up the Patrienish Rupee, should the value of Patria’s currency be dragged down along with the British Pound Sterling following the decision in the United Kingdom yesterday to withdraw from the European Union. Patria, of course, did not endorse either the “Leave” or “Remain” side in the UK referendum, but does support the right to self-determination and independence of Scotland and Wales, as well as micronations within the United Kingdom such as Sealand. 

Patria generally does not endorse candidates or parties in foreign or macro-national elections. But over the course of the Second Session, as America votes in November and US citizens in Patria take the necessary steps to register and obtain absentee ballots, Patria has been enthusiastically and fervently supporting the campaign of Bernie Sanders for the Democratic Party’s nomination as the next President of the United States. Although the window of opportunity has virtually run out for the Senator from Vermont as Hillary Clinton has now clinched – or should we say rigged – the party’s nomination, Patria nonetheless unofficially endorses Mr. Sanders should he decide to run as an Independent or Third Party candidate. Failing the opportunity to “Feel the Bern”, Patria will unofficially endorse Jill Stein of the Green Party and the battle cry of “Jill not Hill!” (or hashtag #JillnotHill) will reverberate throughout the Inner Realm going forward into the Third Session.

Of course Patria strongly hopes to see a woman someday be elected President of the United States. Perhaps Elizabeth Warren in 2020. Or Tulsi Gabbard  in, say, 2032. But not Hillary Clinton in 2016. Over the course of the primaries and caucuses from New Hampshire in February until California early this month, we often heard that Ms. Clinton is more “experienced”, having served as a Senator and Secretary of State as well as First Lady. Indeed, she does have quite an impressive resumé. But in 1856, James Buchanan had also served as a Senator and Secretary of State, as well as United States ambassador to Russia, and turned out to be arguably the worst President ever, who did virtually nothing to prevent the impending Civil War. We heard that Ms. Clinton “got more done” during her tenure in the US Senate, when in fact she managed to pass only three inconsequential pieces of legislation, such as renaming a post office. Compare this with some of Bernie Sanders' accomplishments over more than two decades in Congress – from treating autism in the military to getting tough on child labor and exposing corruption in the military-industrial complex – which he achieved by building unusual but effective coalitions with Democrats and Republicans alike. We heard that Ms. Clinton is more “practical”, “pragmatic” and has “more realistic goals” than Mr. Sanders. But America and indeed the macro-world can do better in 2016 than baby-steps pragmatism and “incremental” change. Know this: no one has ever changed the world by being practical, sticking to realistic goals or maintaining the status quo. Such a world, where those in roles of leadership are unable or unwilling to create real change, would offer little more than a dull, beige existence. It would be a world where Mahatma Gandhi would have become a moderately successful trial lawyer, Nelson Mandela would have died in prison and Martin Luther King Jr. would have been preaching to the Ebenezer Baptist Church choir. Finally, we heard that in the upcoming election in November, we must hold our noses or put on blindfolds and vote for Ms. Clinton as she is the “lesser of two evils”. Not only is this an extremely tired, lame cliché (as everyone knows, the lesser of two evils is still evil), but Patria could make a good argument that Ms. Clinton is more evil than Donald Trump. Mr. Trump is simply a blustering, overweight buffoon, like the late former Mayor of Toronto Rob Ford, who would make America a laughing stock rather than great again. But at least Mr. Trump is not a tired old member of the status quo Republican establishment like Jeb Bush or Mitt Romney. Ms. Clinton is not only as establishment and status quo as it gets but is an amoral billionaire who can earn more money for a single dinner party or speaking engagement than Mr. Sanders earns in an entire year, a one-percent plutocrat and corporate shill whose principles are dictated by those to whom she is beholden: the Wall Street corporate suits and banksters, Big Oil, Big Pharma, the prison-industrial complex and the war machine of the military-industrial complex. Even one of the Koch Brothers has come out in favor of a second Clinton administration. Ms. Clinton claims to be “liberal” or “progressive” but supported Barry Goldwater in 1964 while Bernie Sanders was marching on the front lines of the civil rights movement. She has constantly flip-flopped on issues such as same-sex marriage and has done virtually nothing to advance the cause of true liberalism or progressive democratic socialism. She has never met a war she didn’t like and counts among her close friends and confidants the tired old Cold Warrior Henry Kissinger. If your loved ones who joined the military and deployed overseas have returned to America in body bags, with missing limbs, or a lifetime of battlefield trauma, you can blame her support of George W. Bush’s war in Iraq. If your job has disappeared, offshored to Mexico or China, and you are unable to find a meaningful job that offers even half the wages of your old one, you can blame her support of NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. If you have been needlessly incarcerated for a petty, non-violent crime – or even no crime at all – you can blame her support of the failed war on drugs and the private prison industry.

With the belief that America can and must do better than either Mr. Trump or Ms. Clinton, as Jim Rome’s Jungle Party Clones await Smack Off XXII on July 1, and as Patria says lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu in memory of those who passed away earlier this month – Muhammad Ali, Gordie Howe and the 49 lives brutally snuffed out in Orlando, Florida – let us wrap up the work of this session. Going forward into the second half of the 50^th Congress and towards Patria’s bicentennial celebrations in 2018 let us move beyond our preconceived notions and attachments and open to the wonders of life. Gone, gone, beyond in the words of the Buddhist Sutra: gate gate pāragate pārasamgate bodhi svāhā!

Om Sri Gurubhyo Namah. Hari Om.

Under the power vested in me by the Constitution of Patria, I declare closed the Second Session of the 50^th Congress, and call this Congress to re-assemble here on Monday, the 19^th of September 2016, to open the Third Session of the 50^th Congress.

Jill Stein - Patria's unofficial endorsement to succeed Barack Obama as US President.