A tale of two mayors

Nothing Mitch said in this speech makes a lick of sense. It did repeat a lot of the creepily authoritarian newspeak he's made his trademark over the years. Nonsense phrases like "Radical center," and the "One Voice" thing abound. There's a Katrina^TM reference and accompanying boat metaphor that unwittingly endorses disaster capitalism as a governing model.  Most disturbingly, there is this "people over politics" assertion which itself negates the basic concept of democracy.  Democracy is people empowered by politics. In Mitch's model, a "leader" ignores the politics to make decisions for them. On whose authority and at whose behest, these leaders act, though, is unspoken. 

Anyway, we've heard all of this a thousand times from our mayor now and, as distressing as it is to consider how far it's gotten him, we're a little bored with it.  So, instead, go read this Democracy Now interview with Chokwe Lumumba. The segment begins with Lumumba's speech to the People's Summit in Chicago. There the newly elected mayor of Jackson Mississippi offers a refreshing contrast to Mitch's elitist anti-politics.  

And so, ultimately, it becomes greater than a question of color and more a question of ideas and what are the best ideas and what are the worst ideas. And what the worst ideas are, is that you can be oppressive to anyone. And so, we now demand—we now demand that our leadership looks at how we include the people’s voice in the process, and that we have a—we have two choices. We have a choice of economics by the people and for the people or economics by a few people for themselves. And so, we’re demanding, right now, right now, that we begin to rescue ourselves. Right now, as my comrade said, we have nothing to lose but our chains.