Patrick Walker 1/17/2015

...Today's Democratic Party faces an urgent crisis, one that simply can't be settled by compromising for sake of party unity. The plutocrats, militarists, and climate destroyers already own a party--the Republicans--and there's plenty of room for Hillary and her donors there. It's not merely as if Warren and Clinton are matter and anti-matter, incompatible to the point of mutual annihilation if confined to the same space; it's actually worse. If Hillary Clinton becomes president, plutocrats' agenda simply wins, for Clinton will have every means--not just distracting wars--for sabotaging Warren's program. For example, does anyone think for one second Clinton will actively stump for "Warren wing" Congressional candidates, providing the electoral coattails needed to enact Warren's populist agenda? Hillary's plutocrat donors would undoubtedly clamp shut their spigots of cash if she did. A Clinton presidency would likely mean a Congress dominated by Republicans and "Blue Dog" Democrats--the ideal monkey wrench for sabotaging Warren. Only Warren herself--or a Warren-wing candidate strongly endorsed by Warren--can produce populist electoral coattails, paving the way for Warren's urgent reforms.

Letting Clinton become president will be an unmitigated disaster for those policies. As the only progressive politician powerful enough to stop Hillary, Warren must be made to see that. A large minority of united activists from different causes--united in refusing categorically to vote for Clinton--can help Warren to see the folly of endorsing her saboteur, who, dancing on donors' puppeteer strings, can do nothing conceivable to gain our trust. The Pitchforks Against Plutocracy movement is now considering launching a massive pledge to vote against Hillary, even if that means abandoning Democrats and voting third party. To show your support for such a potential pledge, please like our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CitizensAgainstPlutocracy

Warren may fear appearing a political traitor by withdrawing her support for Clinton, and that may pose the chief obstacle to her candidacy. A forceful popular refusal to vote Democratic if Clinton's the nominee could force Warren to rush--from duty not rivalry--to her party's electoral rescue. If you'd love to see Warren run for president--or someone like Bernie Sanders run with her endorsement--we strongly urge you to like the Pitchforks Against Plutocracy page and prepare to sign our upcoming pledge against Clinton.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Can-t-Warren-Read-the-Dub-by-Patrick-Walker-Activists_Climate_Commander-in-chief_Congress-150117-411.html

Politico: The Pitchforks Are Coming… For Us Plutocrats
July 2014 Nick Hanauer

You probably don’t know me, but like you I am one of those .01%ers, a proud and unapologetic capitalist. I have founded, co-founded and funded more than 30 companies across a range of industries—from itsy-bitsy ones like the night club I started in my 20s to giant ones like Amazon.com, for which I was the first nonfamily investor. Then I founded aQuantive, an Internet advertising company that was sold to Microsoft in 2007 for $6.4 billion. In cash. My friends and I own a bank. I tell you all this to demonstrate that in many ways I’m no different from you. Like you, I have a broad perspective on business and capitalism. And also like you, I have been rewarded obscenely for my success, with a life that the other 99.99 percent of Americans can’t even imagine. Multiple homes, my own plane, etc., etc. You know what I’m talking about....



...But the problem isn’t that we have inequality. Some inequality is intrinsic to any high-functioning capitalist economy. The problem is that inequality is at historically high levels and getting worse every day. Our country is rapidly becoming less a capitalist society and more a feudal society. Unless our policies change dramatically, the middle class will disappear, and we will be back to late 18th-century France. Before the revolution.

And so I have a message for my fellow filthy rich, for all of us who live in our gated bubble worlds: Wake up, people. It won’t last.

If we don’t do something to fix the glaring inequities in this economy, the pitchforks are going to come for us. No society can sustain this kind of rising inequality. In fact, there is no example in human history where wealth accumulated like this and the pitchforks didn’t eventually come out. You show me a highly unequal society, and I will show you a police state. Or an uprising. There are no counterexamples. None. It’s not if, it’s when.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/the-pitchforks-are-coming-for-us-plutocrats-108014.html