Individual politicians come and go, but political symbols endure. The Democratic Party’s symbol, the donkey, is generations old. Still, the depiction of that symbol has become more refined over time.

Originally, the Democratic donkey was sketched in pen and ink, with gritty lines. That rough image was still evident in 2004, when Irregular Goods came out with this first Democratic Party campaign button – for a “kick ass Democrat” donkey that reared up on its hind legs. The donkey was still hand drawn, integrated with some basic computer-generated shapes.

Now, in 2012, the same political button designer has created a new version of the Democratic Party donkey.

This donkey has more vivid colors and lines, in the style of an ink drawing, but assisted by digital sharpening that create a striking illustration. The lines of the donkey have also become more realistic, depicting a more muscular action in a donkey kicking backwards, symbolically reacting against the sea of Republican red that surrounds it. Gone are the soft, naturalistic brown colors and the soft, friendly lines. This new Democratic Party political button is for Democrats seeking vigorous action.

That doesn’t make Barack Obama a political devil, though.

Too many people, on the Left and the Right, are indulging in absolutist visions of what they want to see in the White House, allowing for no deviation from their One True Path. That’s just not how real politics works.

On the whole, Barack Obama is a more progressive choice than Mitt Romney, and so on the whole, that makes him a candidate worth voting for.

No judgment against people who choose another candidate who’s more liberal. That’s fine, too. But, for Americans who are looking for a down to earth leader, Barack Obama seems like a reasonable choice as well. This Obama political button, featuring a down to earth design, is for down to earth progressives who recognize that an election is about limited choices, and voting for the best realistic candidate, not for perfection.

We don’t need to elect a messiah – just a solid executive leader.

Rocky Anderson has joined the pro-corporate political party Americans Elect. Americans Elect was set up and gained ballot access using the profits from Wall Street hedge funds. Americans Elect is controlled by the very corporate elites and political insiders that Rocky Anderson said he was campaigning against.

To say that Rocky Anderson has lost his credibility with voters is an understatement.

“Rocky Anderson promised that he would fight against corporate influence over politics, but now he’s actually helping to make it become even worse than it already is,” writes one voter.

This weekend saw the establishment of a Facebook page of upset former supporters of Rocky Anderson is urging voters to shift their allegiance to Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, who has been able to gain ballot access without resorting to the corporate assistance that Rocky Anderson now enthusiastically embraces.

That seems like a good way to go to me. Stein for President 2012!

Oh, we get it, Mr. Christie. You’re an important man. Other people should bow to your authority, because you matter, and we don’t. We’re just the little people, and should shut up and listen to your majestic wisdom…

No, I don’t think that the citizens of New Jersey are willing to put up with such an arrogant attitude.

What a creep. Chris Christie is too rude and crude to be Governor.

A majority of the American people support marriage equality, but guess what? Barack Obama doesn’t. Obama is too cowardly to come out and join the movement for equality.

Fine. If Obama wants to be that way, let him lose the votes of LGBT Americans. Let him lose the votes of sincere heterosexual allies as well. There are alternatives to Obama.

There’s Rocky Anderson, the Justice Party presidential candidate. Anderson says, of his commitment to full equality for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender Americans, “I’ve been proud to consistently support full marriage equality. When I ran for Congress in 1996, I unequivocally advocated for marriage equality – and opposed the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which was signed into law by President Clinton. As Mayor of SLC, I signed an Executive Order prohibiting discrimination in hiring on account of sexual orientation, I was Grand Marshal in the Gay Pride Parade, and I flew the rainbow flag over the City & County Building on Pride Day. I received recognition by HRC as one of the top ten straight advocates for the GLBT community.”

Then there’s Jill Stein who is running for President with the Green Party. Stein issued a statement celebrating Washington’s emergence into equality yesterday, stating, “Now that seven states will have stopped discrimination against same-sex couples, it’s clear that equal marriage rights are here to stay. But it’s simply not acceptable that those married in one state are denied respect and equality when they cross state lines. We’ve been here before in the case of interracial marriages, and we decided the issue in favor of universal recognition of marriages regardless of where they were performed. We need to do the same with same-sex marriages.”

Both Jill Stein and Rocky Anderson are solid, genuine progressive presidential candidates who support marriage equality for LGBT Americans. Barack Obama isn’t. If you believe in an America free of anti-gay bigotry, choose to support Jill Stein or Rocky Anderson – or support them both. Wear a Rocky Anderson button or a Jill Stein button with pride.

Obama isn’t a viable choice

None of this stopped the Wall Street Journal from accepting this editorial, even though its suggestion is contrary to the conclusions arrived at through massive amounts of actual scientific research. The Wall Street Journal is politically aligned with Wall Street, and Wall Street finds the idea of confronting global warming to be too unprofitable to contemplate.

In a matter as important as global climate change, the consequences of failing to act are too serious to allow ourselves to be dictated to by politically-motivated publications such as the Wall Street Journal. We need to be brave enough to look at the facts, and act accordingly.

The impact of global warming is getting more costly every year. The expense of inaction is compounding. We need toput politics aside. Global warming is for real.

9. Only the icy cold heart of Newt Gingrich can defeat global warming.

8. Doesn’t Gingrich deserve the chance to add just one more incident to his astonishing record of ethics violations?

7. Gingrich promises a two-for-one offer on removal of the communists hiding under your family’s bed.

6. It’s okay to eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency, because, really, who needs protection from the environment?

5. Only a historian like Gingrich can understand how, when the Founding Fathers forbade an religious test for public office and prohibited Congress from taking any action to establish religion, what they really meant is that church and state should be mixed together.

4. A permanent moon base could mean more Tang for everyone

3. We can’t allow the USA to be a food stamp nation any longer, because things get really messy when we make food out of stamps.

2. If we help Newt feel patriotic enough, he’ll get a new girlfriend.

1. Once Newt Gingrich gets elected, he’ll finally have a job, and can take a bath.

You probably haven’t seen anything about the Darcy Richardson for President campaign on TV, or on the radio. That’s because Darcy Richardson defies the standard narrative about the Democratic presidential contest in 2012: That Barack Obama doesn’t have any challengers from within his own party.

Darcy Richardson is a veteran progressive activist who is seeking to give liberal Democrats an alternative to voting for Barack Obama, who has adopted a series of right wing policies alarmingly similar to the agenda advanced by George W. Bush. Richardson is already on the ballot for the Democratic primary in several states.

If you’re one of the many Democrats disappointed by Barack Obama’s support for Republican ideology, show your support for a progressive alternative. Wear this Darcy Richardson for President political pin to start a conversation among the Democrats you know, and remind people that the Democratic presidential primary contest of 2012 is anything but over.

Tonight Americans will see the results of the 2012 New Hampshire Republican presidential primary, and those results will probably show Mitt Romney widening his lead in the contest for the GOP nomination… but only because Romney’s competitors have been stumbling, drooling, frightening shadows of what fully alive presidential candidates should be.

Mitt Romney hasn’t come out of the Republican contest looking very well himself. Romney is past the end of a viable political career, repeating the same old slogans and ideas that he heard way back in the last century, when he was young. Mitt Romney is so out of touch with the lives of Americans today, it’s almost as if he’s the walking dead.

If we’re going to have someone who’s like a walking dead candidate for President, why not vote for the real thing instead? If Republican voters want to elect the undead into the White House, they can go all the way, and support Mitt Zombie for Lord of the Underworld instead.

Rick Santorum has openly advocated for the replacement of open democracy in the United States with a Christian theocracy. Just a few months ago, Santorum said that Americans must all follow Christian religious law. He wants American federal laws to be forced to comply to harsh Christian sharia laws because “as long as there is a discordance between the two, there will be agitation”.

The Secular Coalition for America explains, “Mr. Santorum has supported giving government money to religious schools that discriminate based on religion through the use of voucher funds. Santorum has gone even further and seeks to bring fundamentalist doctrine into public schools. In fact he was such an enthusiast, that the Santorum amendment was named for him. This amendment proposed the teaching of intelligent design while questioning the academic standing of evolution in U.S. public schools.”

Rick Santorum’s push to reduce all of America to only one religious point of view comes as religious diversity is increasing in the U.S.A. Christianity in America is becoming less popular, and other options, religious and non-religious, are expanding.

It’s time for secular Americans to stand together, and express a clear rejection for the politics of religious repression that Rick Santorum supports. Wear this made-in-the-USA tshirt to have your say, and to demonstrate that you are one of the many members of Secular Americans Against Rick Santorum.