Stunned by Lack of Outrage, Not Outrageous Acts
I continue to be stunned.
Not by Bush any longer. There was a time when I was stunned by nearly everything he did. Or said. Who wouldn’t be stunned by a president who could say, “They misunderestimated me,” and sincerely believe he’s on top of things?
Nor by Cheney. His pure evil no longer surprises me, although there was a time when he routinely stunned me. Torture? Torture??
Not by Congress, either. There was a time when I was stunned by that crowd’s sheeplike mentality. I’d hear them decry the war, decry torture, decry Bush’s growing deficit, then I’d drop my jaw as they voted time and again to give the president carte blanche.
No longer. I fully expect Congress to disappoint, to fail to do its job in balancing the White House power grab.
I’m no longer stunned by the politicized courts nor by the media, which is unwilling to offend and uses vague, watered-down language instead of strong condemnations of this, the worst presidency in history.
So who continues to stun me?
I will tell you. I am stunned by all that is left of America: Americans.
I am stunned by the public’s lack of outrage over all this presidency has done to ravage our nation. Where is the outrage over this war-without-end? Over waterboarding? Over our dead and maimed soldiers?
I am stunned that Americans aren’t writing angry letters to the editor about the Iran rhetoric, this carbon copy of lies that led up to Bush’s invasion of Iraq.
I am stunned that Americans didn’t take to the streets with placards condemning Bush for vetoing a bill that would have ensured health care for children.
I am stunned that Americans aren’t rioting over federal money that has helped only the rich in New Orleans rebuild while the poor still live homeless.
I am stunned that Americans aren’t storming the White House as Bush accuses the Democrats of irresponsible spending on domestic programs even as he destroys the economy with his war and his deficit.
I am stunned that Americans haven’t marched on Washington over the rising unemployment rate, over corporate greed that is causing millions to lose their homes, over our rotting infrastructure.
People on the margins are already making hard choices. I know a young woman who wanted to drive to Vermont to be with her family for Thanksgiving but couldn’t afford to put that much gas in her car.
The middle class should take note. People are wandering the mall charging Christmas presents, but that bill comes due in January when the price of oil will be more than $100 a barrel and gasoline will cost $4 a gallon at the pump. Where is the outrage?
I am stunned by people in Monroe who want to take away a veteran’s rights to free speech when he paints angry signs about Bush on his van.
I am stunned by those same people who want to shut me up, shout me down, spew viciousness into my telephone because I exercise my own right to speak. They are so confused, these people who believe in free speech until someone says something they disagree with.
I am stunned by those who say, “He’s our president, so he deserves our respect.” No he doesn’t. He deserves our fury for bringing shame to the presidency and embarrassment to Americans around the world.
Sometimes, those of us who continue to be outraged by this administration sound like a broken record, even to our own ears.
We keep singing the same tune while our critics say enough is enough.
But that the same old tune has to be sung as long as Bush continues to wage the same old war against America’s poor and shrinking middle class.
We have to keep singing. I have to keep singing.
But what I’d like to know is, where is the chorus?
There are 421 days ’til Jan. 20, 2009.
Copyright 2007 The Times Herald-Record
Americans ARE stunned.
Stunned by supersized coronary-burgers and American Idol competitions and Surreal Life reruns…
unfortunately, the land of “independence” and “individualism” and “everyone being left to fend for themselves” and “only the strong will survive” and “screw you, I got mine” , has quite natually led to a herd mentality that has the individuals keeping their heads down and trying to belnd in while the wolves tear at the weaker sick and wounded animals at the fringes of the pack, hoping they can themselves can survive to chew their cuds a few more precious days.
pitiful really,
In a democracy, to some extent, the leaders represent the people. It was truly amazing that Bush was even allowed to run for president. I mean, it was pretty amazing he could be governor of anything, but Texas is a hotbed for violent mediocrity. After my own state of California elected the likes of sonambulist Ronald Reagan, who am I to judge. So, Bush kind of won once. They had to cheat, but the fact that this moron got any votes is amazing. Then, as Bush himself tried to say, “You fool me once, it’s your fault; you fool me twice it’s mine.” Just the fact that his incompetent, brain damaged mouthpiece couldn’t even get the old adage right, makes it all the more amazing he was elected twice. Who could possibly ever vote Republican? Who can take these people seriously? I guess all those morons who sit around watching football and American Idol.
I so, so agree with Beth Quinn! But - and there’s always a but - do all your letters get printed? No. Does the media seem to care what we have to say? No. Who exactly is listening? Certainly our administration is not, neither is the congress. What to do?
PLEASE GET OUT THERE AND VOTE - AT THE VERY LEAST IT IS YOUR DUTY TO DO SO!
I am angry and outraged. And where is the outlet? Does writing letters to the editor of a newspaper really count for anything when that paper is owned by a corporation friendly to the administration? Does going out in the streets with picket signs accomplish anything when such gatherings are ignored by the mainstream media and the White House? Does pointing out all our problems appear to have any effect on a people more concerned about their credit ratings and mortgage payments than their country’s slide into tyranny?
I’m in the chorus, believe me, but it feels like all I can do is keep on singing in hopes that someone will hear the tune and come up with a new verse for the song.
Well, I respect and share your outrage, but I am not stunned that ordinary Americans (an ignoble majority of them, about the same proportion as ignoble Brits probably, not the honorable minority) are carefully turning blind eyes. They voted in this criminal admininstration (or rather voted in large enough numbers for the declared result to be faintly plausible). What’s more their responses in polls and focus groups have moulded the Democrat candidates’ platforms. Are Clinton, Obama etc decrying the bloodcurdling threats being issued against Iran? No they are not: they are repeating them. Do they have the guts to take the lead against guns and the death penalty. Not blooming likely. Because they are still hearing cries for death and vengeance from too many “centrist” Americans, though exactly how such positions got to be labelled “moderate” is something that does stun me.
Canuckchuck is right , the American people are stunned. Stunned and confused by 9-11 and the continual terrorism talk, stunned and confused by wacko religious prattle of all kinds, stunned and confused by our fast changing society, stunned and confused by trying to make ends meet due to overspending or loss of jobs and income, stunned and confused by an administration that has wrecked our country in a few short years, and are incapable of making rational decisions of what course to take.
I am also stunned. I have written my “representative” in House numerous times. I’ve written Conyers and Pelosi. And guess what? Nothing happens. I get (at least from my Representative) some insipid pablum, but also telling me he isn’t going to do anything substantial about it.
JaneM wrote:PLEASE GET OUT THERE AND VOTE - AT THE VERY LEAST IT IS YOUR DUTY TO DO SO
I have to ask. Vote for who? If you think the Democratic Party is going to save us, you have another thing coming. Hillary Warbucks won’t deviate in substance from the policies of the Bush Administation. The corporate backers of the Democratic Party won’t ever allow Dennis Kucinich to be the Party’s candidate.
Vote for who? Ballot access laws in my state (which are some of the most restrictive in the nation) will not allow other party choices like a socialist party or the Greens on the ballot.
Please get this: America is *NOT* a
democracy. If you want significant political change, voting won’t get it for you. We must be willing to get out into the streets en masse and force change.
“I am stunned by all that is left of America: Americans.”
…
Many say that Americans care, but are frustrated by the overwhelming hubris or arrogance of the men in charge. I say: Americans don’t know how to care. We are a little self-absorbed and glassy-eyed in the face of power or celebrity.
Others say it will all right itself with the 2008 election, just wait, only 400-some-odd days remain. I say: the wrong done in our name will endure, become institutionalized, and used by whichever presidential successor is put in office.
Friends on the right say the strangest things: we’re empire, Bush is a great man, liberals are by nature traitorous. I say: When did we stop thinking clearly?
Friends on the left (still shocked by the audacity of the ruling members) say that nullification of the Bush years should be pledge #1, a woman or person of color will correct things, decency will return and prevail. I say: There is no left or right — there is only each one of us, lost and confused at the mercurial imbalance so rife in the world, the nation, and ourselves.
The fault, if that’s what it is, resides in the inability of the mind to see through dualistic, linear, hierarchic thinking — and the unwillingness to see each thing and each person exactly as (he,she,it) is.
Lets take a break from the idiotic secrecy and camouflage of modern cultural and political life. Lets propose a moratorium on superficial judgment, hatred, and condemnation.
Maybe we could try being human. Not the falsely human — plagued by notions of sin, unworthiness, and guilt. But the truly human — buoyed by truth and love — full of wit, wisdom, and compassion.
Let’s stop singing for a while.
Keep silence.
Take a good, long, deep look at who and what we are.
I’m old enough to have begun experiencing “senior moments”, but I recall that bush has not won a National election. The GOP-Supreme Court felt shrub’s ego would suffer if he wasn’t allowed to be president.
And didn’t Kerry win the popular vote in Ohio??
In this dictatorship, voting has been shown to be ineffective.
Thank you Beth Quinn for finally pinning the tail on the donkey. I’ve felt this way for a while, having run out of others to put the blame on. In the final analysis, we are the common denominator.
“In a democracy, to some extent, the leaders represent the people.”
Well, see, this is part of the problem. We, the rightful owners in a democracy, have allowed others to frame the situation completely backwards. The “leaders” don’t represent us, our “representatives” represent us. WE, are the leaders! The reason that we don’t have a democracy is because we swallowed the myth that THEY are the leaders. In this way, as the author of this piece shows, we have given up on ourselves.
“I so, so agree with Beth Quinn! But - and there’s always a but - do all your letters get printed?”
Many do get printed and they absolutely do have an effect. I’ve written many letters to local papers and I’d guess that 95 percent have been printed. I’ve also had several people tell me that my letters have made a difference in their lives.
Folks, we either do or we don’t, act or remain silent, walk or talk - it’s that simple. Stop equivocating.
We live in such a country because most of us came to accept an ideology which believes fervently in “invisible hands of the marketplace” and other such fetishes around production, growth and technology. From such logic, it is only a short step to “work makes you free”, the inscription over the gate at Auschwitz. Work and production only make us free when there is a concrete sense of where such production decisions are headed. Without careful planning, we get the kind of culture we have, i.e, one which wants to do “something” about global warming, but with strategies which are “fiscally sound”. and if history teaches us anything, it’s that life is anything but cost effective.
From a glib notion about how best to nurture the planet, it is only a short step to the idea that there are only a few really worthy of living here. And those worthy are people who habitually vote for sadists like Giuliani, or shameless corporate shills like Clinton. The former camp are the “right”, the latter, the “progressive democrats”. Each are rightly and progressively getting ready to dump the vast majority of people on this planet into a global abbatoir, the current rationalized mayhem in Iraq and New Orleans being the clearest evidence of that little reality.
It’s here we make our stand. If we don’t, we will be begging for the bombs. But as the lady said, it’s better to die on our feet than live on our knees.
I am not stunned.
“We’re number one, We’re number one, nyah nyah, nyah nyah.” Yeah right, “we were number one”.
Most of my fellow Canadians seem to be walking the same path as so many stunned Americans.
Is it for the same reason that so many Germans were stunned in the 1930’s and 1940’s?
It the same stunned appearance that your average Brit displays.
Does it have anything to do with base triumphalism, which is peaking even as the societies of these countries sink into bleak totalitarianism?
As my parents and their generation defeated the Nazi menace in Germany the Bush family and it’s minions spirited that same malevolent meme and transplanted it to USA soil where it has thrived and grown strong roots. It’s ugly head now rises once again, a target for the blade of a hero.
The nation of stun guns and 9 passenger SUV’s, on the road with one peron at the wheel, won’t come to its own rescue until there is lack.
Lack of cheap goods, lack of cheap gas (maybe that will be the first shot heard), lack of moral indignation.
We lack the capacity to be empathetic any longer.
I give us about a year before there is any action. We are just too comfortable.
(Yawn!) been away a while… WHAT?!!!
You’ve still got these same evil bastards running your country?!
WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ALL OF YOU?!!! WHY ARE THEY STILL BREATHING?!!!
“I give us about a year before there is any action. We are just too comfortable.”
Sorry, jjpeter, but that’s just a cop out, an excuse for YOU not to do something. Been there, done that - it don’t work.
The lack of consumption does get their attention. Have you stopped buying everything except necessities. This is a corporate state and you MUST vote with your dollars. Wear old stuff and make old things last. When necessary buy used or repair broken things with used parts. Take your available cash out of the Banks, they are a big part of the problem. This is a simple way that everyone can protest where they live. Just spread the word and start the downhill snowball. Absolutely buy nothing for Christmas except for children and then keep it moderate. If you can’t do that then you are just windbags.
WHITE ROSE; I’ve been saying the same thing for years and too many people still don’t get it. I used to write, send e-mails and call Boxer and Feinstein’s offices and others in Congress, but they don’t represent us at all. It will take ‘getting out in the streets, or better yet, staying home as a form of the ‘NATIONWIDE GENERAL STRIKE’ that is long overdue. Look how they were lining up at the mall last week on “Black Friday’, like trained circus animals.
As for the Democrats, they are almost as corrupt as the republicans.
When this administration made a mockery of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, I guessed wrong when I anticipated black Americans rising up in anger as they did during the civil rights movement in the 50’s and 60’s, but when looking at the total picture, one can see how jaded we’ve become as a nation.
Anybody who still thinks we have a representative government needs to take a history class or two.
Vote for whom,Jane M?
Look, more people voted for American Idol than voted for President. That should tell you a lot of where Americans priorities lie. Now that they’ve got 200 channel satellite TV’s with 24 hour football or 24 hour mindless movies or whatever, they’re more reluctant to move their ever fattening butts off of their comfortable sofas and give a s*** about what’s going on with their country.
In addition to their flat screen, 200 channel satellite TV’s, Americans have iPod’s, cell phones, BlackBerries and mammoth Hummer H2’s to keep them comfortably numb. Ever hear the Pink Floyd song about that very thing? That was years ago and yet it was very prescient. I think that people stopped caring years ago and decided just to distract themselves with as many gadgets, gewgaws and other things as possible. Go to any store this time of year and watch people snapping up all that crap and you can easily see where people’s heads are these days. Comfortably up their collective backsides.
Remember, after 9/11, Bush told us all to go to the mall and “shop till we drop”. I think that people are just so weary of so much bad news that they’re doing anything possible to distract themselves from it instead of taking to the streets and demanding some action. They’ve seen our frustrated efforts at trying to do things and seen that they were largely ineffective, so they’ve sunk into a state of comfortable numbness and disappeared behind their flat screen TV’s in an effort to turn off their brains and become mind-numbed zombies who don’t care and don’t want to care. And nothing’s going to pry their obese behinds off of the sofa to get them to experience a bit of discomfort and go march for the restoration of the country.
So it’s up to the rest of us who still care to do something. Yes, we’ve written letters to the editors of our newspapers, yes, we’ve all called our legislators offices to express our opinions, yes, we’ve stuffed busses to attend marches in Washington and New York and other places, sacrificing sleep and decent meals along the way, yes, we’ve held local protests in our hometowns holding placards demanding TROOPS HOME NOW and other sentiments, and no, it hasn’t accomplished SQUAT but emboldened this administration to hunker down even more in their bunker mentality and engage in even more outrageous mendacity and criminal behavior.
But imagine a million angry citizens descending on Washington demanding our country back. A million. Not 8 or 10 thousand, a million. Look what Martin Luther King, Jr. and others accomplished by the March on Washington in the steamy summer of 1963. That was an historic moment. Now we have the power of the Internet to rapidly mobilise and organise. Sure, it’s going to take a lot of (expensive) gas to get us all to Washington, but if we manage to accomplish bringing a million angry citizens to ask for a redress of grievances from our government (a very polite way of saying, IMPEACH!!!), I don’t see how they could possibly ignore us.
That would send a POWERFUL message to America and Americans that, “WE’RE MAD AS HELL AND WE’RE NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!” Think of how many people have lost homes to foreclosure, jobs to China and India, children to inner city violence, loved ones from failed infrastructure, loved ones from lack of access to affordable health care, loved ones from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan….the list goes on and on, and from these, I’ll bet it’d be easy to gather up a million angry people who want justice and are willing to do something about it.
Million Patriot March. Let’s do it.
What stuns me is how readily Americans choose to accentuate the tradedy of their own dead while margalising or failing to even note deaths many more numerous than those suffered by Americans.
“Where is the outrage over this war-without-end? Over waterboarding? Over our dead and maimed soldiers?”
How about the outrage over not the rape and torture of individuals but the rape of entire nations. Every American who cries for their own dead, but not the Iraqi dead, is at core racist, self centred and ignorant. Even when American’s lament, they lament only for their own misfortunes. This our side - their side division, as to what is to be lamented and what is to be dismissed or cast away as worthless is of course a facet of American history so deeply ingrained that it perhaps goes unnoticed, by those that are American.. that the hero is the small American cavalry, and that the murdered Indians in their thousands are mere props, designed to flesh out the otherwise dull story. Ultimately America’s curse, is in thinking that America and Americans matter and all others do not. There is only us - all of us.
Please re-read the above article and ask yourselves.. how often is the “Me” word the focus of it, and how often the “You” word.
Well, people are outraged–but there is little representation of the people’s voice. Look at the candidates elevated for our consumption–they are furthest away from what even the polls can’t hide, but they are spun as the “most electible”. Then look at the scorn and disdain encouraged for those who do speak out from Move-On to Cindy Sheehan. Look at how they frame Ralph Nader–who as an individual has represented the people’s interests more than any other public figure–yet he is roundly condemned and attacked.
The over-riding message is to not be angry–be civil and sit down and shut up or you will be arrested, ostricized and tasered.
HOW ABOUT SOME REVOLVING TV ZAP-OUTS? THEY MIGHT GET THE ATTENTION OF THE CORPORATE GIANTS. ALONG WITH BOYCOTTING WHAT THEY’RE ADVERTISING.
I’d modify Beth Quinn’s comment to say “I’m stunned by the ineffective fury of all that’s to the left of Washington’s current leadership: Americans.”
There’s no shortage of outrage in my midwest neighborhood, only a shortage of persons in positions of political power in the nation’s capital who are willing to call military aggression military aggression, torture torture, racism racism, greed greed, and empire empire.
As long as the elites believe they can baffle us common folk with bullshit, and mass market fascism by using euphemism and false choices, it’s small wonder more and more good people choose to call themselves independents rather than Republican or Democratic.
Bill from Saginaw
Beth Quinn,
Thank you very much for your passionate article. I also am stunned not by the criminals in charge, but by the vast majority of people who willingly allow them to be criminals.
I have thought long and hard about this problem in this last chapter of my life and I have come to the following conclusion. Nothing will change under the current system for the simple reason that the system allows it. Below I describe a number of changes that I feel would help America evolve into a truly free country with good social principles:
1. The executive branch of our government must be completely eliminated. I honestly believe that in the entire history of our country the executive branch has done 99.9999999 percent damage over only .0000001 percent good. (I hope I counted my zeros correctly) Every person would vote for their congressman to represent them, and no one else. Yup, no need for the senate either.
2. A strict enforcement must be imposed on trade. No manufacturing or service may be permitted abroad unless it is proved beyond any doubt that it cannot be performed domestically, even if there are insufficient workers to accomplish the task. Any work that cannot be done for lack of workers must wait - no exceptions. This would include the manufacturing of automobiles (good-bye Toyota) and electronic goods like TVs and VCRs. This will cause certain goods to rise very much in price, perhaps as much as 1000 times, but that penalty should be accepted.
3. A limit must be made on maximum earnings and assets. No person should be allowed to earn more than 100 times the minimum wage and no person should be allowed to own more than a certain reasonable amount of assets. Something like 100 million dollars worth of assets sounds fine to me. All assets over and above that amount must be turned over to the treasury.
4. Income tax must be completely eliminated, except for non-citizens working in America who must pay a very stiff income tax. All treasury earnings come from non-citizen workers, corporate profits and excess earnings and assets of the rich.
5. Every person should be required by law to vote.
6. Political parties must be outlawed. Political parties are nothing more than formal institutions created for the purpose of colluding for personal profit at the expense of the general population. As stated above, people should vote only for their local congressman who represents them in Washington. All foreign policies must be decided by congress, which is the only ultimate authority of the country both domestically and abroad. No other concentration of authority or power is permitted. All foreign countries desiring to formulate policies with the United States must do so by applying to congress.
7. All political campaigns must be paid for with public funds. Severe penalties, preferably death, must be imposed on politicians for accepting private funding or using their own assets for political campaigns.
8. All people must perform 5 years in the military service.
9. No military person of any kind may be permitted to travel outside the United States. That’s right. All international military activity would be illegal.
10. All health care and public education to be provided by branches of the military.
11. All police and public safety services to be provided by branches of the military.
12. All energy distribution (oil, gas, and electricity) must be nationalized and provided by branches of the military.
There. I’ve said my bit. Now I can die in peace leaving all you people to argue over it. Come on, isn’t at least one of my ideas good? Remember, I’ll be looking at you from the afterlife. I’ll know if you fail in your task of once and for all making America the country it was always supposed to be, free and fare for all citizens.
I am not stunned. Americans are a cowed and frightened population. Not just frightened of the drumbed-up terrorist scare, but more importantly by the melting of their old world they see around them on every front.
I have seen this before in China and, mutatis mutandis, it amounts to the same thing here in the previously Good ‘Ole USA.
I can only judge “American’s”, other than the ones who post on CD, by my three older children who live in the States. They never talk about politics unless it’s to complain about the shallow hot-button issues like immigration which is a code-word for brown people coming across the border or welfare queens. They never discuss Iraq and know only what is on the MSM about Iran. No, they talk about wine, new cars, boats and TVs. They have never heard of Seymour Hearsh and, in general don’t read. They were not raised in a home that encouraged conservative ideas or anti-intellectualism so I am stunned.
WhiteRose: “The corporate backers of the Democratic Party won’t ever allow Dennis Kucinich to be the Party’s candidate.”
Maybe so, maybe not. BUT what I DO KNOW is that if this man is NOT supported by Progressives, NOT voted for in Caucuses and primaries, and NOT given financial suport to contiinue to fight the good fight ( http://www.december152007.com/ ) FOR “WE THE PEOPLE” then we have NO CHANCE to turn this fucked-up country around. NONE!
I say that because I read about all the “taking it to the streets” posts above and get a sick feeling in my gut because–reality check– it just ain’t gonna happen! The human species in the U.S. of A is too “dumbed down” and “fear based” to ever, EVER group together for a cause that might just be critical of the established, unspoken rule of obedience no matter what. (Remember the “My Country right or wrong”–”Love it or leave it” mentality? It is still hidden in more subtle words nowadays,)
Another two problems for getting people to grab the pichforks and torches and head for the streets to express the rage are: 1.) The police are programmed to fight with means available that we commoners don’t dare use. 2.) People fear incarceration, loss of job, or any other “inconvenient” price they might have to pay that would ruffle their security nests.
I think that with Dennis Kucinich in this election, this is Amrica’s ONLY chance to get it right WITHIN the system. After that, I’m afraid you can pretty much expect little to change because we ain’t goin’ to the streets in groups of 100 or less and even make a fart in the big bathtub.
I have never bought into the countdown of days left until January 20, 2009. Upon seeing my first bumper sticker that read “01.20.09″, I thought “Oh-kay, I know what that means. So what do we do in the meantime?”
The “number of days left in the Bush presidency” seems to be a common sign-off at the end of many a liberal rant. In the context of this particular article, the sign-off of “421 days” has roots in reality, finally becoming what it is; a hell of a long tome to sit around and wait.
Beth Quinn, thank you for helping me to feel 421 days as less of a prison sentence to be merely endured, and more of a good stretch of time with which to get involved, and by that, I mean going beyond being just a simple ‘net browser collecting information from favorited alt news websites.
Or, to belabor the point, but that’s 14 calendar pages having 28 to 31 squares on each page. Each square represents a day that I can either choose to put an “X” in black marker through, or use it to find my own chorus.
But what do we do?
Actually, I have an idea and could use some help. Have you ever heard of freepers? Free Republic-ers. I believe that what they do is find out from that web site where there are polls that are being conducted (unscientifically) and they seed them, informing the right-wingers where they are so they can storm them with their fanatically fascist views.
My idea, that I need help with, is to start going to conservative and ultra-fundamentalist sites, and signing on and voicing an even further-right statement, like “obviously we need to nuke all them damn towell heads” etc. That way maybe we can start showing some of the more sensible ones what the obvious conclusions are to they path down which they traverse.
All you need to do is set up a fictional email account, from hotmail etc. Be careful that what you say ultimately can not come back to haunt you by the current nazy regime.
Anybody have any comments or good site suggestions email me at harryhannemann@yahoo.com
Otherwise if all you do is monitor this site and piss and moan you are doing nothing. Oh, a really good handle like “on_the_side_of_god” or “christian_soldiers_with_guns” or something absurd like that would be really good.
Harry out.
I encourage you all to join me and vote with your feet. There are real national communities, in Nordic Europe and in New Zealand, where your voice and vote mean something and where inconsiderate and unconsidered greed is actually considered shameful. Imagine that! These countries have shrinking populations, particularly in the younger cohorts, and welcome skilled immigrants.
If you stay here in America and continue to consume as all patriotic Americans must, you will increasingly become part of the problem … the mortal enemy of the responsible people in the rest of the developed world, not to mention the truly downtrodden billions of the developing South. Our mainstream political debate is light years from solutions to even our simplest problems, and locked in in a suicidal dance with corporate corruption and Orwellian deception.
Get out while the gettin’s good.
Hey, psst,
If you lend me a few of your “l’s” maybe a “t” and and “s” O think I can wedge myself out of this box.
Thought just occurred to me, if you aren’t in my box, is what you are doing from my perspective what they call “thinking out of the box.”
I’ve looked around the corners here. Nothin’ Maybe an explosive comment or two will create a ripple effect and we can bust open a lot of these boxes at once.
One thing’s for sure, when we figure how to get out all hell’s gonna break loose and KP will be at the front!
OREZ_ENO wrote:
“All political campaigns must be paid for with public funds. Severe penalties, preferably death, must be imposed on politicians for accepting private funding or using their own assets for political campaigns.”
Are you advocating for the death penalty?
We are trying to get rid of it!
I agree with public funded campaigns and holding politicians accountable for their misdeeds, but capital punishment? That is not a progressive or humane solution.
–“He’s our president, so he deserves our respect.”–
I had previously heard this from the pulpit in my church, to my shock, but am not hearing this any longer.
I believe that following bad leaders, who see war as a convenient means to an end — profit, are an abomination and disrespectful of God and His Kingdom of equality,justice and peace.
Celebrity: “Taking it to the streets” doesn’t mean literal pitchforks, etc. It means proclaiming truth — how many of us have died in Iraq; how much money the profiteers are making on this war (billions and billions); how many of our troops returning from combat duty are expected to commit suicide, if the rates continue as they have been (5,000 expected this coming year) etc., etc., etc. That is what “Taking it to the streets” means.
If you’re looking for where the average American’s outrage is, look to where you left your shocked feelings at Bush, Cheney, Congress, the Judiciary and the Media. They are perhaps sitting in the same place.
I am not stunned, just frustrated that it seems no one is listening to the truth of what is really happening to our country. It seems that no one really cares to speak out, to write (or get published) who is for peace and justice, truth and integrity. As a nation we have already lost the war, we are all to blame for what our so called leaders are doing in our names.
Contrary to what the article says, there is a lot of outrage. The problem is what to do with it. I write to my Congresspeople and get computer-generated replies. I sign and send petitions on any number of subjects. I talk to a lot of people who am as angry as I am.
The only thing that I do that I think helps is to support organizations that take a stand against this administration. One good one is the Natural Resources Defense Council:
http://www.nrdc.org/
They have successfully fought the administration is the courts on killing whales with sonar, defending the polar bears, and drilling in the arctic.
I also belong to our state Environmental Council. I send money to support organic farms.
I’m retired and don’t have much money but I do my best to conserve and recycle.
We are outraged but who will listen?
sbabson 2:27 pm: It seems that no one really cares to speak out, to write (or get published) who is for peace and justice, truth and integrity.
Well, you did. Why demean ourselves because we do what we do without any expectation of prophet? Ok profit, then. Isn’t that one of the points being made?
If you do what you do for the express purpose of sustaining a lifestyle which is out of balance, Gore ie, with the rest of humanity, then you are a greater contributer to the problem you profess you are in opposition to. Hence, you run a greater risk of hypocrisy and you are funding the opposition.
This I believe is one of our major dilemmas.
Where’s the love? And I don’t mean the kind that’s all sentimental.
No one will listen. Now. What will you do?
Will you wait until the Houston, TX police department and others (or their corporate replacements) have remote drones in the air all the time? Drones equipped with millimeter wave crowd-dispersal weapons enforcing curfews and a martial law lockdown without a human officer ever showing their face?
No one is listening because the people are not making them listen.
No one is listening because corporate money trumps public rights.
Now. What will you do?
A pertinent quotation: “The first order of business for those planning acts of revolt usually involves the renunciation of personal concerns, including their own individual survival. Such total commitment to resistance action is not accomplished easily and is virtually never shared by large numbers of people.” (from George Kren and Leon Rappoport, “Resistance to the Holocaust”, quoted in “Hitler, Germans, and the Jewish Question” by Sarah Gordon).
It is a regrettable, but not shocking, aspect of human nature that the majority of people will not forcibly protest abuses of justice by their government.
patiently, nonviolently wait until the time presents itself, why what’s your plan?
there come’s a time generally. Then you can ask. there’s a few things that need to happen or else it would be here already.
The economy is a weapon. We are currently its subjects. Unsubject yourself as many of us are trying to do and we will become a force to be reckoned with.
Or, the economy will do that for us. Losing everything isn’t necessarily something to fear and dread. Nor to hold in contempt. Sometimes it’s a fact of life.
Doom n Gloom wrote: “The lack of consumption does get their attention… Wear old stuff and make old things last…” [more great stuff elided; go read the original]
GREAT STUFF, Doom n Gloom! As the soldier testified about the massacre at Ben Tre, Viet Nam, “To save the economy, we had to destroy the economy.” We have declared an anti-consumerist Christmas this year: all gifts will either be of self-prepared food (one commodity we cannot do without), or of self-made crafts or personal services. What a nicer gift than a simple, hand-made card saying, “Eight hours of my time on a project of your choice!”
drholmquist wrote: “I encourage you all to join me and vote with your feet… Get out while the gettin’s good.”
Been there, done that. It becomes a problem when you can’t bring your extended family with you. While we longed for a much more progressive place, aging parents kept us close to Amerika, and we chose Canada, settling for a “somewhat” more progressive place.
Canada is no panacea. It is “less worse” than the US, and corporate control here is mighty, if not outright voracious. But with one-tenth the population, we feel our voices are ten times stronger here. But I do fear “Anschluss” — the US may well suck Canada dry and discard the lifeless husk. So we do maintain our interest and voting in the US.
Over and over again, I read comments about the apathy of the American people. The progressive ‘net is full of criticism for what we are not doing to change things and comments about our lack of outrage.
But I keep posting and asking, “What are the exact steps we should be taking?” And I get virtually no answers. I, and many of my friends, have written letters to the editor and our legistlators both on the state and federal level, called our legislators and signed petitions, marched in protests (I was in Washington 3 times, and in local rallies at least 5 times), talked to our friends and acquaintances, participated in boycotts, and sported t-shirts and bumperstickers with our views printed on them. We write articles, and we argue with our “conservative” and wingnut associates.
In addition, I have a lot of friends who have been very active in organizations dedicated to peace, environmental protections, and other good causes. For some, their lives became so tied to their activism, they had little time for their loved ones.
After all of this has failed, what else is to be done? It’s so easy to say - or to write - that we “just don’t care” or that we lack outrage, but it’s much more difficult to find solutions.
Fear of the government is rampant among both my well-educated working class friends. I encounter few people who are not concerned that the government has shut down dissent or that the wealthy keep getting richer and it’s harder for the poor to make ends meet. One or two acquaintances are actually convinced that the government uses satellite technology to peer into their homes on a regular basis.
My experience is that people are, in fact, quite upset by the turn of events in this country. They mostly find the government to be run by wealthy, elitist fools who have no concern for their welfare. They just don’t know what to do about it.
The negative attitude toward the Bush Administration is so pervasive that it cuts across all kinds of boundaries. About a year ago, I was stopped by a state police officer near Mineral Wells, West Virginia because a new speed limit had been installed and I hadn’t noticed the new signs. They were actively enforcing the limit. The officer came around the back of my car and saw the anti-Bush signs in my car window. One said, “If you can read this, you’re not the president.” Others were similar. Anyway, this state policeman laughed when he read them, and instead of a ticket, he gave me a warning and was extremely nice to me.
To this day, I’m convinced he did that because he sympathized with the political stickers and signs on my car.
In any case, I don’t believe we are apathetic or that we Americans lack a sense of right and wrong, or that we are not aware of what the government is doing. I believe we, collectively and individually, feel helpless. This shredding of our civil liberties began even before the administration’s fearmongering after 9/11, and it insinuated itself into our lives a little at a time until it seems there is no way to combat it.
There are still many Americans who believe that our right to bear arms will protect us in the event that the government imposes military rule. I’ve talked to friends who insist that if the military can’t win a victory over Iraq, they surely can’t win over the American people. It sometimes seems as if the upsurge in invoking the second ammendment, as if it’s the only right that’s really important, has a lot to do with people’s feeling that it’s the only one that will really do us any good. (I don’t agree, but I understand it, too.)
So, come on everyone who is ready to pounce on Americans for their ignorance, lack of rebellion, or inability to stand up against the Bush regime - give us some answers! What do you expect us to do, and do you really think it will make a difference?
Don’t be stunned . . . . The leaders are doing exactly what the majority want. We have our cars with gasoline and our shopping with imported goods. Some may be expensive but what the heck we have them anyway. We have ours and we want to keep it. To hell with the rest of the world let them get theres as best they can.
Go back to sleep all you winers and snivelers while we enjoy life at whatever expense to the rest of the world we want to impose. We are in charge and you better do what we say our we’ll nuke you and your neighbors. Shut up and go back to sleep. After all “W” was elected a second time right? I got mine . . . .
How can any of this be surprising anymore? What’s really surprising is that the people who are outraged have little, if any, means to do anything about what’s going on.
And how can we expect change when the leaders, the presidential candidates for the next election, are from the same Congress and government that currently refuses to listen to the public?
Where are the people that can turn this country around? Without a something short of a revolution, the youth cannot participate much because there are no viable candidates that can save this country from itself. What are the options?
That’s what I want is more hopefulness and less accusations.
anyone who may have found themselves in some kind of hopelessness might know,
there will come an answer.
In the meanwhile, we who can will look for it I hope.
so, that’s what you will do?
hope?
You’ve misunderstood “America”.
What we are witnessing is the stark reality. This IS America.
With 9/11 and the internet, we can just see much more clearly now what (America) is and, we know by the history books, we’ve always been this way. Without an enemy such as the former USSR, they now do what they want — unchecked.
We are, at this point, truly captives and at the mercy of the rich, the powerful and the police state.
I suggest that, if you honestly can’t tolerate it, then get out while you can. I know I am.
@principessaflamenco
Good thing you caught me before I died. There’s no internet service in heaven.
You’re right. No death penalty. It barbaric. Sorry for accidentally including it. However, I still suggest severe penalties for any politician using private or private funds to finance a campaign.
Thanks for the correction.
stinger_28
no, continue to seek, you?
oh, and I’ve been doing quite a bit of not belonging for the past years quite comfortable with having little, while those who belonged have claimed the moral high ground and laid claim to moral superiority and authority. Now, tables turning, feeling heat, laying blame. Still yall are comfy cozy I presume. I continue lean.
Daniel Quinn explained it best in the brilliant and wonderful “Ishmael” (paraphrasing): people don’t strongly oppose the system beccause they know if they do, they won’t be fed; it’s easy to get people to go along if they know the alternative is starving to death.
We do not express our true outrage because we are afraid. Not of terrorists, of communists, of criminals, of China or Russia. We are afraid our own government and our own society will literally either kill us or let us die if we refuse to play the game and opposed it too strongly and effectively. And we are right. So we do what we have to do to eat and feed our children. In prison, maybe; ashamed, certainly; but fed nonetheless.
Sad folks, but look deep inside and tell me you are in fact doing everything you possibly can to change things and that the reasons you aren’t is not this primal fear. I ain’t proud of it, but at least I am honest.
furthermoe, stinger_28,
as many of my friends here may have guessed, I have spent the majority of my time on the planet with the hand to mouth crowd, and that’s where the most of my fellow friends come from too.
secondly, I have been working much with the american poor, who in my view are now getting only crumbs when before they were at least getting table scraps.
I could, it’s seemed to me from time to time, rip into the CommonDreams crowd for a blatant fault in their deductive reasoning which is many appear to be decidedly members of the “have” crowd.
But, not asking the obvious, “what have you been doing out there?” really, I have experienced that the better half of the “have not” crowd who might better express a resentfulness than I do, look out for people who share a common cause, which is their humanity.
Appearances asided. Because you can not see me nor know who I am. It’s frequently best to reserve your judgment lest you speak that which you can not know. As I might do with the likes of you.
and yes, bruce allen, even your avatar is honest. More honest than mine!
It’s not easy trying to save yourself and trying to save as many others as you can. I would call that heroic in a human and humble fashion. Kind of like offering the food on your table, or the pennies in your pocket to the poor, when you are poor as well.
Ms Quinn’s piece has generated an amazing amount of comment, voicing lots of frustration and very little in the way of proposed action. I wholeheartedly agree with Doom n’ Gloom about the need to boycott, boycott, boycott (check out buylesscrap.com) as the ONLY way to get the attention of the oligarchy and the political class.
And the only thing worth demanding from them is a consitutional convention, with an eye toward abolishing our current system and establishing a parliamentary democracy based on multiple parties and proportional representation. Americans have been fed a load of bullshit about ours being the best (indeed, only) form of “democratic” government in the world. It is neither democratic nor the best. If it were, we wouldn’t all be online tearing hair and gnashing teeth.
I recommend you all read Charlie Savage’s book “Takeover,” about the Bush-Cheney drive to vastly increase the power of the presidency at the expense of the congress, judiciary and the civil service and uniformed military. This drive has been successful and is now irreversible. Congress has been complicit in its own demise, and that of the courts, and we are now at the mercy of the continued good will of the people we elect as president. The only people of good will I see available for 2008 are Dennis Kucinich (who hasn’t a chance) and Al Gore (who understands the meaning of the term “masochism” and has the good sense not to run).
This Bush-Cheney power play prompted a number of prominent conservatives to mount a campaign called the American Freedom Agenda, with a 10-point program to take back Americans’ freedoms. The group includes a few current and former heavy-hitters and establishment types. Check out their website, americanfreedomagenda.org … they haven’t even posted anything since July. If these guys can’t get the ball rolling, we’re in deep doo-doo. And that’s just the politics of the situation. Allow me a mention of the ethical-moral issues.
I read all the posts here fairly closely, and saw a number of references to the tragedy of “our” casualties in Iraq. But I don’t think anyone - including Ms Quinn - mentioned the million-plus dead and four-million-plus displaced Iraqis. Shame, shame, fucking shame on all of us. And we wonder why they hate us.
I’ll work for that constitutional convention for the next year, but I give it no chance, and that’s why, as I said in my earlier post, I’m outahere.
I’m outside the wall, so it’s not my place to decide anything for the people of the USA. I just hope to avoid a wider war for the greed of the corporatists and their government enablers.
I only mean to raise the question in this discussion; What if no one is listening? Not your police, nor your mayors, nor your senate, nor your congress, not your courts, nor your bankers, lawyers, social workers, va reps, CEOs, military commanders, intelligence agencies nor your president nor his central staff.
What if (as has become increasingly clear) no one is listening to what the people of the USA want for their country, their communities and their families.
What will you do? If you’ll sit quietly and do as you’re told while they close the cage, that’s a choice too. Some (most) will make that choice.
Expecting that stern words and protests will change anything at this point seems rather naive. Your nation. Your choice.
I would stay here if you want to be in the battle, because this is the central front in the war on terror. The extent of who is responsible for that and who are on the receiving end is unraveling every day.
leaving might be interpreted as cowardice.
keep laying blame man! you seem good at it.
geoff29. i too keep things as simple as possible. i carry no debt, use what few luxury items i have for as long as i can maintain them and i travel locally with my kids so that they come to appreciate the simple beauty of a hometown and country well explored. the 60s ‘dream’ was always a naive front for pointless acquisition and excess, largely manifested in a king’s misery of shiny things that bring no happiness.
i hope many more find contentment in simplicity and that out of this at least will come people who take much less for granted.
Winston Churchill once said, “Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”. Nazi Germany. Hitler took away the German people’s freedoms and he told them that it was to protect them from Germany’s enemies, the Jews, Communists and the WWI allies. They bought it. Let’s not forget the price that they paid for blindly following Hitler.
Vote for Ron Paul!
At least LOOK at him, see what he stands for.
He stands for us and with us, We The People.
good enough!
you, have kids. that is fine. I am all for children, in the end they are the ultimate victims of the crime.
having pondered the future I may have children someday if the future becomes ponderable. But as the past 30 years at least have revealed a kind of imponderablity, I will continue to pass and try to assist those who are here.
I lay no blame you see on an individual’s predicament in this life, that is sacred turf. Only on those attitudes one may have toward one’s predicament. Those will kill you or get you killed.
SHARONA1948 — (thanks for your comments, and) — Yes there is some hope for us,
AS WE ARE THE CIRCULATION, AND _ W_E___A_R_E___T_H_E___P_E_O_P_L_E__
and when the media (and it’s controllers) are faced with little or no profits, there is plenty of room for changes. Who exactly do they think pays for all of their bills, the bribes are HARDLY everything to them!
WO_RK ST_OP_AGES may occur, but media displeasure is already for their CLOSEUP (with the public). The FAA rents the electromagnetic spectrum to the moguls, for the benefit of the American peoples free exchange of information and service for the PUBLIC GOOD.
Are we getting it GOOD enough YET?
Please see my posts elsewhere to empower each of your participation, if you so choose to attempt to re-claim OUR AIRWAVES. Like here
Namaste
__ __ __ __ We must be the change
__ __ __ __ we wish to see in the world __ Gandhi
blame? you mention blame. i haven’t.
blame implies guilt about the past.
got some? why?
all i have suggested is that those who are reading and haven’t already, think about what they will DO, if everything they SAY is falling on deaf ears.
you have clearly made your choices, but you are not the only one who reads this thread. maybe you need to turn down the ego and get over trying to deafen people with the ‘you can’t blame me, i’m different’ routine.
421 days left. That assumes that the shrub will voluntarily give up power, not necessarily a safe assumption.
I believe I’d turned down the ego, or expressed my dislike of it. there are millions more like me and like you.
I also said that you’d made your point to my satisfaction - with which I’d hoped you were satisfied, although not in so many words.
In the further exchange, and the time lag, we are missing each other’s meaning.
And I have no guilt currently. Give me a few days and I will dredge something up to feel bad about.
If you talk to Americans, most of the get exactly what you are saying.
What’s missing is any understanding that they can change things.
They know voting doesn’t make a difference. They got long before I did that there’s no real choice in an election. Constantly declining numbers of voter participation show this.
They know that protesting doesn’t change things. The 30 million or so around the world who protested against the start of the Iraq war, and who were then roundly ignored not only by Bush but also by the Democrats who voted in favor of the war.
So, I don’t feel its the lack of outrage. Instead, its citizens who do feel outrage or at least unease about all of this, but who don’t know how to effectively express that outrage in order to create change.
Democracry and social action have slowly been killed off in this country. With no real experience with either, citizens simply don’t know what to do anymore. When you see citizens who learn how to create change, they typically then become very active in their communities in demanding all sorts of change.
The flip side of that is that corporate government and corporate media will attempt to quash or hide any citizen efforts to create change precisely because they don’t want citizens to learn that they can effectively be involved in their society.
“421 days left. That assumes that the shrub will voluntarily give up power, not necessarily a safe assumption.:”
That asssumes the problem is Bush himself and not systemic. It ignores the Clinton record for launching illegal wars. Or the long-standing support for torture by the CIA and US military. It ignores the Clinton economic policies and trade deals that started this flow of our jobs and our industries out of the country.
In 421 days, Bush will be out of office. In about 600 days I’ll see lots of befuddled Democrats out protesting the next administration with me because they had the mistaken impression that replacing Bush would change things.
GEOFF29—–Hey dear, followed the thread but got depressed about the box stuff you were picking up on—-so then I just read yours for the duration.
Clearly, this full mooon has worked some mischief providing a climate for communication glitches. It is hard, when one person feels the time for venting has passed and the time for positve action has arrived. And others have just discovered their outrage.
Perhaps the venting is just a necessary prerequisite to moving forward. Like the stages of grieving—-It isn’t over until it’s over.
Nothing discourages me more than seeing people on this site hurl insults—-it makes me understand how pervasive the polarization in our shared consciuosmess has become. We are angry at the rightwing bullies, but we unconsciously find ourselves imitating them in our interactions with people. It’s like a virulent virus we’ve all been exposed to.
I watched the documentary The US vs. John Lennon last night and was awakened again to how effectively his and Yoko’s creativity was utilized as they stood for peacemaking. “All we are saying, is give peace a chance.” John and Yoko never stopped trying to BE peaceful, and were tireless in exploring new ways to move the mass consciouness in that direction.
See the film and feel really good about being a human being. And the tears and the laughter it will evoke can only be good for dissolving what ails us and keeps us in the blaming and shaming that throws up barriers to making common cause.
It all comes down to the integrity of the vote. If the vote is fair, the people get the government they deserve.
Unfortunately, we haven’t seen that here since 1998, and certainly not since HAVA. It’s gotten so bad that Jimmy Carter refuses to monitor the vote in the US because the electoral system does not meet even the minimum standard needed to assure a fair election.
Since many posters are asking about what positive action can be taken, here is my suggestion: agitate for electoral reform at the state level. Insist on voting machinery that is auditable and that produces an indelible, human-readable, voter-verified ballot that can be efficiently tabulated. (I have no problem with DRE’s producing a count to be used as a double-check, but the official count must be based on a tabulation of ballots that have been checked for accuracy by the voters themselves.) Agitate for redundant vote counting — two or preferably three vote counts by separate organizations.
Your voice counts much more at the state level than it does at the federal level, both in an election and when you contact representitives in your state legislatures. State officials can be held accountable much more easily by the electorate by simple virtue of the states being a smaller pond. In addition, even federal elections are run by the individual states. Focus your energy where it can have some impact.
Many posters here mention the supposed apathy of the American public. I don’t think apathy is the whole story. I think cynicism and hopelessness are major unmentioned parts of it. When Bush “won” in 2004, I think many people came away from that election with the uneasy feeling that we no longer have a voice in our government. A comparison of exit polls with the official vote tallies indicates that the odds of that election being fair were literally millions to one against. When one realizes that one’s vote does not count, and that one’s representatives can therefore turn a deaf ear to the wishes of their constituents, one realizes that the only remaining recourse is outright rebellion. Who wants that?
As goes the vote, so goes the country. Make sure those votes serve their intended purpose.
SallyUUKent made the point “if we manage … bringing a million angry citizens to ask for a redress of grievances from our government (a very polite way of saying, IMPEACH!!!), I don’t see how they could possibly ignore us.”
Then the question is, how would they respond? With Kent State II?
The problem with all this outrage about a depraved, degenerate piece of human filth in the White House and his equally despicable cabal is that nobody is willing to look the inevitable right in the face and act on it.
I have read all the responses to this point (11/26, 5:40pm), and am encouraged that maybe I am hearing the voice of the people in them. But the greatest problem, voiced by many, is what do we do? One response touches in a practical manner on the role of the consumer. I agree that the “leaders” have misled us, and that a change in names will not undo the damage already done to the people that is robbing them of pragmatic, peaceful, humane methods of protest against tyranny, rational methods guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and the universal rights proclaimed by the Declaration of Independence.
It may seem boringly mundane to oppose the government and their corporate investors by boycott, but if we go back to the voice of Ralph Nader who really showed us the way of political protest through economic means, we will organize national boycotts against selected megabusinesses that “invest” in the influence of the Congress for their own good profit at the top regardless of the hourly workers who make that possible and regardless of the destructive effect on the environment.
What else can we do short of a shooting revolution–which most of us would not want, would not support?
sebouhian
Ralph Nader? You’ve got to be kidding.
Ron Paul? No way. He’s too interested in the contents of my uterus, which is none of his damned business.
People - America started as an experiment. We are a young country. We are still an experiment. What is MY solution? My initial solution is that Bush and Cheney must be physically kicked out of MY White House, down the stairs (I gladly loan my foot to do some of the kicking), and into the dirty street where a street sweeper will come and collect them like the garbage they are. The second step is for ALL of us to get involved in doing a better job for America. It doesn’t matter WHAT your job is so long as it’s legal (drug dealers and users are as deadly and damaging to the USA as is Bush) - but give it 110%. Lots of damned lazy people out there working and collecting an income. Push education for everyone - no child in America should hear they can’t go to college for lack of family funds. No more welfare for young females irresponsibly popping out babies. No breaks for high school drop outs - they must join some sort of service until they are 21 DURING WHICH TIME THEY MUST STUDY TO FINISH THEIR HIGH SCHOOL DEGREES. And let’s talk about this run away consumerism. Today’s young people are in for a huge crash-n-burn when they learn that the meaning of life isn’t the latest mobile phone or iPod or whatever the most recent crap on the market is. Too many of these kids are shallow and even downright stupid - have you shopped in a store lately where they’re staffing the cash registers or offering their vapid form of “service”?
It’s been a long day and I’m tired. I’m also very tired of the apathy in America. I write letters to the editor - have for 40 yrs now - and yes I receive the hate phone calls and responses, but I don’t care. I love this country. I’ve traveled to other parts of the world and … I LOVE this country!
Let these awful people be an example to us: GW Bush, Dick Cheney, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Barbara Bush, Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich - god there are so many but as I said I’m tired. You know who I mean.
Let them be an example of what we will NEVER, EVER put up with again. Let’s put them into the history books in clear, concise statements about what they really truly were and are, and cite the damage they did to America, and to the rest of the world.
You want to leave this country because in your short lifetime you gave up? Go ahead - I’ll wave g’bye to you from my front porch. Just promise you will never return.
We have work to do.
Peace.
I’ve been outraged since my draft board tried to turn me into cannon fodder during the Viet Nam Fiasco. But most Americans just don’t want to know how bad this government really is. A new standard of Insanity has been established, and Americans just want to watch Dance With The Stars. What America needs is a good Depression. I’m helping by NOT owning stock in corporate criminal activity, by NOT working for Exxon, Boing, Halliburton…, by NOT supporting the troops…They made the choice to become baby killers…they can change their minds. I watch the falling stock market and dwindling DOLLAR and cheer their freefall. A good Depression will get our NEW government rolling on social programs and not leave any spare change for cluster bombs, depleted uranium, phosphorus bombs, Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, jet fighters, aircraft carriers, or cutsy little military-looking jackets for our president. Sanity may reign when CEOs and Senators have to stand in breadlines.
OldBadger: they are still hearing cries for death and vengeance from too many “centrist” Americans
We are all too familiar with the “centrist” American. That’s the one who sins on Saturday night and asks God’s forgiveness at Sunday services. The lefists do something similar: Plunder people/planet through Wall St. and then “give some back” through philanthropy. There are mountains of centrists in America. Even the chimp is a centrist - murders a million Iraqis and then rewards his cronies for their loyalty - that’s his “giving back”.
In the late 60’s early 70’s with racial killings, Bobby Kennedy assination, Nixon, Kent State, meddling in South and Central America, and of course Vietnam, we thought is was all going down; that America would not survive.
Back then my “National Anthem” was Monster by Steppenwolf http://www.steppenwolf.com/lyr/mnnster.html
As valid today as it was then.
Know when to hold ‘em — Know when to fold ‘em — Know when to walk away — Know when to RUN.
Many of us decided that the passion of so many Americans was reserved for SHOPPING and REAL ESTATE that those of us who cared about the kind of government we lived under could never hope for any improvement in the Standard American Psyche. So — we RAN to Canada or Australia or wherever — and at almost every dinner or gathering find OTHERS who have fled the mess that America has become. And if I do say so myself, these are usually the Best and the Brightest!
Dr. W in Toronto
Actually, I can see why few are Americans are aware. Just take a good look at what Adolph Hitler planned and accomplished in a short period of time. The German public, except for a very low percentage, was unaware of what Hitler had accompished. Those that spoke out, were quietly arrested and disappeared.
Now, Bush/Cheney are following Hitler’s blueprint, whiile avoiding the tactical errors Hitler made. They control our ‘free’ press and that is the first major element of takng over the country. We all are aware of his next steps, which he has easily managed to initiate and the American public, by far is unaware of it, and so don’t be stunned.
The people who blog here are a tiny minority, it’s just like Germany in the 1930s. Few are aware, and many don’t wish to believe it. When bush declares his National Emergency, the game will be over. You know, like Germany, many will fear the government, our King Bush, and will keep quiet, but many will not only still support him, they will love him and will inform on any who protest in any manner.
There are major differences between Hitler and Bush. Hitler was intelligent, and Bush actually believes, he is doing the work of God. Cheney doesn’t care what Bush believes, as long as Geroge contiues to take his orders. Of course George will, but I see today that Cheney is having another heart problem. ____ I don’t see how that could be possible though.
“Sad folks, but look deep inside and tell me you are in fact doing everything you possibly can to change things and that the reasons you aren’t is not this primal fear. I ain’t proud of it, but at least I am honest.”
bruce allen,
I don’t think Daniel Quinn ever intended for us to be paralyzed by that primal fear. He was correct in his assessment (IMO) about food and how our system (culture) works against us. His message was for us to change our thinking and then help others change theirs.
It seems futile at times thinking of the seemingly insurmountable obstacles to change, yet, change (like shit) happens. Knowing that things will not always be as they are, helps me to realize that I can make some tiny difference. Nothing, neither good nor bad, happens without someone or something starting it. As DQ knows, we have to be the change agents.
LeeAnnG November 26th, 2007 3:06 pm, wrote “.. what exactly do you expect us to do …?”
In the current game, we (the world) are Check Mate. We slept through the crucial final moves and now all moves are blocked.
Our last opportunity to act passed when we stood by while a few old men crowned the emperor. Even then, the writing of what was to come was on the wall, plain to see for all who cared to look and apply the lessons of history.
What’s left to do?
1. To the most extreme level possible, refuse to consume. Take the initiative and shut them down before they shut you down.
2. Adapt and learn to live with what you have and what you can produce yourself.
3. Identify, seek out and cooperate with like minded folks in your immediate neighborhood/community.
4. Dress warm for it’s going to be a very long, very cold, very dark winter for this civilization.
Most Americans are passive about the Bush administration and the Iraq occupation because, for the most part, their lives have not really been affected much. They can still drive their cars, watch TV, drink beer, etc. Life doesn’t appear to have changed much. True, there has been deterioration in the quality of life of the poor and middle-class but it has been gradual. It’s the old story about the frog and the gradually heating water. Most people will not sit up and take notice until the things they are used to having become unavailable or noticeably, dramatically change.
The only time I have seen regular Americans get agitated about a public issue was during the gas crisis of the 1970’s. Gas prices went up. THAT was something they noticed because it affected their ability to drive their cars. As soon as that was over they went back to the TV, beer, shopping malls, etc.
As to what to do, I believe the only things that will work will be massive disruption and force. If we had millions of angry people in the streets, shutting down stores, stopping transportation, disrupting the economy, that might force a change. Some people have suggested a general strike. That may well work IF at least 10 million people participate. But most people will not become involved until their lives are physically affected; say by a massive depression or a major increase in gas prices.
Daniel Ellsberg
Amy Goodman
Daniel Berrigan
It takes courage to stand up and do something.
Well, it takes courage to stand up if you’re powerless. Brass balls.
If you’re in an elected position to effect change, no courage is required. Just honesty.
I’m with Ragdoll. Remove our national narcotic: TV. You can’t sit around watching hours of the garbage and nonsense that’s blasted over the airwaves at our collective psyche, and then give one single hoot about anything that’s actually happening around you.
Shame on US for CHOOSING to spend so much of our precious time glued to our seats in front of our idiot boxes, one for every room in our McMansions and one in each of our SUVs. We’ve become a nation of idiots too stunned to respond appropriately to this outrageous presidential team.
For the one who hopes we have a depression, I will say this. Any who hope that, better not be here when it hits. This is not 1929 and there will be total anarchy this time. Few will survive, think about it. During the depression of 29, there were millions of small farmers and ample food, few starved or even went hungry for any length of time. This time, those farmers are history and there won’t be ample farmer’s markets to feed the populatin we have now. People will fight for food. The next depression will result in the death of this nation.
And for those who plan on leaving. Be careful of where you may go. In 1940 a young couple we knew fled to a beautiful South sea island and obtained jobs at a new resort, because they feared America would be drawn into WW2. They were very intellignet people. They were killed by the Japanese durng an air raid, on December 12th, 1941.
Impeachment? Go here NOW and watch and listen from New Hampshire:
http://www.kucinichtv.com/
What do you expect from dumbed-down people? The Bush Family Evil Empire has raised tuition for higher education to ensure that there are future slaves and also fodder for the military-industrial-complex, and to ensure that only the wealthy war criminals/profiteers stay in power to rule us indefinitely.
It is very difficult for a normal, sane, compassionate person to recognize a psychopath. I happen to have recently been victimized by one, and have taken some time and some effort to understand that state of being. I submit that this country (in the persons of corporations and many of their minions) are psychopathic in nature— totally amoral, totally without conscience, the very essence of “evil”. I will not say that we have elected a cadre of these psychopaths to govern us, because I do not think they were elected, but in true psychopathic form, simply stole what they wanted and continue to impose that vision on all of us and the world. They must be stopped, or our children have no future.
I am not a learned man, just an old farmer who has watched the country and a society (very imperfect though they were) left in the dust of greed and lust for power.
Psychopathy is ugly.
rtdrury
Leftists? Wall Street? Have you lost your fucking mind?
As one who has written angry “letters to the editor” both on a local and national basis, I am convinced that the media today is in bed with the neo-con corporatizers, and the only hope for the U.S. lies wholly with the general public - - indeed, if they will ever get angry enough to mount a ttal sit-down strike - - or, Heaven forbid, a REVOLUTION!
What the people who oppose this dictatorship - and that is exactly what we’re now experiencing (fascism) need is a national logo - a national brand that will identify us with one another. This will help the fearful feel that they really do have moral support - and that there are sufficient numbers to challenge the oligarchy. When I suggested such tactics to liberals, they had a fit - what, YOU WANT US TO CONFORM?!! They all wanted to ‘do their own thing’ - to no avail, of course. They wanted to preach to the choir, expecting others would join their bandwagon - what arrogance! Americans are largely conservative moderates and will follow whatever banner offers strength and solidarity - from either side. Wise up, folks. Use tactics that are proven to work - then even the press will pay attention.
Well, you see how far their tactics got us - despite the success of the minority opposition. The average person will follow a nutcase - a true believer - who sticks to message and exudes confidence and security. Democrats offer little or nothing along these lines, other than a ‘protest’ vote - which doesn’t matter anymore anyway.
Do you really want to know what to do? Choose a uniform - colors, just as used by sports teams, military and paramilitary groups (gangs), etc - so we can identify ourselves. Want your protest march to attract real attention? Then dress conservatively (in colors, of course) and march in straight rows and in cadence. Make sure all signs are low-key and professionally printed. If you want to attract support, you must project organization, conformity, solidarity, and security - that’s what people really crave.
I’m not saying that this is an instant cure - but it is an important part of the program that has been ignored - or even rejected. Well, do you want to win, or do you want to ‘be right’? Drown your damned ego, or suffer the consequences - there are millions of years of evolution against you if you resist conformity and organization! Go ahead and keep trying what doesn’t work. Besides, you’ll attract youth - they love uniforms and conformity (doesn’t everyone) and they are our future. If you don’t give them a uniform and a ‘tribe’ - Uncle Sam will!
I live simply - now. Spend the minimum and shop at garage sales rather than retail. I didn’t come from that class - I do this out of moral necessity, not financial constraints. Keeping shopping to a minimum is a great tactic - but you have to promote it in a better way - as it was done in WWII. Open an account in another country if you can - otherwise, buy euros (or even Canadian dollars) to save - my conservative friends collect Krugerands because they’re gold. And for Pete’s sake, shut off the damned TV, especially on weekends - organize community events and shun anyone who prefers professional sports as an alternative - make corporate conformity unpopular and unAmerican. Get out an play sports instead of watching them on TV - get a life. Meet at least one new neighbor every week, and discuss the situtaion in our country with them - then invite them to a community event. And if you’re a liberal, don’t advertise it - this isn’t about politics, but about survival. We’re losing our country, and this may be our last chance to save it. Bury your ego, no matter how much it hurts - or that will be all you have left. Politics is divisive - avoid it.
Please do not rail against the people who wisely leave this country - they are patriots too. Members of my own family often fled dictators - and joined the Allied Forces to fight the last batch of fascists. Others joined the Resistance - at great risk to their families, and even communities. There is no easy way - but there are several ways to fight, and each must do what they can.
KEM PATRICK: Ever hear of Santayana? You used his quote and attributed it to Churchill… George Santayana was an immigrant from Spain - that last fascist state that the US kept in power for decades after WWII ended…
Stop blaming Americans - most are just brainwashed, ignorant, stupid or scared. Most seek escapism out of fear and frustration - helplessness - this is a normal human response to a frightening situation. How about asking people living in free countries - who have no fear of repression by their government (or neighbors) why they aren’t doing anything to push their own governments into helping us, instead of the corporate oligarchs and US government. Why did they fold after the first multi-million protest against the invasion of Iraq? They’re safe and comfortable - we need more emigrants to stir them to action - before it’s too late for them as well. Just look at what happened in France! Many nations did the same thing with Hitler - appeased him instead of standing in solidarity against his heinous reign of terror, hoping they would escape his greedy grasp - most didn’t, and should know better now. We need to ask Europeans and Scandinavians, as well as Canadians and Australians, to speak out - to goad their governments into ‘doing the right thing’ by condemning the US and corporate world government. We all lose under fascism - it doesn’t work, and the damage done is painful to repair - and the dead are dead forever.
I tried to warn the liberal protesters in my area many years ago - they rejected my suggestions. See how well they’ve done? Instead of building support for peace, freedom, security, and prosperity - we now have a jaded and beaten bunch of losers crying in their beer - they gave up, or crawled into self-centered feel-good do-nothing social programs that do nothing more than try to plug holes in the dike. It isn’t working. Ask conservatives what it takes to prevail - they know how to organize and win. And most of them hate the fascists and dictators just as much as you do.
One thing that people keep saying here (and elsewhere) needs to be corrected:
It has not “always been this way” with Americans.
We have not always been a dog-eat-dog society, with people so shamelessly greedy, consumerist, anti-intellectual, and sadistic. Does anyone else here remember what it was like during the 60s and 70s, before Reagan began the process of creating the kind of Americans the writer of this article is lamenting?
During the 70s, someone like Kucinich could certainly have been elected, everyday American conversation wasn’t devoid of sociopolitical discussion, there weren’t right-wing attack hawks in every neighborhood keeping people stupid and afraid, people were not as into unabashed conspicuous consumption as they are now, and there was even real, honest talk and action to do with reducing energy use and, unimaginable as it seems today, living without energy.
I know I’m not the only one who remembers these things. Note that nowhere here do I mention perfection, only a better national environment than we have today. And don’t give me any shit about those times being better because the economy (whatever that is) was better. It has more to do with human will than with money. The fact that it’s been different and better in the past means that it can be made different and better in the future. It will be more difficult to improve things in this violent, Reaganized land than it was pre-1980, but it is possible.
That said, I remain as pessimistic about Americans now as many of you here. I wish I’d done what journalist John Ross did during the 80s: left the country because he saw the societal changes Reagan was initiating as being irreversible. I fear he was probably right.
armybrat, the uniform idea is creepy, the rest of your comment seems right on, but uniforms?
ARMYBRAT, I used someones quote, where, when?
I am outraged — and I have taken to the streets, plastered my car with bumper stickers, signs in my yard, marched in DC and my southwestern city, became a Precinct committee person and walk my district for better candidates, give as much money as I can every month to causes that promote real social change, write letters, blog, sign petitions, talk to everyone I know, stay informed, and attend as many events as I can.
But it doesn’t matter because the system is broken. You realize pretty quickly that all you do is pretty futile. Maybe some choir-preaching satisfaction, but not much else. Like Naomi Wolf says in her book (I just started it, so maybe she says something else about this later on), but the democratic mechanisms that make these types of actions effective are gone. The pendulum won’t swing back because it CAN’T swing back and our government won’t respond to our demands because it isn’t aligned with our purpose.
So, am I supposed to give up my job, my kids’ future, my health insurance, my home, and everything I have worked so hard to achieve to fight these crooks? Because that is exactly what will happen if I do what I so long to do — hit the streets and STAY there until we make them change. I find myself wishing I didn’t have a beautiful family, a home, a great job that I love so I could devote my whole life to working for social justice. How f**ked up is that?
We live in the land without any safety net whatsoever. Who will hold our lives together while we fight for our non-existent democracy? As you begin to try to seriously confront these injustices, you find that there is no one is charge — there is no edge to this corrupt system, and no way out. At least for now, anyway. Meanwhile, my kids want dance lessons, Christmas presents, and just to have some “fun” family time (and standing on street corners holding up signs is not their idea of fun).
I will continue to do what I can do, but don’t say that there is no outrage. There is — and it’s the worst kind — the kind that comes from not being able to do anything about it.
ELECT DENNIS KUCINICH - he is our only real hope.
But mainly stunned by the MSM. Will the Internet reveal the truth? Will our children even search for it? After all, they’ve had better nutrition and so they’re smarter and more computer literate than we are.
If God exists and plans things, maybe this is all part of a plan to let us learn from our mistakes. To let us overpopulate the earth so more people can invent more things for more money until we (accidentally?) invent something(s) that will solve all our problems if we don’t kill ourselves first. Maybe this is another faith-based initiative but without the rapture.
After a long night of petitioning in the streets for Kucinich (most usually being ignored by people glued to their cellphones and i-pods, but not infrequently being engaged in conversation by very thoughtful, engaged folks) I walk away with two opposed opinions of Americans and democracy:
1. Americans deserve the democracy they get, which is a shitty one to match their insular, individualistic attitudes
2. It is the responsibility of those of us who think about politics, who have a grasp of the issues, to make the effort to communicate with the others, to try to get them to write and make phone calls and at least think for 5 minutes about what is going on…in short, it is the responsibility of most of us on this website to do a lot more work than the other kinds of people who couldn’t be bothered, to try to make them care at least a little, tiny bit. It is a burden that comes with critical thinking and social conscience.
I must say, the people who signed and who talked, thanked me profusely for what I was doing. It was very gratifying. To hell with the i-pod freaks…I’ll fight for them too without expecting anything in return.
I have lost faith in the voting system. My husband and I joined the independent party and just got an absentee ballot asking if we want to vote Democratic or Independent–the only choices in California if you are an independent.. I have worked the elections the last five years with people that couldn’t count to ten and this year I elected not to work.
rebelnow,
The creepy part is that the fascists, themselves, have learned to drop the uniform, stiff-arm salute and symbol. They learned that the movement was less recognizable, less likely to generate a personified backlash, etc. if it remained — outwardly — in the backdrop. Rather, it would seek to embed itself into the fabric of the economy.
They wear a subtler uniform, but the tailoring is unmistakable.
LeeAnnG writes “Over and over again, I read comments about the apathy of the American people. The progressive ‘net is full of criticism for what we are not doing . . . But I keep posting and asking, “What are the exact steps we should be taking?” And I get virtually no answers. I, and many of my friends, have written letters to the editor and our legistlators both on the state and federal level, called our legislators and signed petitions, marched in protests . . .”
LeeAnnG, good for you, it seems to me you already have the answers. If just 5% of the adult population– about 10 million people– did what you are doing, every representative would be deluged with mail, the newspapers would be deluged.
Note that doing something unusual is much more effective than ceasing to do something usual. If 5% of the population cuts back by half on Christmas spending, the result is that sales will be 97.5% of their previous enormous