You’re Damn Right I’m Angry. Why Isn’t Everybody?
I write articles each week with titles like “Everything I Need to Know About the Regressive Right I Learned In Junior High“, or “Conservatism Is Politics For Kindergartners“, or “Schadenfreude Is My Middle Name“.
I regret doing so very much. Believe it or not, I really don’t like spewing venom, sarcasm and rage all over my computer keyboard.
I particularly don’t like it because I have friends who are conservative, and it’s not my nature to trash-talk anybody, let alone friends.
Indeed, none of this is in my nature. I don’t start fights and I don’t go looking for them. I’m not an angry, bitter or mean-spirited person. But I can understand how I might be seen as such in the absence of the appropriate context, and it truly chagrins me that I might be so misperceived, and so negatively.
But I don’t intend to change, and I don’t intend to stop making the arguments contained in my rants. I’m angry for a very good set of reasons, and I’m angry because I care about my country just the way conservatives claim to. I’m angry, in short, because I’m a patriot and defender of the ideas that America is supposed to stand for. And what I really want to know is why those on the right aren’t equally outraged?
I was a teenager when Nixon was being Nixon, destroying democracy at home, napalming civilians in Vietnam, conducting secret wars in Laos and Cambodia, employing racism to win elections. At that age I knew enough to dislike what I saw (and what I learned of what Nixon and McCarthy had done to innocent Americans even earlier, before I was born, in order to serve their political ambitions), but I didn’t know enough yet to feel genuine rage at what regressives were doing to my country and to the world.
I began to experience those feelings in my twenties, first as truly sociopathically insane gun laws in this country helped to claim the life of John Lennon, and then as Ronald Reagan began to systematically turn his back on the poor and the middle-class in order to further enrich the country’s already wealthy economic elites. I also felt deep shame and outrage that America - the country that had supported if not literally created every two-bit dictator in Latin America, ‘our backyard’, (and well beyond) for a century - began to murder Nicaraguan peasants in order to halt their struggle to free themselves from the economic and political tyranny of one of those Washington-run caudillo clients, the sickening Somoza regime.
Then I watched in disgust as Newt Gingrich and his merry band of infantile hypocrites impeached a president for lying about a consensual sexual affair, while they were themselves all doing worse, like dumping a wife while she was lying in her hospital bed recovering from cancer surgery, or fathering children with a mistress, or carrying on many years-long affairs.
All of this was truly noxious. Nothing to that point had prepared me, however, for the regressive politics of our time. And they have turned me very angry indeed.
Regressives like to call people like me Bush-haters, and so it is important to address that claim before proceeding, because the entire intent of hurling that label at the president’s critics is to undermine their credibility. If you simply hate the man, they imply, you’re not rational, and your critiques can be dismissed. But it isn’t that simple - not by a long shot. First, it should be noted that the regressive right is far wider a phenomenon than just one person. It currently includes an entire executive branch administration, almost (and, just a year ago, more than) half of Congress, a majority of the Supreme Court and probably a majority of the lower federal courts, a biased-to-the-point-of-being-a-joke mainstream media, and tons of lobbyists, think tanks and profitable industries.
But as to George W. Bush, himself, I suspect it’s quite fair to say that most Americans and even most progressives did not originally despise or loathe him. I didn’t. I certainly didn’t admire the guy, nor did I think he was remotely prepared to be president of the United States. (Nor, by the way, was I particularly impressed with Al Gore in 2000.) Bush campaigned as a center-right pragmatist (a “compassionate conservative”, in his words), much as his father had been, and I expected that’s how he would govern if elected. You know, more embarrassing most of the time than truly destructive.
I mention all this because it is important to note what has - and what has not - been responsible for my/our anger, and to make clear that attempts to dismiss that anger as some Bush-hating bias or predisposition are false, a ploy to destroy the messenger when one doesn’t care for the message he’s carrying. If Bush had governed like he campaigned I’m sure I would have disliked him, but neither hated him nor his policies, nor experienced the rage that I feel about what he’s done to the country and the world. Frankly, my feelings toward another center-right Bush presidency would have likely been largely the same as my feelings toward the center-right Clinton presidency which preceded it.
But he hasn’t governed anywhere near to how he campaigned, and he wasn’t even elected properly, and I do in fact feel huge anger at the damage done. Moreover, I cannot for the life of me imagine how anyone - even conservatives - could feel differently. Even the wealthy, to whose interests this presidency is so wholly devoted, have to sleep at night. Even they have children who will inherit a broken country existing in an environmentally and politically hostile world, though no doubt they figure that big enough fences, mean enough private armies, and loads of central air conditioning will insulate them from the damage.
I don’t mind that the Bush campaign fought hard to win the 2000 election. That was certainly a legitimate goal for them to pursue. But it nauseates me beyond belief that their agents in the Florida government disenfranchised tens of thousands of African Americans in order to keep them from voting Democratic. And it sickens me that they gathered up a bunch of congressional staffers pretending to be an angry local mob and stormed election canvassers, using pure Gestapo techniques to shut down the most fundamental act of democracy, counting the votes.
I don’t mind that the Bush campaign took the election to the Supreme Court, even though they were simultaneously accusing the Gore folks of being litigious. What disgusts me beyond words is that a regressive majority of the Court anointed Bush president in a sheer act of partisan politics. And that they were so anxious to achieve that end that they repudiated all their own judicial politics previously espoused in case after case - from states’ rights, to equal protection, to judicial restraint. And that they were so conscious of what they were actually doing that they took the unprecedented step of stating that no lasting principles were involved in the matter, that their decision would forever apply to this case and this case only.
Once in office, there was still the possibility that the administration would govern as it had campaigned, as a rather centrist, status quo-style government, perhaps especially tempered from arrogance and overstretch by the knowledge that the country was deeply divided and that Bush had in fact actually lost the popular vote. In fact, though, they did precisely the opposite.
The first order of business, certainly the top priority for the administration, and arguably the only thing they were ever completely seriously about, was their tax restructuring program. It was grim enough that the tax cuts, as under Reagan, where dramatically tilted in favor of the wealthy. But what made them especially disgusting was that - again, as under Reagan - these wholesale revenue reductions were not only not accompanied by expenditure cuts, but in fact were coupled with increased spending. Can you say “voodoo economics”? Bush’s father once had, before he treasonously changed his tune to win the vice presidency (leading to the presidency) for himself. But he was right the first time, before he put personal ambition and transparent insecurity ahead of the national interest. And thus we’ve witnessed the only possible result of the combination of massive revenue cuts and continuing spending increases: astronomical debt, now well over nine trillion dollars in total, and rapidly growing. What I want to know is how can we - especially so-called family-oriented, so-called fiscal conservatives - not be outraged, not be scandalized, not be boiling with anger at the debt we have transferred to our own children, all so that we could avoid paying our own way, like every generation before us has?
I am outraged as well at how the administration polarized the country in the wake of one of the greatest traumas it had ever experienced. Let us leave aside the ample evidence demonstrating that the Bush team was asleep at the wheel before 9/11 - or perhaps far, far worse - a set of facts which is noteworthy in part because progressives did not use them to attack the president and score cheap but easy political points. But the administration did precisely that. It is disgusting - and it fills me with anger - how they used a national security crisis to win partisan political contests. How they scheduled a vote on the Iraq war resolution right before the midterm elections of 2002, thus politicizing the gravest decision a country can make by forcing Democrats to choose between voting their conscience and campaign accusations of being soft on national security.
It boils my blood that these chickenhawks - almost none of whom showed up for duty in Vietnam when it was their turn - could dare to accuse Max Cleland of being weak on national security, a guy who gave three of his four limbs to that very cause on the battlefields of Southeast Asia. How could they run ads morphing his face into Saddam’s or bin Laden’s, when his opponent - of course - took Vietnam deferments, just like Cheney and Ashcroft and the rest? And how could they accuse him of being weak on national defense because he opposed the bureaucratic reshuffling to create the Homeland Security Department, when Bush himself had also opposed it? That is, before Rove politicized it by inserting union-busting language applying to tens of thousands of civil servants covered by the act.
It nauseates me beyond words that this president could use the tragedy of 9/11 to justify invading a country which had nothing to do with that attack whatsoever. It enrages me that those who had the courage to oppose this policy so transparently deceitful (and it truly was - from the proof of the Downing Street Memos, to Colin Powell’s charade at the UN, to the assurances that the US knew where the WMD were, to the rejection of the weapons inspectors’ request to have two more months to finish the job) were labeled as traitors and worse for telling the truth. And that 4,000 Americans and over a million Iraqis have died for these lies.
And speaking of treason, what sort of looking glass have we all fallen through when the government of the United States exposes its own CIA undercover agent in order to punish her spouse for revealing administration lies about the war? When did that cease to be a cause of outrage, especially among our super-patriotic friends on the right?
How is it possible not to be angry looking at the destruction of Hurricane Katrina, and the bungled response of the government before, during and after that tragedy? Indeed, even journalists who had spent so many years licking government boots that their tongues had long ago turned black were moved to outrage at the magnitude of that failure, with the president meanwhile on a stage in San Diego pretending to play guitar at a Republican fundraiser.
I am outraged, as well, by one of the most insane and avoidable tragedies of all human history, the slow-motion holocaust of global warming. How can anyone not be angry at a political movement and a government that puts the short-term profits of one or two industries ahead of the viability of the entire planet? How can anyone not be mortified as we one-twentieth of the world’s population, who generate one-fourth of the greenhouse gases causing the problem, not only do nothing about the problem, but actively block the rest of the world from saving all of us from this folly?
I’m furious because the Bush administration and its ideological allies have shredded the Constitution at every turn, destroying the institutional gift of those they pretend to revere (but only when it’s convenient to upholding their own depredations). This president, who has gotten virtually everything he has ever wanted throughout his life and his presidency, once privately exclaimed in frustration at not getting something he wanted when he wanted it, “It’s just a goddam piece of paper!”, and that is precisely how he has treated America’s founding document. His signing statements - probably over a thousand in count now - completely obliterate the checks and balances principle of the Constitution, its most central idea. His admitted spying on Americans without warrant smashes the Fourth Amendment. His fiasco in Guantánamo and beyond mocks due process and habeas corpus guarantees. His invasion of Iraq against the international law codified in the UN Charter, to which the United States is a signatory, violates the Constitutional requirement to hold such treaties as the highest law of the land. Altogether, Americans have never seen a presidency with such imperial ambitions, and anyone who cares about the Constitution should be furious. A year from now, it is quite possible that Hillary Clinton will be president of the United States (ugh). Would our conservative friends silently countenance, let alone viciously support, such a monarchy in the White House if it belonged to Queen Hillary rather than King George? I think not.
We could go on and on from here. This administration and the movement it fronts at least gets high marks for consistency. Everything they touch turns to stone. There’s Pat Tillman and Terri Schiavo. There’s the politicization of the US Attorneys and the corruption of DeLay and Abramoff. There’s North Korea, Pakistan and the Middle East. There’s the shame of torture and rendition. There’s the wrecking of the American military and of the country’s reputation abroad. There’s Afghanistan and the failure to capture bin Laden. And much, much more. But above all, and driving all, there’s the kleptocracy - the doing of everything in every way to facilitate the looting of the national fisc.
What an unbelievable record of deceit, destruction, hypocrisy, incompetence, treason and greed. What a tragic tale of debt, lost wars, stolen elections, environmental crises, Constitution shredding, national shame and diminished security.
All done by the very most pious amongst us, of course. Merry Christmas, eh? I guess those are our presents, all carefully wrapped in spin, contempt, and preemptive attacks on any of us impertinent enough to say “No thanks, Santa”.
So, yeah, you’re goddam right I’m angry about what’s been done to my country, and what’s been done by my country in my name.
How could anyone who claims to care about America not be?
David Michael Green is a professor of political science at Hofstra University in New York. He is delighted to receive readers’ reactions to his articles (dmg@regressiveantidote.net), but regrets that time constraints do not always allow him to respond. More of his work can be found at his website, www.regressiveantidote.net
Most people aren’t angry because they are not:
1. Aware
2. Hurt by current conditions
As long as there is even a thin veneer of prosperity, there will be no general uprising or any sort, and there will be no large peace demonstrations.
American Idol is far more effective at stifling dissent than the FBI could ever hope to be.
Stockholm Syndrome
The first poster is on to something: people are not aware.
Our culture promotes two things: scrambling for a decent job and spending your off hours buying stuff.
In school kids are learning to fill in bubbles to the correct answers instead of learning the deeper understanding of what is really going on; they’re passive regurgitators rather than active inquirers.
And, kids, as Ralph Nader has pointed out, grow up corporate. And corporations want obedience.
To the extent that you could challenge the corporate culture in schools you’d have the opportunity to turn this thing around. Thing is, though, NCLB has schools in a standardized test straight jacket. Until you free teachers to teach and students to learn, you won’t find Americans coming around to the activity you wish they had.
dear david,the answer is YES…IMPEACH !
1. memory loss.
2. memory loss.
This is a beautiful piece of art. Required reading for anyone who has an open mind. Thank you David Michael Green!
People are more jaded–they have outrage fatigue, helped by a compliant media.
But using snappy titles like “conservatism is for kindergarteners’ is the way to go. The republicans are insulting–it makes sense to use the same strategy.
I wouldnt expect the democrats to do it though-since they stand for almost the same things as the others. The difference is way to small to justify a vote for them.
Me too, perfesser Green. Gee whiz! I’m so gosh darned perturbed I’m gonna stamp my foot and hold my breath until all those nasty right wingers start being more fair.
This is a great post. Absolutely on target. Thanks for expressing the same things I feel so well! This essay has content, meat, substance. It has a logical thread. It makes sense and draws conclusions.
If more progressives would express themselves this way rather than using the tactics that Code Pink uses, Progressives would have a chance. Playing dead on the lawn of the Capital doesn’t say anything meaningful. We already know that people are dying in the wars. We get it. Save this stuff for drama class.
Why is it that someone like David Michael Green (who has something concrete and well thought out to offer) gets little or no media attention; yet when Cindy Sheehan as much as farts the Progressive world bows and chants her name? She doesn’t say anything!
We need more voices like David Michael Green - voices that have something meaningful to say.
Common Dreams has become the shoulder of last resort for whiney pissants to cry on.
Dear David,
Thanks for this article. You express very clearly and very passionately many of my own sentiments. The lack of perception of the “American public” is mind boggling. That the MSM does not cover any of this delusional thinking and expose the lies and half-truths is beyond comprehension. I am deeply immersed into my spiritual practice and at the same time live in the world of matter, and I am constantly amazed that people do not have the capacity or desire to pierce the veil of illusion portrayed in the popular media. Even on commondreams.org, where there are from time to time deeply spiritual, not religious, writings, the bulk of those who comment seem to be caught in political and sectarian arguments and fail to see the metaphorical meanings of what is going on. With the exception of Dennis Kucinich, there is not one presidential candidate of any party who is saying what he is saying. And, consequently, he is marginalized as unelectable and irrelevant to what is needed to bring this country into balance. I am a U.S. Citizen, but beyond that, I am a global citizen, living on this one planet that we all share. There is not enough personal security and privatized infrastructure to guarantee survival of those ignorant of the interdependence of all of us. Truly, we live together or we die together. There is no alternative. Keep up the excellent analysis. I look forward to reading more of your work and sharing in the evolution of consciousness that you represent.
peace,
st john
David has listed the issues.The root of the problem, however, lies in our heritage–our moral (or I should say immoral) heritage.
We are descendants of Germanic barbarians. Their M.O was to gather sycophants around them and invade prosperous countries in order to steal their resources and occupy their lands, dividing the riches amongst themselves. They were ruthless, cold blooded murderers and thieves. They had no qualms about decimating entire populations in order to enrich themselves and their cohorts. The most successful among these cheap thieves and murderers became what we now know as our “aristocracy” and “old money”–like the Bush family. The aristocratic myth, invented to keep the money within the tight circle of the biggest bullies.
How is our behavior any different from those remote ancestors? From our invasion of the North American continent and genocidal murdering of the native population to our numerous wars of occupation of other nations, we appear to be functioning at the same moral level as those barbarians. The only difference I see is that we now use AK47s and nuclear weapons as opposed to bows and arrows and maces.
There is no outrage because we see that as perfectly normal. “I am going to get mine and to hell with the world” appears to be our motto.
george w. bush December 28th, 2007 1:47 pm — “Common Dreams has become the shoulder of last resort for whiney pissants to cry on.”
Regretably, you do have a point. It’s not lack of anger so much as lack of effective action, which begs the question, of course, about what possible action could be effective.
IMO, it’s either revolution or surrender. The entire notion about accomplishing change by ‘working within’ the rules established by a totally corrupt system seems to me not just futile, but nonsensical. It’s as if the founders of the United States had sought to achieve their goals by following the rules laid down by the King George of that day to preserve that imperial establishment.
By their very nature, establishment systems are designed to sustain themselves. Their rules, set in place for that primary purpose, cannot be altered without without challenging and overcoming the system itself. Nor can the system be altered without challenging and overcoming those very rules. A veritable “Catch-22″ if ever there was one — not to mention the equally difficult obstacle of general apathy or “outrage fatigue”, or whatever one wishes to call it.
Besides, the US doesn’t really possess any viable ‘party of the left’ when viewed from a global perspective. Things that USans regard as radically progressive (e.g., a mixed economy, universal health care and a social safety net) is seen as centrist political philosophy elsewhere. Conversely US ‘middle-of-the-road’ politics has moved so far rightward, it has become difficult for any outside observer to distinguinsh from purest corporatism with police state protection.
All things considered, I’d put the likelhood of the requisite second American Revolution so close to zero as makes no practical difference and, accordingly, expect the ‘whiney pissants’ will just (continue to) surrender after nothing more than a few verbal ‘tea parties’ that won’t be noticed even by the (Bostonian) locals, let alone the rest of the US imperial conglomerate.
I appreciate this article and so many others here on CD, and also like to read the responses. I would like to add that “Freedom is not free, it requires responsiblity”, and that “Corruption stifles growth”.
Two very fundamental thruths, totally dismissed by this administration, and now we are going to pay. Makes me sick.
Everything David says I have watched happen and felt my anger, frustration, and sense of helplessness grow. The frustration because sometimes it seems like no one else can see what’s going on.
During the 2000 election I watched Bush, with his family waiting for the results, jump up from his chair when it was announced that Gore had won Florida, and yell “that’s wrong!(or words to that effect)” followed with the damning words, “Jeb wouldn’t let that happen!” The channel it was on immediately went back to the studio, and I’m sure all evidence of his blunder was erased. I kept waiting for someone to bring it up, but no one ever did. I guess they were waiting too.
I had a conversation with my twenty-three year old granddaughter on Christmas day. In the course of our conversation, she remarked that “… and now Social Security is going broke too.” She’s only heard the propaganda we’ve been fed since that 2000 “election.” So I explained how the right hates all the programs the left has created since the forties, which Bush and company have been systematically destroying under the guise of “privatization.” Hopefully she’ll spread the word to her friends, and they’ll spred it further.
Both RIGHT and LEFT should be appalled by George W Bush.
He is NOT conservative; true conservatism means just that ‘to conserve’, thus reducing spending, reducing international forces, etc…
anyone i know who is a ‘true’ conservative agrees; they just hated Al Gore MORE…..
Anger is an emotional reaction to undesired events that is usually dealt with by aggression, expression, or suppression. David channels his anger into expression—the best way of purging it. More power to him…his article is well written and persuasive and, well, makes me even angrier at the Bush administration. Too bad it’s published on Common Dreams and preaches to the converted.
How do those of us without David’s literary or verbal self-confidence express our anger? At the polls? Give me a break. David states what most of us know in our hearts: campaign platforms often bear little resemblance to governance and provide unreliable information about the nature and motivations of the candidates. Every four years about half the pool of eligible voters elects the new most powerful person in the world based on hunches and gut feelings shaped by advertising.
Via organized demonstrations, strikes or civil disobedience? There is no consensus on why organized public protests are on the wane in America—but the fact is that, no matter how angry we are, most of us are unconvinced that our personal participation in public displays of anger will be effective in bringing about political change.
If we can’t or won’t express our anger, we’re left with suppression and its attendant problems…depression, cynicism, hostility. Most of us try some sort of self-calming approach—not via a disciplined technique such as meditation, but by numbing our brains with consumerism, TV, booze, etc. Internalizing our anger is bad for us and good for Bush.
We desperately need to find effective ways to express our anger at our loathsome, smirking president and his merry band of thugs for defiling, denigrating and endangering our most cherished principles and institutions and debasing our nation in the eyes of the world. Ways that work with the realities and technologies of the 21st century, ways that bring about change. Now that David has used his anger to further inflame ours, I challenge him—and his readers—to propose methods by which we can direct ourselves to fixing our broken democracy.
Nice to see that SOMEBODY is awake in the the “fortress”.
For those claiming impeachment is the answer, let me assure you that it isn’t.
It’s either a revolution–with all the concommitant turmoil that implies, especially loss of serene shopping, or:
The Toilet of History.
You choose.
The bummer of all of this is that if you continue tochoose the second option, you will take a lot of innocent folks with you–who don’t live in the US and in fact, actively dislike you guys.
godfrey,
Unfortunately, all the folks posting here are clearly NOT the converted.
There are more posting every day from the fanatical political right.
I predict that within a year of Commondreams inaugurating the comments function the threads will be completely controlled by those folks.
Call me Cassandra, if you must, but call me a cab.
Veros said “Corruption stifles growth”.
I disagree corruption seems to make some people extremely wealthy especially here in DC ….I’m talking about the politicans, the military contractors and other players especially the boys down on K street. For the rest of us peasants you and I and most people around the world it stifles growth.
DAVID GREEN___you have done a great job of describing all of the downfall of America since the 2000 appointment of Bush. It is a good question -Why do people not seem as angry as they should be about what has happened to us? I suspect some of the reason is the affluent lifestyles the majority of our citizens enjoy, and they are not willing yet to jeopardize that comfortable existence by even thinking about what they might have to do to bring our democracy back. It was much easier for the blacks to march for change as they did not have so much to lose. Also when large numbers of people have been suckered into thinking God had a hand in Bush and his gang taking over, that is another major hurdle for any sensible solution. We do not have many Patrick Henry`s around, saying GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH!! That may come later, as we are losing liberty and privacy daily.
So long as they canshop, they won’t revolt.
Not even if you tax the hell out of the goods they are buying.
The Boston Tea Party–no taxation without representation–was VERY much a thing of the past.
I commend you, David Michael Green, on your gut-forth article. I would proudly fight along side you in any trench knowing we share philosophy of soul.
One Nation Under God, with bush, and literally USELESS for All.
Check out http://www1.va.gov/rac-gwvi/docs/GWVIS_May2007.pdf
Apparently, according to the VA, over 73000 american soldiers have been killed in the gulf region since 1990.
Just another thing to be pissed about.
Keyinside is correct about the apathy/ignorance of the American populations knowledge of what is happening to their country.
David Greens article should be handed out at bus and train departure points,shopping centres,and the like.The people are not going to get the message any other way.
In 1976 the late Senator Frank Church,chairman of a U.S. congressional committee investigating the C.I.A,wrote in his report that the enormous power of the new technologies of surveillance,indocrination and mobilisation had given to the state were capable of creating a Fascist regime overnight.
Guess whats happened!
moonraven makes an excellent point about the infiltration of Common Dreams by right wing sleazebags. The article by Green itself is highly suspect, as when he writes “as to George W. Bush, himself, I suspect it’s quite fair to say that most Americans and even most progressives did not originally despise or loathe him.” Oh really? All of the thoughtful lefties and progessives in my orbit knew full well in 2000 that G.W.B. was a cannibal or, more gently, “bad news.” More right-wing revisionism. Thanks, Common Dream.
A susceptible percentage of Americans have been conditioned since birth to be passive…lethargic…accepting of the “American Fantasy”. A great number (30-40%) of American citizens live in Disney World on steroids. One remedy is to turn off your TV and regain your ability to reason and think FOR YOURSELF. Stop swallowing the blatant and subliminal message of the MSM. Go to a quiet place and free yourself. Allow your intuition to rein. It may be scary at first, but therein lies the primal POWER of the AMERICAN PEOPLE.
Yes, what can we do but whine? I prefer to call it protest. Someone yesterday posted the protest by a priest in the 1500s of the slaughter of the original inhabitants of Hispaniola. Gosh, what a whiner!
Face it, alone we’re helpless. That is why we need to try to awaken other Americans. Do not think that speaking out is worthless. What else can you do? Voting is worthless. Demonstrations seem to have no effect.
It’s possible that we will have no effect and the country will slide into total barbarism, taking millions of lives with it. The only chance we have is to speak out, and try to influence others to resist barbarism and support community.
When i started reading this I thought at first it must be my great US campadre Barry David Butler in full flow -(they should both get together..they would be formidable!!)but I salute this great treatise as a work of informed genius.
God bless you all over there…and God SAVE America
Roger (here in suck-up-to-bushland..formerly the UK
willybill:
When you see that happening, please let me know.
There is a reason that folks from the US are addicted to food and drugs and t.v.: It’s to keep down any twinge of anxiety that might make its way into consciousness as a signal that something is WRONG, inside and outside.
And now that Chavez’ folks are inside Colombia to receive hostages from the FARC–and he says he’s going to KEEP DOING THIS–the US will triple the number of asassination plots against him.
They have GOT to keep that Colombian civil war burning bright, so that their soldiers in country can guarantee the safe passage of drugs to the US to keep their people numb as posts.
My spouse is convinced that a revolution is coming. I’m not, though. I’ve always felt that unless ordinary folks are willing to take up arms and possibly die for a cause (note here I’m saying _willing_ to, not necessarily actually taking up arms — it’s more of a mental thing) then this will just continue. I’m not optimistic about our future, either as a country or as a species.
I am with you on this. And I am acting and speaking whenever and wherever possible. This country has been turned on its head — it pockets and brains dumped out by the worst of corrupted people. The heart still beats in our chests — and we must use that to re-build the brains and the collective pocketbook of our society. If we learn, we can keep the angry, self-serving ego apes away from the buttons and control boards of power — and distribute our wealth in balanced manners that will restore the quality of life among ourselves and the planet as a home. Enough is enough! Period!
And while the above cries of ENOUGH were put on this site, a host of trolls who wish to maintain the status quo at allcosts is scrolling through here looking for the next victim for their personal attack.
For today, I am not providing any more exposure.
I’ve had the same question for the last three years. You failed to mention that Bush with his “signing statements” has claimed that laws passed by Congress and signed by him do not apply the the Executive Branch, (i.e., will not be enforced). He can’t violate laws that are not laws.
Most people who are concerned with the problem seriously (e.g., Bill Moyers) point out that the MSM no longer sees it as their job to point out the mistakes and lies of the government. They know that it would hurt their business. Remember the effort put into covering all the “severe” problems that Clinton experienced. Do any of the Bush’s mistakes, errors and lies have more that six hours of coverage in the MSM? No. That’s a problem.
National nostalgia. Mourn it’s loss.
There will be no revolution. There are no memories of better times, and the only remaining inspiring and dominating image is of the future.
A mass-produced future of threadbare promises and material disappointment.
Green certainly speaks my mind, as we Quakers say. I believe the lack of anger stems from 1) lack of concern by most Americans; 2) the “head-in-the-sand” behavior of most Americans; 3) the acceptance of lies because they are repeated so often; and 4) the basic conservatism pf so many otherwise good people. This country is in deep trouble, friends!!
Because everything else about this country is coming to resemble more and more a banana republic, I suspect that soon we will see the rise of various domestic revolutionary “armies” taking on this (or the next) fascist regime. As moonraven said, there really is no viable alternative. Those who point to “corruption” within the system are missing the point. The very structure of the system ensures that we get what we’ve gotten. The country is a failed experiment. No charismatic and visionary democrat, no subtle tweaking is going to change that fact. Change will be traumatic. No change would be exponentially worse.
Arvy,
Action is needed. Anger and whining are wasted. As another poster points out, its likely this David Green article was actually posted by the RNC to derail the left. Demoralizing the enemy is a good strategy.
We win by building the largest coalition. We win by organizing from the grass roots up (not from N Pelosi down.) We only lost by 457 votes a few years back. We narrowly lost Ohio last time despite the cheating. Now many states, including Florida and grudgingly Ohio, have moved to optical scan voting with paper trails. Sure, cheating is still possible, but is is harder and we are all on the lookout.
Yes, the media is dominated by Fox and friends, but we now have Keith Olbermann and the Daily Show. Most polls show the Republicans losing badly across the board. That will put progressives (not Democrats) in a position to make some real gains, if we play our cards right.
We have to work, work, work to get our people elected to office at all levels. One of the ways the right wing got their power was successfully running candidates at all levels including city councils and school boards. They organized at the grass roots — for them, churches offered a ready made source of unquestioning supporters. But its all coming apart on them now.
Unfortunately, whoever is elected will inherit a world in chaos, an atmosphere on fire, empty coffers, an economy in free fall, and a worn out military. Its surprising anyone on our side even wants to be President given the mess they’ll have to clean up.
Folks, roll up your sleeves. Its an election year and we’ve got work to do. As Paul Wellstone said, “Stand up. Keep fighting.”
As Bucky said in “Get Fuzzy”, “Am I too angry…or are you two just not angry enough?”
That’s the problem we Americans are just not angry enough!
Bucky, in the comic strip “Get Fuzzy”, asks the question…..”Am I too angry or are you two not angry enough?”
That’s the problem….we Americans are just not “angry enough”!
You are doing good when you try to take care of your country and stop the idiots that are destroying her.
You are wrong to condemn Republicans, Conservatives and others opposed to you and portray them as a monolithic group. They are not. No more than Progressives are the same as Leftists. Its not a us vs. them thing. Its good people of all political persuasions vs. people that wish to destroy our country.
Absolutes are a dangerous thing to play with. There are just as many Leftists as Neocons that wish to destroy our country…..perhaps for different reasons, but does it really make a difference to you why they wish to do it?
Lies are lies no matter who tells them. When you hear Dick Cheney say all Liberals are disloyal, do you believe its true? Of course not, but some are. When a Liberal says all Conservatives are out to destroy the working man, do you believe its true? Of course not, but some are.
But if you keep playing the “our sid” against “their side” game (which they designed and suits them to a T if you play)America will be the loser.
I’d side with Dick Cheneys brother if I could be sure he was working for America and the American people, I don’t care if he was a Republican or whatever. (Sorry, I do draw the line at Cheney, I’m fairly sure he’s the Anti-Christ at this point))
peterc December 28th, 2007 5:03 pm
Because someone holds a different point of view than you does not make them right-wing or sleezebags. In fact its fairly dangerous to only talk about things from one viewpoint.
Though there is no doubt you are correct about GWB, pretty much everyone knew he was a lightweight coming out of Texas. I have to keep apologizing for letting him outside the State. Sorry about that.
Well, NO.
Most conservatives are out to destroy the working man. Most liberals are not disloyal. The conservative Republicans have been able to dominate American politics precisely because they are united in their beliefs and against liberals.
It is us vs them and until we all realize that and start working together, we’re gonna lose, and they’re gonna keep telling us what to do.
Rants to the choir are worthless at this point - especially rants that do not include solution suggestions. Anyone can yell and scream and lay out the facts of the case over and over - the author should be posting this at Conservative websites, not here.
Boycott all enablers. Stop paying taxes. Wear the truth on your car. Leak facts if you’re in the position. Monkeywrench the MSM if you just can’t quit. Annoy your so-called Reps with calls and emails. Start a perpetual protest at the Capitol.
If the author is truly worried about the future of the country, then “whatever it takes” must become the paradigm. Less ranting, more fighting.
Bucky in the comic strip “Get Fuzzy” asked the right question. “Am I too angry or are
you … not angry enough?”
Why be angry when nothing is wrong? I find the prhase/concept “dynamic ignorance” defined as “the will not to know” usefull.
The extent to which Joe America has a will not to know and is dynamically ignorant depends on how close to the trough he percieves himself to be.
And if the truth threatens his fuel prices the terrorists responsible will have to be bombed as soon as the t.v’s warmed up and a budweiser is a cracked!
moonraven and others, pay no attention to the hosts of scrolling “trolls”. The cowardly trolls and their infantile schoolyard taunts we have with us always. Keep your eyes on the prize. Remember what is important. And never be impeded by one such as they. Their goal: our silence.
The moron that sits in the white House posing as President hasn’t the least understanding of anything he reads..(and he reads poorly)..he can’t speak a sentence on his own without sounding like the moron he is. Can anyone honestly credit him with truly understanding anything that he says or anything that is going on? He is a pathetic puppet residing in a bubble of megalomania.
The American people who are still uninformed may not have access to the Internet or time for anything other than daily survival. And the Internet is darn near the only place that tells what is really going on. There is of course Keith Olbermans rants but they are few and far between and in some venues being moved and put into a pay to view channel. There is also Air America on the radio but not heard in all areas, poor reception at night, and they do less informing than they could with the exception of a very few. One thing for certain, our bought and paid for no news, news media are nothing but puppets of the misinformation brainwashing propaganda of the powerful corporate elite who really run things and then coupled with gossip infotainment labeled as ‘news’..
In my opinion it is less the fault of the misinformed for being so then it is the people who eagerly work for these propaganda spouting no news news medias and who put their conscience, ethics, integrity, morality, and humanity aside, and willingly become posterior sniffing puppets for a pay check. When are they going to stand up and say ENOUGH! ? When are they going to speak out against the disinformation? If they did, then perhaps the people who rely on them for the ‘news’ would get the clue that all is definately not well and they too would begin to wake up to reality. Maybe our outrage at the misinformation should be directed clearly to those misinforming hired puppets of the mainstream media…and I don’t mean the Rush, Hannity, and O’Riley and the like. Just the regulars of the nightly news teams.
Street wisdom says - don’t get angry, get even.
Doesn’t do much good to complain, though it is useful to make a list of the problems and check it twice. But by this time, we all know what this administration has done and can predict what it is likely to do tomorrow.
Limited terms for presidents and representatives are designed to limit the power of government through frequent elections in which the people express their dissatisfaction and anger. Elections allow the people to get even, short of conflict in the streets.
One of the reasons there is so much anger and frustration is that elections do not get the job done. It is convenient to bash the public for its apathy and its ignorance, and it is a fact of life that most people are not politically engaged. This was true in 1776. The Republic-if-you-can-keep-it, was the handiwork of a politically aroused minority of the population, those activist citizens who are today represented in this forum and others like it on the internet, the last redoubt of 1st Amendment speech.
The over riding problem which gives rise to all of Mr. Green’s complaints (except perhaps his issue with the 2nd Amendment) derives from the abandonment of the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. The Federal government has become too powerful and the Executive within that federal apparatus has dramatically overstepped its bounds. The election of 2000 demonstrated the impunity of the Federal power when the federal high court over ruled the jurisdiction of the state high court and the state simply rolled over and showed its belly. This outrage passed almost without comment because few people within the politically engaged community and the dispossessed candidate himself, mild mannered Al Gore, would stand up and demand that the Constitution be respected.
The problem we confront, which creates the frustration and anger, is the government apparatus itself which has ceased to function within the limits prescribed by the Constitution. Elections are rigged, of course, through hidden techniques and through media consolidation and through corruption of a two-party system that is bought and paid for. Most of the candidates are running for the top spot in this unconstitutional government. The republic-if-you-can-keep-it is gone, friends.
However, from within this last redoubt of free speech there is emerging a reanimated popular will for a return to the Constitutional framework of this republic. Many people from the left and right have become aware that we do not have a Constitutional government, but only the pretense of it, and they have determined that they will use the election of ‘08 to create a new revolution. Many shallow pockets have come to the aid of the candidacy of Ron Paul.
The corporate oligarchy called the USA is vulnerable at this point to an uprising of the popular will because it has mired itself in imperial war and financial impropriety. We are all going to be hurt unless we take action and return to our roots, the only political framework we have, the Constitution.
Forget your left ideologies, your right ideologies, vote for the Constitution. Vote for Ron Paul. You may not like his positions on this or that issue, as I do not, but we either reaffirm our Constitutional heritage, or we continue on into a new world order of centralized power against which we will be completely helpless.
Ron Paul is the candidate of decentralization and distributed power, the internet candidate, the candidate of liberty and law.
Don’t get angry, get even. Get even with the sold-out lying party hacks of the corrupt two-party system. Make your anger count for something, make it productive of change. This is your last chance to “work within the system”.
Yes, The Bu$h Regime does provoke anger, actually rage. BUT, just as angering ist he fact that the so called “oppostion party” is no better, not even slightly! There isn’t a democrat in either the house or senate (no capitalization for either chamber of this worthless legislative body) with the exception of Mike Gravel, or Dennis Kucinch that are worth the air they consume daily. Face it, we are being represented (I use that term VERY loosely) by an entire government of people who are not well off but extremely wealthy. Filty rich may be a better term. Not a damn one of them has probably had to work a day in their pampered life to put food on their table or pay for rent/mortgage and utility payments. So how does anyone expect them to even be able to represent the average American much less want to? They will do what is in their best interest, and it most certainy isn’t ours. Face it, they and their respective families didn’t get to their position of wealth by following the advice of the leader they so much like to call themselves followers of but rather through greed and selfishness.
Now if one will look at what is required to attain office as a repsentative or senator, the common denominator is money and lots of it, which pretty well keeps the “average” American out, and the “average” American is exactly what is needed to insure that the majority are truly represented. The only way for that to become a possibility is by establishing public only campaign funding while at the same time prohibiting the use of any monies other than that from said public funding. Face it, if we were truly represented by our representatives and senators, not only would Bu$h/Cheney have long ago been impeached (rather than the whole frigging issue taken “off the table” by our extremely wealthy democratic house speaker), and they and all of their worthless criminal cronies would either be rotting in prison or permanantly imitating a pendulum.
Finally, the reason that critters such as Bu$h/Cheney infect our political system is because we the people allow it. Perhaps not intentially, but rather through complacence and/or ignorance. Though I don’t make a habit of it, occasionally I listen to Sean Hannity when he does his man on the street thing. During one show I heard him stop and talk to several folks and ask them questions such as who the vide president is, who the speaker of the house is, who Cindy Sheenhan is, etc. and not a damn one of them knew any of them. Worse, I have heard that civics is no longer taught in most public schools also. Folks, this is an issue for LOCAL GOVERNMENT! You have a say in how your children are educated and nobody…absoluetly nobody can blame anyone other than themselves for being ignorant of what the government is doing in THEIR NAMES except themself (please note that I realize this does NOT apply to most CD readers and posters as well as sites such as Alternet, SC, etc.)
I agree with most of the comments on this thread regarding the above article. It was indeed excellent and I will go so far as to call myself a Bu$h hater because it is true. However, as the author pointed out I didn’t start out that way but rather grew that way because of the many atrocities listed in the article. However, I repeat myself..I am just as angry at our supposed representatives and senators for disregarding their own oaths of office and at the sheeple in the American public for allowing this to happen. This didn’t occur overnight but has been festering for years and not just since Reagan. This infection in our government has been growing since AT LEAST Nixon, where Cheney and his ilk were getting an education themselves in corruption. We the people are ultimately responsible for allowing them to remain in government and climb the ladder to the point they are now. As such, there was plently of information on Dumbya while he was governor of Texas. He has simply done the same thing on the national level and expounded upon it. We the people are the ones who have the choice of either complacently allowing this infection to grow out of control until it kills this country or waking up and curing the infection.
Happy New Year to everyone!!! May 2008 began the cure.
NCYCAT: I personally am descended from Vajk, Chief of the Magyars, who became King Stephen I, first king of Hungary and later St. Stephen.
Now why people say they’re conservative? I think it’s because they think it gives out the message that they’re solid citizens…a socio-economic boost to their egos.
Most conservatives I know can hardly start a conversation without making it plain that they’re conservatives. It’s like they’re adorning themselves.
People like the individual who so hilariously (if you’re 12) post under the name “george w bush” above, create meaning for their lives and their ignorant little attitudes by being in (sadly irrelevant) opposition to anything that isn’t regressive. I have a child who’s 12 right now, and without good community parenting at that age, we would all end up as nothing more than regressive trolls pathetically trying to be heard by people who consider us to be ignorant wastes of space on earth.
If you leave regressives alone long enough, they’ll do each other in. Case in point: the Romney/Huckabee feud. Now THAT is entertainment at its best. Two regressives duking it out with each other over who would make the best religious president of a secular, diverse nation.
The regressive political system includes all the current players of the SINGLE PARTY SYSTEM we now find ourselves.
You want change, start voting Third Party or Independent.
The Deed:
You have got to be kidding!
Who is this WE, kimo sabe?
How many times do I have to ssay it: Revolution (in the tradition of the Founders) or The Toilet of History.
Claiming that the right wing democratic party is going to make meaningful changes is sheer lunacy, and brings everybody on this planet closer to hearing the sound of
F
L
U
S
H
I
N
G
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Somehow the end of my post keeps getting cut off.
It is F L U S H I N G .
i have been watching and reading the posts for the last couple of days….moonraven,i didnt think anybody attacked you…that person didnt know anything about you,not enough to insinuate anything.you could be an old woman living in a shoe,in the bronx,with 10 kids,they dont know and i dont know anything except what you have told us..i heard you attacking someone else for what you ‘imagined’they meant.i dont understand why anyone on the forum would fight with other people,people that want the same thing,you do…for the madness of this administration to stop.and the will of the people obeyed,by impeaching bush and his posse..isnt that what most posters on this forum,want ?
I particularly don’t like it because I had lifelong friends who are conservative. Alas, no more.
congratulations to mr. green for being pissed off, and wondering why no one else is. it would be nice to say he’s the spark the smoldering fire needs, but i doubt, at this point, that there’s even a fire worthy of smoldering.
he did, however, fail to mention rising fuel prices (i think that’s occurring) which in turn have, finally, hit the grocery store shelves. anybody paying attention to that one lately??
nor did he mention the enron fiasco which was followed shortly by massive increases in property taxes throughout the country (i’m sure there was no direct relation there). nor did he mention the “death” of that fiasco’s founder, mr. lay, who i am sure is enjoying his good life on some foreign island. yeah, dead, that’s right.
mimirae, they will never stand up and say enough. not as long as they (msm) are given superstar status, treated like/and treat themselves like heroes and whores (sometimes both at once), given outrageous salaries along with unknown perks, and continue to pathetically act like little puppies around this so-called “bring ‘em on” leader, in search of a bone, or a compliment. put that moron in an empty room with me, i’d love to introduce him to “bring ‘em on”.
nor did he mention, oh so long ago that we’ve forgotten, the shooting down of one of our spy planes over chinese air space. we should have been paying attention way back there over the spy issue.
moonraven, i understand your feeling toward us americans. there are, however, some of us who don’t fit that mold, are very embarrassed to be american, and would gladly give our souls to remedy the situation.
alanpetersen, your spouse is correct. it is why we were given the right to keep and bear arms. there will be those of us who refuse to surrender them at the time we are ordered to do so. our founding fathers -renegades, rebels and whoredogs that they were - were nothing short of brilliant.
so, mr. green, lead us to the next level.
No.
Some posters want just the opposite. And they are here to raise enough hell that some of us who really do not have much patience for bullshit will stop posting INFORMATION and calling for change. Those folks want the status quo.
And I certainly don’t believe that impeaching the Bush Gang would accomplish anything.
So, no, I don’t want what you want. That makes two people who disagree right there.
And my final comment to you is: You did not HEAR me doing anything. And you have no idea what I “imagine” or what other folks’ intentions are when they post personal attacks.
Your comment about the will of the people is completely gratuitous: the will of the people allowed the Bush Gang to take office and then VALIDATED them 4 years later–when the people thought the war was going to be won and that they’d have another 25 years of moderately priced gasoline for their SUVs.
I am sorry folks, but my patience is gone for today. Too damn much gratuitous denial and stupidity for this bird to process any more from you.
so there is no confusion, my previous post was directed to nayoibi.
damned decent heartfelt rant,professor.you must be a sincere fella because you even included material which make you must know makes you sound a tad naive.hell,you know at least as well as i what mischief the bush family has been up to for over a century and a half now.the boy king comes by his brazen sense of entitlement naturally.his grampa was deeply involved in financing the real nazis back in the 1920’s when they were teetering.then he had the nerve to represent a state in the us senate which had a large jewish population,including a significant number of shoah survivers.now,thats a nice moderate eisenhower republican for you.i think that the professor,like myself,was not totally shocked that dubya is neither compassionate or conservative-or that he is a pumped up county judge executive at best.if this wasn’t a solidly right wing nation jr would never have been in a position to steal the presidency.i only hope the kid does not turn out to have been one schmuck president too many-survival-of -our -democracy wise.thanks again for the superb post.
moonraven, don’t leave!! come back!! you’re one of the few who makes/has sense.
no confusion.i guess i dont understand why you are on this forum.why are you here ?what do you want ?you are so defensive and abrasive and consistent about it.wouldnt converse with the ‘morons’…, be considered torture for someone as intelligent as you are?..why are you here ?is it that you hope to impart some small grain of your superior wisdom on people less fortunate ?come on,from one native american indian,to another,what is in it,for you.
Mr. Green is right. But the reason “everybody” isn’t angry is twofold. Those who are successful enough to be getting away (still) with whatever they do for profit tend to stay pretty much consumed in their own successes, and may even think the political status quo is a contributing factor. So they don’t care.
Many who are quite unsuccessful are too flat-out dumb and deliberately uninformed to know the difference between good government and bad government. They don’t know whether they ought to be inquiring about anything. So they don’t care as long as the TV stays on.
The first group tends to vote. The second group does not.
the posts are living up to the title of this article.anger,anger,everywhere.all i was trying to say is “why do some of you take it out on each other?”some of the postings are confusing me…is there an enemy within?i was under the impression the enemy was within this government.i am dismayed to see the enemy within commondreams.so much misdirected anger,i cant tell who the enemy is now or even if there is one.i am no longer sure why any of us bother to be here,too much anger,not enough constructive ideas.at least the person that got bushwhacked by moonraven’s anger,was trying to be constructive and trying tocontributing tangible ideas.that is the way i saw it.that is why i decided to put my input here,today.i am sorry that i did.too many poor people here are so morose and already beaten,hopeless shuffling zombies spewing misdirected angers.goodnight
on second thought,i just wanna say,i’ve been following and reading commondreams for awhile.i have noticed that everytime someone is really positive and hopeful or even constructive and helpful,some blogadeer is promptly dispatched,to pulverize that hopeful,helpful idiot.are you sure bloggers are not being planted,to keep you all so downtrodden ?is this like the’diary of anne frank’ or something,where the diary survives,but the girl does not ?it gets creepier all the time.i have read things in the last couple of days such as “impeachment wont help”but it sure couldn’t hurt.i saw someone write,’americans are a bunch of lemmings,scrambling over the wall,into the abyss ‘or some such nonsense.i think the evil powers might just have their footprints all over this forum,making sure you all stay down and whimper,appropriately.
nayoibi,
Since you are a newcomer to CD, perhaps you ought to know a few things. You are right that the idea behind CD is to share ideas and provide useful information because the information provided by the Mainstream Media (MSM) as you well know is well, garbage. The comfort you should take by posting on CD is that you are among people who share similar views. There are times when we do not exactly see eye to eye, and sometimes it gets heated. That is something you have to learn to accept. We do encourage people to post because after all, it is an open forum. And we try to be respectful of each other’s views even if we disagree. Sometimes that is not easy to do. The people who post on CD are very intelligent, passionate, and wish to see change in this country. And some of us are very direct about it, and others (like myself) sometimes take the scenic route, but eventually we all get to the point. In short, nayoibi, we glad you are with us and keep posting.
nayoibi baby you rock, both your last couple of post said it all.
Moonraven I would like for you to just give us a little outline of how a revolution in the United States might take place. About the only way I can see is if the Military takes over and creates a Junta in the 1960s South America mode, not much better than what we have now in the U.S., I was living in Ecuador then and their constitution was suspended-like ours is now but officially. You talk about revolution, I am just too damn ignorant to imagine it so give me a verbal picture of how it would happen-thanks.
Cheer up, nayoibi. Not everyone here supports Moonraven’s hateful, condescending posts. I was sparring with her on the Chavez story here on CD tonight for the much the same reason, and I finally showed her out to be the dilletante cop out she is.
She’s living life in her own feverish mind, and in it we’re all right-wing regressives. Why? Because she says so.
i am a native american,so i am guilty of having a nose for tracking.i have taken notice when a very positive and uplifting blogger ventures out onto this stage,they are torn to shreds,i presume by the house-wolves.the more positive,hopeful and trying to be part of the solution and not part of the problem,that blogger is,the harder they are attacked.it is not my imagination,it is my steely-eyed and long-considered observation.i am not so new to cd,i just observe more than i interject.i have no desire to be one of moonraven’s lemmings or to visit her morbid abyss.the ‘real’ people here at cd,need to protect the positive and uplifting bloggers,they are your greatest allies and your most shining asset.
It’s amazing how this article hit home. Yes, I’m incredibly angry, and it’s not in my nature - or wasn’t, I have friends and loved ones who are conservative, or else numb to the point of not caring. I myself hated politics, but I voted, making sure to split my votes between the two major parties. I didn’t particularly like W, but after 9/11 was willing to give him the benefit of doubt, and root for him to do a good job. Then, sometime before the 2004 elections I started to wake up. It was the lies, the Orwellian language that got me - the “Clear Skies Act” that was anything but, etc., etc. The more I read, the angrier I became, until I sat in front of the tv crying on election night 2004. (To those of you who say there is no difference between the mainstream candidates, and it would have made no difference, I say if John Kerry had won, we would not be having debates about whether torture is acceptable, nor would we have invaded Iraq on the pretext of a connection to 9/11) The lies, the arrogance, the obvious contempt for the American people - and the truth - is perhaps the most disturbing thing to me about these yahoos running the country. So, it’s been a fairly slow process. I’m not ready for a revolution in the streets, but bit by bit I’m trying to do what little I can - to be the change I wish to see in the world, as the saying goes. We certainly need others to act more quickly and forcefully, but maybe enough of us will wake up and act in time.
thanks to everyone,you have cheered me up,it is a comfort to know their are warm and genuine people still at cd.i’m going to sign off,again.keeping your spirits up,will never hurt anybody.
nayoibi,
Don’t take it personally. On a number of occasions my posts have been slammed. Yes, I agree with you that it would be better to be positive and encouraging rather than negative, pontificating, and self-righteous. But, keep in mind that it is an open forum and there will be people who will strongly disagree with you. Tip O’Neill and Ronald Reagan frequently got into contentious debates, but at the end of the day, they still remained friends, and dined together.
i meant to say,keeping your spirits up,will never hurt anybody,but it bothers the hell out of the ‘devil’.
lawlessone I did not read your laundry-list post-did anyone? Keep it shorter if you expect it to be read.
damn it,just when i was signing out of this lion’s den.i noticed that there are bloggers among you that refer to other bloggers as “trolls”get a clue,people,that is the mark of someone who is counterproductive to a cause.it is a dead give-a-way of the disdain that they really feel,for all of you.it is comparable to the disdain little georgie w. shows for the ‘real’ folk when he refers to them as the “buddies”.you should not put up with ‘bad’ manners and people who show an evil disrespect for fellow bloggers by referring to them as “trolls”.it doesn’t take a genius,to figure out,that they are pretenders.
Regarding the Boston Tea Party: the tea was stolen.
In the most succinct and articulate manner David Green has stated the obvious, and I suspect there are millions who are angry and feel powerless. How has it all happened? How has the population gotten dumbed down? Well, MSM is corporately consolidated, for one. A recent survey of tv viewing hours by country reported a sizzling 8 hours per day of tv consumption by the average U.S. household; combine that with kids who then spend the rest of their available time playing video games (kids of the ages 8 to 24), a culture of crass materialism and a philosophy of consumerism that is drummed into the consciousness of those 8 hour a day tv watchers, under the watchful eyes of corporate/government programmers, a corrupt political process, plenty of mass propaganda/spin/lies/treachery and so on, and that is how and why you do not see rioting in the streets but rather the passive murmur of mild discontent mixed with sheepish apathy, ignorance, and a devolved consciousness in which critical thinking is something that for Mr. and Mrs. Joe Average, simply too much; it would fracture the delicate balance of self delusion mixed with self deception that while things may not be ‘right’ in the vague unease felt at the gas pump, its time for CSI Miami and a pizza. Grassroots organization and yes, revolution, may be all that saves our civilization, or world for that matter. I normally do not post my comments on the articles I read, but this article really resonated with me, and the comments were quite interesting. Happy New Year brothers and sisters of the mental revolution. On the count of three let’s all send a ‘Mind Slap’ to bush and cheney, ok? One, two, Slap!
“jr would never have been in a position to steal the presidency.”
So glad you pointed this out, Dodger Dave–that the Presidency was stolen. People seem to keep forgetting that the Current Occupant of the White House was NEVER elected by the people. Not the first time. Not the second term. The first was a Supreme Appointment. The second was theft at the ballot box. In any case, Dumbya lost the popular vote.
And, yes, Jeanne, we Americans are just not angry enough! Thank God there is some anger in the posts here; it proves we’re not all dead or asleep. Impeachment needs to be started, whether or not it ever comes to actual fruition, because it is the right thing to do under the Constitution and under the rule of law. It would move anger to power by making the statement that Presidents are not above the law, a warning to Bush’s successor. Pelosi failed in her duty to uphold the Constitution by “taking impeachment off the table” and most of the Democrats failed by sheepishly following her lead. It has been a huge disappointment. How do you “get on with the business of the country” (Pelosi’s excuse) when the President is breaking its laws?
Nayoibi,
There are alpha types of both sexes on most forums. They are easily spotted as they appear strident and angry. Once you recognize the bloggers that annoy you by name, skip the aggravation and move on to more constructive blogs. Peace sister, and keep posting, the more people share on critical issues in critical times the more general awareness they create. pbk
I was having reservations - nothing secondary meant nyoibi and other native folks - about the posts here a while back and realized that I had to step back for a while, take a couple deep breaths, and clear my head.
Following an hiatus, the discussion seems more or less as they have always been. But get too familiar and they can get in your head and spoil your time like being haunted, unable to concentrate. This is an abstract world, not the physical reality. This activity appeals to those who are accustomed to thinking, speaking, and writing in an abstract fashion. Those who become too concrete, don’t last.
What I sense is a feeling of hopelessness. Everything is so big and out of control that there’s nothing anyone feels they can really do at the moment but wait. Wait for whatever it is to happen.
To magnify events such that they appear unique, however, is to fail to realize that change, come what may or what we can make of it, will probably continue as a constant for the remainder of eternity. What that change will be is as it always has been, a dream, a hope, a matter of faith. Or a nightmare, or what you will.
That being said, at some point there will probably be another horrific war. I couldn’t say when, I wouldn’t know, I wouldn’t hope for it. Read through history, however, and it’s an element of life. It can’t be stopped any more than the rain by screaming at it. At this moment of time, there are too many people with too many conflicting ideas to stop the escalation of countless conflicts continuing to spiral out of control. Will they be brought under control? I wouldn’t know, historical evidence claims no.
Is there a better way? Perhaps, perhaps not, but most likely not along the prevalent way of being and thinking where all of nature is in a process of subjugation. Nature in the natural world, and nature in the souls of human beings.
lawlessone?
what’s that about wishing Chavez was assinated?!!!!
many of us should wish he was president of the US
would be nice if the usa got out of the war assination and overthrow of government mode
there will be some changes in the next 50 to 200 years; and i expect the world to look like 500-1200 AD, but warmer? and with a lot of useless decaying technology around
Welcome to the wonders of the 1 & 1/8th party system. Perhaps it would make it easier on us if we changed the preamble to what’s left of our constitution. It might be time for our government to rewrite the Preamble to our Constitution to make it a little more accurate. It could go something like this: We the corporations of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, eatablish a permanent profit, insure domestic marketability, provide for the common defense, continue the corporate welfare, and secure the blessings of the market to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of Corporate America.
Does this soothe anybody’s soul?
If you want to irritate a corporation, purchase some of their gift cards and never redeem them. They cannot count them as sales until they are actually used to purchase something, and in the meantime the money sits in an escrow account and the company can’t touch it, neither can they balance their ledgers, and it messes them up at tax time.
Now there is a swell idea. Think I’ll run right out and buy up a few thousand dollars worth of gift cards and never redeem them. That will piss em off.
Uhhh, evidently you are not an accountant. There is a time limit on redeeming a gift card. Once that time has passed they money is theirs, plus any interest it collected while in escrow.
LAWLESSONE—I did read all 99 of your reasons to not be a Republican and was amazed they were all right on. I wonder after reading the other posts if there are also 99 reasons why the citizens of our country are not yet angry enough to put a stop to this corrupt, greedy, cruel, radical administration.
If you aren’t outraged, you not paying attention.
Blame for the devastating misadventures of this administration falls on the moron voters who helped his team steal the elections, the five Supreme Court Justices who betrayed their oath and this nation by placing politics above principal and planting this unfit person in office, and our legislators who have defaulted their duties by allowing such unprecedented abuses and sellouts from the this administration.
We have never experienced such outrageous in our history. Unless we seize control of our destiny from this administration and their controlling special interests, our future is in jeopardy and we are to blame.
“He is NOT conservative; true conservatism means just that ‘to conserve’, thus reducing spending, reducing international forces, etc…”
You are confusing “conservative” which means “reactionary authoritarian regressive”, with “conservationist” which means “a person who conserves resources”.
Gift cards are counted as liabilities until they are redeemed. SO Kem, if it’s all the same to you, maybe I’ll buy a couple $5 gift cards from Staples tomorrow and wait until next August to redeem them. Would that be OK with you? I hope so, because it would do my heart good to know that you approve.
nayobi
I think you have uncovered someone who is here to be unpleasant and to make wild statements to drive people away from posting here and to stop people from agreeing.
You are right.
On PBS tonight they had a show about Frank Sinatra and it was openly stated that JFK won in Chicago because of help from the Mafia and JFK shared a mistress with the mafia leader, Frank Giancanna…Judith Campbell Exner.
If Americans had understood that JFK had had this type of affair would the impeachment of Clinton have progressed as far as it did?
Most Americans believe the myths about America. Would it be better that they learn the truths and how corrupt the nation’s leaders have often been?
People like Bush and Cheney know how corrupt the people in politics have been and their own moral standards are extremely low imo.
If Americans lost their idealism about America…what would the nation be like? would it be more corrupt still?
Imo Bush and Cheney are in the extreme of what has been happening in the backround in the US government. They are not some new development but a part of a progression of corruption within the government.
I´ll just say this:
1. I have repeatedly told all of you that the enemy is here, now, and must be struck.
Your idle talk on this and other boards is not going to get the priority task accomplished, although it will suffice at times to engage, entertain, comfort…the weakened.
2. There are, to date, approximately 6,000 primary targets across the planet. They are easy to locate, and even easier to render no longer a threat to the planet or humanity.
As for their legions of willing curs, they will come running as usual, only too ready to lick whatever boots necessary to maintain their benighted ideas of their own “quality of life”.
This is not rocket science.
The time for talk is long since past.
OK, I’ll buy some combat fatigues and go out into the woods hunting down the corrupting influence of predatory capitalism. No more talking for me.
Yeah there are about 5 people in the woods now that beowolf et al can join up with.
The biggest problem America has is not the corruption. The biggest problem is the American people who are not learning about what has been happening. Ignorance is no defense.
I no longer blame Bush. I blame the American people for allowing someone like Bush and his group to take so much power and to abuse the American system of government.
Sorry, you had written, NEVER redeem them. I thought it was funny.
So, has everyone here signed Congressman Wexler’s petition?
I’ve been in a constant state of rebellion for the last year acting from the premise that Silence is Support for the Regime.
But, it’s tough. I’m convinced that much of the people’s mindset (patterns of mental perception) is basically totalitarian (i.e., dominated). Once their way of thinking becomes dominated then they become a truncheon with which to beat independent thinkers. Heretics tend to get burned at the stake. Human psychology is very strange, but I suppose that society would be impossible unless people’s thinking tends to congeal into rigid patterns of perception.
What is to be done?
I have a feeling that the SolutionS (plural) will have little to do with national politics.
History seems to show that the Nation-State was corrupted well before my birth, and that it has since that time, not been functioning as ORIGINALLY envisioned.
There could be disputation on the point of “when did things go wrong”, but this would be purely academic, since it seems reasonable to assume that whatever date chosen will be well before the “coming of age” and “initial perception of ‘normal’” of everyone yet functionally living.
(Assuming, once again, that the dispute over this elusive date is carried out Honestly by the Informed)
So except in the Theoretical or the Historical, NO ONE posting here is likely to be able to speak from Experience about “when it was good” or “right”.
Therefore, while getting angry about the “wrongness” of the Social, Political, Economic, or Environmental status and conduct of the Nation-State is understandable, it should be understood to be what it is: Anger over the Theft of an Idealized “right way”, not in THE REAL WORLD, but in the limited space created by blissful ignorance.
Why should this matter? Becuase it is not just a “redefinition” or “parsing of words”, that’s why.
It should be obvious, and therefore taken as given -though unfortunately it ISN’T OFTEN- that without a proper Understanding of a Situation, proper Solutions CANNOT BE FOUND.
What this line of thinking tells me, (and I realize I might be alone in this) is something that is simple to say or write but difficult to live by, at least while trying to stay “informed” of the “national situation”, namely:
GIVE UP ON FIXING THE NATION-STATE OF THE U.S.A, IT IS NOT “BROKEN” IT IS FUNCTIONING AS INTENDED.
These current “government” issues are NOT problems with the “engine” or the “control system” they are problems with the “casing” the “packaging” the “options” the “extras” and the “marketing campaign”.
None of this is to say that the “government” shouldn’t be watched, or even that political activism is unhelpful.
Political activism and discussion is NEEDED both to keep the State at bay, and to find a governing system, and government office holders for that State, who will create the most “congenial atmosphere” for the necessary work at hand.
But Political action and discussion seems now to be taking up more and more of the Time, Thought, and Passion, of more and more of the People who are Aware of the Problems.
This is, plain and simple, an unsustainable Waste of Resources.
In my opinion, only a Vanguard is required on the “national” and “international” political front. (In case I’m causing confusion, I’m assigning almost all activism to the “political” front since, for example, “environment” or “fair-trade” fighters mostly appeal to “GOVs” or “NGOs” set up by “GOVs” for action, WTO, Kyoto Treaty, etc.).
The bulk of those who feel the need to act should be kept busy with projects OUTSIDE of governments, as much as possible at the LOCAL level, and always focused on the basic Human Needs of:
1.Water (to drink and to utilize)
2.Food (quantity and quality)
3.Shelter (individual and communal)
4.Health (maintainance and active care)
5.Social Interaction (Local and Cross-Cultural)
6.Spiritual or Creative Expression (for Happiness and Education)
(Only 1-4 are written in stone in order of immediate need, the rest are, of course, open for interpretation and addition)
Real Change (I believe) at the “national” or “global” level will best be accomplished when a quality maintenance of these NEEDS is Truly Assured for ALL who are willing to participate in Society. I also think that these goals are best met, both in fairness, and in long-term sustainability through LOCAL ACTION.
Too often do we take that brilliantly pithy guidance: “Think Globally act Locally” to mean hold a “protest march” in our hometown in honor of some “Global issue”. I think it would be better taken as a call to Re-Localize our Lives in the face of Global Understanding.
I’ve already gone on longer than I intended so I’ll stop there. And leave any more Specific concepts to the reader.
But to be General:
I would like to say in closing that I, personally, am attempting to work out Solutions for the maintainance of the “6 Needs” for myself and others in my Locality.
Solutions that don’t require a “revolution” political, social, or economic. Solutions that utilize the Human and other natural resources AT HAND where I live.
Solutions tailored to the LOCAL environment.
Solutions that ASSUME our Inalienable Rights.
Solutions that allow for the support of that Vanguard required to keep those rights alive.
And last but not least:
Solutions that WORK in the REAL WORLD.
And that is what we all, IMHO, should be doing with our SPARE energy, not getting angry for the 50 dozenth time about all the “horribleness” of the Nation-State. And certainly not, then venting that anger through discussion with those of like mind, or through mocking, but still forlorn, laughter at the jokes of professional T.V. “funnymen”.
—-Finding Cathartic Realease is Harmful, NOT Helpful when you are still
in DANGER.—–
Thanks for the indulgence,
-matti
matti - when it comes to me you are not alone and I think there are many, many others who share your views which you have so eloquently put forth. Thank-you.
It seems to me that the time is upon us. I pray that it is a time of hope, remedy, and peace.
Peace,
Ken
I could not have written anything that completely captures my sentiments as well as your essay does. Thank you for so eloquently and effectively expressing the outrage that so many of us feel. Sad to realize so many Americans are asleep at the wheel. We have dumbed down ourselves (no thanks to a compliant mainstream media) to the point of indifference…but not all of us. Keep shouting from the roof top.
I think there has often been a relatively small percentage of people who have advocated change.
Many of the women who wanted the vote for women died before they saw it finally and reluctantly given in the US. If you read the history for the stuggle for women’s rights, there was a great deal of violence towards women who were acting peacefully and asking for the vote for women. We have not yet seen that level of violence directed at people who oppose the Bush administration.
There have been all kinds of myths fed to us about how change occurs. But at the base is the individual and his or her sense of what is right or wrong.
“Are you willing … to own, that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life; to close your book of complaints against the management of the universe and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness … to make a grave for your ugly thoughts and a garden for your kindly feelings …?”
Henry van Dyke
Yes keep shouting from the roof top.
Prof. Green:
I’m in your corner. In fact, I’d say you’re reviewing the obvious.
If you’re checking back, consider this. The left will never use inchoate rage as well as the right. For the right, it is practically an organizing principle of life. We need other narratives.
Times are so dark that a weak “me too” or pragmatic (sic) incrementalism is woefully inadequate a response. What’s next?
I’d like to see you address that question in a way that won’t get you disappeared. Yes, we have electoral fraud, a kleptocracy and major portions of the Constitution in shreds. No, we don’t have an opposition party. Therefore what?
I have never hated anyone before in my whole life. But I detest George W Bush with every fiber of my being. I can not stomach to even watch him on television anymore. Even a 10 second blurb gets instantly turned off. He is a insult to this great nation! What he has done to my country in 7 short years is criminal! I do not even pretend to understand how conservatives can claim to love their country and watch this man systematically destroy what it’s taken over 200 years to build. How they can twist facts, spin yarns to excuse the incompetency of this President and ignore the hypocrisy that is pervasive in the Republican party these days. How they can overlook the mess he has deliberately and malicious made out of our country! All the same conservatives who call me a ‘Bush hater’ railed for years against Bill Clinton. Who when compared to George W Bush did nothing bad when he was in office. But, still they rant on and on and blame Bill and Hillary for every mess George has left in his wake. Their reasoning escapes me?????? How they can be so hypocritical in their ignorance only leaves me to wonder what has happened to us as a nation???? I have often wondered what kind of a mental illness allows people to ignore facts and truths in favor of believing lies that have proven to be lies! So I understand Mr Green’s rage throughly. It is shared by many of us American’s!
The Bilderbergers/Trilaterals/AIPAC/MIC/Energy/Banking/MSM which effectively run this country have ultimately set up a system which is resistant to, rather than capable of facilitating, change.
Sounds pompous — but I’ve often thought that if only more people felt the way I did, a majority at least, a huge number of our problems would be exposed, aired out, arraigned, prosecuted and jailed. Now.
Behind any systemic nastiness we like to point at lurks real humans. The systems, acronyms, organizations, etc. are so much camoflague for their activity.
There probably can be no opposition party possible — once we come to the realization that our present system may well be a hurdle, rather than means, toward a healthier and more modern