It’s Time to Hold Democratic House Leaders in Contempt
Enough is enough.
Like many of us, after having watched helplessly as the Bush administration trampled the Constitution and made a mockery of checks and balances over the course of five bitter years, I was hopeful when the American people elected a Democratic Congress in November of 2006. Finally, I imagined, we would have a whiff of legality and the hint of a restoration of the rule of law in the land. Perhaps we would even have congressional committees to oversee the administration’s subversions of the rule of law and investigate the wide range of abuses that it had perpetrated since 2001.
There has been a bit of movement — which is why the thousands of Americans I have met who are appalled at these abuses but feel powerless to raise their voices effectively should take heart, but not stop their fight. To some extent, these raised voices have yielded some action: Congress has in fact held numerous hearings on issues — ranging from torture to warrantless wiretapping — that had been taboo to contend with when the administration was heedlessly, and unopposed, using a hyped narrative of `the global war on terror’ to subdue American liberties. Most prominently, we got some of the bad guys out of town. Citizen-driven congressional investigations into the politicization of the Department of Justice, for example, spurred the resignations of many key Bush administration officials, including the mild-mannered gatekeeper of the first bolgia of Hell, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
And yet, where it counts most, Democratic leaders in Congress have completely abdicated their constitutional oversight role. What they are doing now reprises the worst failures of other self-paralyzed Parliaments in societies that were facing crackdowns on civil liberties and the rule of law, and their voluntary self-emasculation may go down in history as one of those turning points at which leaders cave shamefully to transformative pressure that leaves a country far less than its founded ideal. Through their actions, they are potentially causing irreparable harm to the institution of Congress itself.
At issue is the failure of White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers to comply with congressional subpoenas to testify about the 2006 firings of a handful of U.S. Attorneys. We now have an America in which Congress says, “We subpoena you.” And potential criminals say, “Yeah? F— off.”
As most people know, the Bush administration asserted executive privilege on behalf of Bolten and Miers and refused to allow them to comply with the subpoenas to testify before the House Judiciary Committee last July. It is widely understood that executive privilege only protects certain conversations and correspondences with the president and is not intended to be a blanket privilege — protecting possible wrongdoers against having to appear before Congress AT ALL.
By going far beyond specific exchanges between the president and other officials, the White House essentially asserted that Congress has no power over the executive branch and could not question executive branch officials about their activities. This is an affront to our Constitution. In the shootout of this executive power grab, it effectively leaves one branch of government fatally wounded on Main Street.
Guess what? In America, Congress is not supposed to be tied up and left for dead as potential criminals walk away with impunity. Within weeks, the few brave members of the House Judiciary Committee who were apparently still sentient and still aware of their role as Americans appropriately passed a criminal contempt resolution against both Bolten and Miers.
It was then in the hands of Democratic leaders in the House to bring the resolution to the floor for a vote.
Since then, the citizens of this High Noon scenario have been hiding under the bar stools as the black hats swagger through the nation’s abandoned thoroughfare, and chaparral rolls through the streets. Democratic leaders are hiding from the call of destiny and offering nothing but delays and excuses to avoid producing any semblance of cojones.
In July, they said there would be a vote in September. In September, they said there would be a vote in October. In October, they said a vote would be “more likely” in November. In December, it appeared as if there would be a vote in December - which was then changed to January. If this was my twelve-year-old justifying an unfinished school project, she would be grounded. If it is your congressional representatives justifying an advanced case of cowardice, they should be fired.
Then, less than two weeks ago, on January 14, the Washington Post reported, under a headline, “House Democrats Target Bolten, Miers,” that the House would likely take up the resolutions in the next “couple of weeks.” With this information coming from “Democratic leadership aides,” it appeared as if — Hallelujah! — the long wait for some semblance of justice and a faint breeze of courage might be over.
But two days ago, Politico reported that the votes on criminal contempt citations had been — Say it ain’t so! — “postponed” by House Democrats. Now they were not expected “for weeks.” Moreover, after “Democratic leadership aides” asserted in October that Congress “would be able to round up the 218 votes needed to push through the resolution from Democrats alone,” a Democratic “insider” was now saying, “When we have the votes, we’ll go ahead with this. Right now, the votes are just not there.”
So let me get this straight. The Democrats in Congress cannot even get their own members together to defend the Constitution against a supremely unpopular executive who has essentially spit in their faces, eaten their lunch and the nation’s, and publicly called them out as powerless. Not to mention the fact that they are setting a precedent for the future that any executive can emasculate any Congress and defy any subpoena after having committed possibly any crime. Still they are trembling under the barstools — summoning up, perhaps, the courage to crawl out fully prone and toss their untouched guns humbly at the feet of the posse.
Remember this: each and every member of Congress took an oath — and the oath was not to some abstract government, it was an oath TO YOU — to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Unlike many good people across the political spectrum who are appalled at this dismantling of the three-part system the founders put in place and the besmirching of the rule of law, Congressional Republicans have clearly decided to place their allegiance to the president and their party over their allegiance to the Constitution. This is bad enough; this is, in fact, treason. But the Democrats do not even have that party allegiance as an excuse for their treachery. They would be standing up for their party, the institution of Congress, and the Constitution by passing the contempt resolutions. What more will it take to get them to act?
Those who think — as Pelosi apparently does — that they may rock the boat through a contempt citation in a way that endangers a possible Democratic victory in September are badly misreading the public mood — as well as severely misreading the historical record. If you don’t punish those who break the law at this stage of a crackdown on liberty — through contempt citations, through the use of Congress’s jail cell for those who are found guilty of contempt, and/or through the investigations of a truly independent prosecutor — you are not going to have a transparent, accountable election in November. You will have set a benchmark for impunity and you will get greater and greater crimes committed in the certainty of impunity.
If you doubt the dangers of this, think of the Gulf of Hormuz threat a few weeks ago — oops, hoax. Because the press is actually asking questions, the Pentagon’s narrative of a vicious Iranian provocation was sidelined. But it is purely naive to believe that a White House that would ignore subpoenas and impose yet another false threat scenario on the American people will conduct a transparent election in the fall, especially if it can get away with murder — the murder of the rule of law — today.
Tell your representative to move forward with contempt. And if your representatives fail to act, the punishment should not just be removal from office in the next election; they should also be subject to investigations themselves — for abetting crimes against the Constitution.
Contempt is at issue, indeed.
Naomi Wolf is the author of The New York Times bestseller “The End of America” (Chelsea Green) and is the co-founder of the American Freedom Campaign.
© 2008 Huffington Post
You’re preaching to the choir.
IMO, the corporate state emerges with the impetus of transformations that occur gradually, and are invisible in plain sight.
In my view, the post-WWII technological boom and the ascendancy of corporations and wealth in this era, in which the larval military-industrial complex began to thrive, transformed the role of the US politician in an insidious manner.
There’s always been a multi-disciplinary aspect to politics, and to some extent elected officials are de facto executives, or managers, in charge of their own staff. And politicians in national office have been increasingly required to solicit and manage vast wealth, nonstop, to feed campaigns and sustain their careers. In short, politicians are necessarily “bosses” in the going concerns of both their own high-maintenance careers and within the sociotechnic system of the US Congress, Inc.
To leave a few dots unconnected, I believe that politicians have devolved into technocrats working in a pseudo-corporate environment. The political class has all but completely shed the skin of principle. Just as our predecessors lived through times when the horse vanished in favor of the automobile, so my lifetime has spanned a bygone era in which politicians, however reluctantly, have pursued constitutional duties that took precedence over routine legislative affairs.
Bringing down the criminal and corrupt Nixon administration is the obvious example. Then, the political elite still recognized, on some level, that apart from the thrill of making deals and bringing home the pork, and generally pleasing themselves and favored constituents, they had to suck it up and undertake cumbersome, troublesome, and politically risky action as government officials. The political leaders apparently believed that just continuing business as usual, and working out troublesome little problems within the framework of business as usual, would be intolerable to We the People, and they finally grasped the rabid bull by the horns.
No more. Official duties and responsibilities, especially problematic and unprofitable duties, have become quaint and ornamental. Everything is done according to political calculus, and no sitting politician or candidate will go out on a limb, or plunge into troubled waters to lead We the People out of darkness and captivity into daylight and freedom. As ABSCAM Congressman Ozzie Myers famously remarked, “Money talks, bullshit walks.”; it ought to replace “E pluribus unum” on our currency.
So to the extent that the Democrats are an “opposition party”, it’s more in the sense of business competition. They are but Gimbels to the Republican Macy’s. Beneath the superficial conflicts lie broad common ground and unity. The Democratic leadership is so co-opted and collusive that they have no real motivation to attack and challenge the reprehensible depredations to the Constitution perpetrated by the Bush Crime Family and its rogue’s gallery of miscreants and charlatans.
If the Republics feed on fear and ignorance, the Dems feed on hope and despair. Neither the messianic Obama nor the Nexus 6 Hillary model are exceptions to this tragic tradition.
If it just will be more of the same in the future, maybe at least at the local and if we are lucky, the state level, we ought to begin discussions about secession.
While the Dems yet do not have a true majority, where is the rhetoric? What happened to all the PUFF we heard prior to the elections? I can forsee the new administration, (hoping there will be a change), being blamed and being responsible for all the trash and inequities perpetrated by the Retarded Neanderthal and his hissing side-kick.
Call your representatives and find out.
You still don’t get it Naomi.
They don’t care, and they won’t do what we want because they don’t have to. You me or anyone else can’t do anything about it.
Face it, these people are the purest form of evil that there is or ever has been. Quit giving them credit for being any more than that.
Sorry, I hate to say I told you so, but, I did. There’s no difference between the “2″ parties except personalities and mascots.
Let’s face it, it doesn’t do any good to contact your representatives, they just ignore you. It’s time to investigate the Congressional leadership independently of the Congress and publish the results widely. Only then will you get their attention.
Let me begin with this: I have read that Harry Reid’s father-in-law is a major player in a gold mining company on Indian land. Indians oppose the mining and therefore it is against the treaty. Gold mining is highly toxic to both land and water. Also, monies supposed to be paid to Indians through the Department of Interior’s Indian Trust, have not been properly paid. A couple of years back Reid was instrumental in attempting to purchase twenty two million acres of Western Shoshone Land for fifteen cents an acre. The Congress approved the purchase. The gold mine is on that land. Even the fifteen cents an acre was never paid to the Indians. So the question is: Should Harry Reid be in Senate leadership? Clearly he should not. We need the law and the media to get on this story and get rid of Reid now.
The (corporate) media will never expose Harry Reid because the media is part of this endless, horrendous nightmare that has the Founders rolling in their graves. We can’t even rely on the media anymore. It seems to me that either the people of this country who are in an apathetic state need to snap out of it (which most likely will happen when they no longer can watch “American Idol” or “Dancing With the Stars” on their 100″ flatscreen televisions) or we need to begin talks about seceding from the country. How do we do that? Perhaps begin discussions at the local level. The one other option is to get Progressives to run for political office.
We, the citizens have to apply pressure or nothing will change. The only way to alter the stagnant political situation is for millions of people to mass in the streets in militant disruptive demonstrations in every state and city possible. Angry demonstrations combined with civil disobedience to bring business activity to a halt. Demand an end to wars, a real opposition party to the republicrats, universal health care, impeach Bush and Cheney, higher taxes on the rich, more funding for education, a national passenger rail system, etc. It comes down to physical courage. Courage to risk being tear-gassed, get hit with police riot batons, maybe risk arrest. It comes down to people making the decision that remaining passive is the greater danger. Do you have the courage?
There are ways to investigate this story and bring the truth to the MSM. Creativity and courage are the keys. Those in a position to do it need to get going.
Pelosi in another that needs investigating. We already know some of her dirt, i.e. informed on waterboarding and did nothing to stop it. Pelosi’s blind ambition left bodies behind and we just need to find them.
We claim the Democratic leadership does not fight Bush but we as citizens have yet to fight the Dem leadership. Let’s get on with it, even if it has to be on Entertainment Tonight. IMO, the leadership is dirty.
Courage?
I think many are fed up and are brave enough to move forward, but how does this get organized into a big enough tsunami to make a difference.
There has to be a strong enough current, then the rest are swept along…
Naomi —
It’s money — ExxonMobil with $36 BILLION in profits last year and going for a new record this year!!! — which buys our politicians and which keeps them in office.
Corporate-media is shutting out Edwards with his anti-Chamber of Commerce populist/anti-corporate message —
and they get 80% of all the campaign funds raised!!!
With the power of the Democratic “blue dogs” —
about 42/45 of them/? — the Democratic Party is pretty well co-opted and corrupted. The “blue dogs” meet with the President and GOP leadership to decide on issues and votes.
The Republican wing of the party — the DLC — is using party money to solicit more “blue dogs” to run against Democratic liberals and progressives!
We need a national movement to third parties —
and the leadership which will shift everyone there.
Yes — we have been betrayed — and 2008 will not be any different.
It is all over my friends.
Nato will make legitimate preemptive
neuclear strikes regardless of approval by the UN.
The Southern US Command in Miami is reconstituting a powerful naval power for the protection of “US interests” in the Southern hemisphere. Make a guess who the enemy is going to be.
Capitalism is sharpening its long knives against any body, at any cost, challenging its ambition for global domination.
Domesticly the clowns of the two party system play the elections game, while they are selling out what is left from the Constitution. They stand ready to execute any of the terrifying “options on the table” to be chosen by the empire elites.
Elections, or no elections, or the conduct of the elections, having lost their constitutional base, are becoming matters of expediency dictated by the objectives of the master plan of the empire.
badminton: People aren’t going to pour out into the streets here. Those days are over except for us old hangovers from the 60’s and 70’s era and some of our kids or grandkids who avoided the mass brainwashing of recent decades. Most Americans are ill-informed, conditioned to be apathetic, diverted with TV sports and celebrity worship, exhausted from overwork and insufficient sleep, demoralized and over-drugged. We live in a new kind of culture here–one in which the mass of people don’t really have to be coerced through fear because other means have succeeded in keeping them in check. The old instinct of resistance to abuse and tyranny has been knocked out of them. So if anything happens here it will be initiated by the minority that has managed to stay awake and aware. Only pray that there are enough in the military or coming from the military who will be with us.
“We now have an America in which Congress says, “We subpoena you.” And potential criminals say, “Yeah? F— off.””
This is an affront to our Constitution. In the shootout of this executive power grab, it effectively leaves one branch of government fatally wounded on Main Street.”
It is also an affront to the citizens of this country who are paying these ‘fatally wounded’ and spineless failures to represent our interests.
I already have contempt for Naomi Wolf being the lap dog of corporations. This little lap dog is going around yapping at the end of a leash tethered to publishing companies.
Maybe corporate capitalism itself is the problem, Wolf. Why is she on Common Dreams?
Apropos of BuelahMan’s comment about”…a strong enough current, then the rest are swept along.”
There is a story of the French Revolution about the revolutionary leader who heard a commotion outside. He ran
to the window, looked out and saw the people en masse, surging down the street.
He quickly grabbed his hat, put on his shoes and ran after them crying out “There go the people. I must follow them for I am their leader.”
Representatives must be popping pills or snorting something that keeps them in a permanent state of delusional stupor of self importance. Whatever their high is it is supplied by armies of lobbyists, and corporate interests furnishing donations and guaranteeing the continued status quo in terms of the main stream media insuring that the already dumbed-down masses will remain an uninterested electorate, and be given colourful but meaningless balls to play with, to keep their eyes well away from any balls that matter in the political game for power and money.
The system is not broken it is working perfectly but only for a small group of elite who play your government like a bunch of wind up androids while regarding the citizenry as mere cattle to be milked for all they are worth and then some, citizenry that can be lead by the ring of fear in their nose, accepting any hell of lies, deceit and even slaughter, not to mention an endless debt of their unborn generations, all these poor bovine citizens need to hear is another change of subject and just wave that flag while evoking a “foreign” or “heathen” enemy.
You too are delusional, Ms. Naomi Wolf, and all here who believe that anything that is in your system today has any hope of providing a democratic solution any time in the future for the “good” of the American people. You must be using the same mad-icine if you cannot see that you are all already in step. You are the great New World Order. Your democracy and your freedom is knowing and accepting that this status quo is so much bigger than you and that you cannot make any difference. Of course this is not Fascism. Just get used to having an executive administration of criminals with unquestionable supreme power, representatives who are bought and paid for by the same business interests in both parties and a politicised judiciary that is appointed by favour and ignores even the constitution to prop them all up. The last democratic presidential candidate with any integrity just stepped out of the race. The last hope of facing real questions has gone. Your generally fraudulent selection and electoral system will again leave you with another third world dictatorship “presidential republic”, another “el presidente”, a Twiddle-di-di or Twiddle-di-dum in 12 months time. With the same old war if not a new one by then and the same old debts and the same old lies, unless….
Unless economic reality brought on by myopic greed brings the country to its knees sooner, only when millions wake up to realize that they have become disenfranchised and that the magic ring has been stolen from the American dream merry-go-round, only then will they actually get angry enough to take on the political system that has enslaved them and destroying their grand-children’s futures. So, bring on the depression. When dealing with delusional materialists perhaps economy collapse will make them face their own reality if not the immorality of the suffering they cause.
little brother,
I agree with your comments on this ‘corrupt system’ of ours. Why are intelligent people still wondering how all of this is happening? Is it desperation, frustration, or plain denial that the Democrats are part of the problem, and without them, Bush could not have gotten to first base.
badminton,
Sounds good, but like bakunin basically says, “it ain’t gonna happen” . As long as the public remains willfully ignorant, the ruling elite will proceed forward with their hidden agenda. Propaganda works! To educate oneself takes time and effort, but to watch sports programs and follow every footstep that celebrities take, is easier and requires hardly any thinking.
Gail,
I agree with you, but as long as the citizens remain docile and are unconcerned, the boldness and arrogance of these ‘non-representatives’ will increase.
vangelaras,
Don’t be too sure. Alliances are forming around the world in preperation for the American bully. But yes, this two-party system is nothing more than the one- party, ‘property party’ of the extremely wealthy rule makers.
They give up nothing without a fight.
claudias,
Good points. The Romans gave them circuses and gladiator fights as a diversion.
If gas prices were five bucks a gallon tomorrow morning, the American people would still be complacent and pay, while at the same time, the oil barrons would brag about how much money they made in the last quarter, and the ‘opposition party’, aka ‘the Democrats’, would launch another investigation leading NOWHERE. Sorry! Waxman did get to the bottom of the steroid use with the atheletes. Shame on those ballplayers!
It’s over, folks. Without enough participants to hold a quoram, ‘democracy’ is finished in the United States.
Hey, Doom and Gloom- the MSM will NEVER print it, because their owners ARE the problem. We even have outsourced wars, so Der Fuehrer doesn’t need the Castrotti Congress. How many Americans know that mercenaries (Blackwater & co) have been paid THREE BILLION DOLLARS for security…not in Baghdad, but KATRINA! People warned that the black shirts would take over- they already have. The voters have to act in numbers too large to steal (you’d think the controllers would try something other than 3%, just for a change). In Ohio, the MSM and BOTH parties are fighting our new Secretary of State’s initiative to get rid of the unsafe machines. Hey- if your vote isn’t counted, it doesn’t matter how you cast it. Anyone notice the Diebold machines’ screw up in the Dem primary in New Hampshire?
The final turn in the road to The End of America occurred in December 2000 when the votes were counted in the closest election in US history and the final vote was 5 to 4 and democrats refused to challenge the “decision.” Al Gore in no small measure bears responsibility for what happened in 2000 and John Kerrey for what happened four years later. But ultimately we the people are to blame for not rising up and repudiating the action of the supreme court.
We have but two choices, sit down and shut up or stand up and demand change because change is not going to come from the democratic party, they made their choice 7 years ago. Its now up to us!!!
CW
Everyone acts as if big business has just started flexing their corporate muscles now that there is a new evil sherriff in town (Bush and Cheney), but there have been lobbiests for how long? The only new thing is that the very top of our government leaders are showing just how corrupt big business and shallow government can be.
Koyoto Accord would never be voted on by this government until the auto makers could retool to produce cars that reduce emmisions and energy companies could get a foot up on producing a form of energy that will only fit those new cars. The idea of having a garbage disposer in you trunk and you being able to run your new car on homemade energy is a laugh. New cars will have parts that are destined to wear out on time and people will still be paying big bucks to replace whatever so that some big business somewhere can make the big money.
Neither Bush nor Cheney care since they will always have money and power no matter who they screw to get it. Look at the way that government is taught in public schools and then you might understand why people don’t fight for their rights. Just like during the time of slavery in this Country, the people who did all the dirty work were kept illiterate and uninformed so that they couldn’t buck the statis quo. The very Constitution states that any person who feels that their liberties have been troddened upon can sue for redress.
After the Katrina farce and the FEMA farce and all the little other farces that this cabinet has fousted on the American people, especially the poor it would seem that these embittered people would finally be willing to come forth and use their vote. But first you would have to return the vote to a form that can be legally challenged and has a paper trail that can be followed.
Wake up and smell the stench of coruption and start cleaning up this crap people. I have a voice, and I have a vote so why not join me in demanding that voice and vote aren’t silenced by people who are wealthy enough to buy that right away from us. Get rid of the professional candidates and put people in who can be challenged and will be proud to submit to the will of the people.
jobson: You apparently know nothing about Wolf. Your comment is TOTALLY unwarrented.
I have come to accept that nothing that SHOULD be done will be done to save our Constitution and our country. All of the great ideas that we have will never come to fruition without a MAJOR event that wakes the American people up from their wage slave jobs and labors to survive. There has to be a complete paradigm shift that informs us that EVERYTHING has changed. Old methods that made change happen no longer work. And the Phoenix will not rise from the ashes until the whole system is burned down.
Yes, we still need to make a lot of noise, vote, write letters, make phone calls and all of that. But the fact of the matter is that there are so MANY things that we have to make noise about that burnout is inevitable. Particularly since we have been at this for over 7 years with no positive results.
So, here’s my own personal plan. Be prepared for an economic collapse, marshal law, maybe another war (probably Iran or Pakistan), and start putting my energy into community solutions and networks. Get off the economic “grid” by fostering community sovereignty and not working as a wage slave. Barter with skills and goods locally. Dumpster dive and reuse as much as possible. Enjoy life! Laugh a lot! Listen more. Share more.
Another thought: Since we don’t get to select the candidates, our votes really don’t count, and our “representatives” really don’t represent the people anyway, what would be the impact of boycotting the November election?
I CAN’T STAND the posts in this string that
are critical of Naomi Wolf. All she has done
here is explain things more clearly than anyone else. If you twits don’t know who
your enemies are, let me tell you about one
at least. Yourself!
They have ruined the Democratic party. I’ll never vote for any of them again. It’s striaght Republican for me. At least those crooks perform as they profess. As for Pelosi and the rest of the sell-outs…they can go to hell.
The High Noon analogy is good. Leering bad guys picking their teeth while the citizenry cowers under the barstools like common poltroons.
We don’t have a big tradition of vigilantism in this town. We have a constitution, our “piece of paper” that offers no protections as long as it can be ignored without consequence, and a system of laws which do not, apparently, invoke themselves, but which must be enforced by brave sheriffs who are nowhere to be seen. So we’re back to the wild west, where the baddest assed pistoleros rule and bullshit walks.
There is a new genre of western lore out there today. I was unaware of it until I saw No Country for Old Men the other day. The sheriff, in Cormac McCarthy’s updated tale, is confronted with a degree of evil beyond anything in his experience, so he simply sits down and gives up. Hey, wait, we think. That isn’t how it’s supposed to end.
The neocons did say they were rewriting the script, didn’t they? Alan Ladd may yet show up, but so far all I see is Jack Palance propping his spurs up on the table while our representatives set him up with another round of drinks.
I can’t say I’m not a little disappointed in my country, but I’m not a live free or die kind of person. I’m getting along in years. There are a lot of books I haven’t read, and I’d hate to run out of time before learning a few painting tricks from John Singer Sargent. If we aren’t going to drive a stake through the heart of George Bush and his clones then the story isn’t holding my interest.
badminton - Everybody beat me to the punch on this one, but I already wrote it so here it is anyway:]
As I recall the last time millions of people amassed on the streets was in 2003. The following day, Bush issued a statement about it. He said: I respectfully disagree (a variant on the f— you response to congressional subpoenas.) If you had bravely taken again to the streets to show him that We The People mean business, you would have been all alone. Certainly millions upon millions of outraged, torch wielding Americans would put the kibosh on the Bush administration. But there aren’t that many of us. We are outnumbered by uneducated, overweight zombies with styrofoam peanuts for brains - the same people who are going to cross out our votes next November. That, not the Bush administration, is the problem.
Don’t vote is the one of the better thoughts on this list. Badmitton is right with the call to get out on the streets, but as someone else said–no way is that going to happen as we Avericans are too ignorant and apathetic. So,best we can do it stand out of the system. Don’t vote. That just makes the government look like there is some semblance of legitamacy.
But don’t sit home and mope about it. Get involved in some good thing like volunteering in the schools, growing veggies in your yard, don’t use a credit card, buy locally made things and never go to a mall or one of those super stores. Shop in the small businesses in your neighborhood. And talk to people. It is wrong not to talk about politics and religion. People know we are in trouble. Share ideas of what can be done to start a new way of living in the U.S. of A. Hording up a lot of stuff is dumb. Learn to share. Gotta have some fun too.
Hey, it’s just the Bread and Circuses Time of the New Rome, America. As long as the plebes get their bread and are diverted by their circuses, now broadcast on teevee, then the oligarchy- who are the rods, or fasces, of power- can hijack America and, like Germany and Italy in the ’30s, turn this nation into a machine for their own nefarious ends.
The world marched in the streets by the tens of millions agains the start of the Iraq War. Millions more marched since then. Millions have been displaced or killed in Iraq. And what effect did it have on the mind of the Bush Oligarchs? None whatsoever. Only the power of the Gun is believed in by the Bushites. And the Gun is wielded in support of the Almighty Dollar and the international bankers.
So the American plebes are placated with their toys and games and food, as they have given up on changing ‘the way things are’, and are now just trying to make it through the day, keeping their heads down and distracting themselves into forgetting.
Our Emperor, Great White caesar Bush, who thinks of himself in those terms and in terms of being elected CEO/Big Daddy of America (and not elected as a Servant of the people as the Constitution holds), cares not about the opinions of his plebian estate-slaves/employees/American citizens… no matter how many millions of them hold the same opinion. He only cares about the fasces around the mace, the oligarchy of his fellow CEO/plutocrats.
And politicians see the Fascist Mace above their heads. And realize that this Neo-Empire has not just crucified up to 3,000 slaves all at once for standing in its way, but has crucified/killed by the Million all over the globe for that.
The fearful pols thus see no chance of surviving against the Empire if they try to change things, as Bush can tell them straight-out, “whaddaya gonna do about it?” And so in fear and greed they too lower their heads, in the process of selling-out the United States of America, its people, and its Constitution.
The pols and the plebes are shrewdly divided and conquered by the Oligarchy, who are the Obviously-Favored-By-God Blessed in the Globalized-Flat-World-Church of Money, as they are so annointed by its High Priesthood and zealous Missionaries.
America is now in the decadent, declining stage of Empire and, with the rest of the world, reaching the beginnings of the Age of Neo-Feudalism, or The New Dark Ages. This is what Naomi Wolf sees when sees writes about the end of Ameica. She sees that we are caught in a horrific current sweeping us to destruction. And we have become helpless to do anything about it, because all the power is held by the very same current.
After reading your book, “The End of America”, Naomi Wolf, I found myself wondering if Congresspersons might be threatened not just with harm to themselves but with harm to their constituents.
The pipe bomb at the Arizona nuclear plant was reported as suspicious, the barge that hit the bridge in California was reported as inconceivable, a freak truck accident in a tunnel in California too, and yesterday right after it was reported that Nevada’s Senator Harry Reid might join the telecom immunity filibuster, I saw it was reported that a hotel in Las Vegas caught fire, a structure oddly visually reminiscent of the Twin Towers in New York.
Is it too awful to be true? Is that what the 9/11 Commission meant by ‘group think’ and a ‘failure of imagination’?
The great Czechoslovak patriot and WWII anti-facsist resistance leader, Victor Laszlo, was fond of saying (because he sincerely believed it) that everyone in this life has a destiny, for good or for evil. The United States that both he and I escaped to late in 1941, the United States that helped destroy Nazism, is obviously not the United States of today. Had Laszlo lived to experience the nightmare of George W. Bush he would have fled again to who knows where. Eleanor Roosevelt met Victor Laszlo in a well publicized meeting early in 1942. George W. Bush would never have given Laszlo the time of day. How the mighty have fallen.
I’m a believer in cleaning up your own back yard first.
Right now, where I am sitting and where you are reading this, our own back yard is Common Dreams. Those of us who know what Naomi Wolf is talking about and agree with her, should turn our attention to our own back yard - Common Dreams. There are folks here who don’t miss a chance to tell us that our only viable choice is to vote for Democrats. Yet, we know, WE KNOW, that the Democratic Party as a whole is in contempt of both their constituents and of their oaths to the constitution. If we are to start doing anything, we have to take the folks right here on CD to task every time they open their yaps and tell us that we have no choice but to vote for people who are in contempt.
So, here’s my opening salvo to Daniel David, Nader2000, and the rest of the Democratic apologists and cheerleaders: You are supporting an indefensible position. Your side is AWOL and is abrogating their responsibilities to the constitution and to their constituents - the American people. As such, they are toying with treason, as are you for supporting them. You are supporting the breakdown of democracy and should be held accountable. I have faith that some day soon, you will be.
I am myself: Good post. Alittle over the top, but a very good contribution.
I still think that either boucotting the election, writing in Kucinich or other candidates, or voting Green/Independent are viable alternatives. I’m not going to throw my vote away on “more of the same”. It really doesn’t matter if Repugs get in because of this tactic. They too are just more of the same. No difference.
Let’s get over the quick fix ideas.
It’s going a take a long memory and a determined heart to get us out of this pickle.
But more of us are being recruited every day by just what Naomi Wolf, et al, discribes, and I believe we will prevail.
“Watch out for burn out” and let’s go for the win.
What we’ve got is unsustainable.
The dems are complicit with the repug fascists, therefore they are fascism enablers. All except a tiny handful like Kucinich and Wexler. There is no such thing as the lesser of two evils. Evil is evil. Period. Most state ballots will have a green, socialist, or communist candidate who is in favor of single payer health care and other progressive reforms as well as being anti-imperialism. As usual the marginalized candidate will get my vote.
Just emailed to: Reps. Pelosi, Conyers, Campbell 48th CA district, & CA Sens. Boxer & Feinstein
Subject: COWARDS & TRAITORS
“Your failure to act in the face of Constitutional criminal violation is proof that you have violated your Constitutional Oath of Office and are in contempt of Congress and the citizens of the United States, and the world community.”
peace,
st john
Has no one here heard the message of Ron Paul? He addresses all the issues discussed here, and has consistently done so for the last 30 years. Please spend a few hours researching him, at least to consider. I personally believe he is our last peaceful approach to restoring the constitution. Other than that its a straight up civil war. I’ve been a democrat my whole life, but finally came to the realization that the two parties have long since been bought and paid for. All this discussion, and there is a viable solution right in front of us, yet so many people still haven’t heard his message, or researched Ron Paul.
jobson January 26th, 2008 2:29 pm
“I already have contempt for Naomi Wolf being the lap dog of corporations. This little lap dog is going around yapping at the end of a leash tethered to publishing companies.”
Would you suggest she use a megaphone?
I’m now reading an excellent book entitled “Defying Hitler”, which is the diary of a German during the rise of the Nazis in 1930s Germany. The parallels to what is happening now in the US are disturbing.
My advice is: Rise Up Now and Start Rioting! Or, Get Out While You Still Can! Or, Both!
Naomi Wolf: Nicely put. Nailed 100%
Little Brother January 26th, 2008 12:22 pm
Very well said!
“…and no sitting politician or candidate will go out on a limb,…”
Excepting Dennis Kucinich and we all saw what happened to him.
Excellent reflections on Wolf’s part.
As I recall, the Democrats invoked exactly the same lame excuse of not having the votes when Cindy Sheehan and other activists showed up at Conyers’s office last summer to request that impeachment proceedings against Cheney and Bush be initiated.
We all live in different time zones,but Noam Chomski will be on C-Span 2 between 7pm-830pm tonight.
bottle- thanks for rising to defend Naomi-
i too cannot understand where the hostility is coming from- people need to know this stuff,you should listen up and stop with the name calling- that does not count as reasoned discourse
Where Oh where is a dynamic, honest passionate and COMpassionate leader who will arouse the populace sufficiently to begin the needed revolution that will overturn the whole entrenched establishment and help us to raise up a new cadre to begin this wonderful experiment in democracy all over again from the very beginning?
Sad to say but whether it be Obama or Clinton or McCain or Romney don’t expect any sea change any time soon. And the Democratic Congress we got ain’t any better than the Republican one, obviously. It took a Depression in America to effect any real change - what’s it gonna take this time? And there’s no sayin’ the outcome will be nearly as acceptable as it was in the 30s.
As one post said, “you are preaching to the choir” and the above post asks, “Where Oh where is a dynamic, honest passionate and compassionate leader….” Yes, where? Who among us possesses legal knowledge, has contacts somewhere, with someone, has experience in organizing, community involvement, etc. who would begin to organize all the thousands of Americans who understand their democracy is in a death spiral and both parties are responsible.
There are dozens of watchdog organizations–I know because I get begging letters all the time but what action do they take? None, or things wouldn’t be deteriorating so rapidly if they did. So we need something new.
What is the first step for the populace to begin action against Nancy Pelosi, Conyers, Hoyer, Murtha, Reid, etc., etc., etc. All these traitors need to be removed from office. We can’t wait for an “election” that will be another fraud. How do we go about getting action to remove them from office NOW? People are waiting–what will it take? A class action massive lawsuit? Recall state by state? Pick one, any one but let’s investigate action. Believe me I can’t contact my representative because he is part of the problem.
Maybe I’m being naive, but history shows that when people unite and move against evil forces change can occur. Evil is what we have in D.C. and it is not the domain of just the Republicans.
“Those who make peaceful change impossible make violent revolution inevitable.” John F. Kennedy
Germany was a democracy with a legislature. Hitler was elected. More democratically and constitutionally than George Bush, as a matter of fact. But the Reichstag became intimidated and irrelevant. We know where that led. Sadly, we do seem to be in similar straights.
Don’t forget, there were two leading Democratic Senators, Lehey and Daschel calling for Congressional investigations of 9/11 when Cheney and Bush were blocking the investigations. Then anthrax was sent to both those Senators’ offices. Investigations led to a U.S. Army bioweapons lab that was identified through DNA analysis of the anthrax. The investigations terminated. No charges were filed. The corporate media dropped the story.
9/11 remains an unsolved crime. Torture was used to extract confessions from a few unlikely men from the Middle East. The puppet 9/11 Commission was not allowed to interview the suspects, and the tapes of the confessions were destroyed.
Upwards of a million people have died in mass murder through aggressive war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The majority of Americans are eerily like the Germans who later said, “We didn’t know.”
Jess quote: “They have ruined the Democratic party. I’ll never vote for any of them again. It’s striaght Republican for me. At least those crooks perform as they profess. As for Pelosi and the rest of the sell-outs…they can go to hell.”
That’s really smart thinking. Vote for the crooks (you said it, not me) who are so arrogant they don’t care if their lies are believable or not.
Neither party is any good, so why vote for any of them? Elections are rigged anyway, so let’s quit pretending we live in a democracy.
heavyrunner,
Perfectly said!
Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats sold us out.
Fire Pelosi!
Cindy Sheehan for Congress.
cindyforcongress.org
End the one party system.
As far as taking action goes, you have to do the right thing, regardless if it seems to be hopeless.
I will write in Kucinich because its the ONLY choice.
And you speak out in your daily life to any injustice or stupidity you see.
There’s no other way.
Call it controlled folly…
Gee Daddy, what did you do to stop the Nazi takeover of America?
“I kept my job so my family could eat. If I were in the camps I wouldn’t keep my job would I?”
That’s how they took over the United States. All the “Leaders” were prompter reading Overseers. First came the killings, the false imprisonments, and the ritual defamation for all the serious movements for economic and social justice. Once they were silenced, jailed, or killed the Richfilth bought our political class in wholesale lots for 35 years. Nothing they didn’t own. At the end, there was no resistance. The Overseers received their commands from their Sith Lords, they lay down and they went to sleep. And a great Darkness settled over the land, broken only by the red glare of the ever expanding Great Shattering. Something there is that doesn’t like a wall…
Peece.
In the weird outcross of 1984 and Brave New World that we live in, no one mentions or even seems aware of the real problems that we’re facing. 184 MILLION people in this country are strung out on anti-depressants. That figure does not include all the children forced onto medication such as Ritalin for ADD. America’s dirty little secret is that more than half of us are stoned on “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” prescription drugs.
keepofkal — have YOU researched Ron Paul? Because if you have, you wouldn’t be the slightest bit puzzled why liberal progressives would not be supportive of a right wing libertarian. It is true that occasionally libertarians and progressives happen to be on the same side for certain issues — it is usually for very different reasons. Sort of like the guy who always showed up at our anti-war rallies carrying the Iraqi flag yelling “Bring Back Sadam!” Libertarians and Progressives are fundamentally and philosophically quite opposite in terms of their vision for society and the role of government. That said, I do believe Ron Paul is an honest person who votes his convictions, but he’s still a @%/@!*& libertarian!
Since many of us here believe that indeed, our capitalist system is fundamentally flawed and any attempts to “improve” it are not only futile, but would only serve to prolong an unsustainable, destructive system, how then might we hasten its demise? I’ve heard boycotting the election, but don’t about 50% of the voters do that already? Doesn’t seem to have made much impact. Perhaps a massive campaign of sabotage? The capitalist, corporate beast relies on incredibly simple, mundane systems to maintain itself, without which it becomes utterly paralyzed. Such campaigns require no organization — everyone just looks for what they can do, and then does it. Don’t even tell anyone. A million little individual acts that add up to one big mess. Just dreaming. I want a different planet.
“There is no such thing as the lesser of two evils. Evil is evil.”
Ignoring DanielDavid’s constantly-grinding “wall-to-wall
Democrats” mantra let me suggest a new twist to flex voter-muscle : Resign ourselves to the status quo or worse regarding Iraq , healthcare , poverty WHOEVER wins the presidential election and vote for the presidential candicate who by attacking Iran , Cuba , China , Venezuela…will cripple the mighty military the fastest. Break the army and you will break the empire and the emperor . Just a crazy thought though DD must think I’m nuts .
First of all, just because the Dimms are evil doesn’t mean your only choice is to vote Repug. Vote Gree, Independent, or write in a candidate of your choice.
Second, the comments here reflect the same frustration/impotance that I am feeling. I want to do something that will actually will make a difference. But what? We have lots of great ideas but they are all dependent on more Americans waking up to the mess that we are in. So how do we wake the sleeping giant?
We can’t. And the Phoenix cannot rise until there are ashes to rise from. That means that the whole system must fall to ashes before the Phe Phoenix of the American people will rise up to rebuild. Hopefully together in community with each other.
So, as we wait for the collapse (coming soon), we have to just keep banging our heads on the wall of our congress critters and hope that we can win a few battles. And don’t forget, we are the witnesses to this evil. And we will all be key elements in not making the same mistakes in the future. The sheeple won’t remember. We will. And we will need each other.
Thanks to all for being here.
Brokentop - that’s the problem. When they control everything — the courts, the justice system, the congress, the police — there is no one to turn to. Read Naomi Wolf’s The End of America. This is exactly what it is about. The system can no longer correct itself because the checks and balances are all gone. There are a few brave congressmen who hold hearings, issue subpoenas, etc. and Bush says f*** you!. The courts always side with the corporations (and I mean blatantly). Not even the international community feels equipped to confront them. Wake up — you are no longer free. Even united, we can’t do shit! The elections are rigged (whether through caging, control of the polls/media/mind-fucking journalism, or outright dissappearing ballots or hacking the machines), the banks have everyone in a stranglehold, and just try actually using your first amendment rights in any significant way and you will quickly find out they do not exist.
There is a cohesive group of grassroots activists who do a lot under various organizations (but they are all the same people more or less). It seems like no one is doing anything because of the media blackout. If you don’t live in Washington and see them protesting, how would you know? But they are there every day. They file lawsuits. They do outrageous things to get noticed by the press (think CodePink) so people will hear about it and know that people are doing something, but they are being arbitrarily arrested, added to no-fly lists, etc. It is really risky to speak out. Especially since our 4th amendment rights are gone and you can be disappeared to a secret prison if the president determines you are an enemy.
Ronald: Good post. I agree with you up to a point. I just can’t deal with the carnage. I’m going to vote for Opus if I can’t vote for a “real” candidate. Or Ron Paul just to skrew up the Repugs. But I’d really rather that we all get behind a singular strategy. Like voting Green or something. And I’ve already sent money to Cindy in my rebellion agains the powers that be.
funeocons: Can we wait until after November to start the rebellion/sabatoge thing? Of course, if marshal law is declared, all bets are off.
purvis ames: Is that true? 184 million? It sure would explain a lot.
“I am myself: Good post. Alittle over the top, but a very good contribution.”
Yes, it could be a little over the top, Rebel Farmer, were we seeing a different scenario, one more benign. I think it all depends on our points of view, and how deeply we perceive the threats to be. If we take but a short historical perspective, we’d see how grave the danger is and how badly we’ve been sold out.
As Fidel wrote: “One always expects good tidings; bad tidings tend to surprise and demoralize us. Being prepared for the worst is the only way to be prepared for the best.”
We only get so many chances.
There all bought and paid for. Honey we called them all before.
Naomi good post. If Hillary or Obama is elected we shouldn’t expect to much. Deals have been made and compromises are inevitable. Certainly we are becoming victims of our own best creation Globalization. We truly are on a route to empire even if it not an American one. Democracy overrun by this new God Globalization is described below:
The enlightened capitalist can indeed feel he has arrived at this special place. The internet allows man to see and feel the power of his means to convince, control and discover. The coming together and range of our thoughts easily transcends between the spirit of a living God and the spirit of an enlightened man.
Today’s crowd of internet scientists, global jet setting billionaires and highly compensated military, corporate and religious leaders seem almost certain to grasp the concept that men control their own destiny. Their actions suggest that God is more a tool of their creation than they are the servant of a creator. Whether they actually believe in an all powerful God is not near as important as the commoners and masses believe there is a God. They are after all the main benefactors of the divine right of Kings and millions of men willing to die in defense of their goals and objectives.
The legends and stories surrounding so many beliefs supporting the Living God suggest that the small can become great, the weak strong and the lame to be made whole promote the same message of hope to the masses. This message clearly provides the framework that is strong enough to defeat the opponents of the No God philosophy all by itself. It defeated communism, produced the strongest military and the wealthiest and most powerful small group of people the world has ever known.
Most people as part of the masses of middle and lower class citizenry believe in a God if not fervently. They are inspired to live as patriots, to die in wars or at least stand up for their beliefs especially if there seems to be some divine directive. This of course provides the God Believer and the Man Believer with a paradox. If there is no God then by what will would so many of the masses want to live—for God is their only hope for meaning, a better life or higher place for doing good deeds. What is right or what is wrong if there is no divine directive? The new directive of the enlightened capitalist provides a new better framework for tolerance, consideration and world peace than any religion before it .
From the Internet we hear and see new information about conspiracy theories, the Bilderbergs, or religions different from our own. The virtue of globalization and capitalistic decree maintain that they are in fact the perfect religion, which knows no wrong. The only truth is the truth that maintains the divine rights of the new world order. Winners of course are the victors either by God or capitalistic decree but are all loyal to the new order. Winners by the survival of the fittest according to man or the most blessed according to God.
Winners are those few men who are in control of most of the wealth, military arms including nuclear weapons and media outlets. These few people control most of the media, millions of jobs, lives, and opportunities. They see there duty as man to promote peace, protect their interests and rid men of their foolish ideas about God by assuring they protect their interests and divine rights. They see the opportunity presented by offering men the power to believe in their capitalistic pursuits. The importance of accepting a tolerant God promote peace through a new enlightened man.
These victors of capitalistic truth who believe they have bridged the gap between the spirit of God and the spirit of the enlightened man know they will be able to convince the masses not that there is no God but that they have bridged the gap. They have the knowledge, the ability, power and the perseverance to create or at least find the new God man. They provide the truth that men can be winners too They pretend to care but know they believe only in the new God man. The new God man will demand only to rid ourselves of the old intolerant religious bias and show our acceptance of the new directive which promises access to all the benefits of capitalism in a world without war or pain. The new God man will combine the government, economic opportunity, and religion to complete the new world order.
The most important thing that we can do is also the most difficult thing to do. It takes great mental toughness. It is important to maintain that positive and balanced world view no matter what. Never ever give up your hope or your beliefs.
We know it’s going to get harder as time goes on. The repub’s psychological warfare is in full force and it’s reaching it’s target, you. Never ever give up your hope or balance because that is your present and your future. Keep your belief in yourself, protect your family, and seek community for survival through the storm.
The complicit dems as well and the proto-fascist repubs (as well as the ‘Vichy’ MSM) have all concluded, with absolute CONTEMPT for the American people and any sense of democracy, that they have a lock on this friggin Vichy government —- and that the people can’t turn anywhere but to them.
The ONLY WAY to show them that they are wrong, and that the American people can still pull the switch on what will otherwise likely be our last election, is to throw them ALL out this November.
Show the bastards that they can’t get away with their contempt of us — vote independent. Before November there will be another choice, a real choice, and more very painful reasons to vote independent.
The American people still have one chance to save themselves and their government from total absorption into this corportist EMPIRE hiding behind the facade of ‘Vichy’ America —- to vote all the complicit bastards out — ALL OUT (including Obama, Clinton, McCain, Romney, etc. etc.) as they are ALL nothing but differently styled tools of the corporatist EMPIRE.
This is clearly a fixed game, a corporate con, just like the corporate non-choice of GM or Ford from the 1950’s thru the 70’s —- just two types of JUNK under two different ‘brand names’.
How many times are we going to allow ourselves to be ping ponged back and forth between these two brands of disaster and contempt?
If it were not for an independent choice from the late 1970’s forward, we would all still be driving rust bucket, unsafe, gas hogs — and the dumbest of Americans would still be saying, “Well, my last Chevy was a real pig, but I think this year’s Fords look real good, — and its just not patriotic to do anything else.”
When you’re getting hosed year after year after year, what’s really stupid is to keep picking between two ‘brand names’ of junk — like GM/Ford, or Dem/Repub!!
The biggest undiscussed market in the US is ‘lipstick for pigs’.
Every four years hundreds of millions are spent on lipstick for pigs —- putting the lipstick on the dem and repub pigs to make them look exciting and desirable for the American rubes.
Almost reminds me of the days in the fifties when GM and Ford would roll out the new pigs in September and the PR flaks would create all that excitement about fender skirts and fins on their new rolling pigs.
The phony excitement and 24/7 TV advertising of this phony 2008 Presidential Campaign hoopla is way more repugnant than those old corporate con jobs and “Life” magazine ads trying to sell the different ’styled’ metal pigs — now we get all in a tither about the ‘new’, ‘improved’, ‘genuine’, ‘promising’, and ‘comfortable’ candidates that the corporatist Empire is shoving down your throats.
Stop fooling yourselves. We don’t even have the persuasive power to get Edwards elected. How many of you are out recruiting people into the Green party? Where is the progressive MSM channel? I agree with everything the writer says and feel all her outrage. If I saw a grass roots movement I could join, I would. I may vote for Nader again if Hillary is the Dem, but right now I think Barak is looking pretty good. He is the most likely to show some humanity and reduce America’s bloody wars. Obama is the only remaining electable person who opposed this God awful war when it took some guts to do so.
The way to change things is to go to boring Dem Party meetings and say no to big money corruption and no to nuclear power and no to endless military spending and if you are a gifted speaker, and personable, to run for office. I promise you there are not that many people volunteering to be active in Dem politics. Righteous indignation is not enough. There are fascists running America who could at any time start a nuclear war. Barak isn’t going to do that.
I disagree with those who say don’t vote. I say that a grass route movement to unseat Speaker Pelosi, which would send shock ways through out the Democratic Party. neighborhood by neighborhood needs to organize and stand against the machine. it can not be done on a national basis but rather block by block. We must understand that we are the majority. As this economy sinks, you will see more and more sensitivity to our progressive causes.
Just as John Edwards today received thousands of votes. Nancy Pelosi can and must be defeated. I’m sure there are members of our choir that live in her district. I encourage them to organize and find someone they can get behind. Even if they were to loose and I think she can be defeated. Lets at the same time know that if this candidate did loose, but makes the election close, this would send a clear message to the Speaker.
Rebel Farmer
184 million is the number of prescriptions written in the United Sates last year for Wellbutrin, Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, etc. As I previosly mentioned, this figure doesn’t include other psychotropic drugs such as Ritalin. You better believe it explains a lot.
If Nacy Pelosi, the first woman speaker of the house, was thrown out of office in November’s election, than maybe the Democrats would sit up and listen!
The good people in her district can do it. Send the message!
I have just finished reading Ms Wolf’s excellent essay and all the comments up to midnight Jan 27 on this blog. I am currently on the last chapter of Ms. Wolf’s book, THE END OF AMERICA. I hope that Ms Wolf and publisher will soon produce this book in audiobook format (abridged if feasible) and I hope that everyone on this list buys three copies to give to friends who have no time to read. In recent years there have been many excellent books on the subject of the creeping fascism that is taking place in the United States and globally. Ms Wolf’ prose is the most concise and clear and communicates with calm urgency the serious turning point at which we shall soon arrive if we do not get our act together and launch an organized voters’ counter-insurgency against this miserable excuse of a Congress who has sold us down the river. We’ve lost the Executive and the Court, this Congress must be changed! Just read the news that Senator Obama won handily in South Carolina. If he becomes the leading Democratic Candidate, we hold his feet to the fire and if he equivocates once, we should all write in Mickey Mouse instead. But how do we write in a name when all we have are electronic machines with no records?
Overdosing on antidepressants is the only feasible explanation as to why Pelosi continues to wear a permanent, plastic smile, completely oblivious to the responsibility that she is charged with. She acts like she won a beauty contest and all she has to do is sit, smile, and pretend to make seemingly intelligent statements. Reid acts like he has a crush on her, constantly fawning over her, and doesn’t want to do a goddamn thing out of fear of upsetting her. What a disgraceful bunch of incompetent’s. Bush/Cheney must have a great chuckle over it all as they sit in their smug self assurance; and it’s all at our expense.
The anti-war Party members have made Hillary (war with Iran) and Obama (Brzezinski is his foreign policy adviser who will get us in a war with Russia over Kosovo) the front runners to represent the Democratic Party. Both of them will keep us in Iraq and Afghanistan. The people should be held in contempt, and in fact, our leaders do hold the people in contempt, just the other meaning of the word.
Rebel Farmer January 26th, 2008 9:07 pm
“But I’d really rather that we all get behind a singular strategy. Like voting Green or something. And I’ve already sent money to Cindy in my rebellion agains the powers that be.”
I agree, we do need a singular strategy. My suggestion would be to register as an independent, boycott the primaries, and vote Green in November.
Lobo Gris
Grappa January 26th, 2008 11:29 pm
“Just as John Edwards today received thousands of votes. Nancy Pelosi can and must be defeated. I’m sure there are members of our choir that live in her district. I encourage them to organize and find someone they can get behind.”
There already is an opposition candidate in Pelosi’s district that every progressive can get behind, Cindy Sheehan.
Lobo Gris
It would be one of the high points of my life to see Pelosi’s plastic mug the day she’s thrown out of office. I hope she breaks her face when SHE falls off the table.
Democracy is a fading memory. we have become a corporate oligarchy. Both political parties are now wholly owned subsidaries of corporate america. Thus, we’re governed by the corporations thru the political system they own. The only shred of democracy we have left is that we get to go to the polls and select which corporate candidate is going to screw us for the next 4 years.
This is all a good illustration of the need for alternatives and a truly multi-party system. The Repugs and the Dims work for and are owned by the same corporate interests. The only real differences is that the Repugs spit contempt, and the Dims continue to swallow.
Some are already repeating the losers mantra of “voting for any Dime to defeat the Repugs” but it’s wrong. I’d rather have a McCain than a Clinton because there isn’t a significant difference, because have a corporate hack Dim creates room for illusion among liberals and because an under attack Dim will do as much harm with less popular resistance. Better to know your enemy and build a movement.
I live in Kansas and nothing could be more pointless than contacting my legislators. Pat Roberts is officially George Bush’s best trained lap dog and he’s running for re-election! Anyone else would be too embarassed by their sellout of the American people and the constitution when chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee but not our Pat. He’s rolled out a few feel-good pork projects and he’s ready to run. The Kansas newspapers can be depended on to not ask any embarassing questions.
That said, I do occasionally contact Pat Roberts and Rep. Jerry Moran, who is somewhat more insightful. The last hope Americans have is that if enough of us do contact our delegation we might break through the carefully constructed fog of self-deception that everyone in AMerica thinks that what is happening in America is okay.
It is true that the MSM, the bubble world of the beltway all of it contributes to a pervasive aura that “everything is all right”. But too many of us know differently. It is not easy to break through that collective, national denial but I believe it is our last best chance and we’ve got to do it even as we recognize the slim chance of success.
The old truism raises its ugly head. A leopard can’t change its spot. What do you expect from a country that has raped, plundered, and killed off the indigenous believing it has manifest destiny, and now looks to make those who look like them the next enemy. That is not to say there are not decent humans in this society. A little hope is better than despair.
Knock, knock Naomi…
Is it the Gestapo coming to get you?
Nope - just the Pizza Hut boy with you 3 one topping medium pies for $15.
Don’t forget to give him a good tip - and check the boxes for listening devices.
What about this don’t American citizens-and the US Congress-get? Criminals belong behind bars. Period. Throw their sorry rear-ends in a jail cell. It’s that simple.
Each and every Congress member needs to be confronted with these charges- either uphold the Constitution or face trial yourself.
In fact, with 1.2 million Iraqi dead, they should probably be on trial already.
Who is running to oppose your Military-Industrial Complex stooge? In many states, just another stooge- it’s every citizens job to ensure a REAL Peace Candidate is running to oppose these complicit cowards.
Here again I disagree with Naomi,
It’s time to hold the whole system in contempt. A broken system produces only broken widgets.
Let’s abandon the practice of banging our heads against politicians or systems that are the problem — not the solution. Tell them to hold themselves in contempt? Is this a joke on them, or on us?
This head-banging habit is our primary obstacle to thinking about secession, Article V, a new convention, forming sub-economies, or the R-word.
Trust me, all this talk of secession and raising our voices will do absolutely no good. Only the “overthrow” of this government by the people will solve this issue. Dictatorships have to be overthrown by the people. There’s no other way. Wish there was.
We can know by learning, but we cannot learn by knowing.
Hold them in contempt, eh?
You don’t know the half of it.
greatbear - and just who would throw them behind bars? When you control the courts, the justice department, the police, the congress, the military, and when you declare yourself above the law, then who will throw you in jail? There is the Hague, perhaps, and indeed, Cheney and Rumsfeld better think twice before going to certain countries, like France. And didn’t I read somewhere that Bush has either bought or is looking into buying hundreds of acres in Paraguay — a country that conveniently does not have any extradition agreements with the US. This is the sick feeling we are all experiencing — our democracy is a lie. The people have no voice. Look how many people on these blogs say contacting their congressmen serves no purpose whatsoever. Our government does not answer to us — they USE us. We are oppressed. Just think about it the next time you line up at the airport and shuffle through like sheep, taking off your shoes, emptying your pockets, making sure your lipstick is in the little plastic bag on top, chugging down the last of your coffee while watching some five-year-old getting wanded.
greatbear - and just who would throw them behind bars? When you control the courts, the justice department, the police, the congress, the military, and when you declare yourself above the law, then who will throw you in jail? There is the Hague, perhaps, and indeed, Cheney and Rumsfeld better think twice before going to certain countries, like France. And didn’t I read somewhere that Bush has either bought or is looking into buying hundreds of acres in Paraguay — a country that conveniently does not have any extradition agreements with the US. This is the sick feeling we are all experiencing — our democracy is a lie. The people have no voice. Look how many people on these blogs say contacting their congressmen serves no purpose whatsoever. Our government does not answer to us — they USE us. We are oppressed. Just think about it the next time you line up at the airport and shuffle through like sheep, taking off your shoes, emptying your pockets, making sure your lipstick is in the little plastic bag on top, chugging down the last of your coffee while watching some five-year-old getting wanded.
Look, I agree that everything is a mess and that we seem to be powerless. But I also kind of like the idea of being a burr under the saddle of the powers that be. Kinda the monkey wrench idea. Just do stuff that annoys the hell out of ‘em. Check out what Battleboro Vermont is doing. It’s so cool. They vote in March to indict Cheney and Bush! Check it out:
http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080126/NEWS04/801260359/1003/NEWS02
In the meantime, write, call, email, and generally raise hell with your congress critters.
IMPEACH the DICK NOW!!!! Then the SHRUB!!!
Support Cindy and throw the wicked witch of the Congress out!
And don’t buy anything you don’t absolutely need.
Plant a garden.
Spend more time with family, friends and neighbors.
Even when you have lost all hope, find something to laugh about every day.
Gail, there are other critical voices out there that should get their message broadcast. It is obvious that the publishing companies see forums like Common Dreams as an opporunity to sell Naomi Wolf and George Lakoff to their target consumer, the self-directed.
This cynical market manipulation of voters by publishing companies and Democratic Party organizers is repugnant.
great piece, but what exactly are the means for taking down the abettors?
Here’s an idea I’ve had for over a year, and I don’t know why it hasn’t caught on: If Congress refuses to impeach, then WE THE PEOPLE SHOULD ESTABLISH A TRIBUNAL TO IMPEACH BUSH AND CHENEY. No use beating a dead (and hopelessly corrupted) horse which is our congress. They will not respond. WE NEED TO IMPEACH!!! Oh, you say that in this case we ourselves are being unconstitutional. Well, if Congress refuses to do ITS constitutional duty then aren’t WE the sovereign people entitled to do the necessary work ourselves? If impeachment is the purification we need to clear out the foul odor of the Bush/Cheney years (just as it was in the Nixon years), then SOMEONE has to do the work. Why not the sovereign American people.
Let’s face it…the 2008 election (for which we had such high hopes) has now become a ‘Lose-Lose’ proposition. There was a time when the Democrats were seen as an ‘Opposition Party’; but now, most of its members and ALL of its ‘leadership’ have become nothing more than co-conspirators with the Republicans. The ONLY thing the two parties disagree on now, is which team will fill the seats and operate the machinery that carries out the Will of the plutocrats.
A Republican by any other name will still smell as foul. It’s all right out of the pages of “1984″, except that the media no longer need a Winston Smith. They don’t go to the trouble of re-writing history anymore…the people and the institutions that used to be charged with keeping and transmitting history have all either died or been crippled beyond all recognition…and are safe to ignore.
An anonymous administration official quoted in Woodward’s book published several years ago said: “We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors.”
aybayb, I think that your quote comes from an article by Ron Suskind that appeared in a 2004 issue of the New York Times Magazine. That’s also where we learned of the term “reality-based community” used by the right-wing crazies to describe everyone else.
keepofkal-I researched Ron Paul, and while I agree with a couple of things he said, he lost me with his pro-life stance and his undermining of Roe vs. Wade. As a woman, I could not vote for anyone trying to put his bureaucratic hands all over my body.
Actually it’s time that we got our pitch forks and stormed Washington DC. No one seems to be listening over there. We could also have a general strike to shut down the economy for awhile until Bush and Cheney step down. In order to be heard we will have to play hard ball.
Moonshadow–That’s why I won’t vote for Ron Paul as well.
At this point I consider them wars criminals. They voted and funded this war that we all knew was based on lies all along. And most of these people brag about being religious.
My congressman Rick Larsen of Washington St. voted for the war and voted funding for it at every turn. May you rot in hell Larsen.
Just because a person has progressive ideas doesn’t mean they are hypocritical for making a decent living. Naomi I hope you are really socking it to your corporate publishers real good. Of course you are writing this piece for Arianna, and when I have seen her speak she usually seems to have her head screwed on right, so you might cut her some slack. Money is not the root of all evil, but “love” of money is the root. My mother might have been wrong in thinking that just because (Nixon) was our presidentt we had to support him, but she was right on target when she said, “You don’t love things, you love people” (pets are acceptable too)
This was a really informative article, and I agree totally with its premise. However, I take issue with the use of the word “emasculate.” It’s just one more instance of the notion of masulinity as a synonym for courage - as is the use of “he or she has ‘balls’” (or lack thereof). Women who write for a living should know better than to equate being masculine with the ability to stand up to bullies.
Men are no more inherently courageous than women. In fact, females are known for their ferocity when it comes to protecting their young. We need, as a society, to find a better way to express ourselves in reference to nerve, audacity, and bravery that does not involve gender references.
Occam’s Razor suggests that the explanation for the failures of the Democratic leadership is simply: they have no contempt for BushCo’s actions.
They don’t want to destroy the ring — they want to wear it.
Lazar guillotines
Hybrid tumbrels
Let the heads roll again
Arbeitmachtfrei(AMF) and Heavyrunner(HR) aptly point out the similarities between the failure of Democratic leadership and the failure of the non-Nazi parliamentary leadership in Weimar Germany in 1933. In the latter case, the weak and divided leftists were partly to blame for Hitler’s takeover.
One important error that Heavyrunner made–and it’s partly germaine to the overall issue of opposition failure–was in saying that Hitler was elected. No way! He was never elected. Hitler ran for President in March 1932, and was beaten by Hindenburg, 49.6% to 30.1% in a 4-way race, and in a run-off election in April, Hindenburg got 53% to Hitler’s 37%.
In November, 1932, there was a parliamentary election where the Nazis lost ground –2 million votes–to the Communists and the Nationalist Party. The Nazis with 121 seats were not even close to a majority of the 608 member Reichstag.
There followed some shabby backroom deals ending with Hitler being appointed Prime Minister in a coalition government in January 1933.When the coalition failed to reach a new majority,he called for new elections to be held in early March. On February 27, the Reichstag burned down and the Government said it had found evidence of a wide conspiracy intent on revolution, but it never presented any evidence. The next day, Hitler presented an Enabling Act that suspended civil liberties, and the Storm Troopers were allowed to run wild. On March 5, however, despite all the intimidation, the Nazi party received only 44% of the vote! However, the Nationalist party joined the Nazi coalition to give Hitler a majority in the parliament. This was how he was able to browbeat an opposition that gave in to him. Had they stood up and resisted, history might have been different, and that’s one reason why so many of us, like AMF and HR, are concerned. Are we on the cusp of a fascist takeover? Have we done enough? What else can we do to make sure we still have our Constitutional rights? Like the German people back in 1933, we are threatened by an executive who has twice won his position by chicanery and fraud, and who used a suspicious national tragedy to consolidate his power.
Congress does not plan any hearings or other for Bolten or Miers.All that will cause attention to themselves.The United Nations never has a problem running a tyrant off any where else in the world.Congress is to busy naming Post Office buildings after their bundlers.They just do not have the time.We need to visit the United Nations and see if help is there.
Thanks for telling the truth, squiss, about how it was/is.
I don’t think it is possible for me to hold the Democrat leaders of Congress in greater contempt than I already hold them. They are entirely deserving of contempt.
The only people I hold in greater contempt are the Republicans, Independents who still vote for Republican, everyone ever appointed to office by the Bush Administration and the timid, lazy, incompetent,self serving journalists who have allowed it to come to this sorry state of affairs.