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Now That the Election Is Over, the Fight for Economic Justice Begins!
While millions of Americans are celebrating the election of Barack Obama, the wealthy and corporate interests who dished out billions of dollars this election season will be swarming over Washington to get their agendas passed. The energy giants will demand "clean coal," nuclear power and offshore drilling. More big corporations facing bankruptcy because of their corruption and greed will demand taxpayer bailouts.
Military contractors and weapon peddlers will push the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The super-rich will cry poverty and demand more tax cuts. HMOs and insurance companies will promote bogus healthcare "reforms" so they can forestall universal healthcare. And they won't take no for an answer.
But things are different this time. We have the ideas on our side. The public is politically engaged. And we can hold accountable the politicians we put into office. Because the "free market" has proven a farce and the right is in disarray, there is a huge opening to pass policies that can benefit all Americans. As the economy sinks, only concerted public action can revive it. We need to band together and organize powerful new movements across this country. We need to organize in the workplace. We need to organize in the schools. We need to organize in the streets, in our neighborhoods, in our communities. And we need to be clear about what we're for: A Just Economy for All Americans--one that creates 21st Century productive jobs, instead of relying on debt-driven consumption to sustain the economy.
We can end our addiction to oil. We can end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We can solve the healthcare crisis. We can revive our communities, rebuild our infrastructure, invest in education, slow global warming and transition to a clean, green economy. We need to bring pressure to bear on all levels of government -- local, state and national -- to enact programs of reconstruction and relief, and to restructure the finance sector.
Here's how we can start:
- Sign the call to action (bailoutmainstreet.com) and send it around to everyone you know, urging them to add their name to the call and join this new movement.
- Set up an organizing committee in your town or city. We need to bring together labor, housing groups, healthcare activists, environmentalists, business owners and all concerned citizens to help draft a plan to dig our way out of this mess.
- Organize a teach-in on the economic crisis and community-based solutions. *Use the teach-in to begin organizing for a day of local action in your community. We are calling for a day of nationally coordinated local actions to push for economic policies that benefit everyone.
- And we need to start organizing for a big mobilization in Washington, D.C., following the inauguration, to push our demands for a fair, just economy of the future, instead of the failed trickle-down economy of the past.
Just like the 1930s, this unprecedented crisis has given us the opportunity to fix America and create a productive, sustainable economy for all. Let's get to work!
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Show AllAND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ! END MOUNTAIN TOP REMOVAL...
http://www.wisecountyissues.com
My post from another thread:
At a minimum, the prospect of hope is a very important and needed change.
But we cannot now kick back and relax. To the contrary we must continue to improve our will. We must continue to make our voices heard, to become more united in our cause for common good, to assure that the cruel and unjust realities of the past 8 years stay in the past and that this new century does bring the spiritual awakening and social equity required for human posterity.
The man alone cannot succeed without a clear and strong resolve from us. The corporatacracy still thrives and inequity dominants the global scene. We must now focus on promoting and supporting our cause every bit as much as we rallied for the man.
Whether we wanted Obama or Nader or someone else, we must now look beyond what divides us toward that which we hold in common, both nationally and globally.
The proper URL is:
http://bailoutmainstreet.com/
Editor, can you corect it?
thanks
This website hasn't been updated to show that the bailout 2nd edition got passed and it only allows people to sign up for email alerts and to "sign the petition." The site doesn't suggest any organization beyond information gathering... Nowhere does it allow you to connect to people in your area or start a local group.
Nowhere does this website suggest staring local teach ins or suggest how that is done.
Not one to put someone down without offering to help, I checked the contact page.
The contact page is a suggested link contributions page with no phone number or email.
To top it off, the site has links to other groups without any suggestion how they relate to this webpage organizationaly. It doesn't even have a "donate" page...
And this is the site we get sent to?
Default webpages from bargin bin software sales are better designed than this...
Are these people even listening to the way Obama just won? Do they have a clue?
Indeed. Very careless and just the start we don't need.
Careful who you spend your energy, time and money with.
There's much work to be done.
Choose wisely.
Thank you for saying that. I thought maybe I was the only one who thought the website wasn't clear and fails to offer adequate information. It basically calls for people to "organize" and that's it. That's some slim information to go on. Signing the petition seems to simply be an empty promise to organize and do something and that's about it. It would be nice if there were some links giving some more information and advice on how to effectively go about making a difference. I think people just like to feel they are a part of "something," you know, to feel like they are doing something by joining a movement in name but not action. But the "doing something" part is kind of crucial, and if you don't know how to do it (say organize a teach-in), then the petition is pretty pointless.
I agree that there may, finally, be an opening that can be exploited, but we need to think more deeply about how to do it. To me, it's not about the economy, it's about power. As Nader asks, "who owns and who controls?" Is it we the people or is it them the wealthy?
The answer isn't simple, either. Americans are privileged. We talk about the underdeveloped world, but we don't acknowledge that we live in the overdeveloped world, a world that couldn't exist without unsustainable exploitation of the environment and other nations.
How can we talk about the economy without talking about the massive impact of US militarism, both around the world and here at home? Most of the wars of the 20th and 21st centuries have been at least in part about oil. Washington strategists have attempted to keep the US dominant in the Middle East (and elsewhere) to control the flow of oil. If we convert from a war economy to a peace economy, we need to say goodbye to our SUVs, and maybe even our hybrids.
Energy should be priced to reflect its real costs and we should adjust our lives accordingly -- replacing imports with locally produced goods and food, having fewer material posessions, and relearning how to share.
I think this world could be a paradise if we became locally self-reliant, willing to live within our local means, and willing to accept those in other areas who believe and act differently.
I agree; well said! Corporatism is alive and well. Imperialism and militarism is costing us trillions of dollars. While I think we will get some crumbs from time to time, we can only get progressive economic justice when we reject the core beliefs, which means rejecting both major parties.
"I agree that there may, finally, be an opening that can be exploited, but we need to think more deeply about how to do it. "
If Obama tries to hammer through too much with the new congress that doesn't mesh up with main stream sensibilities, that congress will be out in two years.
A few things I think might be good to start with that don't seem to me to be asking too much:
1) Closing Guantanamo and other gulags. This is something he promised repeatedly during the campaign.
2) Restoring our commitments to international treaties, esp. the ones that other presidents had adhered to.
3) Mortgage relief -- I just read that there were a record # of personal bankrupcies this month. Obama should demand that the banksters that've taken billions in US taxpayer dollars start acting in the public interest and renegotiate mortgage terms that reflect the post-bubble value of the mortgaged homes.
4) Troop withdrawal from Iraq within 2 years. I expect even Americans who don't agree with Obama expect a Democratic President and Congress to do this.
I think it's really important for ordinary Americans to get more politically active. Let their Congresspeople know they are out there and watching, organizing for some real, positive change. I believe that if the American people think they are off the hook for another 2 years, that the Democrats will continue with their Clinton-esque sellout to the powerful.
Number 1 isn't solved just by closing facilities, you have to decide what to do with the people incarcerated there, many will not be accepted by their home countries. I'm not sure how #3 will go over. The sentiment I often here is "why should I make my payments regularly or not default if others end up getting bailed out if they do?". OTOH, some banks are renegotiating loan terms, maybe some realistic way to encourage that would work. I heard of a program by one of the banks to suspend foreclosures for three months in an effort to come to more realistic terms. I guess we will see.
Thanks, CommonDreams, for the tone of your coverage today.
Now's when activism begins. Lots and lots of groundwork has been laid over the past 8 years, and the key is to organize, educate, and pressure the Democrats to be better than their pro-corporate, hawkish instincts. Just like the Labor movement pressured FDR to be better.
Contrary to what many posters here constantly say, it DOES matter whether or not we call and write to representatives. It DOES matter who is in power. It DOES matter when we write calm, well thought-out letters to editors. It DOES matter what we do and it CAN make a difference.
If you've given up, then go away! The rest of us are going to work. Don't try to drag us down.
Now that the election is over, Campaign 2012 begins!
www.november5.org
This article says it all.
McKinney's and Nader's comments today on 'Democracy Now' echo the thoughts and calls to action made here.
Maybe when McKinney makes her next speech in support of an ILWU shutdown of West Coast ports in protest of US military actions, the crowd can be 100,000 - not 1,000.
ACTION!
I also encourage support of:
http://www.november5.org/
and
http://bailoutmainstreet.com/
Let's get going and put pressure on Obama to listen to citizens - not his (and Bush's and Clinton's) corporate and elitist oligarchic paymasters.
But I could be wrong !
curmudgeon99:I heard the same interview with Nader. He made some good points. I have one suggestion,which I hope you don't mind my saying. I think words/phrases like "elitist" and "oligarch paymasters" are turn offs for me. I dislike jargon stuff. We need to get other people to work on the issues. I voted for Obama and am glad I did. Now we all must get to work. Thanks. We have Howard Zinn's articles on FDR getting pushed into the New Deal, so there's historical precedent.
Thanks - criticism noted. You are probably right.
As I mentioned, I voted for McKinney whose platform more closely resembles my values and 'hot buttons'.
I am turned off by Obama's embrace of AIPAC values and US Armenian diatribes along with his votes in the Senate on funding and economic issues.
But I could be wrong !
It won't be long until hate radio (Hannity, Limbaugh, et al) will begin their attacks on Obama energizing the extreme right with veiled encouragement for some nut to take a shot at him. The MSM will also begin a campaign of sophisticated slander if Obama fails to implement the corporate agenda.
Obama is only one man up against a well-funded group of special interests that control 90% of the media as well. The key will be for Obama to openly debate issues such as universal healthcare, troop withdrawals, ending prohibition and reducing corporate influence so that the public can see for themselves the difficulty any politician has in implementing a policy that is in the public interest for a change. Therefore Obama must choose people (regardless of party affiliation) that understand the tasks ahead. Nader for Secretary of Labor, Colin Powell could be perhaps reassigned to the position of Secretary of State, Joseph Stiglitz as chairman of the Fed and other such bold moves provided that each and every appointee is on the same page: public interests trump private interests.
The next three months will be very telling on whether Obama can break the cycle of corporate control and establish a government once again that represents average people.
Colin Powell in the new Administration? Why?
Do they need someone to lie at the U.N.?
Thank you Medea. Good concrete steps. I'll put those items on my "to do" list. Peace and justice are verbs! What a wonderful positive thing to post. And yes remember to listen to Democracy Now.
"We can end our addiction to oil. We can end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We can solve the healthcare crisis. We can revive our communities, rebuild our infrastructure, invest in education, slow global warming and transition to a clean, green economy. We need to bring pressure to bear on all levels of government -- local, state and national -- to enact programs of reconstruction and relief, and to restructure the finance sector."
"We" are daisies if "we" do.
We CAN make a difference.
We HAVE made a difference.
We WILL make a difference.
The time is NOW!
Stayed tuned for more information...
Stayed tuned to your new alliances...
Stayed tuned to America and show them what
True Patriotism is all about.
We're taking it back and we will be the Change!
jonabark
These articles never seem to mention specific legislation like Conyers Universal health care plan. The majority wants it; they just elect Obama. Wouldn't that be a good fight to start with?
Right - http://www.healthcare-now.org/
All of these sites should work together; or at least link to each other.
I haven't heard from World Can't Wait in a while.
There's Global Exchange.
SocialistWorker.org
Labor Unions.
KPFA.org
I'm sure you all know of many more like minded sites and groups.
TV & radio ads, newspaper, billboards, buses/transit, posters, bumper stickers, apparel.
fairvote.org
opendebates.org
Healthcare Now does not support universal health care. They, and their AFL-CIO allies, support gun-to-our-heads private health insurance. These folks are going to be our biggest obstacle in obtaining single-payer, which the only way to make health care universal.
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Another world is not only possible, she is on her way.
On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.
- Arundhati Roy
Revolutions are born of hope, not despair.
- Peter Kropotkin
FOCUS is needed. Attempting to force change by presenting a variety of needs at once will fail. The FOCUS is the economy and health care.
It is true that focus is needed. I happen to think it is a bit different. How will we get revenue to fund jobs and health care?
A green energy jobs program does the following:
1. Reduces the need for foreign oil, thus the need for expensive and destructive invasions and occupations. Immediate savings from Iraq etc. $10 billion per month.
2. Provides jobs for construction of solar and wind. Provides jobs for making existing buildings more energy efficient. Gives income to young families.
3. Provides a cheaper more efficient source of energy for farms, light manufacturing and homes, thus stimulating the economy.
4. Provides a healthier environment and opportunities for engineers, scientists, architects.
5. Part of the clean energy revenue can be applied to a national health plan.
That is the positive approach to our problems. On the negative view, I would like to throw the bankers in jail and take away all their property. But alas, that angry attitude is not likely to be adopted by anyone in power.
Joe
Well, there is an opportunity. Hopefully he will listen.