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Reassembling America's Democracy
On the Fourth of July, we celebrated Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, Madison and all the other great men who created our democracy, right?
Not exactly. The Founders did create the framework for a democratic republic, but they didn't create much democracy. Indeed, in America's first presidential election, only 4 percent of the people were even eligible to vote.
The Founders created the possibility for democracy, but it took the struggle (often bloody and always hard) of ordinary people over the years to create the substance. In some decades, we've made advances; in others, we've fallen back - including in the past three decades, when the power of America's workaday majority has steadily been usurped by corporate elites. So now, We the People must put America back on its historic path toward economic and political democracy.
"Fine," you might say, "but how? I'm just one person. What can I do?"
1) Start by considering what's reasonable for you. Few of us can be full-time activists, and the list of issues and problems is intimidating, long and complex. So just take one bite, choosing an issue that interests you most, then start contributing what you can (time, skills, contacts, money, enthusiasm, etc.) to making progress. No contribution is too small. If you can only devote half a day a week, or an hour a day or even minutes a day - it all adds up. As a young Oregon woman said of her half-day-a-week volunteer door-knocking in a legislative race: "I was only drop in the bucket, but I was one drop. And without all of us, the bucket would not have filled up."
2) Inform yourself. A little effort can quickly connect you to accessible, usable information and insights on any given topic, allowing you to gain a "citizen's level" of expertise so you can talk to others about it. Read progressive periodicals, tune in to progressive broadcasts, get information from public-interest groups, and plug into good websites and blogs.
Don't know how to go online? Nearly all public libraries not only have computers, but also librarians and volunteers who'll assist you in finding the info you want and teach you how to use the machines.
Or find a youngster (maybe your grandchildren or someone at church) who'll help you. Yes, you can do this!3) Democracy belongs to those who show up. Join with others. Everyone feels better when they're part of a group, a movement, a community (whether real or virtual). In your own town or neighborhood, many others are either already working together or willing to help form a group - seek them out, maybe at bookstores, book clubs, coffee shops, events, churches, blogs, Websites and other meeting places.
4) A community is more than a collection of issues and endless meetings. Combine the serious with the social, and remember the Yugoslavian proverb, "You can fight the gods and still have fun!" So discuss your issues and strategies at potluck suppers (bring the kids, have some music, pour a little wine), throw an annual festival of politics, create weekly sessions of beer-mug democracy at local taverns, set aside one day a week for Big Talk (rather than small talk) at the coffeeshop, etc.
5) Become the media. Create a local newsletter, blog, bulletin board (on the wall or online), Internet radio broadcast, etc. Just as importantly, enlist high-school or community college speech and journalism teachers to help you learn how to do radio and TV interviews and how to get local media to cover your issues. Also, get them to train you and others in pubic speaking, so you can have your own speakers' bureau to address clubs, churches, schools, etc.
6) Hold your own "what to do" sessions in your community. Don't wait for national progressive groups, which haven't figured out a cohesive strategy for focusing on people's anger about the meekness of Washington's Democratic leaders. Instead, have your own discussions about what should be done nationally - if anything - and start zapping those ideas to other communities, heads of national groups, progressive media outlets and so forth. Let the ideas percolate up from a thousand localities!
That's what democracy is. Some assembly required.
- Posted in
47 Comments so far
Show AllGreat suggestions. Good article by Jim Hightower. Thanks.
Some dis-assembly is also required.
I think this article helps us find individual ways to progress. This is good.
However,
There is one thing within this article which has become a commonly held assumption and, in order for us to be effective, needs to be consistently challenged -
"...the meekness of Washington's democratic leaders."
This belief, and that is all it is, is possibly the biggest deceit perpetrated upon the people.
It is a holdover from decades ago and, like the republican claim to be the party of the abolitionists, is outdated and is now false.
We need to face the fact that the real face of the democrats is Rahm Emanuel (sp?).
The democrats are not victims.
The democrats are not inept.
The democrats lust after the same money and power as their more blatant co-conspirators.
"Meekness" is the mask they wear while participating in the orgy.
No kidding...
While Obama is genuinely aggressive and effective when gunning for corporate interests, he plays the meekness role very well when he capitulates on issues that might help the working class.
Both the Dubya Regime and the Obama Regime want you to believe that "mistakes were made". Neither regime made any mistakes. They have assured that the transfer of wealth from the working class to the corporations and wealthiest 1% proceeds with expediency and precision.
Dittos and more dittos to the two former comments.
Jim does two things that is a disservice to us all in his article:
1) Perpetuates the myth of the "founding fathers" and;
2) Proposes "solutions" that sound more like an outdoor music festival or coffee klatch than any meaningful action;
First I'll address point one:
Does Jim Still Believe In The Tooth Fairy AND The Founding Fathers?
Most Americans know that the framers met for three months in closed session, but this is generally forgiven on the grounds that the then Congress of the United States had not commissioned them to write a new Constitution, and neither revolutionaries nor counter-revolutionaries can do all their work in the open. What few modern-day Americans realize, however, is that the framers did their best to ensure that we would never know the details of their deliberations. All the participants in the convention were sworn to life-long secrecy, and when the debates were over, those who had taken notes were asked to hand them in to George Washington, whose final task as chairman of the convention was to get rid of the evidence. American's first president, it appears, was also its first shredder.
Fortunately, not all the participants kept their vows of silence or handed in all their notes. But it wasn't until 1840, a half century after the Constitution was put into effect, with the posthumous surfacing of James Madison's extensive notes, that the American people could finally read what had happened in those three crucial months in Philadelphia. What was revealed was neither divine nor diabolical, but simply human, an all-too-human exercise in politics. Merchants, bankers, ship-owners, planters, slave traders and slave owners, land speculators, and lawyers, who made their money working for these groups, voiced their interests and fears in clear, uncluttered language; and, after settling a few, relatively minor disagreements, they drew up plans for a form of government they believe would serve these interests most effectively. But the fifty years of silence had the desired myth-building effect. The human actors were transformed into "Founding Fathers." Their political savvy and common sense were now seen as all-surpassing wisdom, and their concern for their own class of property owners (and, to a lesser, extent, sections of the country and occupational groups) had been elevated to universal altruism (in the liberal version) or self-sacrificing patriotism (in the preferred conservative view).
==============
Now as to point two, Jim's proposed actions which he offers us are really nothing more than chimerical notions that amount to drinking coffee and getting ourselves better informed with some friends tossed in so we are all informed together.
This is more liberal fantasy that sounds appealing in that it might make us feel better at the end of the day but does nothing to change power structures.
As long as women and African-Americans were nice humble and passive what did they get? Nothing. Unless you count subjugation and servitude as something. Would those in power one day have awakened one day in a particularly genial and loving mood having experienced some psycho-spiritual transformation and said, "You are so nice and humble I'm going to allow you to vote, own property and while we're at it let's throw in equal pay?"
Dream on.
It took suffragettes and civil rights activists being insistent, unpleasantly arrogant, unrelenting and a willingness to risk what little they did have to attain the few freedoms that are "allowed" today. This meant laying their bodies on the line.
Those who are destroying our earth and our communities at breakneck speed are as humble and caring as barracudas, with all apologies to the more gentle piscine creatures, and will not easily or at all relinquish their stranglehold on the gasping planet or your neck.
What it will take is nothing short of large scale purposeful sustained direct actions that bring the system to a halt. This means tremendous sacrifice. This means discomfort. In this there is the inevitably of tremendous risk.
We need Latin American-style "socialist" revolution in the streets, complemented by effective traditional political organizing, social-class based.
What is the point of your "point one?" Hightower said they did not create a democracy. So everything you said about the process in 1787 is redundant.
Oh so few really understand--1787 was a coup. It overthrew the existing government and the governing document, and a very concerted propaganda campaign was launched to seal the deal. The truth of the above only becomes clear when the events are deeply examined, which they aren't at all by any standard US history text. And in the intervening time period between then and now, the Elite have amassed ALL the levers of political power into their hands other than active revolt/revolution. Indeed, they went so far as to directly attack the US populace on 9/11, following a plan that originated in 1962. Few understand that the federal government must be destroyed and a whole new edifice constructed if we are ever to attain any measure of REAL democracy and the fruits of self-government, but such has been the case for generations, not just since the 1980s.
I say this with respect and affection (your posts are usually highlights!), but I think you're too hard on Hightower for this piece. I agree with the first follow up poster regarding your first point. Hightower leaves off (intentionally) the patriarchal designator "Fathers" that you use as the basis for your first argument. I think his point is accurate and fair. They set up a framework but didn't come close to sealing the deal. That's hardly perpetuating the myth you reference, which is largely the fantasy of nationalists and frequently flirts with outright deification.
Your second point is far more important and accurate than your first; the question of actions and methods.
There are times, I think, when you need to account for a writer's broader audience, and this is one of those times. *You* may be ready to start breaking down the Man's door (as I am, too), but the reality is that most people are not. Social mobilization--whether revolutionary or pedestrian movement--is a social phenomenon, and one area we're getting slaughtered in--especially the center-left and Left--is social organizing. Political literacy and community membership might be as poor in the US as anywhere on the planet, so the task of mobilizing people for poltiical action is fairly intense (triply so for anything remotely left). All of HIghtower's suggestions are perfectly good for building the personal bonds necessary to forge a sense of community among like-minded people. Think about how many years the right wing has used churches to achieve the same effect. He's making recommendations for ordinary people who are neophytes to the world of activism and resistance, and for that audience, his suggestions are solid.
Most of these Latin American-style movements have the same pedestrian roots. You and I dont' know each other, we sit here typing, but we're no closer to the action you advocate as a result of this activity. Knowing what should be done intellectually is a far cry from doing it. Frankly, it would be nice to see some of the like-minded sisters and brothers on here connect in real space as well. Don't you think we'd be far more useful than we are now if we did?
"What it will take is nothing short of large scale purposeful sustained direct actions that bring the system to a halt. This means tremendous sacrifice. This means discomfort. In this there is the inevitably of tremendous risk."
That's exactly what it will take.
One of the most important things everyone can do every single day is to participate in the UBAE (unofficial Boycott of the American Economy). Don't buy anything unless its absolutely necessary. Its indirect insofar as not getting in people's faces, very subtle, but very effective. When you spend money, buy from small, local merchants, farmers and other independent businesses that are not members of the local Chamber of Commerce.
Tighten the noose. Starve the f**kers of commerce. That's the only way to kill 'em off.
The US non-elites are far too divided among themselves to ever mount any effective class war. So many of the non-elites are fighting against other non-elites in other group struggles, all encouraged and abetted by the oligarchs, to ever develop the solidarity necessary to be successful in the struggle against the elites.
Yes, the employment of Wedge Issues has had the desired effect.
Interesting posts...
Funny how we all can comment , speak freely, allegedly without fear of reprisal, ridicule any and all and expose the truth as we see it but it doesn't really matter or effect or change one iota of the Injustice we witness daily..
Shit goes on at A dizzying rate and the people have absolutly no control over this runaway train...It is like screaming for help, but no one can hear you..But we are all "free" to talk about it...
We are living in A delusional world where we are losing everything that matters and all we can do is "freely" talk about it...
Consider that this "delusional world" was fabricated with the same attention to detail that went into the planning and building of Disneyland.
It always amazes me how many people are not yet ready to take the "red pill".
Oh, and about that ability to talk "freely"... I see that window closing fast. Especially when it is decided that all of our "free" talk may well lead to action.
The US was not created as a democracy. Nor did the founders even countenance the possibility of democracy. They liked their privilege and tolerated their slaves. So how do we 'reassemble' what was never actually assembled in the first place - except in the fevered dreams of the delusional?
Jim Hightower hits the mark with this one and those that posted reservations or disagreements either didn't read it all, preferred to hear what they wanted to hear or are just flatly wrong.
The United States was created as a Republic by the way, which it still is.
The only fault I see is #2. I'd add, get your information from all sides or you are in danger of becoming nothing but a chorus of one note.
" Democracy belongs to those who show up ". That's the whole point. I know of so many arm-chair quarterbacks, some who have elevated positions in their communities, who say this or that is wrong and then take another sip of wine or pull of beer and change the subject. Having marched for decades for some losing propositions, and some winners to for sure, the 10% who care must realize they will face jokes/cheapshots/ridicule on a sliding scale if they dare to speak out. Their peers will change and avoid your strident(in their eyes) opinions. This will be uncomfortable. Now you will be videotaped by who knows who. The FBI for sure. Local police: count on it. If you call a controversial person of interest your phone will be tapped. Carry a copy of The Bill of Rights and you can shut most yaahos down and impress those open to listening. Have the phone # of an atty. in your wallet. Such is life if you want to make a difference today. Call your representatives, local and federal, but don't count on them as they get hundreds/thousands of opinions solicited everyday. The main thing is, everyone watches to much TV, including politicians.
Most of Jim's suggestions are spot on but he misses the gotcha politics that goes on even within progressives and liberals when it comes to democracy or what's left of it. Even on this board, I notice that not everyone believes in working together but going it alone. Then there are also some who get cranky and do their "I did ... what are you doing about it?". There are also the "I can take care of myself. Buzz off." folks who fear that working together is a "dictatorship" that makes them feel "less independent". A democracy can only function when people unite on a cause just like it happened in the Civil Rights Era and shutting down US involvement on Vietnam War. On the other hand, failing to build coalitions and go on the offensive but instead playing the fame card on the media and then conceding to the corporate rivals leads to nothing more than self-defeatism. Some people may mistake me as some kind of a "mooch off dependent" just because I believe in team work but I have my independence too. We do have to pay attention to what our leaders are doing for and against us because without good leadership, we are severely limited. I used to be a fool who would believe that voting doesn't matter but now I realize that it matters on all levels. If voter turnout on local levels could be as high as at least that of a presidential election, we would accomplish a lot together and be proud of ourselves and each other. While each of us can do our own part, politicians also have a responsibility because we pay them to serve us and not the elites. You cannot have a democracy if politicians are "free" to write people off and keep them divided.
Voting at the community level is what it is all about. Taking back the streets and bring local police under control is key. The insane war on drugs and DUI witch hunt has poisoned liberals into handing the cortocracy the keys to the kindom. Work to get you and like minded people on selectboards and then eliminate the police as much as you can. Without the hired killers they can not win. Protests will have more impact, their is risk people will die it's true but how many are dieing now? Saving one is not enough we have to look at the big picture.
We can't completely eliminate the police but we can bring them down to a level to protect and serve without abusing their power. Protests are going on and getting louder and stronger from time to time but as you can see, only the pro-rightwing protests fighting to maintain the status quo are getting coverage while the rest are being muted out. Could changing local voter turnout from 15% to at least 50% change all of that? I used to not pay attention to local elections but nowadays I am reconsidering. It is now a matter of getting others to know those election dates. And if the turnout increases do make a difference for the better, we might have a society that can believe in a government that most of us can trust unlike what we have now where different people mistrust government for different reasons, some good reasons and some bad reasons.
The police are very much out of control and need to be brought under stricter civilian control. Eliminating their main source of income besides taxes; The War on Drugs would go a long way towards this end. We need police but not the kind we've had for at least 30 yrs. The gunplay has got to stop as a first course of action. Also, ending entrapment laws would eliminate some of them. SCOTUS members are nutcases and hopfully will die soon. They love the police state and really do need to go away and die.
"SCOTUS members are nutcases and hopfully will die soon. They love the police state and really do need to go away and die."
We need a president who won't appoint nutcases to SCOTUS. Reagan, Bush, Obama on Kagan, and even Clinton gave us those nutcases with the Senate to confirm them of course. We also need to replace our Senators in as many states election after election with those who won't rubber stamp the confirmations.
On item #2, "Inform yourself," I would recommend an added defensive protocol: as much as possible, avoid exposure to corporate news sources, so as to avoid being propagandized.
This stems from my pet theory--that the flood of corporate media in the U.S. affects people far more deeply than they think. Everybody knows the corporate media is useless, but they tend to believe they can "filter out" the bad stuff, and they expose themselves to it anyway.
I advise against this. The ubiquitousness and repetitiousness of today's media machine will overcome any defenses. There is nothing you can do about this except to avoid exposure. It's just basic neurology. If you hear something repeated often enough, your mind takes it as reality.
I advise a virtual fast from corporate news sources. I realize this is a hard sell for true political wonks. NB: not talking about entertainment shows here--just the "news" shows.
The corporate media has shown its immeasurable power over our minds by selling us Barack Obama. Let's face it, even most progressives were drawn in. This attests to the sheer brain-washing power of the media machine.
The Obama campaign later won an advertising award, which suggests someone agrees with my theory.
If you test this idea and (virtually) eschew the corporate news for a while, you will quickly notice three things:
1. Most people repeat corporate memes as truth. This includes even the most righteous progressives. They're not silly or dumb; they're just victims of the biggest propaganda machine ever deployed.
2. You will feel better. This is because the corporate news is right-biased--and the right are a very depressive lot who believe all sorts of crazy, bummer things (thousands of babies are being murdered every day by wicked abortion doctors; we're in a war on terror that will go on forever and which we cannot possibly win; gays are recruiting in the schools, etc.).
3. You will finally know what's going on. A bit of hyperbole there. I know you know what's going on. The point is, without all the corporate baggage crowding your mind, you'll have more time for the real stuff--the international press, Democracy Now, good lefty blogs, etc.
If I could completely unplug the corporate news, I would do it in a minute. They've played a huge role in the death of our democracy.
In the same way nearly everyone thinks they are immune to being manipulated by advertising. It's the delusion itself which ensures our continued manipulation.
one delusion rests on another: the delusion of property ownership...
the taking of the land ensures our continued manipulation...
we must take the land back to take our lives back...
this is good, and leads to where I was in my own head this morning...
my parents handed me what the news spews...believe in God, get good grades, get a job...
if parents parrot the party line, where is the opportunity for change?
turn off your tv? absolutely, you should...but, don't turn around and teach your kids what you just turned off...
finally, if parents only believe what they're told, how are they to cope when what they're told is revealed to be deceptive?
parents must continue to educate themselves, even unto their own roles as citizens, and defenders of their own liberty...it is through the generational transfer of social mores, traditions, beliefs, that power perpetuates fraud...
how to break this cycle without being outcast is key...unanimously?
I agree, Perry, but I would advise staying away from all corporate "entertainment" as much as possible. It is all sophisticated brainwashing and closely related to the so-called news in propping up the corporate zombie mindset. (I once thought of being a screenwriter, and one part of the class I was taking had to do with television work. The main purpose of television writing is to draw the viewers to the commercials though placement of plot points, etc. Maybe Homeless Bob, who had experience in the industry, can fill in if he reads this.)
To someone like myself who watches no television to be exposed (as I was recently) to what millions of people take in as a daily routine is mind-boggling. The stuff is worthless, mostly cookie cutter or sexy (really a sad opposite of sexy) sensationalist corporate uber all crap that no one sane would give a second look at if they weren't already brainwashed. Turning off the tube for a year or so will probably make the stuff intolerable, which would be good.
I get Amy Goodman on the radio sometimes.
I don't mean to draw attention away from your valid point about the sophisticated corporate "news" propaganda.
I couldn't agree more . As a contractor I've watched Home Despot fund many many populist TV shows that portray contractors as bumbling fools or crooks you show up behind the 8 ball and are treated as the enemy from the get go. They're destroying the last thing that they cann't out-source to other countries. Craftmenship is dieing and soon it will only be for the very rich, all others will get their box and that's it.
only crooks want democracy and they want as low of logic inelects voting as possible to fool easier..
all democracries fall cause this lets low logics to freely use an ability they don't have and this then runs off the wise from the area and country and the country becomes a third world country like mexico..
illegal alians have low logic cause they can't see the harm in jumping the line and can't see how being fair works best over all lkke the ones still standing in line to immigrate..
america is getting very close to becoming a third world country along with the misery cause of allowing lower logic people to vote and giving amnesty to this group would lower the logic in the voting book and further elect more crooks.. that is why they have that crooked system in mexico.. they don't know who is a crook or not.....
brining these into the voting booth and not the immigrants waiting in line will destroy america....
So third world countries are third world countries because the people in them are dumb. Am I reading you right?
Your continual use of 'low logics' assumes that you believe yourself to be one of the 'high logics.'
Swift and Twain are surely smiling down on your computer-game/robo-movie brain. Thanks for the comic relief.
intense!.. we must be awake and rally to make sure they do not take away this aspect of freedom of speech which is the internet, our last true vehicle of communication with those of like mind.. Like said, they will probably try and sneak this through while the public is distracted (slimy f#$$**s) and also dress it with a "nice" name.. Stay awake and spread this knowledge!
low logic people cannot handle influences correctly with the correct understanding.... they handle things only by what pain they get and they cannot see what would get the future pain with influences UNTIL the pain has come..
that is why democracy is a harm to all when low logics get to do an ability that they don't have...
americas founders had 4% of its people elligible to vote..
our wise founders UNDERSTOOD that voting takes wisdom and if most have low wisdom crooks would be elected..
to save america there has to be a very high logic test for voting....and science says in this category would be nearly all men... white japanese and chinese
Thanks for the much-needed pep-talk, Jim. You're wonderfully eloquent and spot-on, as always.
More and more I've been thinking that one the most effective ways to fight back is massive boycotts, worldwide boycotts, that will bring companies like BP and the big banks (start with the most universally despised) to their knees .
Depriving these monster corporations of profits seems like the surest way right now to make a difference. Our government can't seem to do it as every branch, along with the 4th estate, is bought and paid for by these same entities.
Your article has encouraged me not to give up; rather, to keep spreading the word and do what I can to make this happen. Might not seem quite doable right now, but that doesn't mean it can't and shouldn't happen! Boycotts are one of the few ways we can actually effect change and ensure that corporations will not control our lives!
The Masters of the Universe meme, as first presented, I believe, in Tom Wolf's "The Bonfire of the Vanities," was intended as wicked satire of the perversion of money and the monied class. Let's remember this as we rightfully take back our democracy!
On July 4, 1776, 55 rich white guys gave we the people power:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all...are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that...to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men [and women!], deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; and, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the RIGHT of the people to alter or to abolish it."
July 5, 2010: Oak Ridge, Tennessee] Priests and nuns, atheists, anarchist and one clown were among the 23 arrested by the State and 13 by the Federal Government for nonviolently resisting Nuclear Weapons at Y-12 in the morning of July 5, 2010.
Those facing State charges were arrested for obstructing the road way, one for failing to obey a police officer and Federal charges are for trespassing.
Before the nonviolent action that lead to the arrests the crowd made commitments to bear witness every Sunday at 5:55 PM at the site for a vigil and sing "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize" and the names of all who offered themselves against the insanity of nuclear war will be named out-loud until every one of them has been freed.
[Bruce Springsteen - Eyes on the prize (LIVE in DUBLIN) @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM3CYEdr5fA&feature=email]
The action topped off a weekend long celebration of 30 years of The Nuke Resister and Nukewatch which had gathered 200 nonviolent activists who came as far away as Australia, from the California coast to New Hampshire, Canada and this lone voice from Florida;
However a Georgia State Government vehicle with two police officers in plain clothes watched this morning's happening from inside their air-conditioned van, and the one on the passenger side did flash me the Peace sign as I passed them by.
The Declaration of Independence from Nuclear Weapons at Y-12, was read just prior to the arrests:
The Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 indicted a government that engaged in barbaric conduct contrary to the laws of Humanity that included "works of death, destruction and tyranny unparalleled in the most barbaric ages" until the Age of Now!
Current Law requires an end to all planning, preparation, production, threat, or use of nuclear weapons and we the people have gathered here today, July 4, 2010 at Y-12 to demand this Government adhere to the fundamental rules and principles of Humanitarian Law.
These rules and principles require that civilians never be the object of attack. Consequently we must never use weapons that are incapable of distinguishing between civilians and military targets.
Whereas, all W-76 and W-76-1 thermonuclear secondaries produced at Y-12 are designed and produced to unleash 100 KT of uncontrollable and indiscriminate heat, blast and radiation, six times more than the Hiroshima Bomb,
Whereas, the International Court of Justice found that the destructive power of nuclear weapons cannot be contained in either space or time, and that the potential to destroy all civilization and the entire ecosystem of the planet,
Whereas, citizens have both rights and duties we the people of conscience must ensure future generations their right to life,
Whereas, under the principals of democracy we the people of conscience demand this government to fulfill its promise and responsibilities to pursue and achieve nuclear disarmament,
We the people of conscience therefore exercise the right of every citizen of this republic and this planet to peacefully resist the nuclear threat; attacking as it does every core concept of human rights.
Whereas it is a basic human right to be free of threat or violence, and it is our duty to protect children and future generations we call on this government to use our tax dollars that are now being used to wage permanent war unequivocally demand they be used to pursue a nuclear free world and clean up all chemical and radioactive contamination.
"No government, not even the most democratic, can force us to live under this threat. No state in the world can offer any kind of security against this menace of a nuclear holocaust, or guarantee to prevent it…Any country, which manufactures and stocks nuclear weapons, is first of all endangering its own citizens. This is why the citizens must confront their government and warn it that it has no right to expose them to this danger. Because, in effect, the citizens are being held hostage by their own government, just as if they have been hijacked and deprived of their freedom and threatened…when governments develop nuclear weapons...they are violating the basic rights of their citizens, the basic right not to live under constant threat of annihilation." Mordechai Vanunu, 1987 from Ashkelon Prison.
Photos of the July 4, 2010 weekend @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/36469283@N02/
Eileen Fleming, Producer "30 Minutes with Vanunu" and "13 Minutes with Vanunu"
Founder of WeAreWideAwake.org
Staff Member of Salem-news.com
A Feature Correspondent for Arabisto.com and Dandelionsalad.wordpress.com
Author of "Keep Hope Alive" and "Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory"
http://www.youtube.com/user/eileenfleming
Only in Solidarity do "we have it in our power to begin the world again."-Tom Paine
When politicians talk about 'the people' they are not talking about the people in general, but 'the people' they actually represent - that is, those who finance their campaigns.
When Reagan, Bush I and Bush II talk about cutting taxes to create jobs they are telling their truth. What they don't say is that the jobs are more likely to be created overseas than in the US.
It is said that the Greeks in their Golden age (around 400Bc) had about 2% of the people who could vote.
4% during Washington and Jefferson time was a improvement. And now Amerika has around 40%+ that actually do vote.
But guess what? Those that get elected don't do what the Majority really wants. And further the opinions of the 'The People'
are so warped and shaped by the Media that the Policy and Law that is finally put in place completely and utterly favors the Super Rich Elite 1%.
Most of us CD bloggers know this. So what is the point in participating in a Shame Democracy when the Power Elite shapes 'Public Opinion'?
What is the point in blowing hot air into a hole ridden balloon? The bigger the baloon the more likely to have holes in it.
I think the only answer is to return to a smaller balloon size.
Return power to the 'Town Hall', Return Power to the 'Tribal Council'.
The United States of Amerika needs to be denigrated. It is full of hot air poison that is killing all living things.
DE FEDERALIZE and Let the BUBBLE BURST.
Like your attitude. Now we have to forgive our Nation and make peace with everyone.
Forgiveness without the recognition, and admission, that a 'wrong' was done is counterproductive. It's what we've been doing for decades and we see the same 'wrongs' committed by the same class of people.
The South African 'Truth Commissions' forgave the government's thugs only after they admitted their crimes. I submit this is better than nothing - which is what will happen to our federal miscreants.
I would like to see all profit seeking corporate lobbyists banned from Washington DC(disband K street), new campaign finance legislation that keeps corporate influence in decisions OUT, representatives that work for the people, the REAL people's interests, and anyone who violates that trust be tried as treasonous for conflict of interest. Focus should then be put on sustainability for the whole planet, and not wars and all that goes to fight the endless stream of them, money, lives, and ruined hopes for a reasonable future for all. Then and only then will there be a chance to regain the dream that was America.
Great, another keen observer of the obvious!
How, HOW?
Our democracy is like a jig-saw puzzle with only red and blue pieces. In other words: impossible to reassemble.
Wrong, it requires votes connected together instead of chasing their special issue.
If they cannot vote bread let them vote cake.
Trylon
Coalitions of special interest groups is the only answer.
Those interested in the War, economy, civil rights, voter rights, womens rights and DOG rights, etc etc etc.
Now let me show how this works.
As an animal rights person I will vote with those who will work with me to get rid of puppy mills. I will agree to a specific agenda agreed to in council with all other progressive groups. These coalitions would have to work in primaries not the general elections, the general elections is to late. All we can do in the general election is vote Democratic or Republican, no change.
Every issue is marginalized by the power of money and the hand holding media. If we walked into a congressman's office and told him how to vote on all of the coalitions positions or we, this large coalition of voters would put him out of office then there would be change.
We, as voters do not stick together so we are easily ignored.