This is What Democracy Looks Like

The march was not initially planned but it rose out of our decision recently to adopt more acts that resemble or are acts of “direct action.” The recent protests in Olympia, Washington, where young activists are disrupting shipments to the military base, the violence against activists at the “No Borders Camp” on its last day, the Morton West students, and our own incident surrounding the arrests of three protesters during the Oct 27th march have brought us together in more solidarity than ever before. We are now growing into a power governments cannot suppress and are reaching a level that students were at during the Vietnam War.

Following the march, we held a rally where I stood up and spoke. I wrote out something lengthy, which I will publish here. When you get up in front of people, you start to speak and realize you are preaching to the choir and wonder if you should be wasting your voice. I went on for about two or three minutes but in the cold evening in Chicago and in the heat of the moment, I left out what had led me to this point.

I didn’t really know until last night how I got to where I am today, but I have managed to figure out my biography is the story of an optimistic bookish peaceful loving boy that has met betrayal and become greatly disappointed lately. I am not frustrated; in fact, faced with an increasing fascist state, I have become a person who is constantly looking within himself for that creativity needed to take on the powers that be. I do feel let down as everyone has felt in their life. Having found a few political leaders I can trust whose time is now and who should be rising to lead America with support from Americans, I am frustrated that people aren't searching for solutions as vigorously as me.

It would be all too easy to demand an end to capitalism and join an anarchist movement but that’s not where I stand on America. I believe in democracy and I like the power of the people. I have followed Democrats closely over the years and I have followed the crimes and misdemeanors of the Bush administration obsessively over the past seven years. And I have an idea of where Americans stand, and we will not be abandoning what our "Founding Fathers" instituted anytime soon. And why should we?

I owe much gratitude to Bush & Co. for making me the activist and political thinker that I am today. Had they not inspired me to react, I would be a sarcastic tranquil man just pursuing film for his own personal gain. Since Bush's rise to power and relentless grabbing of power that has been met with little or no opposition, I have read over 100 books on the Bush administration, liberals, democrats, party politics, U.S. foreign policy, American history, people’s history, and imperialism/fascism/civil rights. It has been eye-opening and earth shattering to my life. As Henry David Thoreau said, “A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.” Great people's books have taught me well (Zinn, Chomsky, Palast, Moore, etc.) Even several comedians (Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, Lewis Black, George Carlin) have had a profound impact on my mind.

I have now made it my mission to fight for regime change here at home the same way Bush & Co. has fought for regime change in the Middle East. This regime begins in three ways: through civic associations (which is why I have been joining and dedicating my time to as many groups as possible seeking to raise awareness on issues and politics), regime-busting protest movements (which is why I marched today and would consider traveling to Washington, D.C. for a future protest), and through supporting the transformation of mainstream parties or the creation of third parties (which is why I support Dennis Kucinich for President and if I had conservative inclinations, I would support Ron Paul and I also am following the Green Party closely hoping they beat many of these weak, spineless, hapless, gutless Democrats who are doing nothing but getting in the way of regime change in America).

America needs impeachment of Bush and Cheney but regime change does not just stop there. Regime change means “no democracy lite.” As Charles Derber puts it in “Regime Change Begins at Home,” we must tear down five pillars: transnational corporations (which turn us from active citizens into entertained passively managed brainwashed consumers), corpocracy (which turns Washington, D.C. over to corporate raiders to run our government for profits), social insecurity (which forces most of us to spend our days running in place just to survive, anxious about whether we can pay the bills, get affordable housing and health care, and afford retirement), empire (which builds American military power while undermining relations with our allies, breeding more hatred of Americans around the world, decreasing our national security), and the corporate mystique (which promotes ideology of freedom but robs us of the values and capacity to escape our condition as servants of the corporate order). We must erect in the place of the five pillars we tear down five new pillars: an active citizen’s network (where ordinary citizens turn the wheels of democracy in communities and in D.C.), a new democracy (where ordinary people run the show), real social security (where tenants get ownership and legal protection), collective security (where Americans create a neighborhood association with all countries of the world abandoning imperialist ambitions), and citizen empowerment (where the America walks its freedom talk).

Can this really happen you say? It has to happen. I probably have more hope than anyone but that is because I know I will be fighting this until the bitter end and making a career out of covering our taking back of America. Evidence in history proves that if we the people of America fight we can win. Our grassroots movements have time and time again kept democracy alive. The American tradition is founded in a Declaration of Indepedence and Constitution that advocate for this regime change in America. And let’s face it, we need regime change for selfish reasons and should not be afraid to stand up for our interests (jobs, health care, education, housing, our environment, poverty, and an end to war and racism).

An end to war as we know it is upon us and within reach but will not be achieved without fighting and utilizing the civil liberties that as Americans we are all entitled to. We must invest and support leaders who wish to throw off the ties that bind us. We must put our money where our mouth is. We must buy responsibly and avoid irresponsible products that contribute to the militarization and pollution of America. We must find ways to not be reckless consumers. And we must not let the bleak midwinter drive us indoors and into hiding at a time when the U.S. government we live under is more dangerous, imperialistic, complicit, and silent in their actions and inactions every day.

As Bush & Co. leave office and corporate money shifts the pendulum of democracy from one side to the other, it is the American people who must defend the future of America. With a Democrat taking office (presumably unless the Democratic nominee runs a pitiful campaign and loses to Giuliani), we face a situation even worse than when Bush was in power because Americans trust Democrats to bail us out after Bush leaves office. A wave will come crashing down upon them when they realize that the DLC and other Democrats have been co-conspirators with the Bush administration all along. Having supported a co-conspirator (John Kerry), I now am in the right place (supporting Dennis Kucinich, the sole power behind impeachment and the sole voice standing up to the DLC).

In the words of Martin Luther King Jr.:

We will not build a peaceful world by following a negative path. It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but on the positive affirmation of peace. We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody, that is far superior to the discords of war. Somehow, we must transform the dynamics of the world power struggle from the negative nuclear arms race, which no one can win, to a positive contest to harness humanity's creative genius for the purpose of making peace and prosperity a reality for all the nations of the world. In short, we must shift the arms race into a peace race. If we have a will - and determination - to mount such a peace offensive, we will unlock hitherto tightly sealed doors of hope and transform our imminent cosmic elegy into a psalm of creative.

"Who can be serene in a country where both the rulers and the ruled live without principle?" (Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience)   

Let us defend this dear country of ours in the name of peace and freedom for a better future in America.