Are you mad as hell how our country is being run? Have you stood on street corners with banners decrying your opinion? Or are you so frustrated that you think "what the heck"? Do you fear your single vote makes no difference in the inevitable outcome anyway?
Are you tired of your home or business insurance escalating faster than your paycheck? Or that you can't afford to heat your home or drive your car? Are you frustrated that your representatives vote lock-step with their party regardless if they're in agreement or not?
Are you outraged that we no longer have any checks and balances; no more oversight; no one watching to safeguard our rights? Does it rile you that the men and women we voted into office signed away our civil liberties without even reading the documents they were signing?
Are you livid with the doublespeak of your representatives? Do you wish you could hang some of them by the you know what's? Are you screaming mad at the obvious manipulation of gasoline prices? Does it upset you that more than 40-million men, women and children can't afford medical care and have no insurance?
Does it get your goat that we are no longer a respected power but reviled around the world? Or that we remain dependant on oil or that we've allowed our environment to be violated and defiled? Are you mad that your children and grandchildren will inherit a senseless debt that will affect their lives and their livelihoods?
Does it irritate you that college is no longer affordable and that low-cost school loans are memories of the past? Does it exasperate you that pre-emptive action has replaced diplomacy? Does it bother you that nothing you said or did made one iota of a difference in the eyes and ears of our president and our legislators? Are you incensed that the corporate entity has become the ruler of the land?
Do you sometimes fantasize about arresting the son of a gun who decided it was okay to keep the child abuser, wife-beater, graft-taking, unresponsive, irresponsible, out-of-touch with reality legislator in office?
Are you disgusted that as a nation we now stand for torture, and dissolved the law of Habeas Corpus? Does it sicken you that we've replaced dignity with abusive use of power, or that we've allowed our principles that set us apart to completely disintegrate?
Does it turn your stomach that instead of using our intelligence and vision to secure a better future for humanity that all of our tax dollars earmarked for research and development are squandered by the whim of the military industrial complex in securing a better bomb of destruction?
Does it concern you that our language has been diminished by the use of meaningless words and expressions? Does it baffle your mind that we have accepted lies as truth; that we have permitted historical revisions as fact?
Are you enraged that we've devolved from a highly educated populace to among the lowest in the world? Or that the average American employee works more hours, with less pay and less time off than any other powerful nation?
Does it infuriate you that our legislators argue over stem cell research, the meaning of marriage, and the right of woman to determine what's right for her body and her life? Or that they've separated us and defined us as either red or blue rather than fostering our commonalities?
Are you rankled by the notion that our forefathers' standard of separation of church and state has become null and void? Are you shocked that in our land of the free you've become fearful of speaking your mind when you disagree with the sentiment that "You're either with us or with the terrorists"?
Does it get your gall that homelessness and destitution exists in our land? Or that our natural resources are declining with such ravenous acceleration that we may see the demise in our lifetimes? Does it bother you that precious animals will become extinct without any regret or action to save them or that drinkable water may soon be more valuable than gold?
Does it disturb you that the real threat of global warming is ignored by our elected officials? Does it concern you that FEMA, Homeland Security, CIA, FBI are monoliths of inadequacy?
Does it gnaw at your gut that Social Security is held in the balance dangerously teetering at the fancy of our elected representatives? Or that millions of citizens are at risk of having no financial security in their elder years?
Norma Sherry is co-founder of TogetherForeverChanging.org, an organization devoted to educating, stimulating, and igniting personal responsibility particularly with regards to our diminishing civil liberties. She is also an award-winning writer/producer. She hosts The Norma Sherry Show weekly on WQXT-TV.
I am an eye witness for Palestine and will be returning for my 4th trip Nov 1, 2006-will be blogging on WAWA:
http://www.wearewideawake.org/ and filing reports with OPEDNEWS.COM
The well being of every Israeli is dependent on the well being of every Palestinian and the well being of every American is dependent on the well being of everyone on earth.
ONLY in solidarity do "We have it in our power to begin the world again."-Tom Paine
Just like in Poland, Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union. . .
. . . it's time for us to shrug off the yoke of totalitarianism that we've been saddled with. (Especially since a bloody revolution seems out of the question.)
by
Russ Wellen (58 articles, 1029 quicklinks, 66 diaries, 335 comments)
on Thursday, October 5, 2006 at 9:06:52 AM
Frankly, I am getting sick of reading well written rants; of course regular readers and writers see all the crap, but how do we move forward? Forget generalities. I wrote a book to present a detailed strategy for we the people taking back our country and restoring our democracy. There are a multitude of electoral reforms (including several that would advance third-parties) and ways to advance direct democracy. Plus, as I have written in previous articles, it is our economic power as consumers that can be used to regain political power and put it back where it belongs - with us, we the people. So there really is a two-track approach. I wish more of you would read my book Delusional Democracy; I promise you that there really is a set of detailed, pragmatic ways to reform of currently MISrepresentative democracy!!
by
Joel S. Hirschhorn (118 articles, 22 quicklinks, 53 diaries, 470 comments)
on Thursday, October 5, 2006 at 9:29:29 AM
Joel said "Frankly, I am getting sick of reading well written rants; "
Well I gotta admit this site has an endless supply of "take down the present govt" rants, although I would contest your "well written" appelation of most said rants.
Joel let's face it , you are being reasonable. And you stay on track. And even if you don't like my comments, you still try to stay true to your message. Keep writing please.
Too many people here go over the edge in their wild eyed accusations. Some call for actions that can only end up in death/imprisonment for their participants if acted upon.
Having stated the above, I sincerely doubt any revolution led by people around here (with few exceptions as noted) could institutute a legal (on even post event retroactively legalized by the people) change in government. They remind me of wild eyed Bolsheviks and Mentals off their meds. I also doubt the possibility because the same people who write articles here have particpated/supported various mob actions (so called protests)in the recent past that shows that anarchy is more likely than regime change.
Personally I always hoped the Free State Project would have taken off. If only to show that third party efforts can not be ignored. That always seems the best progressive resolution to what has happened to our government.
/as for the Bloodless Intifada mentioned by another commenterx. Yeah right the ISM has orchestrated/propagandized "atrocities" since it was conceived.
by
Vulture (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 153 comments)
on Thursday, October 5, 2006 at 10:31:00 AM
I'm with you, Norma. What's your plan? And if you don't have one yet, I'll help. I can't take it any more, and I suspect I'm not alone, not by a long shot. Passive dissident no more. The need to act is urgent before we're either all renditioned to Halliburton detention facilities or blown to bits by a world that now hates us.
by
Susan Guest (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 80 comments)
on Thursday, October 5, 2006 at 10:25:16 AM
I'm tired of this peaceful revolution ranting......how are we to overthrow violent, sadistic people if we're not willing to physically throw them out? Keep bitching and moaning all you want, they really don't give a fuck. They have better access/control to information, they have better PR, better propaganda, a larger audience, etc......your not going to win an information war if they control the information. It is time for bloody revolution.
by
banketh (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments)
on Thursday, October 5, 2006 at 10:30:30 AM
Take a look at what Jefferson said... "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security" and that is from your Declaration of Independance, why don't people reread what was written then and think about what is going on today...
Take a look at these:
click here (look at the highlights I made in red - That is what Bush is doing today)
click here
I have no idea how the American people are going to resolve this crippling mess it is in, the Democrats will only be perceptionally different but nothing much will change overall as governments never give power back to the people unless forced to and this is the rut America is stuck in.
The courses available right now are: 1) Do nothing and hope it will get better 2) Support the secession movements and hope the states can secede 3) continue to protest as is being done now, get ignored as is being done now and pretty much the same as 1 4) consider Jefferon's input to the constituition and the declaration of independance and decide from that point.
Usually, the trigger points that start a revolution are so swift and so pointed that the citizenry react as swiftly and with anger but this whole affair is in slow motion, each act of fascism is consolidated so by the time it gets round to doing anything, more issues are being forced onto the citizen making them forget their original anger.
And by the time the peaceful protesters realise that nothing is going to change it will be too late because Bush would have set loose the private mercanary armies and quasi law enforcement troops onto the US population and the rule of law will be replaced with the rule of fear.
Interpret it as you will but in the end, with so much precedence to indicate what is going on, with so much at stake, can anyone afford now to deliberate and stall when each day passes heralds another day closer to a "soviet" style America?
And remember, this is the modern world, Bush has tools that Hitler and Stalin could only dream about, when that iron curtain falls, it will be absolute and will take a long time if ever to overcome.
by
Ancient One (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 13 comments)
on Thursday, October 5, 2006 at 11:34:57 AM
Yes, I am disgusted, reviled, repulsed, angered, and nauseated by the present tack of our government. However, in deference to what I have read, I seriously doubt any revolution, bloody or otherwise will accomplish much other than a re-distribution of wealth and the rise of the next totalitarian regime.
Anyone who has ever seen the movie Sleeper by Woody (me love Asian women long time) Allen will get the initial reference in the title of this comment.
For those unfamiliar with the movie, allow me to give a brief synopsis. Woody, the main character in the movie is cryogenically frozen in 1973. He is awaken many years later into an America full of soft-minded, media fed, orb rubbing, ineffectual idiots. These idiots are ruled by their "leader", a man in a wheelchair. Woody is defrosted by a group of dissident scientists in the hope that he can help them overthrow the "leader". Through misadventure, he becomes part of an underground revolution lead by a man named Urno. Woody becomes embroiled in a plot by this revolution to steal the nose of the "leader"; the only part of him that survived a bomb attack by the revolution. The aim of the government is to clone a new leader from his nose. He and Diane Keaton, another revolutionary, succeed in the plan, and the leader's nose ends up smashed into a rubber pancake by a steamroller. Towards the end of the movie, Allen and Keaton are discussing whether or not their nose blow for freedom will have any effect. Keaton extolls the virtues of Urno and his revolution. Woody makes a comment about his mistrust of any politicos, using the line, "...the next time, we'll be stealing Urno's nose."
Now that's a long way around the block to make a point. The point is, it doesn't matter who is in power. Every human, up to and including myself is subject to the temptation to rule over his fellows in a less than human fashion. Some can reject the temptation, and get looked upon in history as shining examples of the best of what being a leader means. Others cannot, and we wind up with people the likes of Hitler, Stalin, Chairman Mao, Pol Pot, Milosovec, and DUBYA.
Maybe Pete Townsend of The Who put it more succinctly in the song, Won't Get Fooled Again, "And the party on the left is now the party on the right. And the beards of all grow longer overnight. I tip my hat to the new constitution. Make a bow for the new revolution. Smile and grin with the change all around. Pick up my guitar and play, just like yesterday. And I get on my knees and pray, we won't get fooled again."
Do we need a revolution in this country? Oh hell yes! The evidence is all around us. Will it really change things? Oh to be sure, it will. Will things eventually deteriorate back into chaos and totalitarian anarchy? YES!
It's not enough to have a revolution in the sense of government. We need a revolution of evolution. As a species, we need to move away from reliance upon the reptilian part of our brain responsible for the worst and most reprehensible traits we carry, and move towards using our higher brain functions in better ways.
Forgive what may seem like pissing on the fire, but I don't see that happening any time in the near future. Of course, this won't prevent me from trying to change things for the better. I just do so with the full realization that if our Declaration of Independence and Constitution can be usurped once, they can be usurped again.
Is it time for a revolution? Yes. But let us not delude ourselves that a revolution in governmental rule will be all it takes to make real and lasting changes. Let's not allow idealism to blind us to the undeniable reality that anything of human construction is doomed to fail because of our own imperfections. If we can hold this topmost in our minds, perhaps Pete Townsend will get his wish of not being fooled again, and maybe we won't be put in a postition where we have to steal Urno's nose.
Blessed be!
Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 863 comments)
on Thursday, October 5, 2006 at 3:19:04 PM
You are most welcome. Like many others here, I think we do need a real revolution. I have even called for one a few times myself in some of the entries in my blog. We just all need to be mindful of the fact that the world of the ideal and the world of reality seldom, if ever, meet.
I want to thank you for writing your article. I probably wouldn't have written what I did without your article to seed some ideas in my head.
Blessed be!
Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 863 comments)
on Friday, October 6, 2006 at 1:35:29 AM
The very first revolution started with a TAX REVOLT;
These BASTARDS will respond if you take away there reason for being in power..........do not go to work.......I know there are family people that will say I have to work to pay my bills............Screw the bills.......If we let the bills pile up like the car payment and mortgage the car companies and banks will start to pay attention, this is not a simple plan. And I am a simple person who lived in New Hampshire in the 70's. I loved burning wood and living in the woods without eletricity. We need leaders who are smarter than I am.
Throw the tea in the harbor and they will pay attention, I think a couple of weeks without taxes and they will start to kiss our asses. TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTION, this is where we are at NOW. THESE BASTARDS DO NOT REPRESENT US.....They represent the corporations.........
by
anthny (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 39 comments)
on Thursday, October 5, 2006 at 3:36:51 PM
I repeat. Ignore the established political parties, who daily demonstrate that they are totally corrupt from top to bottom and have not the slightest intention of representing anything but their pockets and those of the crud who think of themselves as 'The Mighty'.
In their stead elect independent individuals who can be relied on for their honesty and integrity and still can be removed at the drop of a hat if consistently out of line with the wishes of those they represent. Then turf out the odious criminals who presently have seized power in the land.
Thus break the connection with finance, and then break the connection with the accursed 'international financiers' - i.e. the Rothschild-Rochefeller faction.
Alright, you ask for a constructive suggestion, I have been giving it for months.
You take it, or you take up the pitchforks and axes. If neither, then prepare to inhabit those 800 prison camps kindly supplied with our money via Haliburton. Well, for so long as it takes them to reduce you and your problem to smoke.
by
amazin (31 articles, 0 quicklinks, 10 diaries, 377 comments)
on Saturday, October 7, 2006 at 9:34:47 AM
Ok, if there is anyone in Texas who would like to tell me how to run for the House, or throw support behind me just for that purpose, I'll do it! Why the hell not?
It's obvious I have a real penchant for politics. Maybe it's time I put my money where my mouth is. So, if there are any political powerhouses who would like to begin grooming a rather rough yet straight-shooting honest man for a seat in congress, I am up for it! Hell, I'm not working right now thanks to the DUBYA economy, why the hell not?
I'm bloody serious here, folks. I have had more than one reader here suggest I run for office. Running for congress is a bit of a lofty goal, but on the other hand, three and a half years ago, I would have never considered playing the harp, much less recording myself doing it. If I can finish off one CD, get it played on the radio, and be in mid production on another, why can't I run for office? I've done harder things in my life.
Be advised, I am an out and proud gay man, and I will not cover that up for anyone or anything. If you think I can work within that framework, hit me up!
Blessed be!
Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 863 comments)
on Friday, October 6, 2006 at 1:46:47 AM
Bloodless Revolution- check out TLC- The Longhouse Coalition
The Longhouse Coalition (TLC) is doing exactly what your article proposes- replacing the current corrupt craven Congress with a group of citizens who honestly seek to represent and care for their constituents- "we the people". TLC is bringing together progressive candidates from all parties, and running our own write-in candidates. We have all endorsed the TLC platform, which starts with impeachment of Bush and Cheney.
There are currently 40 candidates in the coalition, several more joining daily. We expect to have at least 300 by election day. We are not "splitting the left" as we have reserved seats for good incumbents- people who have signed on to Conyers' impeachment HR 635 and/or Kucinich's paper ballot bill HR 6200. We have also invited all PDA candidates to join the coalition.
Just as Solidarity did in Poland, we intend to get rid of tyrants through the electoral process, a "bloodless revolution". As he was signing the Declaration of Independence, Ben Franklin said to his fellow-revolutionaries "We must all hang together, or assuredly we will all hang separately". I say the same to my fellow progressives. The recent Military Tribunal Act makes us all liable to being called "enemy combatants" and Gitmo-ized.
I invite everyone to check out The Longhouse Coalition - TLC -made up of candidates who care. You can email us at LonghouseCoalition@yahoo.com. Our membership, platform, and other essential info is archived at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Longhouse_Coalition_Info
Carol Wolman, MD
nonpartisan write-in candidate for Congress
California District 1
by
Carol Wolman (215 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 97 comments)
on Tuesday, October 10, 2006 at 11:01:56 AM
