I wrote this in response to a comment on an article I wrote. The article was “Answers from Those That Have Come Before”. The reader commented “What can I do?” I wrote this to him:
You might not want to hear this, but the first thing we must do is stop believing that there is a significant difference between the two major political parties that operate with big money given to them by the Military Industrial Corporate Complex. We will never see any change as long as the same people are funding both sides of the equation.
The middle class is shrinking, pay is dropping, the top 10% own 71% of this nation’s wealth and the disparity gets larger each year. The Democrats or Republicans have no intent on stopping this. Our economy looks more live Bolivia's economy that the industrialized nations of Western Europe. The mega rich are getting 700 Billion in tax reductions this year while they are cutting heating assistance to low income people in the north of the country, while making veterans pay for health care at the VA.
The solution is to break the two party system and enact campaign reform that will prohibit large corporate donations or federally finance political campaigns. Free media time for candidates and a cap on campaign spending. We need to hold our elected officials to the highest standards and remember that they are OUR public servants and not vice versa.
That means leaving your "comfort zone" and voting for someone like Mike Gravel, or Cynthia McKinney or finding people to vote for on local, state and federal levels that are not corrupted by this corrupted system of politics we have in this country.
I write everyday and have for the last three years. What I can do, anyone can do. You can campaign for someone you believe is worthy of your vote and try as hard as hell to get them elected to serve the American people. You can scream like a banshee against the Military Commissions Act of 2006, The Revamped Insurrections Act, Gitmo, This putrid War in Iraq, and the disparity of wealth in this country.
In other words, you can stop our slide to fascism by standing up and taking a stand and be an example to others. [Added since then]. We can also protest the violence against our citizen’s when they are mercilessly attacked by police during demonstrations. We can refuse to demonstrate in “Free Speech Zones” that are set up so as not to let the demonstrator’s anywhere near the place or thing they want to demonstrate about. We can support people like Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Senator Russ Feingold (D-WS) and Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fl) that are fighting everyday for our civil liberties and against the lies and distortion from this current administration.
We can stand against the machine and speak truth to power at every opportunity and convince others as to what is happening in this country. I am 57 years old, and these are the darkest days I have ever seen. It is time to take a stake on our future and stand up the way our fore-fathers did, regardless of the consequences to us. This is the only country we have. Stop the corporate media’s lies. Stop listening to them. Lose your representation, lose the will of the people and let the multi-national corporations and the defense industry run this nation and you will lose your freedom.
That’s the way I see it.
