By Jackson Thoreau June 25, 2003 OpEdNews.com
Remember a few years ago, when the mainstream media and the Republicanazis told us that our biggest national problem was Clinton's extracurricular activities? The economy was booming, employers had to actually offer BETTER benefits and pay to keep workers, we weren't in a major war to justify our insanely bloated military budget, we at least talked about universal health coverage, we kept oil wells out of our national parks, there was hope for our future.
Did you ever think then that all that could change so much in just a few years?
I have to admit, even after the slimy, rich-ass-kissing Bush bastards stole the White House in late 2000, I didn't think they could make things this much worse this fast. But they have. It's worse than I thought it would be, worse than anything Bush Jr. did in Texas as governor, worse than even Reagan-Bush Sr. did in the 1980s.
Things are so bad we plan to establish Nazi death camps in Guantanamo Bay to execute people we THINK MIGHT be terrorists without as much as proper legal representation or the right to appeals. Thats right, the good ol freedom-loving, liberty and justice for all USA plans to do to Arabs what Hitler once did to the Jews and others. We are fast becoming like Nazi Germany of the 1930s, and unless enough people wake up RIGHT NOW and do EVERYTHING they can to get Bush the hell out of the White House, we will continue our freefall fascist slide into Republicanazi Hell.
Things are so bad we are planning to invade Iran, Syria, Columbia, North Korea and other countries, even after those disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan. Quick now, when was Afghanistan's free election? Who besides drug and war lords control that country now? Who is controlling Iraq's oil industry? Where are those awful weapons of mass destruction that Bush said Iraq had to justify the killing of 10,000 more innocent Iraqi children and adults? Where is bin Laden and Hussein? When will U.S. soldiers stop killing more innocent Iraqi kids and adults and getting killed themselves in the process? What Hussein clone-- the only difference being that this one will be friendly to the Republicanazis and give U.S. oil companies a piece of the Iraqi action - will lead Iraq in five years? Why do we keep increasing our military budget when we are already spending EIGHT times more than any other country on the face of this planet?
Hello????? Earth to America, Earth to America. Where besides in some progressive areas are the signs of intelligent life in this country?????? Or will most Americans go on with their patriotic outbursts this Fourth of July, believing we "won" the war and all the other stupid lies the Bushies force-feed us?????
It's past time for cutting Bush some slack. Things are just getting worse. It's time for some stronger, deeper action. Not violence. Just stronger acts that could help wake up more Americans who haven't totally overdosed on the latest mind-controlling drugs.
Jeanette Wallis just ended such an action in mid-June. She walked thousands of miles across this country for a truly democratic nation, one that we are far from having. Upon walking from Seattle to the House That Bush Occupies, she was told she couldn't leave any of the letters she collected from people detailing grievances against Bush and other officials. In fact, agents interrogated her like she was a mental patient, and some even considered detaining her, simply for walking up to the White House and saying she had trekked across the country. Land of the free, my ass.
Then there are Concepcion and Thomas, two committed peace activists who have maintained an anti-nuclear vigil across the street from the White House for the last 22 YEARS! Through nasty weather, police and Republicanazi harassment, indifferent stares, legal actions, and complaints that they are an "eyesore," they have taken their message of peace that's so much different than anything going on across the street to millions of visitors. In this fast-food, get-rich-quick age, such dedication boggles the mind.
On a recent visit to D.C., I heard one lady snarl at a man who was giving Concepcion and Thomas an eating break at this vigil that he was aiding terrorists and unpatriotic to our supposed Land of the Free, in which we are no longer free to stage a demonstration on public, taxpayer-supported property with more than 25 people across from the White House. Before this man could reply, I answered for him, being the target of more than my fair share of such accusations in my time: "You miss the point. They're not doing this vigil to be unpatriotic and aid terrorists. They're doing it because they believe the people across the street are taking us down the wrong road and just making things worse." She walked off, unimpressed. But other younger people around us were more open to the message and listened intently. One expressed disappointment that Concepcion or Thomas were not there and said he was impressed with their dedication.
I then met some people staging another peace vigil who were not with any organization, they just wanted to do this on their own. For numerous nights, they have maintained this evening vigil, careful not to get more than a crowd of 25. To anyone who has ever asked what he or she can do, there is your answer.
On the same trip, I found my own ways to take action by visiting Congressional representatives offices, talking to aides about their misguided policies, especially in foreign affairs, and handing them letters that explains my viewpoints in more detail. I plastered every bathroom, every phone booth, every bulletin board I could with fliers that read "We Will Not Get Over It: Restoring a Legitimate White House" and referred to my Internet site.
With two young kids to support, I cannot now walk across the country. But I can find other ways to join the campaign against the Bush administration. One way is to move the hell out of states that Republicanazis control like Texas, the place where Bush and Cheney and countless other Evil Empire Figureheads made their millions. No longer will Texas, where Bush Sr. lives, where Bush Jr. stays almost as much as he does in Washington, where the Republicanazi governor calls a special session costing $2 million to redistrict the state so more stinking Republicanazis can pollute the Capitol, where every statewide official is a freaking Republicanazi, get my hard-earned cash.
Thirty-eight years in this state, which ranks at or near the bottom in just about every social service category out there, is enough for me. I'm not just walking away to return, as I did on a cross-country peace march in 1984 - I'm hitting the road with my family and not planning to come back, except for visits. I'm joining the revolution in D.C., planning to get more active in the peace and justice and environmental movements in the city where I was born.
Perhaps I will even work in the Sen. John Kerry for President campaign he may not be as progressive as Rep. Dennis Kucinich, but the practical side of me believes Kerry has the best shot of beating Bush in 2004. And Bush and Rove and Co. are most scared of Kerry and his Vietnam hero background. That's a big reason why the mainstream media is publishing all those stories about how rich Kerry supposedly is and trying to make him less appealing to average-income Americans.
Sure, I will miss family and friends. But maybe my action will make them think as it did in 1984 - and spur some of them to action against the Bush regime. Maybe it will help inspire more people to move from states that are firmly controlled by Republicanazis like Texas and Utah but not swing states like Florida and Pennsylvania as those states need all the progressive help they can get - to ones that usually vote Democratic, as a deeper protest with our feet and lives.
I've just returned from a three-week trip to the D.C. area to scout for housing in Maryland [we're picking Maryland to live over Virginia mainly because it is a Gore, not a Bush-league, state, and jobs, and the area felt more like home than North Texas. Washington, D.C., is an interesting, exciting place to live, Republicanazis notwithstanding. It's a whole new world from Texas. The feelings of isolation and opposition that progressives get in most pockets of Texas do not surface as directly in the D.C. area. For instance, I walked into a Boston Market in the suburb of Gaithersburg to eat, and the first stranger I talked to there openly admitted she was a liberal. The chances of that happening in a Texas suburb are, well, let's just say they aren't nearly as great. In fact, I can't ever recall that happening in all my years in Texas.
So, I challenge you - the people who read my writings, the ones whose poignant, inspiring, and sometimes pointed emails I often sadly don't have time to respond to - I challenge you to find a way to take some stronger, deeper action against the Bush regime, as I am doing. Do something in a nonviolent way to make people think that there is more to being a citizen of this country and of this world than waving a flag, mindlessly repeating slogans, and goose-stepping with the rest of the Republicanazis towards another Holocaust.
Jackson Thoreau is co-author of We Will Not Get Over It: Restoring a Legitimate White House. The updated, 120,000-word electronic book can be downloaded on his Internet site at http://www.geocities.com/jacksonthor/ebook.html. Citizens for Legitimate Government has the earlier version at http://www.legitgov.org/we_will_not_get_over_it.html. Thoreau can be emailed at jacksonthor@justice.com or jacksonthor@yahoo.com.
