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hyphenate Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-28-06 11:58 AM
Original message
The past doesn't matter anymore
We hate George Bush, and we hate every single member of his utterly horrific team. We, the patriotic dissenters, have kept our voices alive for 5 long years now, trying to convince the world that we were right, and the chimp was wrong. And now, finally, after the Teflon lining has begun to disintegrate, people are finally aware, and are as mad as hell. Every true Democrat, almost every Independent, many libertarians, and even some Republicans can now see beyond the Kool-aid and are waking up to the true reality--a world where everything is upside down, where George Orwell was right, where the inmates are surely in charge.

But we can't do shit about it. The people chose this nightmare for themselves, based on lies, propaganda, slander and with complete control of all branches of the government. They preyed on people's weaknesses, insecurity, fear and outright intolerance and hatred, and turned our fair country into a repressive, theocratic, fascist regime. And it only took them five years to do it--an eternity for those of us who watched our country get sucked down the drain.

Yet, while conspiracies abound, where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, while women are once again nearly relegated to sub-citizenship, while minorities like those from the Middle East are rounded up and accused of being spies, terrorists and personae non grata, where the environment loses and huge corporations win, where white collar criminals who steal millions and millions are given sentences at "resort" prisons and "common thieves" are given life sentences in maximum security prisons, and where those who might speak up against this corrupt regime are silenced by threats and intimidation, we are not going to escape until we can actually do something about it.

And where and how will that be, folks? We keep citing the November, 2006 elections as our chance to change things. We did the same thing for the 2004 Presidential election--we were certain we would win, we were certain we could wrestle back our government then and bring this fascism to an end. But we forgot to ask our enemies to be honest. And dishonesty was being such a major asset to the right that they didn't even bother to consider it. 2004 was no exception. Wally O'Dell had promised he would deliver Ohio to the regime, and by golly, by hook or by crook, he did it. Diebold lied--the victory was given away by those who silently assented to the final Ohio vote.

So how is 2006 going to be in any way different than 2004? How are we expected to take back the Senate and the House when the enemy is willing to cheat, lie, slander, libel and intimidate people in our country to vote for them as the lesser of two evils? Yes, they say, we're corrupt, but if you vote for Democrats, they will ensure the terrorists blow us up again. WE know it's not true, and instinctually many voters also know this is false, but emotionally, the right has them by the throat, and they will bow down and accept their continued hazing as though they were freshmen pledges in a fraternity or sorority.

And if that happens, we will still be under the crush of the right wing, still watching our country turn to shit, still hoping that the "next election" will be "the one" where things change. We will see our children being turned into autonomic little freepers, watch as their minds are molded to the fundamentalist and creationist mindset, and watch as the cold-war U.S.S.R. tactics are here instead of "there" and we dare not question authority at all. It might not read as "martial law," but it will be the same. We who choose to dissent will be silenced in one way or another, atheism and agnosticism will be the new "Jews" and those who practice aberrations of the Xtian faith will be sent to "camps" or "mental hospitals" or some other top security facility where old fashioned lobotomies will be performed on us. Perhaps that's a little "dramatic," some would say, but we've seen nearly as such in the past 5 years--things we can not truly see now because we are too close to the problem ourselves. But regardless of how horrific it sounds, it doesn't really matter anymore.

Why? Because George W. Bush will not be running for president in 2008. Do you really think he gives a shit about what happens in the next three years? Even if, by some miracle, we gain back the house and senate and try to impeach him and Cheney, they are still the winners. And with the citizenry faced with the continued "persuasion" of the right, our dreams to get the country back on the right track is froth with horrible dangers, especially the lies and the tactics of the right to keep people from voting their consciences.

We can not win, even though we might score a few small victories here and there, because the right has managed to brainwash enough of the voters in our country with so many lies that they will never see the truth. They already have much of that brainwashing right in front of them--Fox News plays completely to the voters' egos, their insecurities and their prejudices. Bill O'Reilly, Rush, Hannity and such others prey on their pettiness, their desire to be above the fray, their need to be "right" in a world that's wrong. The people can not see how they have been manipulated, they can not see how they are little more than pawns in the greater scheme of things, and they can not understand why they are being ignored once the party is done with them.

The perception that we might win this year in terms of taking back parts of our government is a false one. We have been seduced by the right enough that regardless of what we do, who we elect, the great neo-con machine has launched and it is a juggernaut which is currently unbeatable.

It will be many years before we can put our country on the right track, and even then, there is little doubt in my mind that we will be able to do so. We, the people of this United States, have allowed the wrongdoers to do this to us, some blithely, some with fierceness, but regardless of how we categorize them, they have the ability to shape our future to their ends in ways that we might never consider because our consciences would bother us too much--something the right doesn't have a problem with.

So what if we hate George? George can't be re-elected, so the right will create another puppet to do its bidding for them--someone who will be blackmailed in some way, or who, like Georgie, is evil and a psychopath to begin with.

It is not fair, and we know it. But it is truth. And while we might want to keep hope and sanity in our hearts and minds, we must also face the possibility that the enemy has managed to take the mile and not the inch. If we really hope to bring these criminals to justice and take back our nation, we must learn their tactics, and we must, albeit grudgingly, do the same thing. For, with well over 200,000,000 people in our country, we are currently in the minority as far as morals are concerned. We might have high hopes and the proper reasons to win, but unlike in fiction, evil wins more than its fair share of wars on planet Earth.
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Mythsaje Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-28-06 12:01 PM
Response to Original message
1. And the point of all this is WHAT?
I fail to see how being negative is going to help matters any.
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hyphenate Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-28-06 12:11 PM
Response to Reply #1
3. The point is this:
George Bush doesn't matter anymore. The real threat is going to be whoever the right decides to "run" in 2008. THAT is going to be the real issue. Unless we can stage a coup and bring this cabinet to its knees and take out all the undesirables who have overrun our country right now, we will still be living with the consequences of what has happened since January 2001. We have failed to protect our country, whether it's through ignorance, intolerance, or indifference, against the nightmare that is before us.
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Mythsaje Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-28-06 02:45 PM
Response to Reply #3
14. I've said it for a while...
We need to superglue the Repuglican politicans to this administration and its failed policies. We can't let them weasel away from the very issues they supported until it became more expedient to try to deny their involvement.

The Repug agenda doesn't work. Their economic policies are failures. It's been that way since forever. Bush 41 called it "voodoo economics."
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donsu Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-28-06 12:15 PM
Response to Reply #1
5. the point is that talking and writing won't get rid of them
nt
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Zodiak Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-28-06 12:08 PM
Response to Original message
2. I think it is a good post
We accomplish nothing by always favoring optimism. Optimism allows us to continue the fight, but it unfortunately separates us from the challenges we face.

The assessment in the OP is precisely what we all think about and fear. Why not give it a voice and discuss it?

I would like for us to navigate our course knowing the best case AND worst case scenarios. It takes at least two points (other than the observer's location) to triangulate.
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JeffR Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-28-06 12:58 PM
Response to Reply #2
7. Hope for the best but prepare for the worst
I think Ben Franklin said this.

Optimism gives us the strength and stamina we need. Pragmatism dictates we need to be ready for any scenario, even the worst case. But without optimism, the grind becomes too much.
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hyphenate Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-28-06 01:30 PM
Response to Reply #2
11. Thanks
I have tried to maintain some cynicism after the "defeat" in 2004. Until that point, I thought the election was ours and that we would soon be safe from the reich wing. Of course, that kind of optimism brought untold devastation and grief, and I've tried to put it into perspective. We can't hope for a victory without acknowledging the right's superior manipulation and dishonesty.
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Viva_La_Revolution Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-28-06 12:12 PM
Response to Original message
4. We don't need the 25% that voted for Shrub...
We need the 45-50% who don't vote at all.

That huge demographic, and the parties just ignore them. :shrug:
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Zenlitened Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-28-06 12:51 PM
Response to Reply #4
6. YES!!!!! I totally agree!!!!
You've summed it up beautifully. All this talk of "wooing swing voters" is just plain ridiculous... when there's a huge pool of potential voters out there HUNGRY for a candidate to come along and get them excited about being part of the system again.

Wish I could nominate your post solo... it should be required reading for every alleged "strategist" at party headquarters.

:applause:



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Viva_La_Revolution Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-28-06 01:04 PM
Response to Reply #6
9. sheesh
:blush:

yer makin' me blush!
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JeffR Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-28-06 01:01 PM
Response to Reply #4
8. Bingo
Smartest statement I've seen on DU, ever.

I've been working on an article about this for the last 2 months. It's the key to victory, hidden in plain sight. This course also has the potential to nullify Republican vote tampering and suppression.

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hyphenate Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-28-06 01:37 PM
Response to Reply #4
12. Ah, but getting that group to vote
requires more than discussion. We need to try and figure out what motivation this group of voters might need to get out and vote. As my dad used to say, he had to go to work every day regardless of who was president. For the most part, this group tends to be demoralized by the way things are run by either party, and it would need more than mere persuasion to get their hackles raised. The apathy in our country was not created singlehandedly by the right--through the years, both right AND left could be counted on to create disillusionment with government. We must take that into account in order to find the reasons to make this group mean more than just a bunch of potential votes. If we can not give them reasons, they will remain the group most unlikely to change things.
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Burning Water Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-28-06 01:10 PM
Response to Original message
10. WOE, WOE is us. n/t
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hyphenate Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Mar-28-06 01:42 PM
Response to Reply #10
13. Woe has nothing to do with it
It's a matter of facing the fact that dwelling on the past means nothing to the future. We need to face what battles to come with more than reasons from the past on why things are the way they are. Without GWB, the right will need to formulate new strategies designed to manipulate and cheat on the vote, and we must be prepared for them. By focusing on the past tactics of the right, we lose the perspective to see what will be done in the future. While we can't predict their every move, we must be ready to accept that they will try every possible, underhanded trick they can in order to keep the powers. Once we establish that in our own midst, we will be stronger and more capable of fending off their efforts.

If you are willing to sit back and cry "woe" more than once, you are not directing your efforts to defeat this group of corrupt and greedy politicians--you are enabling them to be more sneaky, more underhanded, and thus more powerful than the rest of us.
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