"This is Just GREAT, Man! GAME OVER!!!"

NanceGreggs

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Thu Aug-23-07 09:20 PM
Original message

"This is Just GREAT, Man! GAME OVER!!!"

Edited on Thu Aug-23-07 09:25 PM by NanceGreggs

The title is a line from Aliens. It was spoken by one of the crew members stranded on a hostile planet, surrounded by voracious take no prisoners extra-terrestrials, as his colleagues struggle desperately to devise ways to secure their stronghold and gain the upper hand.

This stereotypical character shows up again and again in such movies; the guy who is of no use in helping the situation because he’s too busy bitchin’ about the good fight already being a lost cause.

Funnily enough, that line pops into my head on a regular basis as I peruse DU these days. Gee, I wonder why.

I, like many others I’m sure, got involved with DemocraticUnderground because it was a place to discuss our political beliefs, spur active participation in the process, analyze where change was necessary and seek ways to implement that change and – last, but certainly not least – a site based on supporting the Democratic agenda and electing our own to office.

However, over the past few weeks, I am struck by the number of OPs that contain nothing more than a diatribe about how our current Democratic office-holders are spineless back-stabbers intent on destroying their party, and the entire country in the bargain.

Am I pissed-off about some of the actions of our Democrats of late? Damned real. And I’ve sent them emails to let them know exactly how I feel, in no uncertain terms.

That may get their attention; or it may not. The voice that speaks up has a chance of being heard and heeded; the voice that doesn’t speak up NEVER gets heard.

It is, in my opinion, paramount that we speak up, loudly and clearly.

Let me give but one example of why it is important for constituents of the respective parties to hold their representatives’ feet to the fire, instead of acquiescing to the game over philosophy: Imagine that the Republicans had deluged their party powers-that-be with angry emails, phone calls, letters and petitions every time they veered away from the GOP principle of fiscal responsibility. If elected Republicans thought they would lose the support of their constituents if they strayed from that philosophy, we would have been out of Iraq years ago.

The Republicans in charge of the purse-strings would have simply stated (rather than lose the support of their own come election time): “Sorry, Mr. President. As much as we might agree with your Noble Cause, having taken a good look at the bank balance, it is obvious we just can’t afford this venture.” End of discussion – end of the occupation of Iraq.

Of course, that didn’t happen; it didn’t happen because the Republican voters, for whatever reason, have become apathetic about insisting that their elected reps adhere to party principles.

I fear that this is where we are headed, if we choose to take the game over road, instead of making our voices heard. And if you think in terms of they don’t listen, so why bother, please think again. Imagine it in terms of your own job. You make an executive decision, and your office is flooded with WTF were you thinking? emails from the company shareholders. You might start thinking that maybe – just maybe – an attitude adjustment, along with a change of course, might be in order if you still hope to be employed after the next round of personnel reviews are conducted. By the same token, if you hear nada from anyone, you obviously take the silence as agreement with your actions.

Personally, I tend to read the posts in the Editorials & Articles forum, in order to be apprised of what is being said by the journalists, the pundits, et cetera. However, what I see more and more of lately is a constant barrage of editorials whose basic message is The Dems ARE BLOWING IT!. This would be helpful to our party, and our cause, if it was posted in the spirit of this is what is wrong, and needs fixing, as opposed to being a vindication of the OP’s belief that all is lost – and here’s yet another article that proves him right.

Don’t misunderstand me; I am against censorship of any kind, and have no problem with such editorials being posted here. But should they not serve as a trigger to discussion about how to determine ways to change the course of our party before it hits the predicted iceberg, rather than being used as justification for yet another call to abandon ship?

I had the same argument with some posters during the lead-up to the mid-terms last November, those who insisted on posting in every positive thread about a candidate’s gain in the poll numbers with the same plaintiff cry: “It doesn’t matter, because Diebold has already decided on a GOP victory,” or, “Don’t bother getting excited, because Karl Rove has the math.”

As I argued at the time, it is one thing to say vote fraud is a problem, so be aware of it, and quite another to say it’s a done deal, so don’t bother voting.

Of course, as things turned out, Rove’s math turned out to be nothing more than smoke-blowing. But we’ll never know how many people didn’t vote in the mid-terms because a well-meaning friend had advised them of the futility of casting their ballot for a Democrat.

We, as Democrats, have never been in a better position to retake the White House, and largely expand our majority in the House and the Senate.

The majority of our fellow citizens have finally realized the futility of persisting in Iraq, along with the fact that the threats we face domestically – in terms of lowered education resources, job losses, the economy, the national debt, and our crumbling infrastructure – now far outweigh any threat from beyond our own borders.

Recent surveys now show that the number of voters identifying themselves as Democrats far outweigh those identifying themselves as Republicans, a drastic change that has come about only since BushCo was installed in office.

The time has never been more ripe for a Democratic sweep than it is at this very moment – and yet I constantly hear the cry of ”GAME OVER!”, the rallying cry of the already-defeated, the already-enslaved – the very people who will scream the loudest when their party is yet again in the position of fighting an endless uphill battle against the Republican majority that they themselves helped come to fruition.

Regardless of my anger and my frustration, I plan to support my party members and work to ensure that a Democrat is inaugurated in January 2009 – whether he or she is my personal choice or not.

I will also work to ensure that Democrats hold an overwhelming majority in Congress, whether I am angered by them now or not.

That is because I, for one, would rather argue with, scream at, hurl invectives at, and demand change from people who are in a position to do something about it than people who are, due to their minority position, not in a position to do anything at all.

That’s my two-cent contribution, for what it’s worth.