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Okay you'se. It's now 1 am Central time on 21 January 2005.
Now what?
You've done your protests, shouted in the streets and even went so far as to withhold money as not to participate in that horrible practice called Capitalism, just so you can join in the angst of the beginning for W's second term in office.
But now here we are, it's the 21st.
Now what?
Everything we on the Left worked for during the summer and fall of 2004 has come to naught, or so you would believe. But look more closely. We did everything right. We wasted no time, we organized, we worked together, we were able, although tentatively brought ourselves together as one (for the most part) to vote our future and for our own personal interests only to see it vanish in a cloud of speculation, mistrust and fixedness.
But now here we are at the beginning of the next term of what could definitely be more of the same, perhaps worse, from this administration that makes Nixon's presidency look like the Golden Age of Rome.
And the worse thing that any of us could do is to fall back into the same damn patterns we Progressives, Leftists, and Liberals have been known for. We argue, separate, go into our corner and demand an all-or-nothing agenda from others that share our views. Greens think Democrats are full of shit, Libertarians think Greens are too idealistic, and the Socialists think no one can be trusted.
We're all fighting for the same things, and yet we're fighting against each other.
And the worse thing? We're falling in the same projective mistake of protesting in the streets and organizing "feel-good" boycotts as if that's going to make a difference.
Reality Check: In the real world, boycotts like Buy Nothing Day (or the last-minute clone Not One Damn Dime Day) sounds effective on paper in its idealism, but does not manage this effectiveness to who the anger is projected to. If no one bought anything today, would the government have lost its head? Could the Stock Exchange and NASDAQ fallen sharply today? Would the protests today have really made people stop and think?
In my opinion, we are wasting our time with this tired-ass, played out, bullshit.
What we should do now is to keep up the same work that we progressives have been doing since the summer. If we can organize in the same way like we did, like what we are doing now, we could actually do the same amount of change the Right is doing.
Organize a protest? How about organizing a letter writing campaign to our elected officials? The Right does it all the time. Look at where they are now.
Are we organizing a boycott of shopping? How about organizing a boycott of companies of businesses that are funding the mass murder and destruction of people here and abroad? Much in the same way the Right boycotts businesses that they deem immoral based on a short list of annoyances, we could do the same.
And watching our elected officials closely is paramount in the next couple of years. They work for us, not the other way around; we must remind them of that. Those who we trust to represent us must be held accountable for every decision we make. We can't just shrug our shoulders and deem them all corrupt. If we don't like them, fire them and let them know about it.
If someone is running for office that is most in alignment with our ideals, vote for them and urge your friends to do the same. We all have to move as one.
On 18 January 2003, thousands of us disenfranchised people, ignored by those in power, took to the streets en masse to voice our dissent. During the protest here in Portland, we took it one step further, most of us signed postcards to our city council urging our council people to join other major cities in condemning this war. We remembered those who agreed with us. Those who have voted against our wishes paid dearly (Francesconi) and will lose their jobs soon (Leonard). We remember these infractions and will vote with our feet as well with our ballots.
The real work begins. It's the 21st. Now what?
Get fucking involved. Attend meetings of your local political group, if you can't do that, tell your friends. Get the word out, voice your opinions. Educate yourselves. Argue. Get the facts out and get them straight.
We have to work toward a common goal, which is hold our State and National reps accountable for their actions in 2006 and think about what we have to do in 2008 when the quest for a really good leader begins anew.
We can't do the same things we've been doing anymore. And we cannot afford to factionalize ourselves only to unite at the last minute.
Deliberate yes. But get the work done. Work on it and unite.
It's the 21st. What are you doing to end the apocalypse?
(crossposted to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
liberal_bias and Striking 13
Now what?
You've done your protests, shouted in the streets and even went so far as to withhold money as not to participate in that horrible practice called Capitalism, just so you can join in the angst of the beginning for W's second term in office.
But now here we are, it's the 21st.
Now what?
Everything we on the Left worked for during the summer and fall of 2004 has come to naught, or so you would believe. But look more closely. We did everything right. We wasted no time, we organized, we worked together, we were able, although tentatively brought ourselves together as one (for the most part) to vote our future and for our own personal interests only to see it vanish in a cloud of speculation, mistrust and fixedness.
But now here we are at the beginning of the next term of what could definitely be more of the same, perhaps worse, from this administration that makes Nixon's presidency look like the Golden Age of Rome.
And the worse thing that any of us could do is to fall back into the same damn patterns we Progressives, Leftists, and Liberals have been known for. We argue, separate, go into our corner and demand an all-or-nothing agenda from others that share our views. Greens think Democrats are full of shit, Libertarians think Greens are too idealistic, and the Socialists think no one can be trusted.
We're all fighting for the same things, and yet we're fighting against each other.
And the worse thing? We're falling in the same projective mistake of protesting in the streets and organizing "feel-good" boycotts as if that's going to make a difference.
Reality Check: In the real world, boycotts like Buy Nothing Day (or the last-minute clone Not One Damn Dime Day) sounds effective on paper in its idealism, but does not manage this effectiveness to who the anger is projected to. If no one bought anything today, would the government have lost its head? Could the Stock Exchange and NASDAQ fallen sharply today? Would the protests today have really made people stop and think?
In my opinion, we are wasting our time with this tired-ass, played out, bullshit.
What we should do now is to keep up the same work that we progressives have been doing since the summer. If we can organize in the same way like we did, like what we are doing now, we could actually do the same amount of change the Right is doing.
Organize a protest? How about organizing a letter writing campaign to our elected officials? The Right does it all the time. Look at where they are now.
Are we organizing a boycott of shopping? How about organizing a boycott of companies of businesses that are funding the mass murder and destruction of people here and abroad? Much in the same way the Right boycotts businesses that they deem immoral based on a short list of annoyances, we could do the same.
And watching our elected officials closely is paramount in the next couple of years. They work for us, not the other way around; we must remind them of that. Those who we trust to represent us must be held accountable for every decision we make. We can't just shrug our shoulders and deem them all corrupt. If we don't like them, fire them and let them know about it.
If someone is running for office that is most in alignment with our ideals, vote for them and urge your friends to do the same. We all have to move as one.
On 18 January 2003, thousands of us disenfranchised people, ignored by those in power, took to the streets en masse to voice our dissent. During the protest here in Portland, we took it one step further, most of us signed postcards to our city council urging our council people to join other major cities in condemning this war. We remembered those who agreed with us. Those who have voted against our wishes paid dearly (Francesconi) and will lose their jobs soon (Leonard). We remember these infractions and will vote with our feet as well with our ballots.
The real work begins. It's the 21st. Now what?
Get fucking involved. Attend meetings of your local political group, if you can't do that, tell your friends. Get the word out, voice your opinions. Educate yourselves. Argue. Get the facts out and get them straight.
We have to work toward a common goal, which is hold our State and National reps accountable for their actions in 2006 and think about what we have to do in 2008 when the quest for a really good leader begins anew.
We can't do the same things we've been doing anymore. And we cannot afford to factionalize ourselves only to unite at the last minute.
Deliberate yes. But get the work done. Work on it and unite.
It's the 21st. What are you doing to end the apocalypse?
(crossposted to
liberal_bias and Striking 13
