I know, I know. You've heard it all already:
Well, this is it - in less than six hours from now, EST, THAT day begins. The day that we as Kossians and as people of conscience hoped we'd never have to see: The re-coronation of IT.
Let's take a quick, scant inventory, leaving aside a boatload of significant issues, and focus on just a few of the Shrub-related issues that have come to light in the last few days:
- Seymour Hersh's story about a potential - perhaps imminent - assault on Iran;
- The GOP orchestrated takedown of Social Security, the cornerstone of the American "safety net;"
- One of the world's least competent guardians of her country, Condoleezza Rice, being rewarded with the office of Secretary of State;
- London Yank's diary today about the gathering threat against Venezuela - perhaps opening a new chapter in South America's storied history of U.S. sanctioned death squads...
On and on I could go, but I know I'm preaching to the choir here. My point: We have to oppose this son of a bitch, by any and all means at our disposal.
Now: I'm well aware of many of the objections raised against Not One Damn Dime/Black-Thursday by folks here, many of them well-reasoned from a certain perspective, many thoughtful. There have been many constructive suggestions and criticisms offered, and I am grateful for them. I am likewise grateful for the tremendous outpouring of support that has been offered by many Kos people - my email boxes runneth over, thanks to you, and I apologize to those who I haven't been able to reply to up to now (my outlook inbox is at 3,000 unchecked messages and counting).
Despite the objections, despite the recognition that this particular protest - arguably, like all protests - is certainly imperfect, I'm writing again to ask for your support tomorrow, and participation where possible.
To that end, I'd like to address some of the criticisms raised against this and the NODDD initiatives.
A. "One day won't make a difference..." I answer this by saying that it depends on what difference you're trying to make. Will it singlehandedly bring down the Bush administration, or cripple the military-industrial complex? No. Will it "damage" the economy? Certainly not. But what it will do, and has done, is demonstrate to the media and to "red" America that there exists a sizeable bloc of citizens who not only oppose the policies and practices of this administration, but are willing to actually act in unison to express that opposition - and to do so through a mechanism, their purchasing habits, which has real-world ramifications.
B. "This only hurts small business/minimum wage workers..." No, it doesn't. Both BT and NODDD have advocated that people shop before and after the 20th, especially at locally-owned small businesses, to make up for any shortfall. Nobody's going to lose their job or take a pay cut on account of events tomorrow. But accepting that economic actions have ripple effects, consider this: BT/NODDD may suck a few million bucks out of circulation for 24 hours. How does this compare to the $200 billion that has been squandered on the Iraq campaign of slaughter? That's $200 Billion that will NOT be spent at the corner store, will NOT hire additional clerks at the supermarket, will NOT find its way into your holiday bonus, will NOT stimulate the economy through increased investment...if you're worried about economic damage, I suggest you focus your attention on the true source of the damage.
- "Boycotts never work." Funny that people would say this during the same week of Martin Luther King's birthday. Uh, the Montgomery Bus Boycott? The Chavez/United Farm Workers grape boycott? Sure, some work and some don't. But because some don't, is that any reason not to try? The objectives of this particular initiative are fairly modest - to remind people that every day, they have POWER that they can exercise through what they consume (or don't) and the work they do (or don't). I would like to see this evolve into broader support for the BuyBlue campaign, for example, and will work to see that it does that - but first steps first. The emphasis up to now is on uniting people to send a message, which has been done and is being done. We've already succeeded. But we can succeed more.
- "This makes liberals look bad." How? Because we exercise our rights to freedom of speech and free expression? Because we exercise our right to buy or not buy what we want, when we want? This argument has proven a stock in trade of the republican critics of this effort - "You lost. Get over it." Buy as usual, in other words. Why? I thought they were against entitlements. Is the business community ENTITLED to the dollars in my pocket, or entitled to my labor? Do their rights trump ours, in terms of what we do with our money, time, attention, and effort?
Now, to draw attention to some positives:
Speaking personally, I have been enormously gratified to find that BT and NODDD have found enormous resonance among certain parts of the public - NOT Democratic Party people especially, but WORKING people, members of minority groups, the disenfranchised, and people who have generally been alienated from the political process. Constituencies that this party claims to want to represent, but whom I'd argue have been largely left behind in recent years as the party has scurried in search of corporate dollars, currying the favor of the elites while ignoring the working class. I have been overwhelmed by the number of people who've taken the time to write to say that they like the idea and are going to participate; off the top of my head, I can think of a 75 year old grandmother, a national guard officer (can't remember his rank offhand), an exchange student in Germany, and a business owner in Wisconsin who have expressed their support in the last 24 hours. All ages, races, classes. They feel as I do that the time has come to take a stand. The 75 year old grandmother is probably not in shape to stand in the cold outside her state capital, or to march in DC; the national guard officer would probably suffer professionally were he caught doing so. But BT/NODDD have provided them with a mechanism that they can use, from where they are, to do something. And I think that that's a good thing.
Secondly: This project has provided me with a rare opportunity to raise issues in the mainstream media which I don't feel are adequately addressed, and to draw popular attention to them. Over the last ten days, I've done interviews with the national press, with national TV and radio networks, and of particular importance (to me) with a number of "red"/conservative programs and audiences. I've had the opportunity to raise issues surrounding the human and economic cost of the war, the cost to everyday Americans of ongoing outsourcing, the gutting/giveaway of social security, homelessness, racial discrimination, the anti-community practices of major "big box" retailers, and other issues which simply are not typically addressed in this context. I'm sure that some viewers/listeners had no idea, for instance, about the actual cost of the war to them: So far, $8000 per head for every man, woman, and child in this country. I got to say it, more than once. Same with the cost of the $2 trillion deficit increase: $79,660 per capita and counting. I like to believe that some people will at least be given pause to think as a result. And it was this BOYCOTT which provided the media megaphone to raise these issues. Now, I'm not the most telegenic person around, and hardly the ideal spokesman (at least from a hollywood standpoint) for these sorts of issues. However, I managed to get out there and discuss them - which accomplished more, I think, than non-participation has accomplished.
Thirdly: I am also gratified by the degree of opposition I have gotten from those I would characterize as "the enemy." Denial of service attacks on my web server, mass mailings from spam-bots, countless threats and emailed insults from the Free Republic crowd. When Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly and countless others can be moved to call me an idiot or to decry something I'm doing, I know that I'm doing the right thing. That this showed up on their radar screen seems to me to be proof positive that NODDD/BT are something the sons of bitches fear: A manifestation of plain, ordinary people uniting together, rather than simply sitting back and taking their orders, or falling in lockstep with their servile minions.
I could go on and on. But I won't: I'm tired and brain-frazzled, and I've got some site updates to do tonight (and the fact that I just wrecked my car this afternoon - guess I'm not buying any gas! - has taken its toll on my disposition). So I'll stop, at least for the moment, but for the following plea:
I sincerely hope that those who read this at least seriously consider participating, to the extent that is possible for them, in the NODDD/BT boycott tomorrow. If you don't buy anything - great. If you don't go to work - better still. But even if you only think about your own consumption habits and how to modify them to better serve your conscience, that's a great thing. Even if you don't think this will "accomplish" anything - consider going along with us on this one. Judging by my site traffic, the feedback I've gotten, and what's been reported to me by Jesse, the NODDD organizer, a LOT of people are with us on this.
And: This is not done to the exclusion of other initiatives, but in support of them. Wear black, or a black armband; protest in public, if the opportunity is available to you; turn your back, if you're on the parade route - whatever each of us can do to demonstrate that we have functional consciences and a concern for the direction of our country is worth doing.
And, although I don't believe that anything I say is smarter or better than other diarists' stuff on dKos, I'll ask those of you who think that these ideas bear discussion to recommend this diary. After tomorrow, it's all over - but the next hours are do-or-die time on this, and any additional awareness raised is helpful.
Many thanks for your tolerance and for reading all this.
P.S. - Forgot to include this in the above. Thought it might cheer up some of you.
This morning, I did an hour-long phone-in interview on Wisconsin Public Radio (broadcast throughout WI, as well as in some neighboring states). (Masochists can listen here. Those who listen to the first ten minutes can enjoy the spectacle of a caller suggesting that we "liberal communists" commit mass suicide. Entertaining!)
I'm pleased to say that roughly 60% of callers were favorable. And last night, did a call-in on XM radio: Same deal, even higher percentage (anecdotally - didn't get a recording, so couldn't count accurately). So...our people are out there.
UPDATED: Did you know that Inauguration Day, as of this year, is now officially a HOLIDAY? No less an authority than the IRS says so. Many thanks to an eagle-eyed tipster who sent the link below. Basically, the IRS says that it's a national holiday both for tax and banking purposes. I guess all those BUSH SUPPORTERS who are partying hard in DC tomorrow are taking advantage of this..._shouldn't you?_ Link here if you don't believe me:
"Additional federal holiday. January 20, 2005, is Inauguration Day and has been designated as a federal holiday for tax purposes. Tax returns due on that day may be filed on the next business day. Also, January 20, 2005, is not a banking day under federal tax deposit rules.
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p15/ar01.html"
YET ANOTHER Update: Sorry, I'm not thinking straight today. Keep forgetting to put stuff in. One thing I'd welcome everybody's ideas on: As of tomorrow, the black-thursday.com domain becomes obsolete. I would like to turn it into something more lasting and useful, and was thinking that basically some kind of information clearing-house for boycotts/protests/initiatives/other progressive actions might be worthwhile. Would put up some kind of open-source content management system enabling people to post from anywhere (kinda like scoop...but different), and place stories/notices in classifications. I know that some efforts towards this sort of thing already exist, but I'm not sure how complete or successful they are. I would appreciate peoples' input on this, and if you don't like the idea, any alternate suggestions you may have for making the site a positive and worthwhile thing for the prog community.