My oldest son, a bright guy, lives in Spain and most of the time looks on in somewhat mock horror at the foolishness that goes on here and expresses doubt when I say things like, 'The media is cowed and complicit' or the latest, 'they're setting up a tiered net system designed to further eliminate NGO's, silence opposition, etc'
For those of you who know me, you know I believe in organizing locally. I author the semi-successful series Nuts and Bolts and I'm very practical. What does it take to elect Good Dems and go out there and Do It. Lately, I've been having 'severe qualms' about just how bad it is getting in DC and what is happening to the country and even What If the Dems win? What next? I'm not one who thinks the Dems are complicit (ok, a few are), I think most of our elected Dems are pretty stand up reps. I do think the country is a one party state and we're in tough times indeed....more below the fold
What has been happening lately is Really draconian versions of bills pass in the House and 'less bad' bills pass in the Senate. Then they go to a 'conference committee' where the Rethugs run everything and (under the rules) do not have to abide either vote and more often than not, not even a compromise emerges but often real crap, dangerous crap. i heard an interview with one of the people representing an affiliation of NGO's etc who has been monitoring/lobbying this 'net neutrality' issue in Congress and he said, altho prospects are dim in the Senate, the only chance is to defeat it and he didn't see that unless Senators were flooded in protest. This has been the pattern. unless there is some huge outcry, they barrel on. Chances of Americans 'getting this' are dim because they don't hear about it. And those of us who do, whose inboxes get 10-20 petitions and are urged to call Congress are becoming numbed as well.
At the same time, there's been a concerted effort to marginalize, discredit, and tar the opposition with the same criticism of Repubs...convince people all politicians are the same, they're all crooks, a pox on both their houses, etc. And it's working. The most extreme measures are passed or the Administration ignores the laws they choose to and there is little outcry from the American Idol public itself. Meanwhile, many elected Democrats are trying to do what they can...many, but not all, I agree. They've taken to blogging themselves, they're attending the first convention of bloggers, they're on Air America, they're trying. It's enormously frustrating to them as they freely admit that when they have the rare opportunity to get MSM coverage and say 'The emperor has no clothes, he's ignoring the laws of the land, they get ostracized by that media. These are dangerous times, scary times and I'm not sure what the solution is.
What if the Dems take the House and start to investiagate this house of cards? There's still a lot of vested power in the defense industry, the elite rich who have gotten even richer under bush and buy politicians like candy canes and Cheney is still in power. I guarantee the media will tell us how out of control and irresponsible the Dems are, tearing the fabric of the country, exposing us to terrorists, and on and on. It will take sworn testimony of those in this Administration who have a shred of integrity left. it will take some elected Republicans to testify what they have been threatened with if they oppose the Admin. And here's the problem...This has already happened! Richard Clarke, Joseph Wilson, Paul O'Neill, Scot Ritter (the weapons inspector) Hans Blix, Rand Beers, (the daily NSA coordinator) Ray McGovern, (CIA analyst who used to brief Presidents), General Shinseki, (sp) senior aides to Colin Powell, Christie Todd Whitman (headed EPA) and more. What happened to them? They got an initial burst of media and then the media described them as fringe, or untrustworthy, or 'left wing' or any number of adjectives to marginalize them. Their personal lives were dissected and any faults aired while ignoring the charges they were articulating.
The depth of brainwashing here is hard to describe. it's pervasive, constant, and organized. Reporters are edited, editors pressured to the point that that so-called bastion of 'liberal' press, the NY Times sat on the domestic spying story for 18 months after senior WH aides met with them. Now that it's out they are fashioning legislation to retroactively make law what they are doing (domestic spying on all of us). When the republican chair of the committee protested and started to call them on it, Cheney called members of the committee directly, went around the chair, and probalbly promised them projects for their states, etc. This is the common practice. it's pervasive, continuous, and has eroded the democracy to the point where i fear for the survival of the Constitution itself.
I wish I could say with confidence that we need just to elect Democrats, the media will start reporting Facts, prosecutors will take these crooks to court, a breath of freedom will pass over the country and we will turn back from the one party system we are under now. I do think it's past time for more leading Dems to call the situation what it is: a one party state where any opposition is slimed, that MSM media is complicit, that the country has been sold down the river by this Administration and ask the country to become involved and resist. But I'm not confident at all. I fear it's very late and just as we have ignored the consequence of environmental impacts, become slaves to consumerism and ignored spiritual life, we have ignored the clear signs of totalitarism until it has actually happened. With a muzzled media this government has run rough shod over the laws designed to protect us, plundered the treasury, written it all into law, manipulated elections, and discredited the opposition. Sound like a democracy or USSR? Don't we sit around, look at Russia, or China and call them names and wonder how the people put up with it? Isn;t the same thing happening here?
The common perception is Democrats are pretty much like Republicans, have no spine, don't speak out, don't tell the truth either, are on the take and so forth. Most Democrats are doing their damndest to make a difference and are not on the take. My concern is they have been so marginalized in the public's mind that even IF they take back Congress, it may not be enough. After all, this Justice Dept. is not credible and it will take the public's continued involvement to get things moving in the right direction. Can it happen? Yes it can but the situation is dire and we, the people, need a transfusion. Electing Democrats are the last chance we have. Electing lots of them, getting clear majorities and empowering them to take action and be more than opposition to this Administration. My hope is that IF we take back a house of Congress, that a significant number of Republicans will start to tell the truth of the concerted pressure they have been under, the threats against themselves and their families, the truth about the almost unbelievable stuff that has been going on.
Bless you if you've read this entire rant. I decided to turn it into a diary a third of the way thru so just kept ranting. Lots of love, Dad