Countdown To No Confidence: Zero Hour

Karmageddon
(Thanks to Tulip for the title!)

As John Dean points out in his excellent book Conservatives Without Conscience, the United States of America began as a liberal nation.  The conservative movement in America is hard to trace through history, Dean argues in depth, because it stands in opposition to the ideals of liberalism upon which this nation was founded.  Only when several of these opposition movements tolerate each other long enough to overcome their mutual antipathy (like smashing protons together enough to fuse them into helium in a fusion reactor) does something the MSM and Republican party can recognize as a political movement emerge.

Unlike helium, these unnatural agglomerations are unstable and tend to come apart violently.  At the zero hour of no confidence breaking out inside the Government, we are witnessing the breakdown of They³ so quickly we may not be ready to harness the political power this event will unleash.  For the People to gain back that which has been taken from us, we have to ride the wave we are on right now, all the way.

Point of no confidence: March 21, 2007
Point of no return: January 10, 2007 -- Bush announces the surge

In December, 2006, when this series was abirthing in my mind, Daily Kos was rife with divided opinions on what the new Congress would do, or be able to do, to demonstrate fidelity to the message of the People from last November's election.  The MSM was following the standard bouncing ball from the Rovian spin machines.  Fox News was still able to pretend they were not a propaganda mouthpiece and few (but an important few) challenged it.

The death of Saddam Hussein in a stupid, pitiful way -- and the subsequent breast-thumping by MSM pundits and Bush supporters -- was too much for me to bear.  The first diary was written with the prattling and hand-waving playing out on CNN all day and night.  I knew it was time to look through the confusion and envision a point at which Congress would have found its legs; a time when the pitiful, but effective, technique of screaming propaganda louder than the other people in our national conversation fell on ears so deafened that the mind blocked it out; and a time when the Administration's coalition in Congress and the Republican party started turning on each other in shock that the "permanent Republican majority" was slipping away.

That time I visualized then is upon us now.  Are we ready?  Have we examined our ideas and prepared to talk to fellow citizens with respect and urgency as they are released from the spell of conservative rule?  Are we ready to turn outward and pull together instead of playing it safe with pie fights in the family (as Democrats are always apt to do when in a partying mood)?

The Coming Storm

The party can't start yet.  As Kos has pointed out since last November, the party can't start until after 2008, when a new, progressive Democratic coalition is firmly in place to lead this nation on into the future as liberals have done since the nation began.  He argued in December, and the Democratic Congressional leadership is arguing now, that impeachment might feel good, but it would be premature partying and self-indulgence which would weaken our chance to take full control in 2008.

But impeachment is only one possible way this Administration can be brought to heel -- forced to the will of the People -- before that point is reached.  I envisioned the cracking of the Government coalition we now call the vast right-wing conspiracy (VRWC) becoming manifest in one or more of these ways:

1. Filibuster-proof majority in the Senate
2. Veto-proof majority in both houses of Congress
3. Resignation or impeachment of political appointees in the Adminstration, especially cabinet officials in the wake of a scandal or a mistake
4. Resignation or impeachment of the Vice President
5. Resignation or impeachment of the President

We achieved the first yesterday when the Senate approved closing a loophole in the Patriot Act with an overwhelming majority.  We may achieve the second with that bill as well.  The goal for these achievements is to set the Adminstration back on their heels in shock that Congress has deigned to defy them -- something they are not used to, and which would probably piss them off and then show the nation their true nature.

Many officials have resigned already, and Gonzales is close.  Cheney is spending a lot of time with the doctors on his blood clot, and a medical reason for resignation to allow a Republican candidate to take his slot is always a possibility.  Gonzales will be taken down sooner or later.  Whether Rove can be pried loose or not remains to be seen.

Impeachment is not something which can be controlled like other political issues.  It grows from a state of no confidence sustained without remedy long enough no other options are left.  It has a mind of its own because its source is the People, not the politicians.  Governments never adopt impeachment themselves.  It has no lobbyists paid to write a bill and herd it through the process.  Impeachment is a force of nature and its power is unstoppable and terrible in its thirst for justice.  Like natural disasters, once the tipping point is reached it cannot be withheld or managed or stopped.  It must be allowed to play its course and the landscape afterward no one can know.

Are we ready to be true liberals again in this time when our nation needs us?  Are we ready to give 'em "the L word" again, and make it stick?  Are we ready for the fission of the latest conservative agglomeration?

How No Confidence Works In America

The vote of no confidence in America works backwards from other democracies.  With only two parties in power, we don't have ruling coalitions formed of several smaller legislative parties to break apart and force the election of a new Prime Minister, and we don't have Cabinet officials from various parties who can resign and prepare to challenge the current Prime Minister in sync with such changes.

So we have to use midterm elections to recall the legislative branch and let the cracks in the ruling coalitions run their course.  Since the Republican party "big tent" is not a stable place, their ruling coalitions break apart in particularly nasty ways.  Setting themselves up as paragons of morality, they expose each others' sins and so soil the facade of the whole.  Setting themselves up as friends of business, they distort the free markets and get caught providing hookers and enslaving employees from third-world countries in privatized contracts to "support the troops" in Iraq -- at inflated prices so bad the companies involved have to go global to avoid prosecution in the United States.  Setting themselves up as patriots, they forget to pay or care for the troops and their families but support every missle system and whiz-band gizmo their military-industrial-complex geeks come up with -- all of no use in urban warfare against an entrenched insurgency.

Witness the cracks as they run through the "Republican permanent majority".  See the tipping points where the inflection of the course of events changes. Feel the radiating waves of energy being unleashed as people who called themselves Republicans in Reagan days become independents and even Democrats now.

On the site Political Arithmetik, the latest chart comparing the approval ratings of Bush, Nixon, Johnson and low-record-holder Truman are overlaid by month during their two terms.  Bush's trend line after the high of 9-11 is the straightest downward trend of them all.  As the site author notes, the only thing holding Bush back from a crash is the solid support of those voters who call themselves Republicans to the pollsters.  But we have seen other reports that fewer voters are calling themselves Republicans.  Note that, in Bush's current position, any crash like Nixon experienced would be catastrophic because he has no slack.  Indeed, all the other "worst trend lines" had periods of relative slack -- but not Bush.  So hard-driven has been their rule, and so controlled by computerized spin technology and MSM management of the echo chamber, that they are like a missle with its precision guidance system fixed on smashing into the ground.

With the "party faithful" losing faith, the steady number of 70% of Republicans approving of Bush hides a draining away of the VRWC's energy.  When those remaining in the party approach their individual races in their own states and for local offices later this year, that number will go down.  Once the cracks spread and deepen, the shift will be fast in political terms.  Note in the chart Nixon's fall.  Bush can't tolerate even a small portion of that floor dropping out.

But the Attorney General has now been caught in a slow-motion drive-by Saturday Night Massacre.  The Patriot Act has been shown to be a cover for political blackmail and purges inside the Government without a shred of use for safety of any citizen.  The Department of Homeland Security has ended up being a pork fest for states to put lipstick on their pigs without the scrutiny of earmarks.  In the Katrina disaster, we got to see the result is simply so many layers of committees that the United Nations looks efficient in comparison.  

The Iraq war enters its fifth year without a purpose or foreseeable victory point.  The war on terrorism has broken down into a fancy dress for old racist emotions and oil-fueled colonial ambitions for a Pax Americana.  Fox News under Reagan propagandist Roger Ailes is chasing its dwindling audience all the way to their graves.

This week the subpeonas begin to have their effect.  Soon they will show their teeth.  An Administration spoiled by prior Congressional lack of foresight looks like a deer in the headlights of real oversight, unsure how all these people can actually demand things of them without Rove's approval.

Standing In The Zero Point

I end this series no longer alone in my vision.  Along the way, I have been able to meet many Kossacks and others who commented on the diaries and provided criticism, encouragement and enlarged the vision in surprising ways.  I feel honored and broadened and even more in awe of the Netroots at work.  

On this journey, we started by tracing the doctrines which pulled the VWRC together and fused it through Reagan's Curse.  We stepped back to look through the eyes of the Founding Fathers and modern philosophers like Alfred Korzybski.  We envisioned the kind of leaders who should be at the helm of our ship of state instead of those pretending they are up to the task.

Then we exposed the evil within the laws being passed in our name and the depravity of those who would frustrate the will of the People.  We talked about how to heal from the horror of 9-11 and truly honor our troops by standing to protest as they have always stood to post in our name.  We learned why it is now time for the People to stand up, together, without fear any longer.  We have now come to the end of the countdown, standing together in this moment of our common history.

For one last moment, we linger and steel ourselves for the days and weeks ahead -- with anticipation and with trepidation. Anticipation of seeing the rusty machinery of the Balance Of Powers grind into life again and start to purr.  Trepidation that the VRWC has concentration camps awaiting us if we speak out too soon.  But the fear is dwindling, and with it allowing too much power to the regressives by seeing power where there is none.

Thanks For All The Fish

Thank you for coming along on the journey.  We will meet again, exploring the new vistas the real forces of no confidence will open before us.  The Netroots is only beginning, but it draws its power from the grassroots, and that is the force of America itself.  Providence smiles upon us.  The wind is at our backs.  The latest phantasm of conservatism which seemed so invincible and terrible only a few short months ago is breaking up, like a thunderstorm whose power is now spent.  It is time for daylight and clear sailing again, toward a horizon as blue and infinite as the possibilities of the Constitution itself.  All we have to do now is hold the tiller firm and steady to make it home.

Our common future lies just on the other side of the last squall line.  The passage has been terrible, and so many fellow travellers have been slaughtered or imprisoned by the storms sent against our rag-tag band of patriots -- liberals all, even those who pretended to be conservatives for a time.  But we have weathered the bitter night and navigated the doldrums with only our faith that the winds would blow again.  We see the sun slicing through in a shaft of golden light, pointing in the direction we know we must go together.  It will burn away the rest, and do so soon.

Sail on, fellow Kossacks and citizens.  Sail on through.  I'll see you soon on the distant shore.  Then we can bake our pies and have our fights, but in freedom instead of frustration.  Then we can party, and we will.

I'll see you there, pie in hand.

The Series
Introduction to the series
T-80:  Inflection Points & Catastrophes
   Owning the key moments of our time
T-70:  False Doctrines
   Centralized Authority, Pre-emptive War
T-60: The Powell Doctrines
   The Powell Memo, The Powell Doctrine, They³, People⁷, The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (VRWC), Overton hypercubes
T-50: Clean Out The Barn
T-40: Knowing The Right Path
T-30:  Standing Up
T-20:  High Noon In America
T-10:  Ending The Gestapo Laws
T-5: Liberty Without Borders

In the fullness of time:  No Confidence Unleashed diaries

Crossposted at Progressive Historians

•  Tip jar

  No confidence:  They are damned for what they do and for what they don't do -- and deserve it.

  by eOz on Wed Mar 21, 2007 at 04:59:27 PM PDT

  •  After the title of that last section...

    I half expected you to end it all with nothing more than:

    42

    ;)

    -Christina Baldwin

    by Erevann on Fri Mar 23, 2007 at 04:45:52 PM PDT

•  Inflection points realized

  The past five days have brought Gonzales to the brink of resignation and put Cheney back in the hospital for a convenient check up on a possible excuse to resign.  Bush is again too effusive in his praise to be believed, and uses the same old rhetoric because he has nothing else to say.

  Subpoenas are approved.  US Attorneys write letters in newspapers.  Republicans chime in on closing a loophole in the Patriot Act and a conservative coalition outside the Beltway band together to take the whole thing down.

  Peace protests all over the nation and the marking of a sad anniversary -- the fourth for the action of tyrants who happen to still be our leaders, for now at least.

  Resignations hedged, then made real -- and "clarification" from resignees to save their own butts.

  In the air is something more than just the beginning of spring.  Happy Spring Solstice, everyone!

  by eOz on Wed Mar 21, 2007 at 05:06:58 PM PDT

•  WOW

  I just read the whole series -- I can't believe I missed this.

  Your writing is inspirational and eloquent.  Your vision is informed and articulate.  

  Our current situation has so much in common with Hitler's rise.  Have you read the OSS psychological profile of Hitler? It included an amazing analysis also of the hold Hitler had on the German people.  The similarities with today are chilling.  

  Our electorate is still evenly split.  In my state, support for Bush is still in the 70-80% range and is unlikley to ever fall below that range.   The hatred and vengeance that stalk our land are terrifying.  

  I hope you are right that we can recover from this long night.

  by mathGuyNTulsa on Wed Mar 21, 2007 at 07:33:58 PM PDT

  •  I have not seen that profile

    do you have a link to it?

    I have been studying several threads, including the details of how Hilter came to power to "know the beast" and be able to write about it in ways to cut through the spell the VRWC has woven around the many innocient people who worship at their altar.

    Thank you for your comment.  Hope is what we all need to give each other because that is what America is all about.  From the Enlightenment to the Constitution to today is an unbroken line of souls who bequeathed hope on each other and the next generation.

    We can stand in that line, if we choose to.  That's the hope and power of the Netroots in our time.

    by eOz on Wed Mar 21, 2007 at 08:02:48 PM PDT

    •  Diary...

      I actually wrote a diary about this.  There is a link to the OSS report in the diary.  The diary went nowhere...it seems to me there was some Hillary/Obama controversy going on at the time and that was all anyone wanted to talk about.

      It seems to me that there is something about our national character that made us so receptive to this plague of vengence and hate that is destroying our society and civil institutions.

      by mathGuyNTulsa on Thu Mar 22, 2007 at 06:28:33 AM PDT

      •  Excellent diary

        I particularly like these words in the last paragraph:

        It continues to be urgent to give voice to a vision of the world that is a better place, where people have value, where we can live in harmony, free from want and need, where we can hope for a better life for ourselves and our children, and can realize our potential as caring, loving human beings.  Ours is a vision of hope, not fear, of compassion, not greed, of peace, not war.  Our vision is my hope for this new year and every new year.  

        Your analysis in the diary is on the mark.  People in our nation have been yearning for a simple, selfish philosophy, and Reagan's Curse is that he seemed to give them the go ahead to indulge those yearnings.  By saying, "Greed is natural and good" with the euphrenisms "growth and opportunity" and the perjoratives "special interests" applied to the "welfare state", he tilted away from the idea we have to have a social safety net no matter what and wealth distribution must be held within bounds.  The whole "trickle-down" theory of economics is false.  Indeed, now that excess capital is being globalized, especially in China and the rest of Asia, and executive salaries have completely out of balance.

        Deregulation fed greed and decreased service.  Busting unions, especially within government itself, coupled with underfunding the infrastructure investments in our own nation, has led to the rotting of our common weal and, now, to privatizing roads and lotteries.

        Throughout, Reagan's rhetoric has led to the Gingrich Contract On America and, eventually, to this Administration's obvious hyprocracy in saying they are helping people while cutting budgets and services to the People.  To hold this disparity together in their minds, too many people have pulled back from a world they now resent and fear.  That fear was stoked after 9-11 so now ideas like profiling and security having anything to do with armed police walking around seem comforting -- cold comfort indeed.

        The hell of it is, these false measures and showboat measures are hollowing out our social safety by allowing people to indulge their self-interest to the exclusion of any national interest.  Too many people haven't even wondered why we are not being asked to sacrifice things in our personal lives in this "war on terrorism" and allowed to turn a blind eye to the plight of the soldiers and government servants who are trying to do something for us.  Funding cut, corners cut, shortcuts taken, awards for those who failed, the inability to fire anybody for anything -- all symptoms of the disconnect in people which resonate with the disinformation of the Bush Administration, to our mutual peril.

        But we do have to continue to push for a vision of the future.  It amazes me how the MSM and lots of citizens don't think of the future any more.  An endless war on terrorism and hoarding everyone's oil is the only future being talked about.  What happened to "the end of poverty", a world at peace or even "a place called hope"?

        No future but clinging to what we think we already have.  No logic but what allows me to hate whomever I want without guilt or consequence.  No concern for the planet at all.

        Bush certainly fills that void, but not with anything real, but an even greater void.  A void of caring about becoming anything better, about anyone who isn't just like him and about any sense of obligation to negotiate instead of shoot.

        Write more diaries.  Keep putting out the word that we can think, we can learn, and we can innoculate ourselves from diseases like that which infected the German people and is infecting us.

        by eOz on Thu Mar 22, 2007 at 04:39:23 PM PDT

        •  Thanks

          for the encouragement and the inspiring words.

          My great fear as that we have already passed the tipping point and only a national catastrophe -- on the magnitude that befell Germany in WWII -- can turn our populace aside from the alluring miasma of hate and fear and greed.

          That's not to say the good fight is not worth fighting, true to the great liberal and liberating principals of our founders.  

          by mathGuyNTulsa on Thu Mar 22, 2007 at 05:15:27 PM PDT

•  Great series of articles!

  If possible, I would grant you 1000 recommendations for placing a distinct historical basis and logical discourse on the criminals in government right now.

  These should be required reading for every person interested in democratic ideals.

  A thousand thank yous.

  by don coyote on Thu Mar 22, 2007 at 11:57:47 AM PDT

  •  Thank you so much for your support.

    The real reward of doing this is the people like you who read and appreciate it.  We are not alone, and that is the whole point of coming to places like dKos and informing each other.

    The medium is the message, and the message is that we are not on the fringes of our nation's future, we are the hope that there will be a future.

    Thanks again, fellow citizen.  We can make the future better, together.

    by eOz on Thu Mar 22, 2007 at 04:42:55 PM PDT

•  Sorry it took me so long...

  to get here, but you had to know I wouldn't miss the end of this. :)

  I'm lookin' forward to those pie fights! :D

  Right now, I need to disconnect from all this for a weekend. My anger's been getting the better of me all week.

  See ya soon!

  -Christina Baldwin

  by Erevann on Fri Mar 23, 2007 at 04:45:15 PM PDT