GD it, don't you understand what's at stake? (updated)

Please recommend. Fight! Fight! Fight! In the immortal words of buhdydharma YELL LOUDER!!

The time for triangulation is over.  The time for any SORT of appeasement is through. The time has at last come for us to literally sink or swim.

Goddammit, my friends! We waste time attacking each other and attacking those who point this out while our real enemy plots and deceives and manipulates and continues to Control. We either come together SOON or we are lost.

::

Time is very short. Everything is at the breaking point right now--can't you feel it? It's here. We have weeks, months tops to begin the turnaround that will save Humanity from itself. It's here RIGHT NOW.

Several years ago I read a book called "Generations" that seemed to me to be right on as far as a new look at this ancient subject of debate. Later, the authors of this book wrote another entitled "The Fourth Turning". This book really gelled for me.

The point is, we are in a period of transition. Of decay. Of Unraveling. And the only hope we have (here is my own interpretation) is to revolt against the status quo. To rise against the power of the Mighty. Fuck them! What have they done for us? The Revolutionaries of the  mid 18th century are who we should be paying attention to right now. They are the only ones in Our History who have been through anything close to what we are going through. The Civil War is less of a Constitutional crisis than the present situation.

::

Look-- we have one tiny world here. Earth. A speck of dust. really. Don't you think we're smart enough to figure out what's best for it--and, therefore, us?

If you don't--fuck you.

•  And the horse you rode in on.

  Sorry. A rant was required.

  by LightningMan on Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 10:03:04 PM PDT

  •  I can appreciate a good rant

    Absurd some of the stuff that we end up worrying about in the larger context of thing eh?

    by dantyrant on Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 10:06:51 PM PDT

    •  Yes.

      Thanks.

      by LightningMan on Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 10:07:34 PM PDT

  •  Revolution? A Bit Extreme, Yes?

    Lets try something with a less violent connotation.  Like peacefully protesting by blocking a few major intersections with a large group of people.

    by ChapiNation386 on Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 10:19:52 PM PDT

    •  They started it. Not us.

      We have a Right, a Duty, to throw off government that is destructive of our Freedom.

      by LightningMan on Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 10:26:17 PM PDT

      •  That is correct

        So...when are we going to quit looking for "someone else" to go first?

        I'm ready, I just can't do it alone, y'know?

        by o the umanity on Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 10:28:29 PM PDT

        •  Great question.

          I'm not anybody powerful. I hold a position in the County Dem Party and the state Party, and I write on blogs and talk to people.

          I don't know the answer to your question, unless it is that the Netroots and emerging awareness will force the hand of those who now hold the real power.

          Forlorn hope? Maybe. I think we're smarter than that.

          by LightningMan on Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 10:35:34 PM PDT

        •  I volunteer n/t

          by FrankieB on Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 11:04:46 PM PDT

          •  Me, too.

            I'm doing all I know how to do.

            by LightningMan on Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 11:10:06 PM PDT

      •  All you have to do

        is look it up in the Declaration of Independence.

        Don't kid yourselves, folks. This IS a revolution. And we didn't start it. But we better follow through.

        by LightningMan on Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 10:28:31 PM PDT

        •  We have to find the stomach for it

          It's an awful thought. I would prefer more peaceful means. At the same time, I look in the mirror, and look around me, and I see people who have been trying peaceful means for many years. They're not working.

          I don't want to be judged by the world (not to mention "history") as someone who sat back and did nothing while 230+ years of Constitutional law was scrapped. LM is right--it is happening, right now.

          I can't help but think this must be kinda what older Germans feel like every time someone says "but why didn't you stop Hitler?"

          (disclaimer: not a comparison of the leaders--a comparison of the people and their reaction to tyranny)

          by o the umanity on Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 10:39:22 PM PDT

          •  The evidence is crystal clear.

            If my hero, Einstein, were alive today, he would be railing against the govt of the US. Or Sagan.

            But let's go deeper. What would Jefferson or Madison think of our current predicament? Better yet, Patrick Henry?

            They are stealing the future of OUR WORLD from us. Our tiny, beautiful, fragile world. For their ridiculous wealth and power.

            Fuck them.

            by LightningMan on Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 10:45:00 PM PDT

            •  If my hero

              John Lennon, were alive today, he'd be rallying too. I wonder if he'd still be about "peaceful means"?

              I continue to believe he would be, and I continue to wish for it myself. But our time to be able to realize this is shortening quickly.

              If the FF could see us now, they would be appalled at our inaction. But I think I'm projecting a bit there, and it's just because I am appalled at my own lack of ability to effect any useful action.

              by o the umanity on Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 11:04:44 PM PDT

            •  You know, the Framers would be amazed

              we've gone 230 years without an armed uprising.  Some figured we'd be ousting governments every twenty, thirty years or so.

              Note to Secret Service--I'm not encouraging one right now.  It's past my bed time.

              by Ice Blue on Sat Aug 04, 2007 at 12:14:54 AM PDT

              •  Sometimes I wonder

                if there are Secret Service agents who would agree with the need for one now?

                I'll bet there are...

                by o the umanity on Sat Aug 04, 2007 at 07:05:04 AM PDT

      •  Uh Huh. It Doesn't Matter Who Started it

        Violence = Bad.

        by ChapiNation386 on Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 11:12:36 PM PDT

    •  Unfortunately,

      "No", if we don't wake up soon.

      Damn, this theme just keeps coming up tonight...

      "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."--John F. Kennedy

      by o the umanity on Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 10:26:32 PM PDT

      •  Exactly.

        And that is what they have already done. We have no choice--unless the politicians act fast. And I mean FAST.

        by LightningMan on Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 10:30:03 PM PDT

        •  I agree. . .time is clearly running out.

          ChapiNation386 wrote:

          "Lets try something with a less violent connotation. Like peacefully protesting by blocking a few major intersections with a large group of people."

          I am not attacking this post, but I quoted it to point something out: I think too many people equate "revolution" with violence. It need not necessarily be so. Think of, say, the technological revolution. No bloodshed there--well, blood money, maybe. . . ;-) but you take my meaning.

          I think there are still a couple of peaceful revolutionary things we can do, but they must be done BIG. (And yes, soon). There is a movement--sorry I can't recall the name, but it's been discussed recently here--to organize millions of people to converge on D.C. this fall. (This is currently separate from the Iraq Moratorium Day, which is September 21st, I believe.) It must be millions, not thousands. It must be enough people to strategically block more than "a few major intersections." It must be more people than can possibly fit in the available paddywagons. It must be more people than they have plastic handcuffs for. It must be so many people that the MSM cannot ignore it. And it must, on our end, be peaceful.

          I'm not naive enough to think that demonstrators may not be attacked by law enforcement. This is, after all, the country where Kent State happened. But given the state our country is in, and the fact that thousands of our citizens are still fighting and dying in Iraq (and elsewhere), it seems like a risk worth taking.

          I think such an event would be a start. Soon after that, various groups, coalitions--perhaps even unions--need to unite to stage a nationwide general strike. Shut down mass transit in all major cities. Shut down as many non-essential businesses/services as possible. For those who can't get out in the street, organize emailing/faxing/phone calling to select govt. entities and corporations. There are all kinds of things we can do if we can get millions of people to do it.

          And if that still fails--we'll meet up at the barricades erected around Congress. . .

          by girlsanger on Sat Aug 04, 2007 at 02:57:33 AM PDT

          •  Great post.

            Thanks, girlsanger.

            by LightningMan on Sat Aug 04, 2007 at 04:34:33 AM PDT

•  Not to pile on

  But here's something to get mad about too... has anyone here actually looked at the way our monetary and banking system work?

  by dantyrant on Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 11:06:12 PM PDT

•  In answer to your poll:

  I don't know. This whole process was designed so that we could effect Progressive change through the Democratic party. So, here is our chance to see if what we have worked for can really translate into action.

  I'm with you -- we have to start pulling together and knock off the crap like the diary smearing Edwards' haircut today and we have to unite. That is how we can maxmize our chances to save ourselves from ourselves.

  And the only hope we have (here is my own interpretation) is to revolt against the status quo. To rise against the power of the Mighty. Fuck them! What have they done for us?

  Well, I am working towards this in a small way. I have a diary up about who we should primary out of office and lay the groundwork for that. The fact of the matter is that all of us have the unique capacity for creating change in some way, and our goal has to be to discover that and go with it. All of you are welcome to come over and brainstorm over who we should get rid of.

  by Eternal Hope on Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 11:15:55 PM PDT

  •  Thank you, Eternal Hope.

    The fact that we are a movement in search of a leader is lamentable. But like you, I will not give up hope.

    Where are our patriots, besides Gore? Where are our Washingtons and Jeffersons and Madisons and Franklins and Henrys? Are they out there but stifled by the MSM? Do they exist at all?

    I think they do. And they have names like Meteor Blades, and Kos and Digby and Stewart and Colbert and Ohlbermann and Hunter and Georgia10 and Kagro X and Turkana and OPOL and buhydharma.

    Modern Revolutionaries.

    They're there. But no one's listening. Yet.

    by LightningMan on Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 11:31:40 PM PDT

•  The poll results are

  rather depressing, so far. I know I'm right when I state that Kossacks are the mot enlightened group around. We simply MUST save humanity from itself.

  by LightningMan on Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 11:17:20 PM PDT

  •  ooops "most"

    damn hotel wireless modem.

    At least I'm in one of the prettiest places on earth, right now--beautiful Santa Barbera California. Paradise--for a price!

    by LightningMan on Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 11:40:14 PM PDT

•  'What have they done for us?'

  To paraphrase one of my favorite Monty Python blurbs:

  All right... all right... but apart from better worse sanitation and more expensive medicine and failing education and broken irrigation levees and no public health care and roads broken bridges and a freshwater polluted water system and baths and public order domestic spying... what have the Romans republicans done for us?

  by Cato come back on Sat Aug 04, 2007 at 12:28:45 AM PDT

•  "On account of being a democracy and run by

  the people, we are the only nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter what it does." -- Will Rogers

  Patience, Grasshopper.  This, too, shall pass.

  by Ice Blue on Sat Aug 04, 2007 at 12:32:10 AM PDT

•  Maybe country is too fragmented and large...

  to come together in a common purpose, or has just lost sight of what is important.  

  One thing is clear to me, that Bush/Cheney are locking down the country and ignoring the provisions of the Constitution, and that Democrats are supporting this 'at the end of the day,' as they say.

  Another thing that is obvious is our Democratic leadership is laying supine, unable to rally support in Congress or from the public.  

  The GOP still owns and runs the narrative.  Trent Lott makes a comment about without FISA revisions, DC will be hit, and everyone repeats his comment, and Democrats cave.

  This is what we have.  The GOP still owns the story and runs Congress, not Democrats, and certainly not Pelosi and Reid.  They are not Democrats or Progressives.

  by quantumspin on Sat Aug 04, 2007 at 04:35:08 AM PDT

  •  Why

    do they still "own the story"?

    We could wrest that story away from them very easily. It's not even about "large and fragmented" anymore, it's about "who controls the flow of information".

    And we all know who does that, don't we? So why are we afraid to take control of the information flow?

    by o the umanity on Sat Aug 04, 2007 at 10:42:21 AM PDT