The title of this diary is from W.H. Auden, one of my favorite poets, and it reminded me again of our stark new reality that the Democratic party is now being forced to face, once and for all:
'We would rather be ruined than changed;
We would rather die in our dread
Than Climb the cross of the moment
and let our illusions die.' W.H. Auden
But you see, I have been set free from my illusions of President Obama, and as one Kossack said today: "I believe the President Obama is the most dangerous President in the history of our party." The reason that I have decided to embrace this truth, this statement by a great Kossack, is that I will and can no longer deny who the hell we elected anymore. I'm all done with that...I'm over it. The sooner we face that truth, the better off we will be. Our continual denial only holds off the bitter end of what we will pay in the long run. Am I willing to just sit and get suckered punched again. NO. I'm not.
I know damn well how insane the Republicans are, and how out of control our government and nation is. I know how we got here and why we got here. I know that the rule of law has been thrown into the gutter, (on all levels) and who is raking in the money and why. I get all that, but that does not and will never give a Democratic President any excuse to destroy our own party. The fact that we, as a party keep blaming each other and making rationalizations and apologies over and over for this inexperienced, bought off President is, guess what: NOT WORKING ANYMORE.
So know this is what we have become:
'What you have become is the price you paid to get what you used to want.' Mignon McLaughlin.
We cling to our illusions, we refuse to see the writing on the wall, we will not admit our mistake in electing this President, and I'm all done with that, and you know who set me free from these illusions: President Obama did. But not with the help of the Republicans (fuck them every day of the week). What gave me this freedom to embrace the change I needed in my heart, was the reality of embracing change, and laying down the lies, in favor of the truth:
1. Just tell me how much you are willing to sacrifice to keep this President in office?
I think that is a viable question, because what it is asking you, is to stop, think, look and listen to what you are either willing or not willing to do in terms of being a real Democrat.
But in the meanwhile, let's get some facts out here:
The Unites States, with costly military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, increased spending by 2.8 percent to $698 billion -- about six times as much as China, the second-biggest spender ahead of Britain, France and Russia. In 2009, U.S. spending grew 7.7 percent.
"The United States has increased its military spending by 81 percent since 2001," SIPRI said. "At 4.8 percent of gross domestic product, U.S. military spending in 2010 represents the largest economic burden outside the Middle East," said SIPRI Military Expenditure Project chief Sam Perlo-Freeman.
(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom)
Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters.
Did you hear that, do you get that? We've increased our military spending by 81 fucking percent since 2001.
And where do you think that is coming from? Oh, sorry I forgot, it's 'off the books,' just like the 'hidden toxic debt' is off the books by Geithner and Bernanke.
The only thing that is about to go back onto the books is Social Security. And why do you think that is? (Medicare and Medicad).
Let the poor, and weakest of our society pay for raising the Defense budget by 81 percent since 2001, and guess what, I don't give a shit who caused it, it just keeps going on as Obama rolls over and dares to show up at the Lincoln Memorial to tell us all how much better off we are now.
Oh, yes, what a great victory: let the poor and elderly and the weakest of our society keep paying for the 'massive cover up of the Corporations and Banks' as long as Obama gets elected again.
That we would do anything rather than admit the same weaknesses in our own party that keeps losing and why, is nothing more than trying to figure out why, we do not understand the difference between effective PR as opposed to propaganda, but the fact is: It has all become propaganda.
Obama never had an effective PR team, because he did not want it. That was his 'cover' that was his way out, so stop pretending he did not have the best of the best at his disposal: economically, in PR team, in a Military team, in any team. Stop telling me this is the smartest guy on the planet, and then pretending that he got bad advice. He's either inept, an armature, incompetent or paid off. Get used to it, and deal with it. He does not have a fucking clue about how to lead, or he is rolling over as submissive as they come. Not only is he incapable of negotiating, he lays his cards down the the table, and then says: 'I'm buying drinks for the house, and is arrogant enough to believe his good looks and bullshit charm is going to carry this bullshit through another 6 years. Go figure, ok? I'm not buying it anymore, and if you do, well best of luck to you. And yes, he had lots of help, lots of help.
There are the Democrats, continually adding to the pile of tax giveaways for the rich, and therefore adding to the pile of debt which is now being used as a cudgel to force cuts on essential government services, programs despised by the oligarchy since the beginning. There are the Democrats, continually adding to the pile of stupid Middle Eastern wars being fought using resources so scarce that medical care must now be cut for the poor and elderly. There are the Democrats going even further than Republicans in smashing civil liberties and shredding the Bill of Rights. There are the Democrats, as absolutely unwilling as Republicans to remotely face the very real planetary peril of global warming. There are the Democrats, continuing to promulgate the failed Bush education policy of No Child Left Behind. There are the Democrats, turning yet again to corporate ‘solutions’ to health care, which enrich parasitical insurance companies but do nothing for sick people other than to deny them care. There are the Democrats (led by a black man, no less!), joining the chorus of Jesus Freak freaks in denying civil rights to gays.
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Anyhow, Barack wrote to tell me that he wants to do a big old grass roots campaign again next year, one that doesn’t start with “expensive TV ads”, but with me – “with people organizing block-by-block, talking to neighbors, co-workers, and friends”. Now those would be some brief goddam conversations, I can tell you. “Hey neighbor, let’s do some organizing for Obama, ‘cause he capitulates so gracefully!” “Hey co-worker, would you like to pay more taxes so that rich people can contribute even less than they already do? Let’s give Barack another term!” I don’t think so. Then he let me in on a little Team Obama secret that, “In the coming days, supporters like you will begin forging a new organization that we'll build together in cities and towns across the country. And I'll need you to help shape our plan as we create a campaign that's farther reaching, more focused, and more innovative than anything we've built before. We'll start by doing something unprecedented: coordinating millions of one-on-one conversations between supporters across every single state, reconnecting old friends, inspiring new ones to join the cause, and readying ourselves for next year's fight.”. There’s that word “fight” again. Ol’ Barack, he’s a real fighter, eh?! At least now that there’s an election where something that he wants is at stake. I noticed that he didn’t really seem to fight for anything during his first two years in office, least of all for anything progressive. Even his health care legislation, which is only partially progressive on a good day, didn’t seem to inspire any spunk from the president. Did you ever get the feeling that he wanted it real bad? Do you remember him ever pushing the public to rally hard behind this national necessity, making the urgent case for how it would make the country better off, in the same way that, say, Reagan or Bush pushed hard for their beloved tax cuts, or their wars based on lies? Do you even remember Obama standing up to the insane lies told about him and his legislation, the death panels and government rationing and socialism cant, and so on? For that matter, do you remember Obama ever even defining what shape his own signature bill had to take? Single payer? Public option? Money for stethoscopes?
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Their solution is to cut spending on essentials for poor people and the middle class. They have completely taken any form of tax restoration off the table. They won’t dream of reducing military expenditures, which are bloated to an absurd degree. They cannot contemplate allowing the government to buy way cheaper drugs from Canada, or negotiating a bulk price discount for those drugs, let alone rescinding their (socialist) prescription drug benefit plan. They would never accept a reduction in the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on corporate welfare each year for agricultural or sugar or oil or other industries. Exporting jobs, slashing government programs, moving tax burdens, bankrupting the government, breaking unions, coopting Democrats, creating bogus news media, dumbing down education, fabricating scary bogeymen, stealing elections. It’s all there, man. Remember when Nixon and Kissinger decided to kill socialism (not to mention lots of people) in Chile by “making the economy scream”? Welcome to Chile Norte, amigo.
http://www.commondreams.org/...
We see our party dying before our eyes, we refuse to see that, what part of that do you do not get? This is the reality. This is not hyperbole, we are a nation lost with a leader.
As the old song goes, 'I was once was lost, but know I am found. I know when I've been had, do you?
The only way I see out of this is either a national strike, or a new Labor Party. Because Obama is feckless at best, but don't you dare tell me he didn't have the
tools at his disposal to change things in this nation.
He was give the greatest mandate any President was in the last 50 years.
The reason he lost his voice is at his feet, not ours. If he really actually expects a new grass roots movement, than he sure has better be willing to till the soil he ignored, and dig out the weeds with his own hands.
I for one, will not help him, until he pays attention to those that elected him, and to pay homage to the Democratic Platform, which is now dead in the water.
BTW, don't give me your boogie man shit, I'm tired of it all.
We hold him accountable or we do not.
At this point, at least to me, it has become clear:
Either the Democratic Party survives or President Obama survives. I suppose that is all up to us, but I can see the handwriting on the wall. If you will not, that is ok with me.
Only let it be said: So many great Kossacks said it over and over again:
Our principals, our guidelines, our party platform has been shit upon. That is who we have become that is who we are, and now we only have one question left:
It is either them or us.
Do you get that yet?
Ms. B.