a ramble that may or may not make sense to you . . .

[OneBlueSky]

but it does to me . . .

I was thinking tonight (not for the first time) about how so many people have no idea just how close we are to losing our way of life, our country, even our planet . . . they remain uninformed, and they do so quite consciously . . . either because they can't believe that things could be as bad as many are saying, or because they just don't want to believe it . . . those of us trying to sound the alarm are dismissed as, well, "alarmists," or conspiracy nuts, or unpatriotic, or "libruls," or just plain kooks . . . remaining oblivious is far, far easier on the mind and on the spirit than admitting that, hey, things really are "that bad," and if we don't do something about it -- and soon -- everything we cherish could be gone in the blink of an eye . . .

for many otherwise well-meaning Americans, remaining ignorant has long been preferable to confronting the truth, primarily because the truth is just so damned scary! . . . I mean, just look at all of the things we're in very real danger of losing -- or are losing already -- if we don't change course:

our civil rights and civil liberties; the lives of our sons and daughters fighting illegal and immoral wars; clean air and clean water; uncountable numbers of plant and animal species; the climate upon which our country (and planet) is dependent; for women, the right to choose; gay and lesbian rights; our privacy; a free and unfettered internet; our pensions; Social Security and Medicare; what's left of the social safety net; oil, and the gas guzzlers that depend on it; the respect and friendship of the international community (i.e. our fellow humans); our domestic security; the strength of the dollar and the economic security it brings; safe foods and consumer goods; the totality of our children's future; and on, and on, and on, and on, and on . . .

and including possibly the most tragic loss of all, our ability to fairly elect our leaders . . .

but Americans are finally, finally beginning to understand the reality of all we are in danger of losing . . . and while in the past many have chosen not to confront it -- hoping instead that it will all just go away, or at least that someone will fix it for us -- at long last people are choosing to become informed, choosing to confront the reality of what BushCo is doing, choosing to understand . . . and not a moment too soon . . .

what's become clear this week is that the days of ignoring the tragic reality that is BushCo are rapidly coming to an end . . . much as with Watergate, the initial refusal to believe that things could actually be "that bad" is giving way to newly opened eyes, minds, and hearts as the drip, drip, drip of revelations continues unabated . . . no matter how much they hate it, or how much they've try to avoid it, people are simply no longer able to skip merrily along their life paths oblivious to their own complicity in allowing things to get "that bad," and their very personal responsibility for helping to make things better . . .

which is why, I believe, John Kerry will win the legitimate vote in November, and probably by a substantial margin . . . whether that vote gets reported as cast, however, is something I'm not at all confident in . . .

what I am confident in is that a critical and long overdue turning point has been reached, the turning point that allows people to say -- to themselves and to others -- "this is the way things really are, it's very scary, and we damn well better deal with it" . . . you hear it from veterans, you hear it from soccer moms and NASCAR dads, you hear it from lifelong Republicans, you hear it from people who have never voted before, you hear it from teens worried about being drafted, you hear it from seniors screwed over by BushCO and AARP, you hear it from workers whose jobs are now in India or Mexido, you hear it from teachers, you hear it from librarians, you hear it from farmers, you hear it from almost everybody (the notable exceptions being the small group of profiteers who are, with BushCo's help, robbing us blind every day) . . .

at long last, people are beginning to wake up and see the disaster that is the Bush administration . . . first they're shocked . . . then they're depressed . . . then they're mad as hell, and they're not going to take it anymore . . .

thank God! . . .

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. You make perfect sense,....copy this and give it to everyone you know

America as a One-Party State
Today's hard right seeks total dominion. It's packing the courts and rigging the rules. The target is not the Democrats but democracy itself.

By Robert Kuttner
Issue Date: 2.1.04
Print Friendly | Email Article

America has had periods of single-party dominance before. It happened under FDR's New Deal, in the Republican 1920s and in the early 19th-century "Era of Good Feeling." But if President Bush is re-elected, we will be close to a tipping point of fundamental change in the political system itself. The United States could become a nation in which the dominant party rules for a prolonged period, marginalizes a token opposition and is extremely difficult to dislodge because democracy itself is rigged. This would be unprecedented in U.S. history.
In past single-party eras, the majority party earned its preeminence with broad popular support. Today the electorate remains closely divided, and actually prefers more Democratic policy positions than Republican ones. Yet the drift toward an engineered one-party Republican state has aroused little press scrutiny or widespread popular protest.

We are at risk of becoming an autocracy in three key respects. First, Republican parliamentary gimmickry has emasculated legislative opposition in the House of Representatives (the Senate has other problems). House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas has both intimidated moderate Republicans and reduced the minority party to window dressing, rather like the token opposition parties in Mexico during the six-decade dominance of the PRI.

Second, electoral rules have been rigged to make it increasingly difficult for the incumbent party to be ejected by the voters, absent a Depression-scale disaster, Watergate-class scandal or Teddy Roosevelt-style ruling party split. After two decades of bipartisan collusion in the creation of safe House seats, there are now perhaps just 25 truly contestable House seats in any given election year (and that's before the recent Republican super gerrymandering). What once was a slender and precarious majority -- 229 Republicans to 205 Democrats (including Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who votes with Democrats) -- now looks like a Republican lock. In the Senate, the dynamics are different but equally daunting for Democrats. As the Florida debacle of 2000 showed, the Republicans are also able to hold down the number of opposition votes, with complicity from Republican courts. Reform legislation, the 2002 Help America Vote Act (HAVA), may actually facilitate Republican intimidation of minority voters and reduce Democratic turnout. And the latest money-and-politics regime, nominally a reform, may give the right more of a financial advantage than ever.

Third, the federal courts, which have slowed some executive-branch efforts to destroy liberties, will be a complete rubber stamp if the right wins one more presidential election.

Taken together, these several forces could well enable the Republicans to become the permanent party of autocratic government for at least a generation. Am I exaggerating? Take a close look at the particulars.

I. Legislative Dictatorship

http://www.prospect.org/print/V15/2/kuttner-r.html

[historian]

7. I hope so

[salinen]

2. You must be breathing fresh air

This is Watergate X 584.

[leftofthedial]

3. makes sense to me

pass it on

[oasis]

4. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I'm inclined to agree.

:thumbsup:

[bobthedrummer]

5. Yep.

[Solomon]

6. Well written.

:kick:

[Beam Me Up]

8. no problem following that

Makes perfect sense. The change is in the air. You can 'feel' it. I don't think the battle is over yet--they may yet pull another 9/11 stunt or SOMETHING equally insane to terrorize us--but a lot of people are more than suspicious. That's not good for them, ESPECIALLY if something more happens.

[OneBlueSky]

9. shameless kick . . . n/t

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