We need to step aside and watch the avalanche.

[dbt]

We can make all the noise we like about vote fraud, we can opine about the demonstrated spinelessness of the Democratic party. We can point out the deadly contradictions in every word spoken or written by the White House.

We can hope that Congress will block more right-wing appointments to the Supreme Court. We can call out the TV networks on their pro-bu$h bias until Doomsday, we can contact our Congresspeople until our fingers fall off.

We can watch in utter horror as the rest of the entire fucking planet opposes us--and now holds ordinary Americans responsible for bu$h's second term. We can rail against the economic policies of this administration until we go silent from vocal cord polyps.

And it will all come to nothing.

Our own party has sold us out, preferring the comfort of Big Money to actual change, no matter how incremental. All our party was willing to give us in this election year was a thrilling little soap opera, long on cliff-hangers and dashed hopes but hideously short on any real action. The Democratic party has tucked its little tail and gone whining back to Mommy, pleading for forgiveness. It stinks of collusion.

Too many boulders have been piled at the top of the cliff for any hope of avoiding the avalanche: the triumph of Fundamentalist Christianity, the accumulation of more and more wealth into fewer and fewer hands, the partnership of Government and Corporations, War (for profit) Without End, a gutted economy, cooked opinion polls, jobs pouring overseas and the first year in fifty that we have not run up an agricultural surplus.

There are simply too many events--big ones--that must play themselves out now. The wheels have begun to turn and there is no way to stop them.

Working for change is no longer an option. We must now watch it all crash and look to providing for our families.

:freak:
dbt

[catmandu57]

1. I feel the same way

Payback is coming and there's not a damn thing I can do about it. I know my life will never be the same, I wonder how long it will be before those boulders come crashing down.
I have the feeling we won't be able to recognize the country we grew up in next year.

[mazzarro]

2. I beginning to come to the conclusion that the democratic party

is the obtacle to the progressive liberal/progressive movement in this country. I have already decided that I will never again donate to the democratic party in the clutches of the DLC, as is the case presently, neither will I donate to any of the individual legislators that have tended to be the lap/hound dogs of the DLC. My hope is now turned to the GREEN party.

[TrustingDog]

25. Ralph Nader may have been right all along...

man I feel dirty about insulting him now. This may have been The Last Chance for Real Change. Well, maybe not, the fix is in, as you say. But it would have been more honourable going down this way than being suckered in.

i feel sick, I feel the sickness coming on worldwide - we will not recognize many things in 1 to 2 years.

gentlemen, ladies, start your engines and start shitting your pants, we are in for a wild ride.

[radwriter0555]

3. Absolutely. There is NOTHING that can beat this machine, just like HITLER.

it took almost 2 DECADES to stop his madness, and the intervention of the global community... WE cannot do it, we don't have the resources or the support. Shoot, half the american people still LIKE these guys.

Cutting bait, bailing out, watching from the sidelines.

[tavalon]

16. I agree with the original poster

however, I am continuing to fight. Not because I have any great faith that my fighting makes much difference to this country, but because it makes a difference to my soul.

[radwriter0555]

18. I continue to raise QUITE the ruckus, but I have no hope that this regime

will be overthrown and quashed in the next decade or so.

but I'll yell and scream real loud....

[tavalon]

19. I'll say I have little hope

I refuse to go the "no hope" route.

[jukes]

4. concur

absolutely. very tough times ahead.

[Jurgis]

5. Sadly,

I think you're right on this. Let the bastards do thier thing. They'll eventually overstep thier bounds, and the pendulum will swing back the other way. Until then, keep your head down and fuck 'em every chance you get.

[donheld]

22. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[Jurgis]

30. Thank you...

it's been a refreshing change from the usual pap. I had no idea that there was a place like this.

[seemslikeadream]

6. I'm ready dbt

Some people ain't no damn good
You can't trust 'em, you can't love em
No good deed goes unpunished
And I don't mind being their whipping boy
I've had that pleasure for years and years
No, no I never was a sinner-tell me what else can I do
Second best is what you get-till you learn to bend this rules
Time respects no person-what you lift up must fall
They're waiting outside-to claim my crumblin' walls

Saw my picture in the paper
Read the news around my face
And now some people
Don't want to treat me the same

When the walls come tumblin' down
When the walls come crumblin' crumblin'
When the walls come tumblin' tumblin' down

Some people say I'm obnoxious and lazy
That I'm uneducated and my opinion means nothin'
But I know I'm a real good dancer
Don't need to look over my shoulder to see what I'm after
Everybody's got their problems-ain't no new news here
I'm the same old trouble you've been having for years
Don't confuse the problem with the issue, girl,
'Cause it's perfectly clear

Just a human desire to have you come near
Want to put my arms around you
Feel your breathe in my ear
You can bend me, you can break me
But you better stand clear

When the walls come tumblin' down
When the walls come crumblin' crumblin'
When the walls come tumblin' tumblin' down

--John Cougar

:yourock:

[Minstrel Boy]

20. People just ain't no good

I agree. We ought to be screaming bloody murder - the murder of our world - but the big picture is way past putting right. We need to be focusing on saving our own little pictures for when the whole rotten mess comes down.




It ain't that in their hearts they're bad
They can comfort you, some even try
They nurse you when you're ill of health
They bury you when you go and die
It ain't that in their hearts they're bad
They'd stick by you if they could
But that's just bullshit, baby
People just ain't no good
People they ain't no good at all

- from "People Ain't No Good" by Nick Cave

[Lost4words]

7. Establishment Democrats are happy with the status quo, IMO!

to hell with the DNC. To hell with establishment DINO's.

[Search Party]

8. This brings to mind a stanza from the genius that was

Lew Welch. From "Chicago Poem"


You can't fix it. You can't make it go away.
I don't know what you're going to do about it,
But I know what I'm going to do about it. I'm just
going to walk away from it. Maybe
A small part of it will die if I'm not around

feeding it anymore.



(1950)

[shadowknows69]

9. So, we're giving up then?

Let me know now, because divided and watching from the sidelines we WILL fall along with the rest of the country. If we truly believe this is our country's most dire days then how can you with children even consider not fighting for it? If it's all going to be destroyed underneath us anyway, then I prefer to go out on my feet.

[Search Party]

11. No, I'm simply quoting a poem. n/t

[shadowknows69]

12. i was replying to the thread in general

not just your poem, sorry :-)

[tavalon]

17. Yeah, that's my thought

I'm distributing flyers, putting up protest exhibits on local sculptures, doing highway blogging etc. not because I have some grand ideal that my piddly little contribution will make that much difference but because to not do it will be lethal to my soul.

[MadHound]

10. Well, I agree with your assesment of the Democratic party,

In fact I came to the same conclusion as you did, but it was during the Carter era, with Clinton confirming it.

But I disagree with your notion that we should step back and watch it all go to hell. While we cannot prevent the catastrophe headed our way(unless we are successful in bringing about some needed radical changes), we can at least moderate the worst of the excesses, and perhaps keep things together enough that there is hope and a civilization that survives.

Standing back, doing nothing and saying "neener-neener, I told you so." is perhaps soul satisfying, but such inaction makes you almost as guilty as those who are actively pushing these agendas. We aren't playing a game to score points here friend, we are trying to save our country, and world as we know it, and hopefully improving matters in the process.

I agree that the Democratic party is no longer the platform with which we can advance our cause, but that leaves many other venues in which to persue our agenda. There are many fine, non-political organizations with which you can work to help stem the tide. There is also the Green Party that you could work with, and if enough dissatisfied Dems join with the Greens, then we could have a real voice in the political realm.

But standing back and letting the world go to hell is not an option, at least not for me. You may take great pleasure in your sense of schadenfreude, but it is coming on the backs of the countless thousands who are being ground into the dirt by this misadministration. It is better to go down fighting, and making a real difference, than to do nothing except gloat in others misfortune.

[bemildred]

13. The current spineless collusion is very like when Raygun was in office.

but you can trace the sham political opposition all the way back
to the post-civil war era.

I personally intend to keep up the good fight. It's fun, and it's
right, whether we win or not.

[dbt]

14. I take no pleasure in any of this, MadHound

I sense that things in this country have hit critical mass, that there is nothing to do now--for any of us--except to let the chain reaction run its course. We are at the point where we can fight, but it will no longer make a difference.

Given Republican control of all three branches of the government AND the Supreme Court AND the media, bu$h may as well have a 75% mandate instead of a bare--and fraudulently obtained--51% victory.

I believe that there is now no way to derail, or even slightly alter, the Republican agenda; it's a done deal without Check or Balance. And the hell of it is: while we have put our faith, money and efforts behind the DLC version of the Democratic party, the bastards have sold us out to the corporations as surely as the Pugs have.

:shrug:
dbt

[MadHound]

15. I agree with you, we are headed for catastrophe,

And that there isn't much, if anything, that we can do to prevent it from happening. However, we can mitigate the worst part of the fallout, and help people from going under.

I don't know if you remember, but there was almost exactly this same sense of dispair back in '68-'70. The major leaders of the anti-war, civil rights movement were shot down in cold blood, the '68 Democratic convention where our so called leaders unleashed their goon squads on us, that devil Nixon was re-elected, Kent State showed us that those in power were truly playing for keeps, and on and on. The fatigue and dispair were palatable, people were fleeing the country, dropping into the underground, looking for much more militant solutions, or just simply throwing up their hands and giving up.

Yet many more became even more serious in their works, ratcheting up the pressure on the administration, becoming ever more loud and public, letting Americans at large know what the true costs of the war were. And you know what, we succeeded. We forced Nixon into pulling troops out of 'Nam, and through his own folly, an evil president was brought down. You never know what the new day brings friend, but you should always work towards that new day, for otherwise, you will never see it, instead you will simply be taking part in a self fulfilling prophecy.

[peacebird]

21. amen, Madhound.

i am hopeful that the moderate repubs will begin to raise a ruckus. the fiscal conservatives are beginning to howl over the dollar and deficit. though the shrub-apologists are all nay-saying the bad economic news claiming the new year will see the economy turning upward and blossoming again.
fat chance of that.

[ernstbass]

23. So true!!!

[okieinpain]

24. No the DLC has sold out. I'm still trying to figure out how they get

to speak for us. that's like those panels that goes out and gets rappers and say they represent the black community. bull...shit.

[YNGW]

26. Many people here will agree with you.

And many will make claims they are going to leave the party or do this and that as a result of how the Democrats in office are behaving and voting.

But, when the rubber meets the road in 2006, 2008 and beyond, these same people making all these bold claims will pull the Democratic Party lever for whatever empty suit the leaders place on the ticket. And the leadership knows that's what will take place.

In short, we can complain all we want, but they know we aren't going anywhere. So they will continue to use us, and we'll continue to let them.

[wiggs]

27. Yes, I worry for my kids

And don't forget the obscenity that has masqueraded as environmental policy in this country the last 4 years. They are only getting started raping our national treasures and compromising clean air and water. I'm reading RFK's Crimes Against Nature -- a chilling, depressing summary of BA's approach to environmental policy.

The 2000 and 2004 elections were very very important. Hopefully, there will be perspective someday for people looking back at this time, realizing how warped this administration is.

[LeftHander]

28. I hear you and agree...

The Democratitc leadership are chumps that are left holding the bag AGAIN in a snipe hunt organized by the republicans....

Lots of progressives voted contrary to thier values and STILL lost.

Support form the left for the Democratic leadership has LEFT the building..

http://wherearetheweapons.blogspot.com

[Nordic]

29. Yes. This is why we need to start a new party NOW

because the old one is going down in flames, along with the Repukes.

When the dust settles, we'll have it all set up.

[UpsideDownFlag]

31. i don't think a new party is the answer...too many politicians won't

defect.

[goclark]

32. This is not the time to roll over

I want to be able and look myself in the mirror and say that I never gave up trying to expose the FRAUD in the election of 2004!

I will never give up!

How many times have we said about 2000, " If only we had....MARCHED,STORMED THE ROOM when they were "recounting" the votes like the Republicans did.


If only, if only.

We can not give up now.
Today was a glorious day in history.
Because of the efforts of many at DU and all over the internet, we finally had someone listen to us.

This is not the time to give up!