how can a tiny group of maniacs drag the whole world down with them?

[mopaul]

easy, one only needs look back 60 years.

but it does seem surreal, and almost impossible, to think that the handful of assholes in d.c. can cause this much grief and misery and NO ONE can stop them.

not until it's too late.

[wli]

1. the only thing that ever really stops this kind of thing...

Is when the military stops taking their orders.

They don't care about civilians. They don't need us to manufacture anything; they've offshored all that anyway. They can kill us all and are perfectly willing to do it. We can't stop them ourselves, period.

[FormerRepublican]

3. I disagree.

They need us a lot more than they think they do.

For example, if the truckers stopped delivering food, paper, pens, computer parts, etc., I'm afraid the White House wouldn't have enough supplies to do squat. Not to mention the fact that the Secret Service would have a lot of difficulty doing their job if no one will sell them food, clothing, etc. Telephone repair folks stop repairing the lines going to the White House (and all associated buildings), the White House becomes cut off from the entire world. Satellite links ignored when they break down... Mechanics who won't repair TV Remote trucks so Bush can spew his propaganda...

Our economy is VERY inter-related. Take away one small piece of it, and the whole thing falls apart. Bush does have some resources through the military, but not enough. Even the military is dependent on a large civilian workforce. If the military had to do all the jobs civilians were doing now, they wouldn't have enough people left to deploy. Bush is TOTALLY dependent on work efforts by civilians at large. A total boycott of the White House by the public would bring Bush to a screeching halt. Add in a military 'too busy' to attend to Presidential needs because of other concerns (Bush's mega-wars), and I'm afraid Mr. Bush is in deep doo-doo. And perhaps the DC Police are off doing other things and can't be bothered with things like crowd control outside the WH, leaving a small Army of Secret Service (who really aren't that many people when acting all by their lonely), and Bush has even bigger worries.

The lack of supplies is so critical that it's the first thing the military tries to accomplish when going after an enemy.

[wli]

5. forced labor "solves" much of that for them

The plans are written up on the web already.

It's very sad but there's a reason you see military dictatorships happen and never see any historical examples of the kind of civil disobedience you're describing.

[FormerRepublican]

11. The USSR learned...

...that forced labor is horribly inefficient. Nothing gets done. Everything stagnates, and low and behold, your military is so affected that the other guy ends up #1 and you end up changing your ways.

Multiply that by about 1000 when it gets tried against Americans who are born and raised to cherish freedom, and just AREN'T going to tolerate some crack from Washington forcing him/her to do anything!

[Neocondriac]

2. Easy...

They have been planning this since Goldwater lost in 1964. The plan they actually have has worked to damn near perfection. If it wasn't so arrogantly evil it would be quite remarkable.They are the essential reminder of how our society can be altered radically right before our eyes.

[DanCa]

4. Now you know how the witch trials and the crusades started

Or as the Boss says "You take a god filled soul, and you fill it with Devils and Dust." Cue harmonica music.

[Cleita]

6. Sometimes it makes me believe in the devil.

It's like the demons won't ever get a hold on Europe again, but they can move in on America. We will after a lot of pain be rid of them, but they seem to go dormant again and rise up elsewhere. Really, if you look at historical patterns, there seems to be bad times that erupt at certain periods of time in certain places and usually because of a small group of maniacs who seem to get some preternatural strength and power from somewhere that isn't visible to us. They never win in the long run, but they never die out either. They just emerge again in a new form with an old purpose for their existence. I sometimes scare myself thinking about it.

[mopaul]

7. remember that twilight zone where the devil was locked up & escaped?

it was real creepy.

[Cleita]

10. Yeah, I do.

It seems almost like something like this happens.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Snotcicles]

9. Just lie about everything for starters. n/t