Our country's been stolen-We need a bold new plan of action!

[Rebecca_Remarks]

Let's face it - there's something wrong with the United States today.

The country that we used to know, the country that was a leading bastion of freedom, liberalism and democracy, is no more. It's been replaced by a Bizzarro-version of what we once had; a version where bad is good, where wrong is right and where ugliness is beauty. It's all wrong. It's not supposed to be this way.

Our country was stolen from us by shenanigans pulled by the right. The elections were rigged and stolen, our right to congressional representation has been decimated and our right to choose a president has been destroyed. We are now, as a nation, engaged in acts that are contrary to everything that this nation stands for. We are destroying the planet, we are spreading war and disease, we are making the poor poorer, oppressing the sick and preventing them from finding relief for their ailments, and we are not feeding the hungry. We are regressing socially and scientifically. Our rights are being stripped away one at a time and our funding of science to cure the ails of society is being slashed.

It's all wrong. It's not supposed to be this way.

We are beginning to resemble Oceania of Orwell's 1984 instead of the United States of America in 1984. It's all wrong. It's not supposed to be this way.

What we have to do is take back our country. We have to make right right again. We have to make good good and make beauty beautiful. We have to restore our freedoms and rights, improve the common good, progress, not regress, socially and scientifically. We have to take care of our planet, we have to spread peace and tolerance. We have to feed the hungry and clothe the naked.

But in order to do that, we have to take back the reins of power from those that stole them. We have to take back the reins of power from the people who stole our Congress in 1994 and our presidency in 2000.

We can do it. It can be done. We don't have to live in this "twilight zone" forever.

Firstly, we need to win an election with such a margin that it is impossible for even the Republicans to cover it up. We have to win with a 70, 75, 80 or larger percentage of the vote. We have to wake people up to the danger that has come from our complacency. We have to have the people take back the power that is rightly theirs.

Once that is done, we have to be vigilant and make sure that this sort of thing never happens again. We have to either ban the Republican party outright, or severly limit it's power. Either declare the party illegal or limit the number of seats in Congress they can have.

Next, when you want to kill a snake, you don't cut off the tail, you chop off the head. We have to take the Republican leadership in this country and strip them of their citizenship. Those that are criminals (as many of them are) should be prosecuted and imprisioned (I'm really against the death penalty, but in this case, I'm *almost* willing to make an exception). The rest should be deported to some country where they won't cause any trouble.

After that, we have to ensure that conservatives never again rise to a position of prominence in this country. We have to pass legislation stating that conservative ideaology cannot be brought to a vote in any elective forum in this country. It doesn't make a difference whether it's at the Congressional level, state level or local level - because if you allow it at the local level, it will rise up again and in fifty years, we'll be back where we are today. So, it has to be out. Any legislation that will take people's rights away - no vote. Any legislation that limits freedom - it fails automatically.

Lastly, we have to make sure that any conservatism that is bubbling under the surface is wiped out. I'm not sure how to do that yet, but that part can be figured out later.

Rebecca

[CindyDale]

1. Rebecca, that's not freedom, liberalism, or democracy

[Crunchy Frog]

2. It sort of sounds like an extreme right wing charicature

of what liberals supposedly believe. What is being described here is, in fact, totalitarianism. I'm not sure that this is the appropriate board for those who advocate for totalitarianism, being that it's niether Democratic, liberal, or progressive.:shrug:

[Just Me]

6. I agree. Another plan for totalitarianism.

The only part with which I would agree in enforcement of the rule of law against those who have committed such egregious acts of deception that it constitutes "high crimes and misdemeanors".

[atreides1]

7. Well Maybe it's Time To Face the Truth

We're not winning, and it's not because we're not trying to work with the other side, we've tried talking but they don't want to listen to what we have to say.

Now the GOP is being very open about creating a one party system, so
do we continue to talk, do we compromise our principles to keep a place at the table, do we turn our backs on many who support this party.

Our enemies, yes I said enemies, because that's what they are, will stop at nothing short of our destruction, they have made that crystal clear. They would rather see us in camps, being indoctrinated
to their way of thinking, they would force their beliefs down our throats, they want to take away a gift to us by God, the gift of Free Will.

So do we fight them, and in fighting them, do we destroy them, or do we just lay down and die. Like Patrick Henry said, give me liberty or give me death.

And if it is my fate to die, then let me die fighting to bring freedom, let me die as the Vikings of old, surrounded by the bodies of my enemies, let me die knowing that my life was given for a noble cause.

If we allow the other side to follow through and create a one party government, thenwe are lost.

By the way the both the Germans and the Japanese banned the groups that led them into WWII, and this was done with the assistance of the United States.

[Crunchy Frog]

9. Well, I think there are ways to combat our enemies

without becoming indistinguishable from them. Some of them may want to do those things you're talking about, but they mostly haven't actally done them yet. The OP is talking about wanting to do to them, exactly what we believe they want to do to us. How do we do it without becoming that which we despise?

Any time you talk about banning political parties, ideas, discourse, you're invariably talking about something that leads to totalitarianism.

I believe there are many things we can do short of what's being advocated here, to combat the current neocon Republicans.

That's just me though. I don't, however, think our party will get very far with this as part of its official platform.

[arcane1]

12. indeed, it wouldn't get very far w/this platform

nor should it

[Rebecca_Remarks]

15. I admit that it's a bit extreme

I know that my proposed solution is a bit on the extreme side. However, desperate times, as they say, call for desperate measures. Either we save our country, or it goes down the tubes.

Put it this way: if America turns into a totaliterian state because of the conservatives, then we've completely lost. We need to take action, if it's action that we otherwise might not take. Coaches don't normally approve of "Hail Mary" passes because they succeed only one out of a hundred times. But sometimes, it boils down to a HMP or lose the game. That's what we need to do: take action that we otherwise wouldn't, otherwise the country will be lost. Sometimes, the end does justify the means.

Rebecca

[Freddie Stubbs]

3. Sounds a lot like what Hitler did after he came to power

Outlawed other parties and imprisoned his opponents.

[Just Me]

8. Interesting the comparison of conservative/Repubs to Jews.

That is, if you are correct in your assessment that it sounds a lot like what Hitler did. Doncha' think.

Of course, Hitler waged a campaign of suppression of liberals, socialists, ethnic or religious minorities, scientists over time through a steady feed of nationalistic fervor.

Once he effectively hushed his opposition and galvanized people's psyche into his full control, then he was able to get away with outlawing other parties and imprisonment and so forth.

[Freddie Stubbs]

21. All opposition parties were banned within one year of him coming to power

[Rebecca_Remarks]

16. Except...

... that Hitler was acting against innocents. We're acting against the guilty.

Rebecca

[Freddie Stubbs]

20. And Hitler argued that his opponents were guilty

[abbiehoff]

4. You had me in the first half of that rant

but then you just went crazy. Stick with the democratic part of DU.

[AntiCoup2K4]

5. Now if I didn't know better......

....nahhh what would she be doing here? ;)

[arcane1]

10. hmm... a little extreme, don't you think?

let's just rip up the Constitution to save our freedom from people who want to rip up the Constitution?

[Crunchy Frog]

11. Nice way of putting it. n/t

[Rebecca_Remarks]

17. I'm not advocating ripping up the Constitution...

The constitution says that you can't bar someone from voting because of age, sex or race. It says nothing about barring someone from voting on account of political belief.

As I said above, I know that what I propose is a bit extreme. But IMHO, it's necessary to save us from those who would destroy us.

Rebecca

[arcane1]

18. People are free to have whatever political beliefs they want...

even if those beliefs are loathsome

denying someone a right to vote because of their beliefs would render the word "democracy" meaningless

[JoshK]

13. You're headed in the right direction, but your perspective is not

quite large enough. Your description of the US is correct, & your perceptions of Republicans is correct. However, when you use the pronoun "we" in your rant, you're assuming that the "we" is the Democrats -- the "good guys." What you are not seeing is that the Democrats are very much a PART of the whole rightward shift. In fact, the whole tragic degeneration to our current '1984' course could never have happened without their spinelessness & complicity.

Just look at the last election. Did Kerry ever attack Bush for Abu Ghraib? Did he ever attack him for the non-existent WMD? Did he ever attack him for stealing the election of 2000? Did he attack Bush over Enron? No, he did not. Kerry never explained to the public why Bush is really a gangster & war criminal. He acted like Bush was merely a quite respectable president that he (Kerry) happened to have a few disagreements with. He accepted most of Bush's concepts (such as the War on Terror). He never challenged Bush's claim that the Iraq war was about 'WMD.' He never said, "No, Mr Bush, the war is to control OIL and to build permanent military bases, and you have LIED to the American people about this!"

Even last night, when Reid gave the SOTU response, he didn't accuse Bush of pandering to Wall St (re Soc Sec 'reform'). And Pelosi was even worse, on Iraq. Her policy is almost identical with Bush's.

The political system has lurched to the right because of BOTH parties, each playing a somewhat different role. Imagining the Democrats to be virtuous "good guys" is just wishful thinking. All the Democrats are, is an institution that leads would-be liberals in a direction that achieves goals for elite interests (ie, the corporate oligarchy). They do this by falsely posing as a "people's party," when they are actually no such thing.

[Rebecca_Remarks]

14. It's not a Dem/Rep thing, its a conservative/liberal thing

My rant wasn't so much against Republicans but against conservatives. There are liberal Republicans and while I happen to think that they are playing for "the wrong team," I think that they can be dealt with. It's conservatives, not Republicans, that I want to get rid of and it's liberals, not Democrats, that I want to keep.

Rebecca

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

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

[Vinnie From Indy]

22. The Original Post is a bit much, but

the Dems need to declare war on the whore press and start taking it to them PERSONALLY! Without action on the issues of media reform and fair voting Dems are doomed to be a minority for the forseeable future.