|
i've always assumed that pretty much everyone in the Congress "knows" ... so, given Kerry's background, let's run with the idea that he "knows" ...
that leads to two lines of questions ... one, what should the Democratic Party do about this knowing? in fact, what should anyone who knows do about it? and two, what can or should Kerry do about knowing? and what has he done since bush took office?
now to answer any of these questions, we first have to either accept or reject certain beliefs ... my belief is that the US has been going around the world knocking off foreign leaders for more than a hundred years ... and they've been doing that largely to benefit favored commercial interests ... whether you agree with my stated timeframe or not, let's say you accept that it's only been going on since bush took office ... should this be put before the American people?
let's also warn about other "policy controls" imposed by Big Oil ... so beyond assassination and the disruption of certain regimes for oil or other resource considerations, we have the very real risk of obliterating all life on the planet by destroying the ozone layer and promoting global warming ... the US withdrew from Kyoto and bush is now pushing more lax air pollution regs ...
or if that doesn't get your attention, we have the very real likelihood of peak oil in the very near future ... solar, wind, geothermal? dirty words ... let's just drill in ANWR, drill up and down our coastlines, subvert the governments in the oil rich southern states of the old Soviet Union, invade Venezuela and cause many of the problems we see in Darfur ... oil profits after all this? way up !!! all time records ... somebody's getting rich here ... it's really not kept a secret ...
so we face an immoral, alienating the rest of the world foreign policy designed for the sole benefit of Big Oil ... we pump billions into our military to procure the fields they need ... we face peak oil and an economy that is likely to totally collapse in the very near-term ... it will really be ugly when it does ... our failure to plan for these drastic drops in oil supply, e.g. conservation, mass transit, local food production and much, much more is going to leave us defenseless when the dark days arrive ... and why haven't we planned for these dark days? you got it ... big oil ... they are making billions from our fossil fuel dependent society ...
to recap, war, peak oil, a collapsed economy and the devastation of global warming ... we're not talking about a hundred years or even 50 years ... there are lots of horses in the race but many of them think we are on the brink of many of these horrors either right now or in the very near-term ...
so, as i said above, you either dismiss these concerns as some form of raving madness, a beatnik's "the end is near" syndrome, or you accept many of the basics described above ... that's where i'm at ... i accept this view ...
now, if that is what's facing the country, bush or no bush (although he's made things much, much worse), what should we do as a party and what should we demand of our candidates?
some believe if we only could get Democrats elected, or at least as a first step, we'd be on our way to addressing many of the above issues ... to that i say: fine ... i'm all for getting Democrats elected ... there's certainly more likelihood having them address these issues pro-actively than the republicans ...
but is that enough? ... i say: no, not even close ... it is our job, if we believe the tragedies that await us are real, to awaken America ... it is our job to speak with our best "leaders" and tell them what we see and ask for their support and offer them ours ... it is our job to save not only our own country but all life on earth ... is this exaggeration? hysteria? not based on what i read ... skeptical of all this? comfort me ... make your case ...
so my campaign is to speak out on these issues ... my campaign is to work both inside and outside the Party to raise awareness of these concerns ... what's most disturbing to me, almost befuddling, is that those who know, e.g. Kerry, do not seem to be speaking out or showing any leadership ...
it is NOT enough for our "leaders" to call for alternative sources of energy ... it is not enough for our leaders to even vote against the war in Iraq ... it is not enough for our leaders to call for a commission on global warming ...
what is missing in all of these excellent and critically important approaches is the telling of the truth of what they "know" to the American people ... what kind of un-democratic paternalism is at play that the public is kept in the dark on issues of such critical national importance? and what kind of political strategy is that anyway? if we are ever to take a run at these great challenges, we will need the total commitment, a mandate if you prefer, from those we are able to educate ...
so i ask for the support of all candidate supporters ... i expect nothing back from the hardcore DLC types ... i see them as political opportunists ... i doubt they'll ever tell the American people the truth ... but i still hold out hope for the Deans, the Kerrys, the Clarks and others throughout the Party ... if you support Kerry and see the dangers we face, tell him you want him to speak out on them ... tell him to go beyond lists of wonky policies and take seriously the issue of educating our citizenry about the incredible dangers we face ... if he "knows" and refuses to do this, ask him why ...
as i said above, i am not "anti" anyone ... i am just trying to wake people up ... i am trying to tell people that we can no longer view the world through the narrow lens of electoral politics ... we're out of time here ... we can't wait until Democrats are in office to start building a case for the desperately needed change in course ... we need to start immediately ...
those with access to power and the national stage must be won over to this vision and to this political strategy as well ... if they refuse, no matter their other qualities or issues, we have to look elsewhere ... too much is on the line to keep pretending ...
|