The problem is that 30 years of Republican policies have pretty much destroyed America

[MrScorpio]

Those policies, once adopted, became the "THE WAY THAT THINGS ARE".



But that's not all...



Most Democrats, in the beginning, gave the Republicans the benefit of the doubt, even though they knew that things would turn out badly. They had no choice as they were out of power as decided by the American people.



Washington declared war on the unions who where the most powerful foe against those polices and the unions were destroyed, because, they were left out and hung dry.



Then they went to war on the middle class and the working class, because that's where the money WAS.



Now the top one percent has 41% of the nation's wealth.



Many politicians were bought then; as of last week, ALL OF THEM WILL BE POTENTIALLY OWNED.



If you take to the street, the police will beat you down en masse. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gTm2NX7UCc 



The result is a security state apparatus which views you and you and you as potential dangers to the status quo, rather than citizens with rights to be protected.

In the end, all most people can hope for is to be a powerless wage slave, afraid of swarthy masses who are out to steal whatever meager trinkets that they can hold to.



If you're gay, don't expect to stop being classified as a second class citizen any time soon.



If you're poor, you're still screwed.

You know what?





All of this is THE AMERICAN WAY.




It's not like aliens came down from outer space in big space ships to do this to us. WE did it to ourselves.

And WE did it because the majority of Americans would rather concede to power, as they think that it's the right thing to do.



We did it, because AMERICA was never a country built on the ideals of progressive liberalism, social and economic justice and complete equality.

Any strides toward progressive liberalism, social and economic justice and complete equality succeeded in spite of the nature of America and the price was invariably BLOOD IN THE STREETS.



And we did it, in spite of electing Barack Obama.



But things aren't failing because we elected him... They're failing because all of us are FAILING OURSELVES.



Too many have misunderstood the fact that one man, even if he is the president, can't achieve anything in a vacuum. Once elected, too many thought that progressive liberalism, social and economic justice and complete equality would happen on auto-pilot without any input from the masses. Remember, that's not how most Americans think. It maybe nice to know what's right, as what so many DUers are wont to do. But, hell, THE WAY WE THINK IS NOT THE WAY THAT MOST AMERICANS THINK.



You know, I really cannot stand all the inferences on DU about how Barack Obama is just like Bush. That is all complete bullshit, because of people who can't get it through their heads that after his election, most people just threw the ball in his side of the court and expected him to score without the help of the rest of the team, i.e. you and me and the rest of the American people.



Too many people have forgotten that Barack Obama can't make the rules, he has to play by the rules put before him, whether any of us likes them or not. THE NATURE OF AMERICA WAS NOT FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGED BECAUSE HE WAS ELECTED.



It wasn't changed because it would be extremely difficult for most people to take to the street, put their asses on the line and fight to make those fundamental changes to the very nature of America.



Now, you can complain that things are bad. We all know that things are bad. But what can we all do about them? What can we do to fundamentally change the very nature of America, which is the root of the problem?



We can work locally, we can organize. Why not gather all the other DUers in your Congressional district and make a fucking fuss. Recruit friends and family to hold our individual politicians to task.



What can we do to unfund the powers that be who exploit the political system and turn the politicians into whores? How can we recruit others to do the same?



What can we do to inculcate the essence of progressive liberalism, social and economic justice and complete equality into America society to drive its direction away from its current path?



Tell me, do you have any real answers and examples of those answers at work? Or is it just too convenient to sit back and bitch?

Because, let me tell you, comparing Obama to Bush, without regard to the way that this country is and no plan to change it really isn't helping things.

There are already a bunch of people who have none of our interests at heart who are already bitching about the man, and I really think that acting like those assholes isn't going to win a lot of hearts of minds in the long run.

The Republicans, who created these problems in the first place are not going to be any help at all... I really think that giving them ammunition against a Democratic president isn't going to work OUR way.

I think that there has to be a better way. If not, why are we here?

I am NOT being fair, of course. Why should I? I'm asking too much to consider. Why shouldn't I?

If anyone takes their sweet time to compare apples to oranges and completely ignores the basket that all of them are in, that person isn't being fair either or honest their damn self. Neither is expecting Change to happen on a dime after thirty years of bullshit is fair or honest, don't you think?

So, honestly tell me what you think.


[shraby]

1. I can't add anything to what you said, but I can recommend.

[jgraz]

2. Well, 30 years of *conservative* policies.

Yeah, it was mostly Republicans, but they had help.

[SeattleGirl]

3. Definitely recommended.

I don't mind that people complain about some of the things that Obama ha or has not done, but I DO mind that so many of the complainers seem to want to sit back on their thrones and have Obama wait on them hand and foot.

He DID say "Yes WE can" did he not?

And "WE" have to get after our congress critters. Obama is not the end all and be all. He is NOT a dictator. He is NOT a King. We have the Senate and the House that we also need to go after, to let them know what we want.

And please don't tell me it won't make any difference. If you don't try, you won't even know if it will.

[EFerrari]

4. I think Obama, like every other American politician, is in an environment

that is so corrupt, it's impossible not to be affected in some way. After all these years of Raygun and Bushes -- I just don't think that the damage done to our political process during those years can be minimized in any way.

Obama is not just like Bush except he's now swimming in the same sewer that all our presidents plunge into. Maybe younger DUers won't get this. Politics in this country have always been dirty but they're never been seven layer cakes of caca as they are now, afaik.

And the best evidence I can think of is what we saw happening on television to NOLA, and I say NOLA but meaning all the places that were destroyed by Katrina. I don't think that would have been POSSIBLE before Ronald Effing Raygun. We had an infrastructure; we had a more or less responsive government in those days.

But all levels of government failed exactly as they were designed to fail during all these years of creeping corruption. We can't possibly criticize the Haitian puppet government when our own behaved exactly the same way. :shrug:

[Zoeisright]

5. President Obama could have been more liberal.

He could have fought for single-payer health care.

He could have bailed out the people instead of the banks. Giving money directly to the people WOULD have bailed out the banks, since we would have put the money back INTO the banks. It would have stopped foreclosures, decimated the poverty rate, and fixed so many problems.

But he's too conservative and wouldn't fight for us. No, he's not the same as Bush. But he's not DIFFERENT ENOUGH from Bush to really fix things.

[MrScorpio]

6. You can say he could have been more liberal...

But in America, that would have been a recipe for failure.

My point is that AMERICA needs to be more liberal.

Any expectation that change should be expected to come from the top is naive and unrealistic.

If we can't be expected to force change from the bottom... how hard is it to not expect any change at all?

[defendandprotect]

7. How could overturning the NEW DEAL make any sense ...especially to Dems????

[fasttense]

8. We need to take back the streets.

We have to get out and be visible. Posting on the internet will not change much. Writing and calling our Congress critters will have little impact especially if you Senators and Rep are RepubliCONS.

This is not a local problem. It is a national problem. It will take constant nationwide demonstrations to change. You wont be able to do it in a day. It wont get done in a month. It could be turned around, if people got up and protested.

The Dancing Supremes selected our President in 2000 and the left's response was....Nothting. Now, they have told us national and foreign corporations will control our federal government. What has the left done? Just wait for the next decision the Dancing Supremes make, it's going to be a doozy.

FDR had the socialists to fight. He went left because of the fear that the socialists would take over. He even jailed a couple of them under fake concerns. What do the RepubliCONS have to fear?

They don't fear President Obama, who wants to play bipartisan and picks up his policies from Glen Beck and right wing media.

The RepubliCONS need to fear the left. But no one is out there on the streets to see, hear or fear. We need a huge march on DC followed by five days of constant agitation then weekly protests. 30 years of RepubliCON destruction of our federal government will not be fixed with one march. It can only change if we are constantly in their faces and in their streets. At least that is one thing we could take back - The Streets.