Grayson statement: Us, and Them. "I don't know why they want anarchy ... they don’t know, either."

[enough]

Found on Digby
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/grayson-for-america-we-are-his-army.html

The link also has video and discussion of this statement by Alan Grayson:


There are two groups in this country right now. I call those groups Us, and Them.

We want more jobs, better schools, better health, better pensions, and we want to keep our homes. We want not just jobs but jobs that mean something, jobs that pay a decent wage. We want to live a good life.

And then there's them. They simply have one goal and one goal only. And that is to destroy the government. They're not conservatives. They're anarchists.

I don't know why they want anarchy. In fact, they don’t know, either. Even they don't know what kind of inner darkness causes them to seek wars without end, to burn the planet, to welcome poverty for so many, to leave the old and the sick helpless, to cheer oil in the Gulf. I've spoken to enough of them to be able to tell you that they themselves don’t know why.

But that's what they want. So, now we have to decide who is going to run this country. Is it Us, or is it Them? And what's at stake is the future. The future in a country that my five children will live in, that your children will live in, that you'll live in for the rest of your life.

Are we going to have a country with a decent middle class life for everyone-- jobs, health care, roads, schools? Or, are we going to have poverty, cheap labor, helplessness and hopelessness? The choice is yours.

[NC_Nurse]

1. Can the other Dems please watch and learn from him? He's so amazing.

[bobbolink]

2. I appreciate that he is finally talking about poverty.

I'm not comfortable with the "US" and "THEM" meme, but his concept is very right, very clear, and very pointed.

I hope he can find some better words, and go viral with this!

[enough]

3. I agree, bobbolink, that the Us vs. Them idea is difficult to take, especially in the

current atmosphere of free-floating hatred. But I thought the rest of the statement was so powerful and direct that it should get some attention.

[bobbolink]

5. He pegged it excellently. I love the simple terms and the simple concepts he uses.

We can all learn from that.

What those unfortunate words bring back to me is many (I hate now to think just how many!) years ago, the priest of the Episcopal church I was going to during that period when porn was in the national discussion, said in a sermon that he had been asked by a parishioner what his concept of porn was. He replied, "To me, porn is the whole idea of "US and THEM".

That made a huge impression on me, and I have never forgotten it. Again, the way the priest spoke of it was simple and straightforward.

Just recently, a DUer posted an excellent thread about being "The Other", that made a lot of us think. Those concepts are so important to maintaining our humanity, and so much of that has slipped badly.

Life and ideas and words get complex sometimes, and I wouldn't have it any different. It makes us think about what we really value, and what is important.

Thank you for a reasonable and enjoyable conversation! Doesn't seem to happen on DU a lot anymore, and I appreciate it!

:yourock:

[Radical Activist]

4. I stopped watching the video at that point.

I got my fill of that from Bush.

[MerryBlooms]

6. Love Grayson

He's one of the few who is willing to lay it out there no matter the consequences to his own reputation.
(he's on Stephanie Miller's show every Thursday)

And as uncomfortable as the 'us v them', is ... I get it. We've been reaching across the aisle with no success. We've all opened ourselves to the 'them', and have received nothing but lies, loathing and obstruction. It gives me no joy to say ... it's time to take the gloves off. No good has come with trying to understand, compromise or even placate those on the right, it's become detrimental to us as a whole. :*( We're not dealing with the right our parents dealt with ...

[bobbolink]

7. Oh, yes... take the gloves off, that is for sure.

I'm just not wanting to demonize.

[MerryBlooms]

8. I get where you're coming from and feel it

It's tough to accept we've sunk this low when it comes to our current politics. I don't think of it so much as demonizing as much as facing the cold sad reality - we really just can't work with these people, they won't let us and they don't hide their hate for us. The daily loathing and despising we're bombarded with ... I won't hate them in return, but I'm sure as heck gonna fight them.

[bobbolink]

9. No, a lot of them we can't work with. Same as I can't "work" with "liberals" and "progressives" who

refuse to do anything to eliminate homelessness. Some of them don't give one damn about us, and that isn't going to change. Its infuriating.

Same as I can't "work" with Dems who demonize me/us as "fucking retards". It is all the same thing... very dismissive, without heart, and no room to go from there. Same process.

However, we also have to admit that we have really fucked up in terms of not stating our case very well. Most people in this country are really up against it, in terms of having the wherewithall to have the time to truly understand the issues. Our nations modern lifestyle leaves very little time and room for any real education about what is happening to us, and the corpmedia is propaganda, and we haven't had the training (as some in other countries have) about how to read between the lines. Calling these people "stupid" may make us feel oh, so superior, but it certainly isn't changing the course of the nation.

Those of us who are fortunate enough to be able to learn what is really happening haven't done very much at all to really work through the barriers, and find ways of talking with and LISTENING to people, and exercising our brains and hearts to figure out productive and human ways to change the lack of information. We haven't, and it is time for us to take that part of the responsibility.

In fact, I have had some instances where I was able to get through to a conservative about homelessness a lot better than I have some "progressives" (especially one notable case which was abusive to the max!)

I don't like it when people assign motivations to me instead of hearing me, which just happened again here at DU, and I don't want to do that to others. When the RW does it it is hateful, and I have had it with that, and tell them so. By the same token, plenty of "progressives" do the same thing, and think somehow that it stinks and stings less when they do it.

In the end, most of us are just folks, and this is our country, and we damned well better figure out a way to ALL be more human with each other, and figure out what is best for us (ALL of us, and to you liberals, that includes us poor folk you are still ignoring!), and get to work on it.

[MerryBlooms]

10. Yes

Sadly, both the left and right have been willing to ignore and demonize those of the least means and no voice, for political gains. There are plenty of band-aids, but little in the way of cure. I'm guilty of that myself. I can donate to the shelters and people until the cows come home, but ... you and I both know the truth.

Was it Reagan who swore up and down there were no homeless in the US? Most of Reagan's reign I attribute to those around him - I doubt those in powerful positions were willing to leave major policy decisions to a victim of Alzheimer's.

A stellar post from our DU member Hannah Bell, that refreshes many a memory of the destruction of the so called, 'majestic' Reagan years -

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3103173

Be well.
~M

[bobbolink]

11. Thank you very much for reposting that! DU used to be a lot more responsive... look at all the

replies.

It is now 2 years later, yet still, only charity. No substantive move to change the underlying problems.

"I can donate to the shelters and people until the cows come home, but ... you and I both know the truth."

Is that the cow with the millions of tits? How does she move enough to *get* home? ^_^

I have some projects that aren't charity, and could use some help. Interested?

[MerryBlooms]

12. Oh man, wasn't that the phrase to end all phrases. blech

Yes, I'm interested in the projects.
I'm willing to lend aid any way I can.
Feel free to contact me.