what we need is...SOLIDARITY!

[kpete]

Ah, solidarity: what a quaint notion. And yet it may be our only hope.

The idea of social solidarity represents the core of our society. The belief that we’re all in this together has been trampled over in the last thirty years by conservative ideology. Good citizens and politicians have been sucked into believing that solidarity is not the issue. Until Americans rediscover the importance of solidarity, we’re going to be screwed up as a society. We will be trapped in brutal class conflicts and arguments over who gets more, who must be thrown over the side in the interest of business efficiency. I believe deeply most Americans do not want this dog-eat-dog brutality, but do not see much chance of changing it..

http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/social_security_in_perspective_part_iii.php?page=3

Perhaps ‘solidarity' is more than a word, perhaps it's an answer, and the only one. I'm not saying Democrats should become Republicans, or vice-versa, but I am saying ‘we, the people' have no one but each other. Too much of our Nation's leadership has become as toxic as Wall Street's funny money, their very existence having long been nurtured by it. Today, we don't face a political contest, we face a struggle for our future, the future of all we hold dear. Perhaps it's time we stopped being Democrats or Republicans, and once more became simply Americans - a people joined by a new awakening as to what indeed once made us so great, a new awakening as to how so much that has been taken from us can be reclaimed.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/01/02

[Speck Tater]

1. "United we stand. Divided we fall."

Since the Republicans and Fox News want us divided so that the country will fall, they are the greatest threat to democracy we have ever faced.

[freshwest]

2. True, but in our society where we are divided by technology in a very real sense, it's so hard.

[FreakinDJ]

3. In my parent's time the "Middle Class was recognized as the Backbone of the Country"

How did Americans forget that message.

It is primarily the Sons and Daughters of the Middle Class that goes off to fight America's Wars

It is the Middle Class (and NOT the Wealthy Elite as some dis-information peddlers would like you to believe) that pays the bulk of America's Tax Revenue

It is the Middle Class that carries the Economy through Consumption. A main component of Friedman's analysis of the Great Depression.

The current Economic Depression and sad State of Affairs concerning America's position in the Global Economy is a direct result of the War on the Middle Class that has been conducted through Reaganomics (Trickle Down Theory) and deregulation. If you want a Strong America, then you'll need a stronger middle class

[slampoet]

4. SOLIDARITY brought down the Soviet Union.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lech_Wa%C5%82%C4%99sa

[FreakinDJ]

5. NO - corruption did

not that I favor a socialist system

Even in my military briefings (35 years ago) they would cover Soviet Military Tactics, equipment, and training techniques. They would discuss the adverse effects political corruption played upon the Soviet Army's readiness

on edit -

Sorry I made my statements without reading your link.

[eShirl]

6. Solidarnosc (ah, this brings me back....)

[Octafish]

7. Thank you for posting that.

FTR (and as you know, eShirl): Wall Street backed both sides and profited from the decades of resulting wars spectacularly.

[Bragi]

8. Solidarity doesn't work with the American Dream

Americans lack social cohesion, which is why they are docile and easily pushed around. You can export their jobs, steal their pensions, loot their savings, foreclose on their houses, and they'll just blame themselves.

"If only I was smarter, worked harder, etc, etc, then things would be better for me. But I'm a failure."

That's the glue that holds America's repressive economic and social system together.

In a game rigged so that most people lose, it's important that people believe they can win, if they just apply themselves, despite all the evidence to the contrary that stares them in the face.

[tama]

12. What is lose-lose game?

Any game where you become convinced that somebody has to lose so you can win.

In globalized evolutionary adaptation, a lose-lose game will, duh, lose.

In a win-win game of co-operation and coevolution all participants, duh, win.

[Cleita]

9. No kidding! n/t

[pinto]

10. The CJR piece is really good in re: How the press addresses, fails to address, Soc. Sec. issues.

:thumbsup:

:thumbsup:

[kgnu_fan]

11. Until American public is awaken to the idea of "class struggle", no true ‘solidarity' canbe achieved

[felix_numinous]

13. +10000

Working toward more understanding, empathy, community is the antithesis of propaganda. We may not have billions of dollars, but we do have our determination.

There is no power greater than Unity.

[whattheidonot]

14. no party leader.

A no party leader who really knows what he or she is talking about is what we need. The internet will have to play a huge role in a revolution because the mass media will only go so far to explain things. If what has happened in the last 20-30-years is explained by the right persons this left -right thing will go down the tubes. What has happened has been a right -wing thing but it has now been shown to clearly not work. It has affected middle class people on both sides big time. The banks are too big to fail so we fail instead. The banks are the true hostages takers and Obama did not stand up to them. This latest stimulus won't do much good either.

[2 Much Tribulation]

15. The solidarity extends to certain core principles and facts, not to everything...

The one little exception to the OP is that core principles are presently being violated in order to have de facto class war against the middle and lower class, and it is not "class war" or anti-solidarity to resist that. In fact, the vast majority of left and right in this country would be united in an anti-corporate anti-secret government pro-accountability movement, and have solidarity specifically on that to build on as a base.