Is it Time for a Bloodless Revolution?

[Norma Sherry]

Are you mad as hell how our country is being run? Have you stood on street corners with banners decrying your opinion? Or are you so frustrated that you think “what the heck”? Do you fear your single vote makes no difference in the inevitable outcome anyway?

Are you tired of your home or business insurance escalating faster than your paycheck? Or that you can’t afford to heat your home or drive your car? Are you frustrated that your representatives vote lock-step with their party regardless if they’re in agreement or not?

Are you outraged that we no longer have any checks and balances; no more oversight; no one watching to safeguard our rights? Does it rile you that the men and women we voted into office signed away our civil liberties without even reading the documents they were signing?

Are you livid with the doublespeak of your representatives? Do you wish you could hang some of them by the you know what’s? Are you screaming mad at the obvious manipulation of gasoline prices? Does it upset you that more than 40-million men, women and children can’t afford medical care and have no insurance?

Does it get your goat that we are no longer a respected power but reviled around the world? Or that we remain dependant on oil or that we’ve allowed our environment to be violated and defiled? Are you mad that your children and grandchildren will inherit a senseless debt that will affect their lives and their livelihoods?

Does it irritate you that college is no longer affordable and that low-cost school loans are memories of the past? Does it exasperate you that pre-emptive action has replaced diplomacy? Does it bother you that nothing you said or did made one iota of a difference in the eyes and ears of our president and our legislators? Are you incensed that the corporate entity has become the ruler of the land?

Do you sometimes fantasize about arresting the son of a gun who decided it was okay to keep the child abuser, wife-beater, graft-taking, unresponsive, irresponsible, out-of-touch with reality legislator in office?

Are you disgusted that as a nation we now stand for torture, and dissolved the law of Habeas Corpus? Does it sicken you that we’ve replaced dignity with abusive use of power, or that we’ve allowed our principles that set us apart to completely disintegrate?

Does it turn your stomach that instead of using our intelligence and vision to secure a better future for humanity that all of our tax dollars earmarked for research and development are squandered by the whim of the military industrial complex in securing a better bomb of destruction?

Does it concern you that our language has been diminished by the use of meaningless words and expressions? Does it baffle your mind that we have accepted lies as truth; that we have permitted historical revisions as fact? Are you enraged that we’ve devolved from a highly educated populace to among the lowest in the world? Or that the average American employee works more hours, with less pay and less time off than any other powerful nation?

Does it infuriate you that our legislators argue over stem cell research, the meaning of marriage, and the right of woman to determine what’s right for her body and her life? Or that they’ve separated us and defined us as either red or blue rather than fostering our commonalities?

Are you rankled by the notion that our forefathers’ standard of separation of church and state has become null and void? Are you shocked that in our land of the free you’ve become fearful of speaking your mind when you disagree with the sentiment that “You’re either with us or with the terrorists”?

Does it get your gall that homelessness and destitution exists in our land? Or that our natural resources are declining with such ravenous acceleration that we may see the demise in our lifetimes? Does it bother you that precious animals will become extinct without any regret or action to save them or that drinkable water may soon be more valuable than gold?

Does it disturb you that the real threat of global warming is ignored by our elected officials? Does it concern you that FEMA, Homeland Security, CIA, FBI are monoliths of inadequacy?

Does it gnaw at your gut that Social Security is held in the balance dangerously teetering at the fancy of our elected representatives? Or that millions of citizens are at risk of having no financial security in their elder years?

Are you scared that our representatives have lost touch with the working class? Are you terrified that because our legislators have allowed pensions to be plundered by American corporations that the precedent will become an acceptable practice?

Does it petrify you that your job may be the next job outsourced to a third world country? Are you shocked that the men and women you voted into office approved the laws that gave the right to American corporations to greedily fill their coffers at the expense of the American worker?

Does it make you ill that lobbyists buy our legislators’ vote? That their allegiance is to the almighty dollar? Do you feel as if you’ve been sold a bad bill of goods? Do you yearn for the days of whistleblowers, patriots, and men and women of conscience?

Are you terror-stricken that our republic as we know it is crumbling before our eyes? Or that dirty tricks, conspiracies, corruption, falsification, lies, cleverly scripted metaphors and plots have become business as usual in our houses of representation?

Do you fear that liberty and all that it stands for is lost to us; and hence, our children and their children will never know the true meaning of freedom?

Where are the voices compelling our elected representatives to do the right thing? Have we become so self-involved in our daily lives, in making the mortgage payments and putting food on the table that we’ve lost sight of our very important rights of citizenry?

If you’ve said yes to any these questions then you are part of a greater consciousness. You are among the growing number of American citizens who beg for change, who will no longer accept the status quo. So, what do we do?

If you are mad as hell and tired of taking this anymore then we need to ban together and in a collective scream oust every sitting elected official. Together and only if we come together in a single voice, can we send our message loud and clear to those in office, and those seeking office, that we are not going to sit idly by and allow our civil liberties, our inalienable rights, and our humanity to be mocked and abused?

It is time, actually, way past time, that we clean house. Elected office is not a gift; it’s not a lifetime ticket to the best club in town. It is a profoundly important responsibility. A responsibility to do the right thing; to remove one’s personal aspirations and inclinations and vote with a clear mind and conscience, with a worldly heart, and for the better good of all.

We need to send all our representatives home; the good and the bad; the baby with the bath water is the only way our message will be heard. It is time we took back our right of citizenry.

It is time we spoke our minds and reaffirmed that it is “we the people” who our elected officials are answerable to. Join me – let’s start a bloodless revolution and let’s begin with removing everyone from office and elect a new batch. And we’ll do it over and over again until the message is clear.

© Norma Sherry 2006

Norma Sherry is an award-winning writer, co-founder of Together Forever Changing, an organization designed to enlighten and encourage citizens to fight for our liberties. She is also the producer and host of the weekly Norma Sherry Show on WQXT-TV. Norma welcomes your emails: [e-mail]

[Waya]

Yes, yes...and yes......

..Great post and WELCOME!

[zeemike]

1. Yes Norma many of us are ready

And i am convinced it will happen, it is only a matter of time.
K&R

[LouisianaLiberal]

2. K&R. Thanks

[Martin Eden]

3. Vote against ALL incumbents?

Replace Dennis Kucinich with a Republican who will be another rubber-stamp for Bush?

[glitch]

5. Or John Conyers? I do not think so. nt

[yurbud]

19. if there were any justice, Conyers would be our next president.

[gully]

4. NO Norma, I'm not ready to "oust every sitting elected official"

I'm ready to oust those who have been in power and have abused that power - REPUBLICANS!

[rman]

8. It is naive to think that corruption is a partisan issue

Though i do agree not every sitting elected official is corrupt - although i must say it very much looks like most of them are.

I propose to oust those who have been in power and have abused that power.

[gully]

9. It's naive to think that every elected official IS corrupt. And, that

naivety is what leads to keeping the actual corrupt in power.

Frankly, I will wait for evidence before suggesting we do Rove's work by replacing old republicans with new ones.

[petgoat]

10. Every legislator who voted for the USA Patriot Act without even

reading it is not fit for office, and must be removed.

They can do their penance in the state legislature.

[gully]

11. Just as I thought. Democrats made sure the act was TEMPORARY.

How transparent you gnats are. We're about to take back the house/senate and suddenly we have the cry to oust Democrats?

Paul Wellstone voted for the temporary act, would you have ousted him from office?

[petgoat]

14. would you have ousted him from office?

Yes. He voted for it without reading it, and without
suggesting amendments. That's legal malpractice. He
failed his constituency and his country.

We all make mistakes. After he'd done his penance in
the state legislature I would have campaigned for him
enthusiastically.

Are you trying to compare the other 98 Senators who voted
for the Patriot Act with Paul Wellstone?

[gully]

15. Actually he did read it. And, if the Dems hadn't read it they would not

have made certain it was TEMPORARY!
As to the question if I'm trying to compare the others who voted for the Pat Act to Wellstone, the answer is, YES I AM! And I DID work for the Wellstone campaign for your information.

Further, Paul Wellstone would call you on your ridiculous assertion that we should oust Democrats from office as well.

[petgoat]

16. Your claim that they read it is absurd. There was not time to

read it. Making it temporary was an excuse not to read it.

I am not suggesting replacing Democratic legislators with Republicans.
I am suggesting replacing them with other Democrats and people from
other progressive parties.

Incompetence and misfeasance and legislative malpractice must not go
unacknowledged and unpunished.

The most ridiculous assertion in this discussion is your comparison
of other Dems to Wellstone. The only one who compares is Russ
Feingold.

[gully]

17. You're claim that Wellstone would vote for something that he didn't read

is absurd. Further, the fact that they did read it is why they made it temporary.

I suggest keeping most of the Democrats we have in office - IN OFFICE.

It is not ridiculous to compare Kerry, Kennedy, Feingold, Conyers, Boxer and MANY other Democrats to Wellstone, check the voting records and you will see that most Dems vote on most issues THE SAME WAY. And, Wellstone would have said the same thing.

Go ahead and have the last word, I'm not kicking this bullshit thread again.

[petgoat]

18. He didn't read it; he couldn't have read it; there wasn't time to

read it. That's my point.

[Fly by night]

6. No. But with our elections now routinely stolen, it may be long overdue...

... for a bloody revolution. I certainly hope not. But as I watch the Smirking Chimp speak confidently every day about holding the Congress when all the polls say otherwise, I know deep down that the Diebold/dirty tricks/disenfranchisement fix is in --- again. And I have had enough of it. I don't want to throw all incumbents out -- I want to FINALLY seat those officials that the people have truly elected. You remember them -- President Gore, President Kerry, Senator Cleland.

If anyone thinks that the current band of "Leave No Child's Behind Alone" perverts, crooks and thieves who have captured this country will leave without a fight, you are naive as hell. Fortunately, if it ever comes to that, the fight won't last long. Because those child-predatoring chickenhawks have no real fight in them.

Google "the Battle of Athens (TN)" to learn what we might need to do. And then keep your powder dry. (An uneasy) Peace out.

[bvar22]

7. Hugo Chavez led a "bloodless" revolution.....

Hugo Chavez led a practically "bloodless" revolution in Venezuela.
It could happen here, but only when a majority of the population has "Had Enough".

The "Revolution" in Venezuela was helped by several logistical issues we don't have in the USA.

*Venezuela has only ONE large city, the Capital city of Caracas, which also housed most of the disenfranchised population. Close to one million Chavez supporters were nearby and available to take the streets. The Corporations owned the Media in Caracas (like the USA), but "REAL News" was easily and quickly spread by "word-of-mouth" and handbills through the barrios. HUGE instant protests were possible. They also weren't crippled with permits or Free Speech zones....The People just "Showed Up", and stayed until the Plutocrats, Aristocrats and Oligarchs were de-throned.
Also, In Venezuela, there was a LEADER of the movement who "STOOD IN THE STREETS" with The People.
The leader of the Revolution was not ANOTHER PLUTOCRAT removed from the PEOPLE by birthright and Wealth.


*The same thing happened in the Ukraine. The LEADER stood "In the Streets" WITH The People.


*The same thing is happening NOW in Mexico City, though the entrenched Aristocrats in the Mexican Government will undoubtedly demand BLOOD before they give up their power.
AGAIN, the Leader IS "Standing In The Streets With The People".



Had Enough Yet?

Do we have a LEADER who will "Stand In The Streets With Us"?
Most Democratic Politicians RUN from protests and refuse to even acknowledge the opposition movement in the US.


The Democratic Party is a BIG TENT, but there is NO ROOM for those
who advance the agenda of THE RICH (Corporate Owners) at the EXPENSE of LABOR and the POOR.

[dfgrbac]

12. It hasn't worked out that way.

"It is time we spoke our minds and reaffirmed that it is “we the people” who our elected officials are answerable to. Join me – let’s start a bloodless revolution and let’s begin with removing everyone from office and elect a new batch. And we’ll do it over and over again until the message is clear."

When we the people give too much power to our elected officials, they will abuse it. Although the Constitution tried to balance the power of government, it didn't prevent those elected from usurping more power for themselves than the people intended. We didn't provide a branch for our own check on their power - no voting every year or so is not a check on them if they control the media that informs us of their shenanigans.

We now have the opportunity to create that forth branch of government so we the people can balance the other three and keep them in check. We can vote for the National Initiative for Democracy to create that forth branch. Mike Gravel will help us if we nominate him for President on the Democratic ticket.

[elehhhhna]

13. bloodless? Great! but Whatever it takes.

[yurbud]

20. what would happen if all gov't workers including Pentagon went on strike?

Or if people simply refused to obey the orders of Rummy, Cheney, and the rest?

Remember what happened when there was a coup against Gorbachev in the Soviet Union? When the military was called on to put down their own people, they went, but refused to fire on them.