Guys: GREAT Strategy Notes ahead. We can't take back our country until we "get" the original theft.

[calimary]

I didn't write this, but I suspect I will be writing ABOUT it in the future.

It's really good - found it on Truthout. The author explores the specific steps and mechanisms by which the bad guys in the CONservative world sought to take over the country and its institutions that provide the philosophical infrastructure of our collective beliefs and policy-making.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031308E.shtml

I think it's one of the best pieces I've ever come across, and its advice absolutely MUST be heeded if we're to push the pendulum back in the correct direction, and re-set the presumed "center" (which has shifted farther and farther to the wrong).

Please consider it, talk about it, spread it around, share it with your friends and like-minded associates - and anybody else who might be able to help us all start acting on it.

Unfortunately, it's not a quick fix, but then again, the bad guys have been at this for DECADES. They've had a 30 - 40 year head start, which is why their efforts have had such a huge impact now. They've spent years laying the groundwork from bottom up, while our leaders snoozed, thinking everything was gonna be okay. We can't EVER afford to make that mistake again!!! And we've got a LOT of catching up to do.

[calimary]

1. Kicking this - for its author, Sara Robinson.

I hope at least a few pairs of eyes see it and take it to heart. WE can be, or at least initiate, the change we seek.

DU!

[ihavenobias]

2. K & R, as there are many good points in this piece

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3. Thanks!

YOUR thread addresses the same sort of thing: How LIBERALS need to readjust America's thinking:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

The more of this type of subject we can spread around here and become aware of, the better. Because we ALL need to be thinking (and hopefully also acting) along these lines.

[calimary]

4. I found another one along these same lines, by Rob Kall at OpEdNews:

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_rob_kall_080313...

Please also consider this one from him.

It's "A Post-bush/cheney To-Do List of Herculean Proportions" - and it, too, outlines steps that MUST be taken if we're ever to have any hope of reversing all the damage these bastards have done. It's WELL WORTH your consideration. You may even have additional ideas and suggestions to offer in the comments department.

Seriously - we ALL need to be thinking along these lines. And if WE start, maybe we can get our friends to start. And if we can get them to start, maybe one of us or them will nudge one of our reps to start. And if that happens, maybe we can get some deep-pockets types to join us in that start, and bigger names, and more prominent thinkers, and people who are actually in position to be able to IMPLEMENT some of these ideas. But it has to start somewhere - like maybe HERE, among people like US. The roots of our party and our liberal/progressive movement. Grow it from the bottom UP.

[NashVegas]

5. Someone Posted About These Guys Years Ago

And included links to their White Papers. I've given up on finding the original links, though

[flashl]

6. The cruz ...

"The basic strategy was to build parallel organizations that shadowed the official ones until they could legitimately assume power within their domains."

[bluesmail]

7. It takes lots of money, lots and lots of it.

Now that Amerika is bankrupt (thanks Dick, Thanks George, etc) seriously, where does the money come from?? Editing to say I'm just partway through the essay.

[calimary]

9. Yes, it does. We're only just beginning.

It ALWAYS takes money.

So we search for wealthy patrons and underwriters, or start with small donors like Howard Dean did, and like Obama has done now.

[bluesmail]

8. AND something I learned from Judi Bari who learned it from

(sorry I can't remember his name) ORGANIZE!!

[calimary]

10. I just found another good one elsewhere here - in a thread by LaStrega:

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/conservatism-dying-...

DU thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[LaStrega]

11. kick right back atcha!

& rrrrrrrrrecommend!

I love me some truthout.org! That's where I first read William Rivers Pitt, and where I first found out about DU.

[superkia]

12. Heres a song from 1997 that gets me fired up when I think of our govt.

Well, it's just another song
Talkin' about how you let them take your rights
Another redundant verse about how you refused to fight & lost
What cost? your cause has got no champion
How could you hope to win? by just complaining
Now it's raining on you parade
Decisions made could cost you dearly
Not just your money but your freedom
Are you wealthy improper choices could be deadly
They took your so-called rights
You didn't even fight

Well, here's your motherfuckin' wake up call
& there just ain't no way around it
Caught you asleep once again & we ain't havin' it
Got freedumb for you to do just what they tell you
You missed that train of thought
You refuse to be taught a lesson
Now this is what i'm guessing
You'll be held accountable
The things you didn't want to know
You're stressin'
Now with your mind they keep messin'
They took your so-called rights, you didn't even fight

While you were busy fuckin' sleepin'
You know your government was creepin'
Somebody left the door unlocked while you were asleep
Your life was bought & sold, yes, to the highest bidder
Left you in sitcom hell
So convinced you're doing well
You sit back synapses are attacked
American gladiators are the only thing they're given' back
You're dying & in your mind, while they keep lying,
They took your so-called rights
You didn't even fight

Now that we've given you this message you've got a mess
But you can salvage, continue to grow
& soon you'll know that little things in life can make a difference
You don't got to be some politician
Take back those given rights
Stand up & join the fight

[calimary]

14. Great song! "while you were busy fuckin' sleepin', you know your government was creepin'"

Thanks, superkia! EXCELLENT post.

Both sad and true.

[elizfeelinggreat]

13. thank you

I'm printing it out to read and pass on.

I like this part!

Be There for Each Other - Especially When the Pressure Builds

..

But the founders of movement conservatism knew that people can withstand almost anything if they have the firm support and acceptance of their peers. They strengthened their followers against this pressure by teaching them not to give two hoots about what the rest of us think. To them, the only people who matter are the ones who believe as they do - the ones they trust to actually have their backs, look after their kids, and throw their bail when the opposition takes out after them with ugly intent.

The changes we seek now will eventually create equally tectonic shifts as we set the country back to right. The money and power is all lined up behind the conservatives; and they've already demonstrated their willingness to use it to viciously punish progressives who dare to challenge it.

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15. What I really appreciate most about this article is how the author nails the mindset

of the enemy. "They strengthened their followers against the pressure by teaching them not to give two hoots about what the rest of us think." And they're all further strengthened by a nauseating on-going drumbeat from hate radio - keeping them fired up, near the point of hate-filled hysterics, demonizing us minute-by-minute, spreading lies upon lies upon lies - and, conveniently, not allowing ANY other viewpoints that might rebut or debunk ANY of it.

WHEN ONE SIDE IS ALL YOU HEAR, THEN ONE MESSAGE IS ALL YOU GET. AND THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE ON WHICH TO BASE YOUR OWN CONCLUSIONS. If all you ever get is half a loaf, or half a glass-full, you become conditioned to assume that is the norm.

That, there, is the PRIME reason why we have to go after their communications. We HAVE TO reinstate the Fairness Doctrine and its Equal Time provisions. We have to make it THE LAW OF THE LAND that no handful of captains of industry can own all the airwaves and shove their propagandistic world view down everyone else's throats - UNRESTRAINED. They have to have the brakes put on them. We have to limit corporate ownership of media properties, radio, TV, print, and online, we have to drastically curtail one-sided programming (it would put limbaugh and his friends out of business) by making it EXTREMELY unprofitable to go one-sided. TAX the bejeezus out of 'em, just as we should be taxing the bejeezus out of all corporations that slither off to the Grand Caymans to avoid paying taxes and decent salaries and benefits and health insurance to their employees, and outsource all the jobs to India. There have to be SEVERE, absolutely suffocating tax consequences imposed on corporations for doing that shit. If they try to escape their civic responsibilities, it should be made so economically prohibitive that they're forced to capitulate. "Yeah, sure! Go offshore! Fine. Have a nice day! Live it up! But just remember - IT'S GONNA COST YA!!!"

[Greyhound]

16. Good Piece, thanks. Here is what I believe the difference was.

"Massive funding put up by conservative foundations also gave the movement clout over the country's great non-profits, from which they insinuated themselves into research, health care, social services, education, and the arts."

Their billionaires pour millions into the effort for years to advance the agenda, ours make short-term investments and want quick ROI.