Our anger and rage vs. what's needed...

[Peace Patriot]

I got to thinking about Social Security last night--that ripe plumb about to be plucked and eaten by the Forces of Darkness (defined by me as those among us who are guilty of callousness, greed, theft, lawlessness, piracy, torture, treason and mass murder).

...and about the California budget surplus stolen by Enron--and the BushCon plot to install Schwarzenegger via Recall to prevent California from getting it back, with Schwarzenegger now bent on cutting teachers' pensions, environmental regulation, and every liberal measure to fill the black hole that Enron BushCons created.

...and about the BushCon massive theft of the federal coffers, so carefully built up with balanced budgets through the Clinton years on the backs of the poor. Billions and billions and billions of dollars bled from the taxpayers (the poor and middle class), and bled from the future--in the form of debt--to grab control of Iraq's oil, to smash its people (over 100,000 killed by US bombs), to subdue its rebels, and to establish dominion over the oil rich Middle East (with Israelis and Armageddonists colluding, in a foolish bid for false power).

...and within that pigsty, the Halliburton no-bid, profit guaranteed billion dollar scam, and within that pigsty, the Cheney pension.

...and on top of that pigsty, the "election reform" pigsty--billions of dollars funneled from taxpayers to the states and into the pockets of BushCon voting machine companies (who then donate in $100,000 chunks to the Bush-Cheney campaign), to produce a piece of shit of an election system: insecure, hackable computers run on secret source code owned by BushCons as proprietary information, with no paper trail.

...and on top of that pigsty, the "campaign contribution" pigsty--billions of dollars extorted from poor citizens who want a change of government, to purchase expensive TV commercials, thus further enriching the corporate media monopolies who turn around and screw the public with disinformation and war propaganda.

Wherever there is ripe fruit for plucking, there we find Bush and BushCons zeroing in to feed upon it.

Our Social Security--paid into by generations of Americans, our collective investment, our retirement, our guarantee for the elderly. About to be fed upon.

California's surplus--provided by liberal voters and taxpayers, and by the collective creativity and industry of California's brightest citizens--to pay for schools, infrastructure, environmental protection, to pay for the future, and to support and encourage the most prosperous economy in the world. Gone, gone.

Our highly responsible federal budget, balanced by Democrats, who took it upon themselves, after the profligacy of the Reagan years and Bush the First (tax cuts for the rich and for corporations, and wild defense spending), to stabilize the government while leaving the rich-friendly, re-written tax code in place. Pain and suffering for the poor, but a huge federal surplus ripe for the plucking. Plucked.

The list is very long of the good and responsible things we have done that have attracted these conscienceless sharks. Maybe the Europeans do it better--sharing the wealth, protecting the poor--but we were heading in the right direction, with greatly increased consciousness of the impacts of globalization, the unfair tax code, the skyrocketing cost of medical care, the environmental threat to the planet, and the need for reform.

All gone, gone.

And my anger at this--and I'm sure that of others--is very great, indeed.

But anger and rage are not what's needed. I'm sure of that. A documentary called "The Weather Underground" (re: '60s radicals, produced in 2002, nominated for an Academy Award), just came my way, and it's very instructive as to the dangerous byways and blind alleys that anger and rage can lead you into (even highly justified anger and rage).

What's needed is a methodical, well-planned, one foot in front of the other, one day at a time, strategy to take our government back, starting with our right to vote.

State by state, county by county...

a) paper ballots
b) hand counts

or at least

a) voter verified, first recount paper ballot in electronic voting (one that takes precedence over electronic results in any recount)
b) open source code (for all machines including central vote tabulators)

and c) honest exit polls to check for fraud (used everywhere in the world to verify elections).

This effort may be driven by anger and rage, but it cannot be done with anger and rage. It will take patience and a certain humility--no big razzle-dazzle revolution or heroics, no stars, no great leaders--just very determined ordinary citizens acting collectively to restore democracy in each local jurisdiction. (This fascist Congress is not going to do it. Mark my words.)

I've had visions of Michael Moore and assorted "Indians" dumping Diebold machines into Boston Harbor. And visions of Democratic Senators chaining themselves to their desks on the Senate floor and filibustering the BushCons until democracy is restored. And of a great leader arising--a Martin Luther King, a Gandhi. Granny D. David Cobb. John Conyers. Barbara Boxer. John Kinney (hungerfordemocracy.org). Tim Robbins. SOMEBODY.

Nope. It ain't gonna happen. It's up to us. Our democracy, our country, our vote. And our quiet, calm, methodical, collective effort to restore the "consent of the governed."

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NOTE: I have to go to work now. Won't be back for discussion until late tonight. Will check back then.