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no, not as a candidate for anything . . . but as the spokesperson/philospher/leader of a New Progressive-Populist Majority . . .
the reason that Christian fundamentalists -- a small minority of Americans -- are kicking our butts is that they're organized, present a united front, and have a cohesive message that all of their followers can understand and buy into . . .
the left, on the other hand, is fragmented and disorganized, splintered among scores (if not hundreds) of groups and organizations, each with their own particular issues and agendas . . . and since we can't even agree on how to define the problem, we have no cohesive message that all progressives, liberals, and thinking moderates can understand and buy into . . .
what we need, imo, is a leader who can help us define the problem and articulate solutions . . . truthfully, accurately, and on our terms rather than theirs . . . someone respected for his or her knowledge, intelligence, and analysis who can help us frame the issues in new ways that all Americans can understand, and that all Americans left of John Ashcroft can support . . . Bill Moyers, imo, is that person -- someone who can help us articulate a cohesive message that everyone from moveon to ACT to the Congressional Black Caucus to the Sierra Club to AARP can get behind . . .
I believe this because Moyers is one of the few mainstream journalists who actually understands the problems facing this country and isn't afraid to name them . . . in short, he's already doing what I'm advocating . . . as quoted in a recent article by Larry Kramer, in a speech on October 20, 2004 at the Palace Hotel in New York City, Moyers said this:
“For years now, the corporate, political, and religious right—this is documented from 1971 on—the religious and political right has been joined in an axis of influence whose purpose is to take back the gains of the democratic renewal in the 20th century and restore America to a rule of the elites that maintain their privilege and their power at the expense of everyone else. For years now, a small fraction of American households have been garnering an extreme concentration of wealth and income while large corporations and financial institutions have obtained unprecedented levels of economic and political power over daily life.”
“Take note. The corporate, political, and religious conservatives are achieving a vast transformation of America that only they understand because they are its advocates, its architects, and its beneficiaries. In creating the greatest inequality in America since 1929, they have saddled our nation, our States, and our cities and counties with structural defects that will last until our children’s children are ready for retirement, and they are systematically stripping government of all its functions, except rewarding the rich and waging war.”
“That drive is succeeding with drastic consequences for an equitable access to public resources, the lifeblood of any democracy. From land, water, and natural resources, to media and the broadcast and digital spectrums, to scientific discovery and medical breakthroughs, and even to politics itself, a broad range of American democracy is undergoing a powerful shift in the direction of private control."
he has, in short, defined the problem . . . truthfully, accurately, and on our terms rather than theirs . . . it is this understanding of what is really happening in this country that can and should drive a New Progressive-Populist Majority and its program . . .
and it's why we should, imo . . .
Draft Bill Moyers!!!
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