50 Comments so far

1. Bonnie Phillips March 14th, 2007 5:21 pm

   Anger is the appropriate response to such outrages that this administration has perpetrated. But my question is how to use the energy of this anger in such a way that leads us in a new direction. What are the actions that will lead to this change? There is so much on the internet of real substance, not the name calling that is so much a part of the right, but real facts, substantiated information, clear and well thought through analysis. And it is our job to become aware, to educate ourselves, to share that information as best we can. I am feeling the anger, the impatience myself. Without the work of so many, fools like me would have no real news or perspectives to consider and form our own understanding. I am appreciative but still questioning myself, stepping aside from my selfishness and examining what can I do each moment that I remember the horrible circumstances of so many people on this planet, for which we, as Americans, are responsible. What is the science of our selves and our planet that can help us understand the circumstance of our being – the horror of the circumstances that we ourselves have created?

2. SouthernYankee March 14th, 2007 5:30 pm

   Thank you Paul. Just before I opened Common Dreams and read this article, I was ranting to my husband about how angry I am (at this moment, it’s the Dems again for removing the Iran war language from the appropriations bill – what a bunch of cowards and n’er do wells. Your title “All the Rage” was the first page I opened and you have covered most of my rages very thoroughly. Pretty close to the top of my list are my fellow Americans who were dense enough (or lazy enough) to believe anything those liars said – right from the beginning, including many of my family members – shame on them!!
   Thanks again Paul – I am going to forward the link to everyone in my address book even though a good share of them will delete without reading it. I never give up!!

3. Rebel Farmer March 14th, 2007 5:36 pm

   Raise hell! That’s how you can direct that well deserved anger. This is not a matter of which party you belong to. This is the price of citizenship. Protect America and the Constitution! Get involved. Get others involved. Write, E-mail, phone your representatives. Now that we are awake and mad, it’s a new day for everyone in government. We aren’t just going to wait for the next election! We expect action NOW! It ain’t just about being against Bush anymore. It’s about our freedom and our rights. It’s about what is done in our names. Anyone who subverts our efforts to change this government for the better will be held accountable. This government has awakened a monster and heads WILL roll!

4. opeluboy March 14th, 2007 6:05 pm

   When did it become the norm to characterize the left as “angry,” and to make that emotion a negative thing?

   Of course we’re angry. We should be angrier.

   But it isn’t the only emotion we are capable of.

   And why is anger supposedly a solely left reaction? I see angry conservatives every day.

   In the next few years, those that remian of that dwindling, or rather imploding, movement will certainly be angry.

   I suggest we remind them (endlessly)that they used to say that about us.

5. Poet March 14th, 2007 6:25 pm

   I am angry at Nancy “Barbie Doll” Pelosi and Harry “Opie” Reid for caving in without a fight over the Iraq/Iran war funding. I am angry that “leading contenders” for the Democrats like Hillary-Billery, Biden, Edwards, Richardson, and Obama who don’t have a dime’s worth of difference from each other are taken seriously and people like Kucinich, Feingold, and Nader, are treated like used toilet paper.

   As Mother Jones once told the Iowa corn farmers, “It’s time we raised less crops and more hell”.

6. RichM March 14th, 2007 7:35 pm

   Yes, the Kuciniches, Naders & Feingolds are treated like used TP, while phonies like Hillary et al are treated with dignity & respect, & are called “viable candidates.” — This is because the former challenge the prevailing power structure, while the latter serve it, & suck up to it. The power structure is determined mainly by the interests of the top fraction of a percent of the population.

   US society is systematically biased against critics on the left, and the brighter & more accurate those critics, the more dangerous they become to the power structure. To protect itself, the system needs to stifle such people. This is why people like Chomsky & Michael Parenti are never invited on, say, “Meet the Press,” even though they’re many times as intelligent & informed as the usual pack of talking heads. And Nader was not allowed to participate in presidential debates. But rightwing douchebags like the preacher-hypocrites mentioned in the article, or thug-reactionaries like Glen Beck, Tom DeLay or Trent Lott — people with zero talent like this can rise very high in the system, simply because their bigotry, ignorance & viciousness are useful to it. Fools like this are on TV 24/7, doing their part to keep America stupid.

7. jp March 14th, 2007 7:37 pm

   Dang. You said it all, Paul. I have been in a really bad mood now for over six years, and you pretty much explained the source of my sourness.
   Perhaps, piece by piece, with each new congressional investigation, with each new outrage revealed even in the mainstream media, maybe, just maybe, this uglier than usual chapter of American history will come to an early demise.

8. Ronald White March 14th, 2007 7:40 pm

   We’re angry that there is not a single show on cable news in which a progressive is given an hour to spout off his or her opinions, but that privilege is given to the likes of Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck and John Gibson and Tucker Carlson and Joe Scarborough and all the other two-bit electronic hucksters of phony aggrievement.

   It is commendable that you are angry and have the wisdom to expose all the reasons to be angry for all equally-concerned Americans to see . Sadly most Americans who watch Bill O’reilly , Sean Hannity … are not as justifiably angry as you .

   You undoubtably know the story : On Dec.1, 1955,Rosa Pars got very angry when arrested for refusing to relinquish her seat . Thousands of A-A citizens got so angry that they staged the Montgomery Bus Boycott lasting a year that almost shut down the transit system .

   Until many,many Americans get angry enough to turn off the above talk shows and tell their angry friends to do the same , your anger is , like Rosa Parks’,just a good start.

   Now it’s up to you and millions of other soon-to-be-angry American citizens to figure out how to boycott everything that makes you angry.

9. provoice March 14th, 2007 8:52 pm

   Well spoken Paul!

   Whenever I sit down to type out a rant, I get caught up in one or more of the things I am furious about, and can never seem to put them all together in a comprehensive message as you have done so well.

   You appear to have ALMOST covered all of my gripes with the exception of the phony economic data being fed to John Q. Public by the Washington Propaganda Machine.

   Most people are completely unaware of how serious the unemployment problem REALLY is, and no one seems interested enough to research the Department of Labor’s EMPLOYED figures for the past couple decades… if they did, they would soon find that we are MILLIONS of jobs behind the growth in the workforce, and that doesn’t even count 20 million alien invaders since 2001!

   On top of that, add the fact that Congress has more than DOUBLED our committed future tax dollars from $20 Trillion in 2001 to over $49 Trillion now!

   David Walker, head of the GAO is touring the country right now trying to bring people’s attention to the matter because he believes America is in serious danger because of the upcoming shortfall.

   Good job…. but please, look into my research and add it to your list!

10. terremar March 14th, 2007 9:24 pm

    Indeed anger is the appropriate response to this pillaging from within of our country. This immoral, corrupt, corporate administration has got to go.
    Use your anger to mobilize efforts to impeach, prosecute and remove them from office. Get out and join the movements. Swell the numbers of those who are demonstrating to the country and the world that we are fed up!

11. Com_n_sense March 14th, 2007 11:17 pm

    AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!

    Whew! Glad I got that out of the way … but I’m still mad as Hell!

12. Robert Settgast March 14th, 2007 11:26 pm

    Blame for Bush’s Disasterous Policies

    Bush cannot be blamed for the disasterous effects of his dreadful policies, which include his reckless inept handling of this war, his unparaleled war on science, and environmental sellouts. Instead blame falls on the five supreme court jusities who placed politics ahead of principle by planting him in office against the voters choice; our legislators for allowing these dreadful policies (albiet under coercion), and the apethetic electorate for tolerating these outrages.

    Until we take back our country thingsl only worsen

    Robert Settgast
    San Rafael, CA
    rhsettgast@hotmail.com

13. Thebigkate March 15th, 2007 12:33 am

    Wellllll………….actually, we do have Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann! And Bill Maher. But that’s about all she wrote. Of course we are angry and disappointed! I think not to be outraged is to be brain-dead!!

    Kate Madison
    Depoe Bay, Oregon

14. Lobo Gris March 15th, 2007 1:40 am

    Thanks for an excellent article Mr. Waldman. I think there are politicians who are aware of our anger. What they don’t recognize is the depth and the breadth of that anger which leads them to believe that they can just ignore it in the vain hope that it will die on it’s own prior to the next election, or that they will be able to placate us by passing some minor legislation that ignores the larger problems.

    The one thing I wish that you would have included in your treatise is the deception used by many of the politicians, especially at the higher levels, to get elected while hiding their true agenda.

    Bill Clinton campaigned on the promise of helping the middle class and giving them tax breaks. Yet almost immediately after his election he promoted trade policy which the main goal turned out to be to send as many jobs overseas as possible as quickly as possible, betraying the very people who he had asked to help him get elected by taking their jobs from them. They got a tax break alright. You don’t pay much in taxes when you don’t have a job or have one now that pays less than half what what you were making before. Does anyone believe that he wasn’t aware of exactly what he was going to do before he ran for the highest office in the land? Why is this important to get angry about? Because it is going to soon lead to the economic collapse of the U.S. Our current account deficit is right around 4 trillion dollars, our trade deficit is quickly approaching 1 trillion dollars a year. Our total debt is alnmost 9 trillion dollars. We have a negative savings rate for the first time since the great depression. The money supply is being inflated by 11% a year with a GDP growth of between 2% and 3% a year. The housing bubble is bursting. And guess what, our creditors are quickly becoming tired of lending money to what they see as an increasingly bad credit risk. What does all this mean to us, the average American? We are going to get hit with a double whammy. When our creditors, China and the other foreign nations that hold the majority of our debt, decide enough is enough and decide to quit lending it is likely that the dollar will be devalued and will be replaced as the worlds standard currency, probably by the Euro. Now a devalued dollar wouldn’t necessarily be all bad because it would make exports cheaper and increase employment, except for the fact that we have been de-industrialized and don’t make anything to export anymore. In addition with a devalued currency all those cheap imported goods will suddenly become much more expensive. Then for the second part of the whammy, anytime the money supply is overinflated to the extent it is now it always without fail leads to inflation. Inflation that will further reduce buying power because each dollar will be worth less. The end result? A much reduced standard of living for the majority of Americans. The people that have become rich because of this betrayal excepted.

    And of course he and his party were not the only ones engaged in this type deception and betrayal. Among the many engaged in by George Bush, he said during his campaign during one of his more lucid moments when he could put a coherent sentence together that he wasn’t into nation building. While evidence indicates that he was already planning to invade Iraq even before taking office. Does anyone believe that he thought that wouldn’t require nation building? Of course we are all aware of the consequences of him not being called on that deception. We live with it’s abysmal results every day.

    Lobo Gris

15. Rebel Farmer March 15th, 2007 2:18 am

    I’m so old at this point that I probably will not live long enough to see what Lobo has decribed. And he’s (she?) is right. Even the stock market is starting to see this one coming.

    The economists have not been connecting the dots for a very long time. They give us all these cheery numbers about growth and jobs and consumer confidence. When in fact all of that was being fueled by the equity people have already pulled out of their homes and spent. Can’t repeat that again. No more equity. No savings. And now the Piper will be paid. The housing market bust will lead the way.

    What I can’t figure out is wether it will be deflation or inflation that results from all this.

    I wonder if a bunch of hungry and homeless people will have the energy or the resources to keep raising hell to change this government in the interest of all of America….

16. Michael Boyter March 15th, 2007 2:28 am

    Anger is not enough! We need to act and now. We need to file a Trillion Dollar Class action Law Suit against the Corrupt Scumbag Corporations, and the recipients in Congress and the Senate and the White house of their ill gotten funds. We need to name as defendants, the following, Bush, Cheney, Gonzales, Rumsfield, Halliburton, Caci, Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, Condiliza Rice, Powell, Every Fat COrrupt bastard LIke Ricard Ales, from FOX, CNN

17. Lobo Gris March 15th, 2007 2:42 am

    Bonnie Phillips March 14th, 2007 5:21 pm

    “Anger is the appropriate response to such outrages that this administration has perpetrated. But my question is how to use the energy of this anger in such a way that leads us in a new direction.”

    I am joining a third party, the Greens. If enough of us do it en masse it has the best chance of effecting change quickly. There are those wanting to reform the Democratic party from inside but doing so will take time and there is no guarantee that the most destructive policies, such as those endangering the economy, will be changed enough, or at all. The bottom line is that we need a major change in the leadership in Washington and it will be difficult if not d*mn near impossible to unseat the entrenched leaders already in place from within the party. It won’t be any picnic from outside either, but if enough people defect it will create a lack of confidence in the current party leadership. Which will quite likely lead to reform within the party itself besides the possibility of getting some true third party progressives elected that haven’t been tainted by the corruption that is so prevalent in Washington today.

    There is, as in any endeavor, the possibility of failure. It will take massive defections and there is the loominng spectre that it may already be too late. But again, IMO it has the best chance.

    The sad part for me is that I have been sounding the alarm for years with no audience. I just sincerely hope that now that people are beginning to wake up that it isn’t too late for all of us.

    Lobo Gris

18. Alan8 March 15th, 2007 3:51 am

    Lobo Gris is right! The Green Party doesn’t accept ANY corporate money and represents CITIZENS’ interests.

    It’s IMPOSSIBLE to reform the Democratic Party; progressives have been trying to do it since at least the 1970s. Just because the Republicans are evil doesn’t make the Democrats good. They’re the other half of the corporate “good cop/bad cop” scam.

    The Green Party is the third-largest party in the US, and has over 200 members in elected office at the local level, although you’d never know it from the corporate media. They generally don’t report Green Party election wins. The Green Party is also the fastest-growing party in the US.

    There are 35 Green mayors, and support is building for Green wins at the state level: Two Greens have gotten over 10% of the votes for governor; more than double the 5% required by a state to be recognized as a party.

    Vote Green!

19. Mark Sherman March 15th, 2007 7:21 am

    Many of us are angry but still divided and conquered.

    Media Matters founder, David Brock, knows firsthand how organized and effective the “other side” was and still is while relentlessly implementing their plan for America and the rest of the world. If we caught them in a kindly mood, perhaps one of “them” would probably tell us the Borg mantra “resistance is futile.” Over many years they have successfully taken control of all three branches of government. Bush is a product of their deliberate actions, not a mistake made by the American people.

    For me, the question is will any individual or group manage to organize a resistance or alternative that brings enough people under their umbrella for more than the time it takes to read this article and the comments?

20. Lobo Gris March 15th, 2007 7:26 am

    Rebel Farmer March 15th, 2007 2:18 am

    “I’m so old at this point that I probably will not live long enough to see what Lobo has decribed. And he’s (she?) is right. Even the stock market is starting to see this one coming.”

    I’m a he Rebel. The nickname Lobo Gris is the spanish term Grey Wolf. Pretty old too by the way.

21. Hopeful March 15th, 2007 9:08 am

    This open discussion is well overdue, just like the hearings on Iraq. Thanks for expressing what many Americans feel.

22. rmboyter March 15th, 2007 9:19 am

    IF we want to change direction in America, we need to hit them where the like it the least, in their wallet, Boycott, all Corporations who push this pack of lies, Boycott any one who advertises On FOX for starters, Don’t buy their Products. Watch the greedy pigs squeel. Its the only way to get back at them to stop this madness

23. iammyself March 15th, 2007 9:56 am

    “Could it be that the party of Abraham Lincoln is suddenly beginning to look like the Tory party in the dark, dank, dying days of John Major – nasty, niggling and doomed for defeat?”

    This was at the tail end of a BBC commentary this morning. The Republicans are self-emolating. However, the Dems are right behind them. So…where do Progressives go? The Green Party may be a viable alternative, tho, truthfully, they’re subject to the same laws as all other parties. They need a critical mass and even then, will have to change a HUGE mass of inertia which is Washington, DC and all its special interests.

    The Rockridge Institute (George Lakoff’s baby) is sponsoring a discussion – Thinking Points: Communicating Our American Values and Vision. It’s a way for Progressives (who are intelligent and thoughtful folks, but who seem to disdain organization) to get this “anger” out there and start working toward a cohesive startegy to start a new society. The present society is dying and we need to let it go and start building a new one.

    http://www.rockridgenation.org/

24. gmkaake March 15th, 2007 11:12 am

    I agree with mass exodus to Green Party, for the same reasons listed above. There are good people in the Democratic party, sure, but at this point there are too many beholden to the current corrupt corporatocracy, and they are unwilling to truly commit to progressive ideals. The other thing I like about the Greens is that it is an international movement. We need to start thinking beyond our own borders, if we truly want to dislodge the power of multinational corporations. It gives me great hope that we can join in solidarity with others around the globe, in an organized effort and truly have an impact.

25. cosmobilly March 15th, 2007 11:49 am

    Wow! Unbounded thanks to Waldman for saying it so well. All the responses prove this has touched a nerve with us.

    My anger centers on two key points. 1) This didn’t occur overnight, and most people fail to connect the dots between where we are and how we got here. And 2) now that we find ourselves here, most good folks feel rather than rake up the mud let’s work on what we can do to fix it.

    Personally, I hate fixing other people’s screw-ups, especially when those screw-ups were avoidable in the first place. And to paraphrase Waldman, “those of us who were right about [misplaced values and priorities have been] dismissed as some sort of fringe whose ideas are too silly to listen to.” This has been so true for me in many conversations with family, friends and coworkers. I’m furious about the mess left in the wake of self-serving misguided short-sighted ideas, over which I virtually had no voice but must still endure.

    Why is it, as the pendulum swings, do folks have to let things get to extremes before they wake up and do something about the direction things are going? In this regard, I find most people willfully complacent rather than unaware; folks settling for convenience and expediency over the truth and discomfort of doing the right thing, not wanting to rock the boat. Why is it that there is never enough time to do it right in the first place, but always time to redo it? Personally, this makes me mad as heck!!!

26. voxclamantis March 15th, 2007 11:52 am

    You know who’s not angry? Bush isn’t angry (except at some preadolescent level). Jack Abramoff and Tom DeLay weren’t angry. Antonin Scalia and Alberto Gonzalez seem like pretty happy people. The CEOs of Exxon and Halliburton and their golf buddies think the system is working just fine.

    Here’s another question. We’ve all been angry for six and a half years and what have we got to show for it? Very close to nothing I would say. Given a dysfunctional education system and a torpid, tv addicted body politic, a lock on the media and the power to do what they please, do you think these guys care if we are angry? Cheney likes that we are angry. It makes him chuckle.

    Instead of running fantasies about rising up like the sleeping dragon we aren’t and deposing the thieves who run the world, maybe we should be sad. Sad because we have to give up the romantic tale we were sold as schoolchildren about moral America and the Land of the Free that has turned out never to have been true.

    If it’s hope we are looking for, try this. If things keep going in the present direction, maybe the age of American preeminence will quickly pass and some other ruthless bastards (say, the Chinese) can run the world. We’d be free then to become normal people, like the Fins, content with our mediocre health care, our cottage industries, our quaint customs and funny shoes, sharing folk recipes, providing air bases for our belligerent neighbors and posing for pictures for busloads of Japanese tourists. What’s wrong with that?

    Right, ianmyself. Let’s let it die and build a new one. A smaller one.

27. simonhhh March 15th, 2007 12:11 pm

    $2.5 TRILLION accrual cost
    One only hopes that the horrendous implications of the $2.5 TRILLION accrual costing of the Iraq War for the US taxppayer (as estimated by Nobel Laureate Professor Joseph Stiglitz, Columbia, and his Harvard colleague Professor Bilmes) will finally register with American and British voters.
    It must be stated that the post-invasion Iraqi excess deaths (avoidable deaths, deaths that did not have to happen) now total ONE MILLION as of March 2007, after 4 years of war and as estimated from data from the top US medical epidemiology group in the World’s top Public Health School (the Nobel Laureate-containing Bloomberg School of Public Health) at the top US Johns Hopkins University, published peer-reviewed in the top UK medical journal The Lancet and endorsed by 27 top Australian medical experts.
    The latest 2006 Johns Hopkins data ( indicating 13.3 deaths annually per 1,000 people and an annual Iraqi pre-invasion death rate of 5.5 deaths per 1,000) yields an annual excess death rate of 7.8 per 1,000 i.e. 7,800 per million. Assuming an average population of 27 million this yields post-invasion excess deaths = 7,800 x 27 x 4 = 842,000 i.e. 0.8 million.
    However taking the 2006 Johns Hopkins data but using a Jordan/Syria comparative baseline of 4 deaths per 1,000 per year (as opposed to a baseline of 5.5 deaths per 1,000 per year for pre-invasion Iraq after 12 years of crippling Sanctions) gives an annual excess death rate of 9.3 per 1,000 i.e. 9,300 per million and post-invasion excess deaths totalling 9,300 x 27 x 4 = 1,004,400 i.e. 1.0 million as of March 2007.
    These estimates are consonant with 3 other estimates from 3 independent medical literature and UN Agency data sets.
    The vastly lower Iraq Body Count estimate is of violent deaths only (ignoring the huge civilian deaths from egregious deprivation associated with racist US Asian wars) and from media reports (notoriously unreliable as discussed in the peer-reviewed paper in The Lancet by Dr Burnham and his colleagues from Johns Hopkins) .
    The UN estimates that there are 3.8 million Iraqi refugees and WHO estimates that the “total annual per capita medical expenditure” in Occupied Iraq is merely $64 – as compared to $23 for Occupied Afghanistan, $2,389 (UK), $2,874 (Australia) and $5,711 (US) (2003 figures).
    The 1 million post-invasion Iraqi excess deaths constitutes an Iraqi Holocaust largely due to Coalition violation of the Geneva Conventions that demand that Occupiers keep their conquered subjects ALIVE.
    Three quarters of the people of Iraq are Women and Children. The Bush War on Terror is in harsh reality a War on Women and Children, and more specifically a War on Asian Women and Children.
    This on-going Anglo-American crime against humanity (1 million post-invasion Iraqi excess deaths, 3.8 million refugees) has reached the magnitude of the British-overseen 1845-1850 Irish Famine (An Gorta Mór; 1 million dead, 2 million refugees).
    We are obliged to inform everyone about gross abuses of humanity – please inform everyone you know. Will British media in general – or , as in Orwell’s 1984, do they accept that “ignorance is strength” and that “2 plus 2 does not equal 4″?
    It should be noted that Germany is proposing that the EU criminalize minimizing or ignoring of ANY genocidal or man-made holocaust event (i.e. as an extension of widespread criminalization of denial of the WW2 Jewish Holocaust in Western Europe).
    For detailed analysis and documentation of the above see MWC News (Canada) and Crosswire (Australia): http://mwcnews.net/content/view/11849/42/ , http://open.newmatilda.com/crosswire/?cat=2 and http://mwcnews.net/content/view/12904/42/ .

28. dbcsez March 15th, 2007 1:58 pm

    Agreed, great column. Now please fix the links. I would forward this to a lot of my fellow progs if the links worked; as it is, I’ll probably just copy and paste the whole thing into my blog, with the links corrected.

29. ezeflyer March 15th, 2007 2:07 pm

    Thank you Common Dreams, for giving us this forum. It’s becoming an antidote to progressive’s frustration with the corporate Republocrat choices we are given.

    If we could get Kucinich, Waters, Lee, Woolsey and other progressive figures to join the rest of us in defecting to the Green Party, (instead of luring us back into the sold out Democratic Party,) we might win. Imagine!

30. gsemsel March 15th, 2007 4:28 pm

    So a few people are angry. So what? Who cares? The only people reading such material are other angry progressives, me among them. No one else cares. There’s nothing to be done. The country has been lost.

31. BillN March 15th, 2007 5:38 pm

    Congrats, Lobo. You are actually taking action – joining the Greens. It is always better to act than to sit on the sidelines. But don’t worry about what others do, just focus on what you and the Greens do. Set the example. And thank you for joining the fight.

    Third parties play an important role in America, but they are not adept at using their votes to change the outcomes of elections in a positive way. If you can control your power, you’ll enjoy using it.

32. Orcaspirit March 15th, 2007 6:30 pm

    How very sad, gsemsel, that you have given up hope. I know that many others have also but all is not lost!!!

    I, for one, believe in the power of critical mass which I hope to God we are fast approaching and that people are evolving and becoming enlightened and more aware of the crimes against our Constitution and worse yet, crimes against humanity and our planet committed by this bunch of goons.

    While I too feel hopeless at times to give up now would be to give the Bush administration and all their criminal cohorts exactly what they want and THAT I absolutely refuse to do. They (especially Cheney & Rumsfeld & Rice, well, I guess ALL of them) like to think that we, the people, need to be told only what they think we need to know and that we aren’t too terribly bright. WRONG!!

    I wish I were more astute and knew the answers as to how to get these people OUT of our government and into jail or exile (as if anybody would have them…) but I don’t. But I refuse to give up hope and the belief that things are changing for the good (albeit slowly) and while it will take a lot of time and effort to turn around all the damage done by these monsters it CAN be done! What goes around comes around!

    It’s hard to be optimistic and I’ve been called a “Pollyanna” but I don’t know how I’d get out of bed every morning, start the job search again, deal with health issues and life in general if I didn’t believe in positive change coming. For one, I’m a former Woman Marine and I don’t give up easy. Also, I watch Keith Olbermann whenever I can. He says it like it is and is great at making Bush et al look like the fools they really are! Laughter is good for the soul.

    My daughter has a bumper sticker that reads, “If you’re not outraged you’re not paying attention.” The more of us that wake up and DO something…anything… the closer to critical mass we get and THEN there will be some justice!!

    Keep the faith!! (no matter which one) and light a candle for peace.

33. iammyself March 15th, 2007 9:05 pm

    George,

    I don’t think all has been lost…not at all. I think we can view this as the start of something new, and hopefully, if enough of us hang around, we can have some input into whatever new society evolves from this one.

    That this society’s days are numbered is pretty certain. No society has ever continued under such perverse extremes. However, and in my opinion, we must not let the bastards just have it. We need to swing back as hard as we can and let them know that we’re not just giving up or giving in. We have to let them know that we still have plenty of fight left so that we can have the space to create a new life out of the ashes of the old.

    Reminds me of a saying: “Old paradigms don’t change. Old paradigms die with old men.” We need to let this old paradigm die, but we must stick around to create the next one. That’s what this is all about!

34. lobo72 March 15th, 2007 10:22 pm

    Paul: What a well-written and passionate column. I just have to add more.

    I got my BA in journalism in 1972 less than a month before the Watergate break-in. The reporting of the Watergate scandal by Woodward and Bernstein of the Washington Post was very exciting to me because it exemplified EXACTLY what the free press in America is supposed to do. That is, to be the watchdog of government on the public’s behalf. Richard Nixon’s resignation in 1974 was in large part due to the zealous but fair reporting of that famous Post duo.

    Those days of old school journalism are long gone.

    Still, looking back, the worst days of Nixon’s reign weren’t nearly as bad as today’s Bush regime. The lies, obfuscations, deceptions, intimidation, indifference and bigotry of the current administration are frighteningly conspicuous. But we’re saddled with a dumbed-down, lethargic core population because our once proud and capable national press has degenerated into fawning, submissive sheep in the neo-conservative flock. It happened in just one generation and I wouldn’t believe if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.

    Having served an Army hitch in Germany (draft lottery number 23!) and attending graduate school there, I can tell you that in the 70s there were still surprising remnants of loyalty to Adolf Hitler. Knowing that, there will be Bush loyalists even when all his nepharious ways are finally exposed. Still we must either to impeach him now or indict him later for crimes against humanity when his diplomatic immunity ends. George W. Bush is a psychopath who has besmirched our reputation as responsible, peace-loving Americans before the world. He and his ilk must be punished and the name Bush must be added to the list of history’s most twisted despots.

35. Lobo Gris March 16th, 2007 2:13 am

    #
    BillN March 15th, 2007 5:38 pm

    “Congrats, Lobo. You are actually taking action – joining the Greens. It is always better to act than to sit on the sidelines. But don’t worry about what others do, just focus on what you and the Greens do. Set the example. And thank you for joining the fight.

    Third parties play an important role in America, but they are not adept at using their votes to change the outcomes of elections in a positive way. If you can control your power, you’ll enjoy using it.”

    So what you are saying then is I should just go on my merry little way and shut up and not bother anyone with my views? You sound like a Democrat that is trying to prevent defections.
    Why would anyone bother posting except to present their views and hope that others agree with them. Isn’t that what the Democrats do when talking about the Republicans and what the Republicans do when talkng the Democrats?

    Mabe, just mabe, if the Democratswant to keep people from defecting to third parties they should consider trying to represent the views of those who are angry and defecting rather than asking them to keep accepting what the Democrats think is best for them. You know, there is a reason why the largest number of registered voters in America are registered as independents. There is a reason why both the Democrats and the Republicans depend on that independent swing voter to win elections. It is because neither one of them represent the interests of the majority of Americans. They depend on telling voters, vote for us because we aren’t as bad as the other guys.

    I am not your problem. Your problem is refusing to adapt to the views of the majority. Your problem is in not representing the people that you ask to help you get elected. Your problem is in not presenting ideas that make the majority want to vote for you rather than making them feel that they have to vote for you because you are the lesser of two evils.

    “Third parties are not adept at changing the outcomes of elections in a positive way?”

    By that I take it you mean that they are spoilers. The classic argument to prevent defections. But who are they spoiling? The lesser of two evils for that particular election cycle. And what does not defecting get them? Another 2, 4, or 6 yrs of suffering through that cycle of not being represented. Only to hope that in the next cycle there will be someone who really will represent and be there for those who elected them. I keep saying it but the definition of insanity is to keep repeating the same actions over and over again each time expecting a differnt outcome.

    And what has consistantly voting for the lesser of to evils gained those who have voted that way?

    Continued outsourcing of decent jobs to low wage unregulated areas of the world for the benefit of transnational corporations at the expense of American workers and their families. Continued insourcing of foreign labor to take higher paying high skill jobs for which there are skilled American workers who have been laid off because the foreign worker will work for less even here. Again for the benefit of Corporation’s bottom line. Unregulated borders to fill even the low skill job market at rates below even the minimum wage again for the benefit of corporations bottom line.

    A job market for Americans whose biggest growth area is for janitors and retail sales clerks.

    A health care system that is far from being the best but is definitely the most expensive.

    A total debt that has risen to 9 trillion dollars. And that isn’t free money, it will have to be paid back someday by someone if America is to keep it’s credit rating which is vital to maintaining a healthy economy. I find it unlikely that the taxes paid by janitors, waitresses and retail clerks will do that.

    No, I’m not your problem Bill. Your problem is that I’m far from being the only one who is mad. Your problem is that your party needs to start representing those who they ask to elect them. Your problem is that your party needs to start turning the country around from the disastrous course it is embarked on. That is if you want your party to remain in power.

    As for third parties not effecting the outcome of elections in a positive way. That isn’t actually true. Third parties have a positive effect on the outcome of elections by effecting change. And the way they effect change is by getting enough voters that the major parties are forced to change to stay in power. The way major parties stay in power is to marginalize third parties by adopting their ideas and changing themselves. Real change not just talking about change and/or making campaign promises about changing but by really taking real steps to change. Not by bemoaning the fact that people are defecting because they don’t like and don’t accept what the major pary is offering and expecting people to accept it because it is the lesser of two evils. The alternative is that the major party that refuses to change fades from power and the a third party that does represent the majority comes to power.

    As to your last issue about power.

    “If you can control your power, you’ll enjoy using it.”

    I do not have power nor do I seek it. All I seek is a government that represents the majority of Americans. You know, A government of, by, and for the people, a government that rules by the consent of the governed.

    Lobo Gris

36. Lobo Gris March 16th, 2007 3:46 am

    BillN March 15th, 2007 5:38 pm

    I forgot to mention something Bill. I figure the Democrats have just under two years, quite a long time really, to start bringing real change. If they don’t I predict they will start their fade from power. Not that they won’t keep quite a bit of power for a while because they will, but the fade will start. And it won’t start because of me or the fact that I am mad, but because so many others are.

    It doesn’t look real auspicious with the Democrats planning to vote to give Bush 124 billion dollars for his Iraq supplemental which includes 20 billion dollars in pork for Congress. Nor does it look real auspicious when the Democrats want to keep impeachment off the table, in light of the egregiousness of the offenses comitted, but hey, things can change right?

    Lobo Gris

37. Rebel Farmer March 16th, 2007 12:51 pm

    Lobo Gris,

    A little too windy. It’s hard to get through such long comments even when the points made are of terrific value.

    We gotta start with election reform so that third parties and independents have a chance, and also to reform the current major parties. Instant run-off, campaign finance reform, open primaries….the list goes on. These reforms have to be done at both the State and the Federal level.

    It’s not a matter of which party you want to support or change. It’s all about choice and true representative government. Instead of just focusing on changing the major parties, work to change the system.

38. Lobo Gris March 16th, 2007 1:22 pm

    Rebel Farmer March 16th, 2007 12:51 pm

    Lobo Gris,

    “A little too windy. It’s hard to get through such long comments even when the points made are of terrific value.”

    Thanks for the input, I do get somewhat carried away at times. I’ll try to keep that in mind and keep it down a little. (grin)

    “We gotta start with election reform so that third parties and independents have a chance, and also to reform the current major parties. Instant run-off, campaign finance reform, open primaries….the list goes on. These reforms have to be done at both the State and the Federal level.

    It’s not a matter of which party you want to support or change. It’s all about choice and true representative government. Instead of just focusing on changing the major parties, work to change the system.”

    To me it seems like a catch 22

    The system definitely needs to be changed, but it can’t be changed until we have politicians that are willing to change it. The current group are too invested in the current system to do so, and getting new ones in will be difficult because of the system.

    Lobo Gris

39. BillN March 16th, 2007 10:52 pm

    Third parties can be effective without changing any laws. But they have to, in my opinion, stop being spoilers. That’s not how it works in parliamentary systems.

    In a parliamentary system, smaller parties join in to make a ruling coalition. They win concessions based on the power they have. People see that the smaller parties contribute to the process and they get more power.

    That’s an example, only one possible way, that third parties can gain and wield real power under our current system. The Greens could approach the Democrats and offer to expand their coalition if demands are met. When the power of the Greens to bring votes exceeds the votes lost, the Dems will listen.

    Currently, Greens mostly help Republicans, and get mad at the Dems for not adopting the Green line. While that strategy is not very diplomatic, a wily Democrat might be able to work it. But I want to suggest that the Greens would be better proposing and controlling whatever deals they want to make.

    Of course, Greens should never, and would never, compromise their ideals. But they could win more than they are now. The European Greens seem to have no problem working in coalition.

40. Rebel Farmer March 16th, 2007 11:19 pm

    Here ya go…Voter rights are already winning battles in 47 states and it is also getting on the national agenda. The established partisans can’t stop this thing now. Go to nationalpopularvote.com and fairvote.org. Sign up, log in, get the newsletters, but most of all, get active. There are also links for you to see what’s going on in your State and join up with other activists in your area.

    So get going! Participate, join in actions, write your representatives. They are listening and are being forced to act because of the grassroots ground swell. There is power in numbers directed at a single goal.

    Move it! Raise hell!

41. ctrew March 17th, 2007 12:05 am

    “They may call us pollyannas, as we sing our hopeful song, but when we vote together, our might will right their wrong.” crt

42. Lobo Gris March 17th, 2007 3:10 am

    “”Third parties can be effective without changing any laws. But they have to, in my opinion, stop being spoilers. That’s not how it works in parliamentary systems.

    Of course, Greens should never, and would never, compromise their ideals. But they could win more than they are now. The European Greens seem to have no problem working in coalition.”"

    Yes but the European Greens work within the parliamentary system.

    As for parliamentary systems, they are multi-party systems which encourage coalitions to reach a point of power. Here in the U.S. we have a duopoly of Republicans and Democrats which do their best to exclude any third parties.

    As an example:

    “Financed by Anheuser-Busch, Philip Morris and other multinational corporations, the Commission on Presidential Debates has excluded popular third-party candidates, most of whom are critical of the Big Business agenda. Although he received $29 million in public funds, captured 19 percent of the popular vote in the previous 1992 election, and 76 percent of eligible voters wanted him included, Ross Perot was excluded by the two parties from the 1996 presidential debates. Both Pat Buchanan, who collected over $12 million in federal matching funds, and Ralph Nader, who attracted the largest paid audiences during his campaign appearances, were excluded from the 2000 presidential debates, although in a national poll, 64 percent of eligible voters wanted them included.”

    “”That’s an example, only one possible way, that third parties can gain and wield real power under our current system. The Greens could approach the Democrats and offer to expand their coalition if demands are met. When the power of the Greens to bring votes exceeds the votes lost, the Dems will listen.”"

    There is a fallacy in your argument. On the one hand you claim that when the votes Greens bring exceeds the votes lost that the Democrats will listen. Then on the other hand you claim that they are spoilers that cost the Democrats elections because of the votes they “siphon” off. Wouldn’t that indicate that they already bring enough votes to the table to be heard. Sorry but you can’t have it both ways.

    The Democrats would seem to be the ones with the most to lose in this situation since they already hold power. Have the Democrats approached the Greens and offered to address at least some of their concerns and mabe include some of what the Greens want in the Democratic platform in return for their votes? No, they haven’t because they want power on their own terms and they have been successful up until now in limiting and/or barring third party participation. Thereby not having to alter their terms.

    Until the Democrats see that it is to their advantage and that they need to address the concerns of third party parties in order to get their votes they are unlikely to offer any concessions, and their miscalculation may cost them elections. That isn’t the fault of third parties but the fault of the Democrats.

    Lobo Gris

43. Lobo Gris March 17th, 2007 6:00 am

    Rebel Farmer March 16th, 2007 11:19 pm

    Here ya go…Voter rights are already winning battles in 47 states and it is also getting on the national agenda. The established partisans can’t stop this thing now. Go to nationalpopularvote.com and fairvote.org. Sign up, log in, get the newsletters, but most of all, get active. There are also links for you to see what’s going on in your State and join up with other activists in your area.

    Thanks for the links, I’ll check it out

    Lobo Gris

44. iammyself March 17th, 2007 11:06 am

    “Yes but the European Greens work within the parliamentary system.”

    That’s right, Lobo, and that gets to the heart of the problem with our two-party, winner-take-all system. Dems know this and will not cede power to an upstart Green Party. Greens are rightly pissed and not willing to cede ground to a group that turned its back and marched rightward.

    So…things will continue as they have. And you know what? Democrats will continue to lose close elections and continue to blame Greens (anyone but themselves!) and we’ll continue our little discussion here on Common Dreams. Unless…nah, the Dems won’t change nor will the Greens, and that’s what it will take – a meeting in the middle. Pity, ’cause that’s the way things work…you give a little to get a little.

45. provoice March 17th, 2007 4:31 pm

    Lobo Gris…

    You have blamed Clinton for the migration of jobs elsewhere, but the cause was NAFTA.

    Clinton signed the final bill once Congress approved it, but Bush1 negotiated it and both Congress and the Press believed the propaganda that it would be great for the country.

    It hasn’t been… and in fact things are getting worse with CAFTA AND NAFTA.

46. Lobo Gris March 17th, 2007 11:07 pm

    provoice March 17th, 2007 4:31 pm

    Lobo Gris…

    “You have blamed Clinton for the migration of jobs elsewhere, but the cause was NAFTA.

    Clinton signed the final bill once Congress approved it, but Bush1 negotiated it and both Congress and the Press believed the propaganda that it would be great for the country.”

    So why wouldn’t that put the blame on Clinton, he signed the NAFTA bill. It was a close vote and there wouldn’t have been enough votes to overide a veto had he done so. There wouldn’t have been a NAFTA had he not signed. And he was pushing trade agreements as soon as he got in office. The first one was with Indonesia before NAFTA. He negotiated it himself and came back proudly announcing that the agreement opened our market to Indonesia immediately and their market to us in 25 years. What a deal! Send the man to me I want to sell him a car, or whatever else he wants to buy. He who signs gets the blame.

    And I haven’t just blamed Clinton, I have blamed the Republicans also. There were subsequent trade bills that were passed after NAFTA, all with a Republican congress and Clinton signing. the Carribean basin initiative, The African opportunity act, the Chinese trade agreement and acceptance of them into the WTO. Not to mention even more of them put into place by Bush II and the Republican congress after Clinton.

    The part that is the worst is that after Clinton and congress put NAFTA in place and it was obvious that it wasn’t working, at least for the American worker, that they just kept negotiating and implementing more of them. That and the fact that NAFTA had a provision to allow withdrawal from it after a six month notice which wasn’t implemented even after it was known that it wasn’t working, well it was working, but only for the transnational corporations and their stockholders.

    Making a mistake once is excusable. Not correcting that mistake and continuing to make the same one over and over again is not only inexcusable, it implies utter stupidity, and/or corruption.

    Check the history sometime. There were even radio ads being run by USAID encouraging employers to move to South America where Rosa was much more loyal than American workers and would work for 59 cents an hour.

    Lobo Gris

47. Lobo Gris March 17th, 2007 11:14 pm

    #
    iammyself March 17th, 2007 11:06 am

    “Yes but the European Greens work within the parliamentary system.”

    “That’s right, Lobo, and that gets to the heart of the problem with our two-party, winner-take-all system. Dems know this and will not cede power to an upstart Green Party. Greens are rightly pissed and not willing to cede ground to a group that turned its back and marched rightward.

    So…things will continue as they have. And you know what? Democrats will continue to lose close elections and continue to blame Greens (anyone but themselves!) and we’ll continue our little discussion here on Common Dreams. Unless…nah, the Dems won’t change nor will the Greens, and that’s what it will take – a meeting in the middle. Pity, ’cause that’s the way things work…you give a little to get a little.”

    No argument from me. My main point in all of this has been that it’s wrong to blame the Greens as being a spoiler when it is the Democrats that have the most to lose and should be the ones to make the first move towards a reconciliation. I doubt they will but they should.

    Lobo Gris

48. Bill from Saginaw March 22nd, 2007 4:16 pm

    I enjoyed reading the above 47 comments from several folks (such as Lobo Gris and Voxclamantis) whom I’ve encountered before, plus a lot of new blogger commentary. I came into this particular conversation late.

    What I find intriguing is how back in 2002-2003, when Little George’s popularity was sky high and the neo-cons believed they’d be in power for a generation, Karl Rove actually circulated a George Lakoff-type “talking point” to the conservative chorus, ironically urging his followers to adopt the theme of this original column for purposes of partisan slash and burn.

    Remember when Democrats who opposed the GOP Congressional majority were all written off as sore losers who were still upset because they couldn’t get over the Florida vote count?

    Remember when people who marched against the invasion of Iraq during its run up were marginalized as people simply blinded by their personal hatred of George Bush?

    How many canned form letters to the local print media editor have you read in the last four years that dodged substantive debate by accusing Bush’s critics of being just too obsessed by their own uncontrolled anger that it was pointless to even try to debate or reason with them?

    This rhetorical ad hominem attack device – smearing one’s political opponents as people stereotypically driven to irrationality by an adolescent anger – was disseminated by the right wing spinmeisters to their faithful as another tool in the toolbox for conscientious use by true believers.

    Of course, I’m every bit as pissed off as the 47 people commenting before me. I fully agree that such anger is righteous given the times we live in, and we all should indeed channel that energy into productive action.

    But don’t you think that somewhere out there Karl Rove is still silently smirking at us all?

49. Budzy Malone April 15th, 2007 4:21 pm

    As I read these articles of anger and frustration I come to the realization that the American people are very ignorant of the purpose and reason of governance. If it angers and frustrates you so much; get a different hobby and stop watching the news. You sound like a junkie whose dope aint quite hiting the spot anymore. Since when has it been the government’s repsonsibility to make YOU happy ~ never! The responsibility of the government is LAW and ORDER = control. You can participate by keeping your nose out of government business – Your tax dollars are well spent: look around at the National highway system, the public libraries; the public schools and universities; the parks; the lottery; WE HAVE A HELL OF A LOT TO BE THANKFUL FOR without a few winey bitches complaining. If you don’t like it you can go somewhere else: STOP COMPLAINING: or we’ll start complaining about you and your pathetic little existence. WE CONTROL the PUBLIC not you: the PRIVATE SECTOR. Remember one thing; Ignornace is bliss: and you should appreciate that and stop casting the blame for YOUR PROBLEMS on the government.

50. bnsypokocise December 12th, 2007 8:59 am

    titresytatyxu…

    extovixivypi…

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