Hundreds of thousands march in the streets; veto-proof majorities express dissatisfaction in polls: Lost wars, economic desolation and environmental catastrophe combine to run our beloved country into the ground.
And yet, the bought and paid for political class turns its backs on the people. The fourth estate, the `free' press, our supposed safeguard against tyranny, now nothing more than soap and pet-food peddlers, ignores, ridicules and marginalizes the will of the people. And the citizenry itself, misinformed, propagandized and lied to by public servants and the institutions sworn to protect us, face a crisis of confidence because we cannot trust those we count on for the truth.
I believe it is now time to go beyond dissent into the world of disobedience. It is not enough to oppose evil with a march or a vote; active non-cooperation is required to clog the works; to halt the unhearing, uncaring and unresponsive machine of government and its consorts.
The United States of America is in a crisis unparalleled since the Civil War. A single party has an ideological stranglehold over America's purpose and purse-strings. The minority party, the loyal opposition, loyally opposes with words and platitudes while it begs for table scraps from the same corporate hegemony that fuels the stranglehold. It is an opposition of the feckless paying lip-service to the powerless. It is opposition in name only.
When 75% of the people believe the country is going the in the wrong direction and more than that believe the government does not serve their best interests, it is time to withdraw support from the government and from due process. When humble Mr. Smith goes to Washington (or Sacramento, Des Moines or Albany) and comes home a jaded millionaire we have lost the soul of this nation.
This is not about Republicans and Democrats. It is about People and Power. The system; the political process itself has become corrupted beyond recognition. Ask any politician what they spend the majority of their time doing and the answer is surely to be `raising money.' And they are not raising it from you and me. They are raising it from corporate lobbyists who give in order to get something in return. It is called `influence peddling.' Everyone knows the system is a barrel filled with rotten apples, but even the smallest efforts for reform are met with the stiffest opposition. America's political system can't be reformed; it needs a major overhaul. The only way that is going to happen is if we, en masse, refuse to cooperate.
Politicians do not run on the content of their character but the spin of their image. The populace is left with a mix of hairdos and sound bites to make informed decisions. And all they can do is end up voting on `likeability.' One has to wonder at the decrepit schmuck who last ran against Tom Delay.
90% of incumbents win reelection while 80% of Americans can't stand the government. This makes `dazed and confused' look like `bright eyed and bushy tailed.'
You know something is very wrong in a country when one day hundreds of thousands of citizens march in the streets to oppose governmental policy and the next day a hundred people show up to support that policy and yet the multitude is ignored in favor of the tiniest minority.
Well, I am going to say it. I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore.
The time for marches is over. The time for supporting Tweedledee over Tweedledumb is over. We do not need to show our numbers. We need to show our strength. We don't need hundreds of thousands in Washington. We need tens, hundreds and thousands in every town and village to surround and occupy military recruiting centers and federal office buildings. The way to stop the occupation in Iraq is to start the occupation in the halls of Congress and our Representatives' local digs.
It's not Democrats who need backbones; it's Americans.
We have become so afraid of losing our jobs and our way of life that we have sacrificed our souls upon an altar of expediency. We no longer live in the land of the free and the home of the brave. We live in the hovel of the shackled and the wasteland of the cowering.
If the blue-collar workforce is against the war, then unions need to support work stoppages in protest. If white-collar America does not support the Bush Administration, then disorganized, un-unionized white-collar America needs to hold meetings at the Starbucks around the corner and figure out how to throw a monkey-wrench into the works. Instead of Hollywood celebrities and professional athletes mugging for the cameras with trite, politically correct protestations, if any, they need to shut down entertainment productions and sporting events.
The time for politics as usual is over. The time for `working within the system' is over. The time for waiting for a corrupt political structure to heal itself and deliver a government of righteousness is over.
What don't we get? We're at war at home and abroad. Do a thousand more Cindy Sheehans need to be born between now and the next election? Must another million Americans be added to the four million who have already fallen into poverty since Bush came to power in an illegal abuse of judicial activism? Do we need one more case of political cronyism that kills people and makes the tip of the iceberg look like Mount Everest?
When will it fucking stop? The answer is `never' unless we take this country back now. No amount of yelling, screaming, marching and protesting is going to bring our troops home from illegal, irresponsible and immoral wars of aggression.
We have to bring them home ourselves by taking back this country from the demonically possessed Machiavellians through non-cooperation and civil disobedience. We have got to engage tactics that include strikes, sit-ins, slowdowns, boycotts, embargoes and moratoriums.
We know that we are not millions of lone voices in the wilderness, but part of a single family called Human being. FDR was so right. We have nothing to fear, but fear itself.
The time is now to put up or shut up. The world is waiting. The future is waiting. Will we be Ronald Reagan's `shining city upon a hill' or will America continue down its path to a dark vision of unfulfilled potential and empty promises?
The choice, as always, is ours to make. Is liberty and justice for all worth the sacrifice of blood, sweat and tears? Or will our legacy be as the folks who went along to get along?
America is at the tipping point. The power is ours to push this country back onto an even keel. But I am afraid the time is past to accomplish this through ordinary means. Since we were children we've been taught that America is an extraordinary place.
There is no time like the present to show the world it is true.