Link to Video: http://current.com/...
Keith: What would you say to those who are angry about this (Debt Ceiling Deal)?
Gore: We need to have an American Spring. A kind of an American Tahrir Square, non-violent people where people at the grass roots get involved again. Not like Tea Party.. that movement was funded by the Koch Brothers and promoted on the Fox News, which turned into a stalking horse for the Right-Wing Agenda that a a lot of people have been trying to push on this country for a very long time. What's sacrosant for them is to have absolutely no tax increases on the wealthiest Americans, and to try and shrink down government so it can get out of the way of powerful corporations so they can have free rein.
Our Democracy has been withering on the vein for a long time. I know it's difficult to imagine that people who care about this country can rise up and get more involved, but that is exactly what we need and is the only thing that can get our country back on the right track.
I'll be honest, Al Gore was my very first choice to run for President in 2008. There are many reasons why but the primary one is the fact there is absolutely no way that he would have blown of the August 6th PDB. Vice President Gore took personal and direct charge of the Safety and Counter-Terrorism planning for the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 simply because NSC Counter-Terrorism Chief Richard Clarke asked him to get involved.
And when showed up, he cracked some heads.
If it was possible to have focused our national resources to find the source of the 50 FAA Highjacking threats, or follow upon the FBI Phoenix letting about some guys trying to learn to fly airplanes without learning how to land them - then Al Gore would have done it. And with no 9/11, we get no Afghanistan War and no Iraq War.
With Al Gore as President in 2000, we don't get the Bush Tax Cuts and consequently we go for a $14 Trillion Debt to a actually paying off more our national debt by this time.
If instead of halting the count, the Supreme Court had ordered a full and total Florida recount including the overvotes and write-ins Al Gore would have been President in 2000.
But let's not cry about all the spilt blood and treasure.
The point is that Al is absolutely correct now. Isn't the definition of insanity expecting a different result when using the same methods?
We need to change our tactics.
And crazy though they may be in their own ways the Tea Party has shown a potential new blueprint for focusing our frustration and our anger into productive measures.
This isn't about Obama, or about Democrats in Congress.
If we want to Save America from the Corporate Oligarchs, and from a new Age of Feudal Capitalism we need to get mobilized and get organized not just here on the Net, but out there in the real physical world.
We need to build a grass roots Anti-Party, that can encapsulate our positions and put the fire on all politicians to pay attention to our tune. We need to be out in the streets, organized via Facebook and Twitter, we need to stage non-violent protests and document every second on Youtube, we need to use the digital medium not just to vent but to ORGANIZE.
We need to take this moment and respond to it the way people in Wisconsin have responded. We need to take that movement NATIONAL.
Keith made this same point the previous night - and I diaried it.
Where is the outrage over these Great Hypocrisies? Do you expect it to come from a corrupt and corrupted media, for whom access is of greater importance than criticizing the failure of a political party or defending those who don't buy newspapers or can't leap website paywalls or could not afford cable tv?...
Do you expect it from those elected officials who no longer know anything of government or governance, but only perceive how to get elected, or how to pose in front of a camera and pretend to be leaders?...
Do you expect it will come from the great middle ground of the country, with a population obsessed with entertainment, video games, social media, sports, and trivia?
Where is the outrage to come from?
Is will come From You
I have a Facebook page right now called "Democratic Non-Violence" which I started in response to Right-Wing Terrorist Attacks by people such as Byron Williams and now we have Anders Breivik. Or I'd be more than willing to start a new one like this American Spring where can come together and start from scratch.
If others have pages - please post them in the comments, let's start joining them and start planning how we're going to get IN THE STREETS and make not just Washington but Everyone take notice.
This moment will not be forgotten and and all of those who suffer as a result of this deal - will not suffer in vain
Vyan