[Peace-discuss] US betrayed by Democrats again - and by ourselves

[John W.]

Extremely well said, Ricky, and I hope you know that I understand where 
you're coming from.  I take issue ONLY with your statement that "we elected 
these clowns".  Leaving aside the issue of election fraud in 2000 and 
perhaps 2004, _I_ did not elect them.  I always vote...and part of my 
reason for voting is, sad to say, that inane cliche that "if you don't 
vote, you can't complain".  But I most definitely did not vote for the 
neocons now holding office.

My candidates almost never win.  And there is rarely a candidate on the 
national level whom I even remotely feel like supporting.  I really, deeply 
feel that, in our money-driven two-party "democracy" of today, we the 
voters have virtually no legitimate choices when we go to the polls.  I DID 
vote for Obama with about as much enthusiasm as I can ever muster for a 
national political candidate.  And leaving aside his "charisma", look how 
THAT has turned out so far.  I also voted for Dr. Gill, who lost.

Irrespective of the good intentions of particular candidates, I think the 
"system" is considerably bigger than any of them.  The rich are always 
going to run things for their own benefit.  Gloomy as it may seem, my 
perspective after almost 57 years on the planet is that, by exerting all of 
our strength our entire lives in working for what we have termed "social 
justice", the very BEST we can do is to make a few individual lives better, 
make a few positive changes on the local level, and maybe shorten or 
ameliorate the larger historical cycles in which the "evil ones" are in power.

Feel free, of course, to take issue with me.  Or better yet, just keep on 
doing your activism, which you do so passionately and so well.

With much respect,

John Wason



At 11:40 AM 1/6/2007, Ricky Baldwin wrote:

>Certainly we shouldn't allow the government to take
>money from the poor and from infrastructure, which is
>essentially the same, to pay reparations to Iraq, (or
>to do anything else -- or to do nothing at all).  But
>the reparations are still due.  And, yes, the rich
>should be paying their taxes -- should be taxed at a
>higher rate, at least as much as they used to be, but
>in truth they didn't pay that either, so the issue is
>the political will to make them pay, not the rate.
>
>In the short run, though, take it out of military
>(contractors) R&D and pay the Iraqis.
>
>And, just to say it again, I also think that we can't
>just blame the rich for the war or the taxes.  We also
>can't just blame the spineless Democrats or bloodless
>Republicans.  We allowed it.  We elected these clowns
>and if we didn't *exactly* elect every one of them,
>then we sure as hell damn near elected them - got them
>close enough to steal it, anyway, when they never
>should have been even remotely in the running.
>
>Then we allowed them to carry out their disgusting
>agendas without disrupting their prim and proper press
>conferences, their dusty old so-called "debates" (over
>whether they would screw the poor over a barrel or put
>the thumbscrews to them), and their $1000 a plate
>dinner parties.
>
>Sure, some of us have been working hard on a number of
>fronts, or trying to focus on one (it's hard to know
>which way to go when each front is so profoundly
>screwedd up and there are so many damn fronts).
>Unfortunately we waste a lot of precious time
>squabbling amongst ourselves instead of talking to the
>people we really need to be talking to - those in the
>great disgusted public who for want of a better term
>we might call "potential recruits" - but some of us do
>try.
>
>Many others don't, let's be plain.  It's easier to sit
>back and criticize than to get out and do your best,
>fail, at least halfway, forget things, drop the ball,
>collapse from fatigue or depression or confusion,
>screw up, struggle with contradictions, make
>compromises, refuse to compromise, struggle with all
>kind sof personal obligations that you'll be
>neglecting as a result, and take the blame from
>everybody who says you should have done more - or less
>- or should have compromised - or shouldn't have - and
>all the while we're losing ground.  That's tough.
>
>But the reason we lose is not because those of us who
>do these things are not doing enough.  The reason we
>lose is not because we aren't entirely correct in our
>strategy.  The real reason is that there just aren't
>enough of us doing it, and the reason for that is that
>we (as a whole) aren't focussed enough on finding new
>folks with new ideas and new energy and new complaints
>and hangups and strengths and weaknesses of every
>kind, and encouraging, welcoming, helping, integrating
>into our thing - or their own new thing - those new
>folks.
>
>Now I think some of us do a fair job of this actually,
>at least some times.  I just think we have to start
>taking some responsibility for the screwed up way
>things are, including the things we disagreed with -
>and I'm going to start right now by getting my ass off
>line.
>
>Ricky
>
>
>
>--- "John W." <jbw292002 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > At 04:57 PM 1/5/2007, karen medina wrote:
> >
> > >Chas. 'Mark' Bee
> > >
> > > > Full reconstruction on our dime.
> > >
> > >Definitely. But not under US control of the dime.
> >
> >
> > I say full reconstruction on the dime of the Bush and Cheney families and
> > Halliburton and the Carlyle Group and so forth.  Seize their assets;
> > torture them until they reveal the location.  I ain't got any more dimes,
> > when our own infrastructure and the welfare of our own poorer citizens 
> have
> > been so sorely neglected for so long.
> >
> > John Wason