[Peace-discuss] Punish the Democrats, yes

[Allison McGillivray]

bob and jenifer seem to be asking the larger picture,
grand-scheme-of-things questions--i always find the process of
conversation, reflection and eventual decisions around these questions
much more valuable than the "what to do immediately" knee-jerk
responses that are being encouraged by the election season.

i believe in the solution of abandoning "the system" all together.
refusing to participate in a machine that repeatedly sends our
families to kill other families, neglects those most in need, and
continues to prioritize wealth, status, and innovation no matter the
cost (montary or in human lives). "abandoning" means not voting for
politicians and--as had been mentioned before--not "placing faith" in
these representatives. taking power into our own hands includes
refusing to pay the taxes that fund the american empire, living in
community and creating healthy, vibrant and inclusive structures,
using less, giving more, and laying our privilege aside.

of course, it's all easier said than done. and it never gets easy. but
if we're talking about how we're going to end war, how we're going to
stop global domination, how we're going to keep the conversation going
and really challenge our leaders to make life-giving decisions, we
need to be ready to do bigger things than vote. i think that voting is
the action the powers at be hope we take and then stop at that. i
imagine they thrive off of the contentions that arise over the ballots
in our hands, seeing our energy sucked up by these issues and leaving
us exhausted to investigate or address harder questions. changing the
structure of our lives is essentially what we need to do, and to
demand that our leaders follow our example instead of the other way
around.

just my utopian, larger-picture thoughts.

peace
allison

On 10/19/10, C. G. Estabrook <galliher at illinois.edu> wrote:
>   The point is that Obama and the Democrats are not "up against it" -
> they're
> part of it.
>
> The first Democratic president after WWII was advised that to get his war
> and
> tax policies in place against the opposition of the US populace, he would
> have
> to "scare hell out of the American people." (Senator Arthur Vandenberg to
> Harry
> Truman; see the account by the new president of the U of I, Michael J.
> Hogan, /A
> Cross of Iron: Harry S Truman and the Origins of the National Security
> State,
> 1945-1954/ [Cambridge UP 1998].)
>
> Truman and other American leaders deliberately misrepresented the
> seriousness of
> the Communist threat in order to get Americans to support a new world (cold)
> war
> immediately after the end of the old one. Lacking Communists, poor Obama &
> Co.
> can demonize only Teapartiers... Inshallah, they won't be so successful.
>
> On 10/19/10 9:26 AM, Jenifer Cartwright wrote:
>>  Adding to Bob's post: I've read several New Yorker articles about the
>>  senate and what it actually takes to bring bills to a vote... and
>>  I've started reading OBAMA'S WAR and it's all eye-opening and very
>>  tuff going... because there's a whole enormous, entrenched power
>>  structure running things when it comes to how the gov't actually
>>  runs, both domestically -- by those who've been elected -- and wrt
>>  foreign affairs (i e the war machine and the mindset that keeps it
>>  going) -- these are the people who haven't been elected, whose names
>>  we mostly don't know and never will... the CIA, the Pentagon. Hate it
>>  as we do, it's what we're up against, there are no simple answers,
>>  and the reality of this will scare the shit out of you.
>>
>>  The Qs are: what's to be done about all this?? And would you rather
>>  take yr chances w/ Obama and the Dems or with the Repubs, incldg the
>>  Right wing nut jobs funded by the corporations... because those are
>>  yr real choices... And if you don't know that yet, you never will
>>  unless and until you educate yrselves about how things really are,
>>  and how much it will take to make even small positive changes...
>>  while it's taken so little to make huge negative ones (Supreme Court;
>>  Citizens United). --Jenifer
>>
>>  --- On *Tue, 10/19/10, Robert Naiman /<naiman.uiuc at gmail.com>/*
>>  wrote:
>>
>>
>>  From: Robert Naiman <naiman.uiuc at gmail.com> Subject: Re:
>>  [Peace-discuss] Punish the Democrats, yes To: "C. G. Estabrook"
>>  <galliher at illinois.edu> Cc: "Jenifer Cartwright"
>>  <jencart13 at yahoo.com>, "Ron Szoke" <r-szoke at illinois.edu>, "Morton K.
>>  Brussel" <brussel at illinois.edu>, "Peace-discuss"
>>  <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net> Date: Tuesday, October 19, 2010,
>>  8:33 AM
>>
>>  Perhaps it is that simple for someone who is as much of a dogma-head
>>  moron as Chris Floyd obviously is. For some people it is simple that
>>  "abortion is murder." This assertion merits as much claim on our
>>  attention as Chris Floyd's.
>>
>>  On Tue, Oct 19, 2010 at 8:23 AM, C. G. Estabrook
>>  <galliher at illinois.edu </mc/compose?to=galliher at illinois.edu>>
>>  wrote:
>>
>>  "Friends, it's very simple: if you support Barack Obama and the
>>  Democrats -- even if reluctantly, even if you're just being all
>>  sophisticatedly super-savvy and blogospherically strategic about
>>  it... -- you are supporting the outright murder of innocent people
>>  who have never done anything against you or yours. You have walked
>>  into a house, battered down the bedroom door, put the barrel of a gun
>>  against the temple of a sleeping child, and pulled the trigger. That
>>  is what you are supporting, that is what you are complicit in, /*that
>>  is what you yourself are doing.*/"
>>
>>  Full article at
>>
> <http://chris-floyd.com/articles/1-latest-news/2035-obamas-finest-hour-killing-innocent-people-for-qmade-up-crapq.html>
>
>