NO TOM PAINE - NO GAIN
Wed, 13 Oct 2010 18:16:33
As I drove off the ferry onto the mainland recently I read an election sign that accused the local Democratic congressman of "Bankrupting The Country since 1992." I'm getting whiffs of 1932 and "1984" here.
1932-"Bankrupting The Country Since 1992" -- read, "We're in this mess because they stabbed us in the back." Hitler did a great job of convincing an angry and dispirited German people that all their problems lay at the feet of the Not-Me. It was the Jews and Commies in '32. It's Obama and the liberals today.
"1984"-The barrage of lies and slander coming out of the right wing media maw is Orwellian in proportion. Thanks to a reactionary majority on the Supreme Court, secret money from anywhere -- inside and outside the country -- is pouring into the campaign, doled out by the likes of the Koch brothers and Satan's little helpmate, Karl Rove.
Six months ago, when the Tea Party was beginning to steep and the Republican far right was beginning to draw blood from the President, I called up my reserve of American optimism and figured that the peoples' common sense would come to the defense of our democracy. It didn't.
Goebbels was right. I was wrong. In a time of desperate confusion and economic collapse -- 30's Germany in the throes of the Great Depression and present day America in the grip of the Double Dip -- it would take a nation of Philosopher Kings to accept their share of responsibility for the disaster and devise a reasonable plan for healing the Commonwealth.
We have been so numbed and weakened by our addiction to trash TV, empty calories and bogus credit that, as it stands, we are incapable of standing up to the anti-democratic forces co-opting our economy, our ecology, our foreign policy and our civil liberties.
We are being occupied by hostile forces, just as certainly as the 13 colonies were occupied by the British. We need a Second American Revolution to free ourselves.
Instead of a Tea Party -- a TV Party. Unhook our flat screens and let Glenn and Sarah and Sean stumble in the darkness.
Turn away from the Happy Meals of the undead and cook ourselves up a local, farm-fresh future.
Take a look at that hand of credit cards we've dealt ourselves. How long are we going to stay in the toilet, pulling for a flush?
We don't have to wait for Nov. 2nd to wake up. Obama is a truly decent man with the patience and humility of our first president. Speak up for him. Speak up for the vision of America he has risked his political future to create and defend.
We are the people. We can do it. Well-educated, well-fed and well-intentioned, we can take this country back from the forces of ignorance and greed. Remember, no Tom Paine -- no gain.