Democracy only works if the people have the courage to make it work. There ain't a goddamned problem we got in this nation which isn't solvable if we just damned well roll up our sleeves and solve those problems. Poverty? Solvable. Oil dependency? Solvable. Energy? Solvable. Bad educational system? Solvable.
But everybody's just too goddamned busy wetting their pants at the notion of solving this nation's problems, because it would require more courage than they have and more sacrifice than they're willing to make. So all we get are excuses about how problems aren't solvable, rather than solutions. Pathetic. Just pathetic. Cowards. Gah.
Maybe Michael Moore was right when he blamed a culture of fear for this nation's violent behavior...
-- Badtux the Fear Penguin
badtux, the history penguin
ReplyDeletemight enjoy this one. . .
I think it is more than fear. I think Americans are lazy about change---especially the sort that can be called progress. We are used to a pretty easy row to hoe....with a gas-powered tiller at that!
ReplyDeleteThen again, we confuse the political reasons with the aesthetic reasons with the marketing reasons with the scientific reasons.
ReplyDeleteObfuscation results.
--ml
Democracy only works if the people have the courage to make it work.
ReplyDeleteDemocracy only works if mature adults are running it instead of the self centered nine year olds in them.
This country is ran by nine year olds, get ready to kiss America's ass goodbye.
And a good thing it will be.
I believe that you should put authoritarian(ism)in that equation somewhere, I look around at my blood family, mother included who look to their pastors/churches/governments as authoritarian entities and will believe in them and obey their very wills unquestionably. I do not even begin to understand them. Their religious dogmas are so far out there that they believe in the "Army Of God" that is rampant in the military today. Be afraid! Very, Fucking, afraid! They are in power, and it runs up and pretty well through the JCS. Back in the mid 50's when I enlisted in the Navy, My dog tags read PROT as they wouldn't allow the use of ATH or AGN at the time. No one interfered in your beliefs, and the only time you were required to go to devine services was boot camp, and I skipped those by taking guard duty that morning. Now the prozletizing (sp)is common place and advancement becomes more difficult if you don't fit the christian right's idea of what a perfect military person you are. Our military is wrecked, ruined to a point that it will take decades to rebuild. I would like to put all the "fear" crap on the repigs, but it looks like there is plenty of blame to go around, both in the DNC and the DLC. I think that you (USA)have stepped over the cliff and are on you way into the abyss. These people don't want change they know that if there is change, it will be their death knell. There are Dems up there that I believe, are as guilty of the very war crimes. Until you find more of those honorable persons who would rather die than disobey their Oath's. I as a retired Chief took a similar oath, and looking at the Officers who are in charge whom, IMHO, seem to believe that oath is not worth the paper it is written on. Todays military? No Thanks! A Triple Decker Revolution? You Betcha Sweet Ass, I'm in!
ReplyDeletemaheanuu tane,
ReplyDeleteI agree--the christianization of the upper echelon is disturbing, and it cuts a wide swath across the political spectrum. The U.S. is the most parochial and religiously dogmatic of the developed nations.
Save for the most enlightened adherents, the practice of organized religion usually proves a block to bridging societal gaps. The elitist mindset of the elect takes over reason and egalitarianism.
The trouble with starting a revolution is "where do you start"? Just like when I hear gun nuts blather on about how "the Second Amendment is our defense against tyranny," I ask them "Who are you gonna shoot"?
ReplyDeleteThe Weather Undeground thought it would start a revolution in the early 70s by setting off bombs. They blew up twice as many of their own membership as they did unlucky janitors. And no revolution. Tim McVeigh also thought he'd start a revolution of God-mad white reactionaries by blowing the front of the Murrah Federal Building. No revolution there either. So where do you start?
It would be nice if there was peaceful political change in America this year. That might defuse the feeling that's growing -- if comments on Websites are any indicator -- that a revolution is needed. (But people who talk about revolution in blog comments are probably the least likely to do it, because they're expending all their energy through their fingers on the keyboard.)
But you've gotta ask yourself -- how bad would it have to get for you to do something violently revolutionary? If President Cheney ordered non-nuclear bombing raids on Iran? If Cheney dropped nuclear weapons on Iran? If Barack Obama was assassinated? If the presidential election was cancelled due to whatever state of national emergency there was in November?
What would it take, and what would you do? It's good to think about these things in advance, so you realise what your position is, and have a plan accordingly. And chances are, you'll realise you'd probably not do anything. That's probably for the best.
As I've pointed out before, violent revolutions rarely turn out well. The main problem is that the kind of people who can engage in violence without a second thought tend to not be very nice people... and if you have nice people going up against very nice people in a violent revolution, guess who's gonna win?
ReplyDeleteHint: Some very, very nasty people.
The only exception I can think of at the moment is the American Revolution, and that was more a war of secession than a revolution. That was a war by the established governments of the American
states against the established government of the Crown, not a war by the people of the colonies against their established governments. The only real change in the governments of the colonies in the days after 1775 was to kick out the Crown governors and elect their own -- the rest of the government remained unchanged. Yes, the "Sons of Liberty" terror group was important in suppressing dissent against the "new" state governments, but was not the primary or even important mechanism of war against the Crown -- that was the formal Continental Army put together by George Washington and professionally trained by the Marquis de Lafayette and Baron von Steuben. But look at any real revolution -- the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, the Cambodian Revolution, etc -- and find me one -- just one -- that turned out well. You'll probably find one because for every rule there's an exception. But it'll be like finding a needle in a haystack amongst the bloody debris of horror.
- Badtux the History Penguin
bukko,
ReplyDeleteRe. the 2nd Amendment as a defense vs. tyranny, when you ask, "who are you going to shoot?", I think their main concern is to defend against personal invasion/encroachment.
The U.S. is a heavily armed society; still, the citizens' firepower can never match that possessed by their government. One could say in that way owning firearms is a futility as you will never have parity with the gov't.
However, should the worst case scenario arrive, those with weapons could provide a partisan resistance (?)
I think you said it all when you mentioned Michael Moore's "culture of fear." We seem to have it here more than in most supposedly first world countries. It accounts for all the bibles, guns and flags we've got going on, plus teh poverty, the lack of good jobs, good education, etc which lead to crime and then more cops and more jails and the vicious cycle we're in.
ReplyDeleteI'm ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work. I need some help from my fellow AMericans. I only have so much time left because I''ll be getting too old and tired to fight the good fight for the good cause if I have to wait a whole lot longer.
americans are arrogant and lazy and increasingly stupid (well not all -- but a lot)
ReplyDeleteand entitled ----
problem is where the "leadership" should come from and be reported from (ie the media) have their own arrogant and lazy agendas