In the '60 campaign, JFK called for Martin Luther King's release from jail.

[Ken Burch]

The "pros&quot most of all, Bobby, who was still closer to Jules Feiffer's "Bad Bobby" at this stage than the "Good Bobby" he would be later) were sure it would cost JFK the South.

Instead, it galvanized the African-American vote for JFK across the country(Dr. King's father had been planning to vote for Nixon before that, due to Kennedy's Catholicism), inspired the young, and on Election Day, John F. Kennedy carried Georgia and most of the South and won the election.

The heroic defense of tribal sovereignty, environmental safety, and drinkable water for some of the poorest people in the country at Standing Rock is on the same moral plain as the black freedom movement of 1960(and today). People are being arrested, strip-searched, beaten, left naked in jail cells all night because they are taking this stand.

Those who want the pipeline are totally indifferent to the need to keep the indigenous people of this continent alive, to keep the world we live in safe from irretrievable environmental degradation, and the need to constrain corporate power from achieving complete dominance over every aspect of our lives.

Those who are not living at Standing Rock today will find their lives being turned into Standing Rock in the future. This is a test, a test of whether we, the people, can say "NO" to the forces of secrecy, greed, and arrogance...the forces that, in the end, seek to make all of us live at their mercy.

There is no "win-win" on this issue. You are either with the people and the true spirit of this nation, or you are with the forces that ultimately want total dominance over us all.

An announcement by Hillary that she will cancel the Dakota Access Pipeline, the issue which now dwarfs all others among tens of millions of Americans, would cause a massive surge in turnout and Democratic support all across the country. It would show heroism and courage, it would connect her with the Sanders generation, and she would lose nothing from anyone anywhere.

It's anti-racist, it's social justice, it's in the spirit of the times, and it would pretty much assure a solid Hillary victory.

On Standing Rock and the pipeline, the right thing is also the WINNING thing.

This is the moment.

Stand with the FIRST people of this land, Hillary. It's what your Wellesley commencement speech, all those years ago, called on all of us to do. It calls on YOU do so now.


(Please kick and rec this to keep it in broad view here. Thanks.)

[pat_k]

1. "the right thing is also the WINNING thing"

Doing the right thing, showing heroism and courage, is always a winner.

When people feel uncertain, they'd rather have somebody that's strong and wrong than somebody who's weak and right.
--Bill Clinton

Strong AND Right = Unbeatable.

An announcement by Hillary that she will cancel the Dakota Access Pipeline, the issue which now dwarfs all others among tens of millions of Americans, would cause a massive surge in turnout and Democratic support all across the country.

SPOT ON!

When it comes to issues of moral principle, making a commitment to stand and fight to the finish, win or lose, is ALWAYS the WINNING "strategy."

It's something the so-called Democratic "leadership" just doesn't seem to get. They didn't get it when we lobbied for an objection to the Florida electors on Jan 6, 2001. They didn't get it when we lobbied for an objection to, and rejection of, the Ohio electors in 2004. They didn't get it when we lobbied for the impeachment of Bush/Cheney for torture. They didn't get it when we called on the 40+ who claimed to oppose Alito to actually DO SOMETHING to stop him and filibuster.

And on, and on.

Can the Democratic leadership "see the light" on the Dakota Access Pipeline? I don't know. I fear we will not be hearing an announcement from Clinton before the election. I hope I'm wrong.

But, I'm not ready to give up trying to "get though" to them. We have our work cut out for us after the election.

The Dems failure to show strength and courage of their convictions has left a giant vacuum.

As Lewis Rothschild put it (character in "The American President," 1994):

People want leadership, Mr. President, and in the absence of genuine leadership, they'll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership. They're so thirsty for it they'll crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there's no water, they'll drink the sand.

Trump could never have arisen if the Dems had not left such a giant leadership vacuum.

Can the future of the party be different? If we are to redeem our national soul, it must be.

Taking up the fight with the heroes at Standing Rock is a hell of a place to start on the right path.