Why keep fighting? Lemme TELL you why!

[davsand]

Gloom, despair, agony! The DNC is dead on arrival! Our democracy will die!

I see this on here time after time and it just ticks me off. I refuse to sit down and shut up and I refuse to accept that a year out anyone can call an election either for or against the Dem candidate (WHOEVER it is!) A huge amount can happen in a twelve-month span—shoot a lot can happen in 24 hours…

I get tired sometimes too. I get tired of seeing shrub beat up on the elderly and the poor and the working people. I get tired of seeing elected Dems leave their best at home on game days. I get tired of watching time after time when the progressives get the snot kicked out of them in primaries. I get extremely tired of being told that “pragmatism” and “realism” lead to the foregone conclusion that we are destined to watch as the nation we love collapses. But I keep on going. I have to. We ALL have to.

I remember watching Nixon win a second term. I also remember watching him leave Washington in disgrace part of the way thru his second term. I remember swearing that second term of Ronnie Raygun was gonna kill us all. WE not only survived it (painfully) but we then survived four more years of Daddy Bush.

I try and remember that not everyone has lived thru the bad times. Not everyone who is active today in politics was around to see Iran Contra hearings and not everyone was here to see daily body counts from Viet Nam. I tell myself that as an older member of the progressive front it is up to me to remind the younger ones that change doesn’t come overnight. Some days it is difficult to remember the victories along the way.

At that point I step back and remember the guys like Eugene Debs and Dr. King. Imagine how THEY felt! Debs ran for the Presidency while in prison. Dr. King marched into the tear gas and the fire hoses. I’m betting THEY had bad days too, but they sure didn’t sit down and shut up.

Step back and consider that after 12 years of trickle down economic voodoo we elected Bill Clinton and saw a time of growth and prosperity. Go a bit further back and consider that Carter was elected in the aftermath of Nixon and Ford—and he was one of the most ethical men ever to serve in the Whitehouse. The tides do change—and we must never forget that.

Maybe for me it is a matter of perspective. I’ve been there done that with the lousy breaks over the years and the votes that didn’t go the way I wanted. I’ve wept and screamed and I’ve also climbed out of bed the next day (or maybe even a few days later!) and looked for the next fight. When I get asked why I keep on, I try and explain that it isn’t just about that ONE election. It isn’t just that single vote. It is about change—over time.

It is all about looking at a school yard full of my daughter’s classmates and realizing that it IS up to me to make sure they see that there is more than one view and it is ok to speak up. It is all about making sure there IS a future for them and for the views that don’t get represented every day. If I don’t do it they may never know…

Do NOT sit down and do NOT give up. Remember: we have to Educate, Agitate and ORGANIZE!!!


Laura

[evil_orange_cat]

1. "to be non-violent..."

"in the face of the violence that we have been experiencing for the past 400 years is actually doing our people a disservice... in fact, it's a crime"

Malcom X...

[MSchreader]

2. Hope I'm not disappointing you

I try my best.

BTW, call me sometime. I wanted to chat about a few things.

Martin

[davsand]

11. Martin, you elevate me.

In all honesty, you are someone I think about when I get down--did you know that? From the outset, I've viewed you as someone who fought smart and didn't sit down when you got tired. I'm not sure I've ever thanked you properly for that.

As old as I am, I'm still learning. I went to the Debs dinner this year over in Terre Haute (hence my changed sig line!) It was impossible to walk out of the Debs house and not feel energized. That man went thru hell to change things and he didn't sit down. Not once, and not ever... And he never advocated violence.

I've been at loose ends for a bit here--the WSJ article hit just a couple of days before that and we got front page coverage about collection practices used by hospitals and why they are supported by local communities with property tax exemptions... I really walked into that dinner feeling like I had very little left. i was burned out.

I left that dinner and went to the UNITE hospitality suite. While I was there, I worked one of the high muckity-mucks about getting an endorsement for a progressive Senate candidate. Come to find out, he did support my choice and that endorsement IS gonna happen. It was a nice reminder that it can happen the way we want it to.

I've sure been thinking about you and Lisa. I hope the campiagn is going well.

Pax.

Laura

[proud patriot]

3. Hell Yeah !

Never give up !

read my sig line

[evil_orange_cat]

4. its been longer than most ppl think

I think our government has been out of control since Kennedy's death... but that's just me... :D

[demsRus]

5. That's what it's all about, davsand

It's not about the lost vote or being cheated or even a personal miscalculation. It's about taking the bad with the good and getting out there and never giving up. Good things just don't happen on their own in this political climate. It takes perserverence, planning, plans b, c and on and on. Success is not most times immediate. It's eventual.

[tom_paine]

6. kick!

NEVER GIVE UP!

[janx]

7. Damn right!

We are going to oust Chimpy in November 2004, and then we are going to begin the Great American Restoration.

I can't wait...it has been a very long and frightening three and a half years!

These doom-and-gloom posts are probably posted by freepers anyway.

There's a lot of room for optimism right now, and there are bright days ahead, if we work for them.

[Homer12]

8. Cycles exist within a system

The cycle we are in right now, is in part due to the lefts in-action to deal with the rights aggressiveness and willingness to change the system (in this case a Republic) for their self-serving goals.

We (the left) were in some way lulled into complacnecy in the 1990's with Clinton, not really seeing the vast corruption of Bushco and the Right's willingess to win-by-any-means-nessacary.

Sure, we know now, but the rest of the USA still has not accepted the corruption of Bushco and their incremental destruction of the Bill of Rights, the Constitution, and all of the progressive social programs that have been created during the past centurary.

Will the cycle be reversed, I think it will, but it's going to take time to reverse the damage that the government hating Republicans have ravaged on our Republic over the last 3 years.

Never give up, I will not be lulled into apathy and complacency like I was in the 1990's.

[Guaranteed]

9. August 12, 1980

"...And someday, long after this convention, long after the signs come down, and the crowds stop cheering, and the bands stop playing, may it be said of our campaign that we kept the faith. May it be said of our Party in 1980 that we found our faith again.

And may it be said of us, both in dark passages and in bright days, in the words of Tennyson that my brothers quoted and loved, and that have special meaning for me now:
"I am a part of all that I have met....
Tho much is taken, much abides....
That which we are, we are--
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
...strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end. For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."

-Senator Edward M. Kennedy, at the Democratic Convention

[calimary]

20. One good quote deserves another...

"The only kinds of fights worth fighting are those you are going to lose, because somebody has to fight them and lose and lose and lose until someday, somebody who believes as you do wins. In order for somebody to win an important, major fight 100 years hence, a lot of other people have got to be willing -- for the sheer fun and joy of it -- to go right ahead and fight, knowing you're going to lose. You mustn't feel like a martyr. You've got to enjoy it." -- I.F. Stone.

We must NOT lose heart (she said, feeling a little feeble and downcast, even so)! Remember Scarlett O'Hara, too: "Tomorrow is another day." Hopefully a day with fewer rethugs in charge.

[Guaranteed]

23. Love it

:)

[Guaranteed]

10. Still kicking nt

[kentuck]

12. You are correct Laura....

Even though we all get a little dejected at times, we have to fight the long battle. And a lot can happen over the next 12 months...

[davsand]

16. That is it exactly--the Long Game!

I really think that so many are newly arrived at an awareness of politics that it is easy to forget that it is a long term struggle.

I don't know how many on here have ever worked a campaign intensively--from beginning to end. I know some have--but I'm willing to bet that many have not. Most vets of the campaign wars will admit that there comes a point in EVERY campaign where you get really tired and you wonder why you EVER signed up for the headaches. But you keep on going...

I have no idea how many on here have ever been involved in a social justice issue for an extended period of time. It can take seemingly FOREVER to see any appreciable change--but it does happen sooner or later if you stay on it. Sometimes I refer to it as the difference between a chisel and water working on a stone. Either way the stone is changed in form--some methods just take a little longer.

Laura

[CBHagman]

13. Bump, bump, bump!

I'm sick of the "it's all over" mantra from various posters. Let's keep fighting and draw energy from it!

[Guaranteed]

14. I think they're making things seem worse

than they really are, anyway. There are a whooooooole lot of smart people out there who know that Bush is feeding us a pile of bullshit.

Have Faith.

[dmr]

15. You're right, Davsand

I keep reminding myself of this over and over. Our country has seen some pretty dismal days, and we can't lose hope. My son and I were discussing the WTO protests last week, and the reaction of the police towards the protesters. I remembered a story about the Depression that we don't learn in the classroom. My dad told this to me, he was there and witnessed a tragic piece of American history. We have to learn from our history and remember to teach as much as we can to the next generation.

During the Depression, 1932, penniless WWI veterans and their families camped out in DC asking Congress for their bonus promised to them (but not given) so they could feed and house their starving children, (remember many, many families were without work, no money and homeless). General Douglas MacArthur, along with the help of George Patton and Dwight Eisenhower, ordered by President Hoover, charged on horseback and by tank on the WWI vets, women and children with bayonets and tear gas. The Army torched and destroyed their camp, leaving the homeless homeless. There were more than a hundred casualites. Two small babies died. I will never forget how my strong and hardy dad cried relaying this story. It broke my heart.

American military assulting Americans who were exercising their right to free speech.

America survived. I guess we will survive this too.

[davsand]

19. Smithsonian did an article on that last summer.

I read that article and was horrified at how they were treated. Then I reflected on the idea that we could well see it again given how shrub treats the Vets. Given the lack of understanding they've shown thus far for the freedom of expression and the right to speak out, I have to wonder how far in the distant future it will be...

None of us can afford to sit down. It happened once and it can happen again.

Laura

[dmr]

22. Right. Our recent memory is Kent State

davsand, do you know if that Smithsonian article is online? I'm going to look for it, but if you know it's not, then I'll know not to spend my afternoon looking for it - because once I get started, I won't stop looking.

The rubber pellets the Miami and Miami-Dade police shot at the protesters last week is dangerous. If this continues, it someone may end up dead. It saddens me that Americans can shoot their American brothers and sisters.

We can't sit down. We can't give up.

[davsand]

25. I don't know if it is or not.

We are members and get the magazine so I read it in hardcopy. If you can find it online, it is a good article.

I agree fully that we are headed down a dangerous road. I know those kids at Kent state never left that morning thinking they were headed into the line of fire. They were, like those babies killed in DC, the innocents.

I get incredibly moved when I read about the early labor movement and the brutality they saw in trying to organize. Tompkins Square Riot, the "Battle of the Viaduct", Haymarket Square, Bayview Massacre, The Homestead Strike, Cripple Creek--those and many other places and names should make us all think about the casualties of social justice movements in this country. They put it on the line--I can't feel ok about sitting down NOW.

I think it is impossible to read about the Selma and not feel something about the personal price that went into that voters right movement. (BTW, If you want to see some amazing photos go here and see the mini slide show: http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/al4.htm

The names Medgar Evers, Reverend George Lee, Herbert Lee, Viola Liuzzo, and Dr. King should remind us that we can't give it up. The memory of what they gave up must spur us all on.

It wasn't easy--but change did come. It will come again.

Laura

[dmr]

26. Found it!

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian/issues03/feb03/pdf/smithsonian_february_2003_marching_on_history.pdf

I've started reading this, and I hope others will see this and put it on their reading list.

Thanks davsand for pointing me in this direction! :)

[Guaranteed]

17. Lub-dub kick....

[NoKingGeorge]

18. The Pendulum swings.

Thanks for your post.
I was there for Vietnam and as frustrating as that was, the end of that war brought a learning and reexamination of Our Country.The Nixon and Reagan crimes resulted in many changes and exposers.
The changes that will come as a result of having had Our Government hijacked will be to the betterment of America.

[davsand]

21. I remember the end of the Viet Nam war.

I remember realizing for the first time what it was like not to be invvolved in a military action. I was a teenager...

There's an old saying, "That which does not kill us only makes us stronger." In many ways, Viet Nam bore that out as did Raygun, as will dubya. I have no doubt the US will survive this and emerge better and stronger--we just have to live thru it. The only way to live thru it is to keep on fighting.

Laura

[Skittles]

24. WE NEED TO KICK ASS

I WON'T LET THESE FACIST F***S SEPARATE ME FROM *MY* COUNTRY