What if we lose?

[Jimr]

What motivates them?

Fascism is a strong term and we should not use it loosely.
From my understanding of history it arises in service to the preservation of corporatist power in the face of a conjunctural crisis.

Understand the conjuncture we are at; because this is not a game.

The neo-cons see the financial / economic crisis looming – the explosion of state and consumer debt and the slide down the right side of the peak oil curve.
Their reaction is to extend our control of the Middle East and drive down the standard of living in the US.

The Stausians believe it is their moral duty and sole responsibility to do this, by any means necessary.

They will not give up power.
If the election is overturned they will declare Marshal law and some of you will go to jail.

My guess is that, on some level, Kerry understands this.

While they are tied up in Iraq expect them to turn their attention to attacking “entitlement programs” and real wages at home.

There are many battles ahead to be fought.
We will probably lose them all.
But if we fight them correctly, in the end, we will win the war because their “solution” of self-cannibalization can not work.

Do not allow yourself to become discouraged
Study; educate; organize and keep your eye on the ball.

I read the following every day for inspiration.


Villanelle For Our Time

From bitter searching of the heart,
Quickened with passion and with pain
We rise to play a greater part.
This is the faith from which we start:
Men shall know commonwealth again
From bitter searching of the heart.
We loved the easy and the smart,
But now, with keener hand and brain,
We rise to play a greater part.
The lesser loyalties depart,
And neither race nor creed remain
From bitter searching of the heart.
Not steering by the venal chart
That tricked the mass for private gain,
We rise to play a greater part.
Reshaping narrow law and art
Whose symbols are the millions slain,
From bitter searching of the heart
We rise to play a greater part.

Frank Scott (1899-1985)

[IStriker]

1. What are you talking about? Nobody is going to declare...

martial law if the election were reversed unless both sides agree to do it. That's crazy.

[TrustingDog]

3. not so crazy at all...

bush just needs a bit of a heads up in time before he knows his ass is in the big frying pan....

oops, another 911, o gosh darn.
red alert.

[judy]

2. Fascism is a strong term and we should not use it loosely.

Right. Let's not use it loosely.
But after reading the 14 defining characteristics of fascism:

http://www.rense.com/general37/fascism.htm

How can we have any doubt anymore?
But how can we fight fascism?

I am trying to think of the various (non-violent, as fascism thrives on violence) ways...2 I can think of right away:
1 - Be vigilant about semantics: don't use propaganda soundbites
when you talk to people. For example:

Never use the term "War on Terror" or "War on Terrorism". War is waged against people, not ideas, feelings, or methods. The term is a trap, the War on Terror is a scam.

Never say "3,000 Americans were killed at the WTC". Many people of different nationalities were killed, not all 3,000 were Americans. The attack on 9/11/2001 was a crime against humanity, not an act of war against the USA.

2 - Concentrate your fight on simple, yet important issues: for example, integrity of the voting systems (see characteristic #14). If the elections are always fraudulent, fascism will stay in power. Don't concentrate on reversing results, but concentrate on the simple, democratic principle of fair elections no matter who wins. That would imply of course getting rid of non-auditable electronic systems with central tabulators.

Fascism creeps in so easily. I'll try to think of more ways, and do some research on how historically people have fought fascism in non violent ways. Hopefully, I'd like to put together a list of 14 ways to fight fascism...(as a New Year Resolution :) )

[PaIndependent]

4. www.uscountvotes.org

In response to point #2, Kathy Dobb is working on a grassroots effort to do just that with the website www.uscountvotes.org. A group of us are working on obtaining and loading precinct level voting data from every state in the Union. This would be a great way for somebody to help level the playing field...