Who here finds it hard to eat a good meal these days?

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

What about filling the gas tank, the heating oil tank, paying the electric bill or affording that airline ticket when you really have to get somewhere? Who here is having problems finding a job that pays you a wage that allows you to lead a decent life? Who here recently lost a job? Who here has recently had huge medical bills and no insurance and now faces financial ruin? Who here has lost their home to foreclosure? Bankruptcy? Who here has recently been roughed up or tasered by out-of-control police?

I could go on like this for a while, but I think that the average DU'er is more than smart enough to understand what I am trying to say, above. That the above are some of the real and substantive issues facing this nation. There are a whole lot more.

The reason I ask this is because we will soon have a nominee for our party. Either a black man or a woman. A lot of people are very invested in their respective candidates based upon what either symbolizes. In a large way, either getting the nomination would be a signal of final emancipation for either African-American citizens or women. It is to be expected that those who are emotionally invested in the meaning of that symbolism would feel a great sense of loss and betrayal if their candidate did not win.

But, I am not here to prannie on about symbols. The stakes are a lot higher than that.

We have two good candidates and one of them is going to win the nomination and likely the election. After that, we have a goat fuck to deal with in this country. We have all those issues I listed above and one hell of a lot more to deal with, as soon as we can. They are not issues of symbolism or of form over function. They are concrete issues of dire immediacy. The question we face is: Are we going to Cross over to The Promised Land or Cross The River Styx? And yes, the choice is just that stark.

I write this because the primaries, a time of real personal indulgence and sometimes tomfoolery, are drawing to a close, if one is to believe the signs and portents. That means that something greater looms: the winning of The Presidency and the houses of Congress and then setting to work fixing the problems I elucidated above. Also, doing what we on the left do best: Making sure that the people we elect do everything in their powers as enumerated under The Constitution of The United States of America(and not one assumed or stolen power more...) to work their guts out night and day with a single-minded devotion to truly addressing that which ails this nation.

What I mean is that the personal issues I listed in the first paragraph seems to me to be a lot more important and a lot more worthy of our attention than a snit because someone might have, at some point, said something mean about their candidate or, perhaps, their candidate did not win. Symbolism or not.

What is riding on this election is incalculable. In my 55 years I have never seen this country in such a state, raped of her wealth and cast adrift by our Captains of Commerce and our elected officials. How it all turns out is up to us. In the weeks and months ahead a lot of people need to gut check, suck it up and recognize the fact that we, as a nation and a party, cannot afford the indulgence of snits and long-simmering resentments. We have work to do and history will judge us, all of us, on the quality of our work that looms directly ahead.

History will not judge snits kindly. Snits never fixed anything.

[coriolis]

1. There is no guarantee that anybody, as president, can unscramble this egg.

There isn't even a common direction supported by a significant majority any more. The only thing certain is that it will either get better...or worse.

[Warpy]

4. The president elect will suffer from unrealistic expectations

no matter who it is. It's going to take dramatic action from ordinary people to convince a reactive government that drastic action needs to be taken from the unfair tax code through health care though foreign policy.

If we are lucky, national strikes can do it. If we are not, it will probably take sporadic violence.

If we want it back, we have to grab it. Throwing the junta and their enablers in Congress out is our first step.

[Usrename]

7. A credit card holiday.

Nobody I know can afford to go on strike, and all the ones who wouldn't automatically lose their jobs like their boss too much to strike. It doesn't make any sense. It would only hurt the folks who are being devastated more.

I think there's another approach. Everyone take a holiday from paying their credit cards. That would get a whole lot more attention, and it would be focused attention, by all the the right people. It sure makes a whole lot more sense to me. There's a point to it. Such as negotiating non-usurious interest rates and such.

I don't really see the point in trying to organize and promote a national strike. I'm open to being persuaded that I'm not looking at this correctly, but no one I know can afford to take a day off work.

[Warpy]

8. That would hit them, too, with credit card junk fees

and higher interest rates.

The strike is cheaper.

[Usrename]

10. I don't think you understand.

The whole point would be to bring them to their knees. How long do you think it would take if half the people stopped paying their cards? Three months, four months? They can't float that long. Too many at the trough slurping up the economic lifeblood of the nation. I think that within a very few weeks, if was well organized, they would be ready to come to the table. In fact, if it was very well organized the end game would be scripted before the whole thing even gets started. There are no options when the money stops flowing.

No one would pay any fees, it wouldn't cost anyone more, it would cost people less. Which is the whole point, isn't it?

Nobody pays until they cap rates at 12 percent nationally. There ya go. Everyone wins. Right?

[madokie]

2. I agree with all of what you say

When the facts on all this criminality start coming out it will be hard to keep the masses from using the pitchforks and torches we sometimes speak of. The fall of the bush empire will shake the world to the core but you know what I believe we are up to the task of keeping it all together and making sure this can never happen again or at least for a good many years anyway.
rec

[TomInTib]

3. The "masses" are hibernating....

or watching Idol or something.

Fuck the "masses", you can never count on them.

[bbinacan]

5. I guess I'll go slit my wrists now

Yes we have problems, but they don't compare to the 30s or the 70s.

[frylock]

6. they make better smoke and mirrors these days

[Richard Steele]

11. We are way beyond the minor speedbumps we hit in the 1970's.

To claim that the 70's posed greater problems is just laughable.

[Breeze54]

14. Saying the '70's was all wine and roses is also laughable...

During the 1970's the United States underwent some profound changes.

FACTS about this decade.
Population: 204,879,000
Unemployed in 1970: 4,088,000
National Debt: $382 billion
Average salary: $7,564
Food prices: milk, 33 cents a qt.; bread, 24 cents a loaf; round steak, $1.30 a pound
Life Expectancy: Male, 67.1; Female, 74.8

----------

AMERICAN CULTURAL HISTORY

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005252.html

1970 – 1979 World History

1970 -

U.S. troops invade Cambodia (May 1).

Four students at Kent State University in Ohio slain by National
Guardsmen at demonstration protesting incursion into Cambodia (May 4).

Senate repeals Gulf of Tonkin resolution (June 24).


1971 -

24 April 1971 - Huge anti-war march in Washington, D.C.

Supreme Court rules unanimously that busing of students may be ordered to achieve racial desegregation (April 20).

Anti-war militants attempt to disrupt government business in Washington (May 3)
—police and military units arrest as many as 12,000; most are later released.

Pentagon Papers published (June).

Twenty-sixth Amendment to U.S. Constitution lowers voting age to 18.

UN seats Communist China and expels Nationalist China (Oct. 25).


1972 -

Britain takes over direct rule of Northern Ireland in bid for peace (March 24).

Gov. George C. Wallace of Alabama is shot by Arthur H. Bremer at Laurel, Md., political rally (May 15).

Five men are apprehended by police in attempt to bug Democratic National Committee headquarters
in Washington, D.C.'s Watergate complex—start of the Watergate scandal (June 17).

Supreme Court rules that death penalty is unconstitutional (June 29). Eleven Israeli athletes
at Olympic Games in Munich are killed after eight members of an Arab terrorist group invade
Olympic Village; five guerrillas and one policeman are also killed (Sept. 5).

“Christmas bombing” of North Vietnam (Dec. 25).


1973 -

Supreme Court rules on Roe v. Wade (Jan. 22).

1973 - Arab oil embargo causes severe shortage and energy prices skyrocket

Vietnam War ends with signing of peace pacts (Jan. 27).

Nixon, on national TV, accepts responsibility, but not blame, for Watergate; accepts resignations
of advisers H. R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman, fires John W. Dean III as counsel (April 30).

U.S. bombing of Cambodia ends, marking official halt to 12 years of combat activity in Southeast Asia (Aug. 15).

Fourth and biggest Arab-Israeli conflict begins as Egyptian and Syrian forces attack Israel
as Jews mark Yom Kippur, holiest day in their calendar (Oct. 6).

Spiro T. Agnew resigns as vice president and then, in federal court in Baltimore, pleads no contest
to charges of evasion of income taxes on $29,500 he received in 1967, while governor of Maryland.
He is fined $10,000 and put on three years' probation (Oct. 10).

In the “Saturday Night Massacre,” Nixon fires special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox and Deputy
Attorney General William D. Ruckelshaus; Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson resigns (Oct. 20).

Egypt and Israel sign U.S.-sponsored cease-fire accord (Nov. 11)



1974 -

Patricia Hearst, 19-year-old daughter of publisher Randolph Hearst, kidnapped by Symbionese
Liberation Army (Feb. 5).

House Judiciary Committee adopts three articles of impeachment charging President Nixon with
obstruction of justice, failure to uphold laws, and refusal to produce material subpoenaed
by the committee (July 30).

Richard M. Nixon announces he will resign the next day, the first president to do so (Aug. 8).

Vice President Gerald R. Ford of Michigan is sworn in as 38th president of the U.S. (Aug. 9).

Ford grants “full, free, and absolute pardon” to ex-president Nixon (Sept. 8).


1975 -

John N. Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman found guilty of Watergate cover-up (Jan. 1);
sentenced to 30 months to 8 years in jail (Feb. 21).

Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge take over Cambodia (April).

American merchant ship Mayaguez, seized by Cambodian forces, is rescued in operation by U.S. Navy
and Marines, 38 of whom are killed (May 15).

President Ford escapes assassination attempt in Sacramento, Calif. (Sept. 5).

President Ford escapes second assassination attempt in 17 days (Sept. 22).


1976 -

Supreme Court rules that blacks and other minorities are entitled to retroactive job seniority (March 24).

Ford signs Federal Election Campaign Act (May 11).

Supreme Court rules that death penalty is not inherently cruel or unusual
and is a constitutionally acceptable form of punishment (July 3).

Nation celebrates bicentennial (July 4).

Israeli airborne commandos attack Uganda's Entebbe Airport and free 103 hostages held
by pro-Palestinian hijackers of Air France plane; one Israeli and several Ugandan
soldiers killed in raid (July 4).

Mysterious disease that eventually claims 29 lives strikes American Legion convention in Philadelphia (Aug. 4).

Jimmy Carter elected U.S. president (Nov. 2).


1977 -

First woman Episcopal priest ordained (Jan. 1).

Scientists identify previously unknown bacterium as cause of mysterious “legionnaire's disease” (Jan. 18).

Carter pardons Vietnam draft evaders (Jan. 21).

Scientists report using bacteria in lab to make insulin (May 23).

Supreme Court rules that states are not required to spend Medicaid funds on elective abortions (June 20).

Deng Xiaoping, purged Chinese leader, restored to power as “Gang of Four” is expelled from Communist Party (July 22).

South African activist Stephen Biko dies in police custody (Sept. 12).

Nuclear-proliferation pact, curbing spread of nuclear weapons, signed by 15 countries, including
U.S. and USSR (Sept. 21).


1978 -

Residents of Love Canal, NY, evacuated due to dangerous toxic chemicals buried in the area.

Californians in referendum approve Proposition 13 for nearly 60% slash in property tax revenues (June 6).

Supreme Court, in Bakke case, bars quota systems in college admissions but affirms
constitutionality of programs giving advantage to minorities (June 28).

Pope Paul VI, dead at 80, mourned (Aug. 6);
new Pope, John Paul I, 65, dies unexpectedly after 34 days in office (Sept. 28);
succeeded by Karol Cardinal Wojtyla of Poland as John Paul II (Oct. 16).

“Framework for Peace” in Middle East signed by Egypt's president Anwar Sadat and Israeli
premier Menachem Begin after 13-day conference at Camp David led by President Carter (Sept. 17).

Jim Jones's followers commit mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana (Nov. 18).


1979 -

Oil spills pollute ocean waters in Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico (Jan. 1, June 8, July 21).

Ohio agrees to pay $675,000 to families of dead and injured in Kent State University shootings (Jan. 4).

Vietnam and Vietnam-backed Cambodian insurgents announce fall of Phnom Penh, Cambodian capital,
and collapse of Pol Pot regime (Jan. 7).

Shah leaves Iran after year of turmoil (Jan. 16);

revolutionary forces under Muslim leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, take over (Feb. 1 et seq.).

Nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island, Pa., releases radiation (March 28).

Conservatives win British election; Margaret Thatcher new prime minister (May 3).

Carter and Brezhnev sign SALT II agreement (June 14).

Nicaraguan president Gen. Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigns and flees to Miami (July 17);

Sandinistas form government (July 19).

Iranian militants seize U.S. embassy in Tehran and hold hostages (Nov. 4).

Soviet invasion of Afghanistan stirs world protests (Dec. 27).

[Richard Steele]

15. Indeed. Good thing that I never said that, eh? nm

[Breeze54]

16. But you did say, "To claim that the 70's posed greater problems is just laughable."

I captured what you were implying and I think you're wrong.

[Richard Steele]

17. I "implied" nothing. I stand by what I posted, upon its face, as posted.

If you choose to IMAGINE that I meant something beyond what I said,
that's all about YOU. Don't try to drag me into your imagination.

[alfredo]

9. Eat soups and vote Democratic.

[struggle4progress]

12. Thanks -- because we may have a long hot dusty road ahead

[Raejeanowl]

13. What I Hear You Saying

Is reminding us that we have to get our butts back out to the polls again for the GE and vote Democratic, get our agenda together, present it to our new Democratic President, hold the President to the letter of fulfilling the campaign promises, and then start getting ready to clean House in Congress in the next election cycle if they don't facilitate getting what we want and need done. We can start with all of the incumbents who were unhelpful with impeachment issues and follow with the war enablers; like 1,000 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean - a really good start.

You're right, T.S. Any individual's childish grievance about the "wrong" candidate being nominated or tapped/not tapped for V.P., or anyone's personal attitude problem with voting, is just petty b.s. given the stakes. The worst kind of selfishness. Likewise, expecting any new President to fix it all magically without constant encouragement (pressure, if the inertia of politics as usual kicks in) and continuing support is sadly unrealistic.

[samsingh]

18. i'm a vegetarian