Demoralizing.......

[global1]

I'm sorry - but can we get some good news? Debt ceiling bill goes through without any contribution by the richest Americans. S & P downgrades U.S. standing. The stock market tanks and is still down despite an up day today. My retirement as well as most middle class and poor Americans is permanently put on hold. Baucus appointed to the Super Congressional Committee of 12 that all but seals the deal that there will be damage done to SS, Medicare and Medicaid and still no contributions coming from the richest Americans and I guess no plugging up of tax loopholes either. And now in Wisconsin - Citizens United, the Koch Brothers and a corrupt election official prevent the Dems from taking back the Senate.

I don't see any fight in the Dems. They're letting the Repugs and Teabaggers crap all over them and us.

We can't catch a break. I thought for sure we'd win back the Senate in Wisconsin and that would be something to rally the troops around - but now that is history. I doubt that this Pasch/Darling election will be challenged. We all suspect funny stuff going on there. But if election tampering is going on and going unchallenged - how can we ever trust the results of an election again.

This 2012 election coming up is pivotal. The next President will probably have a Supreme Court seat to fill. If it is not Obama and a Repug gets in - it's all over. SCOTUS is already stacked against us and if a Repug appoints a judge - that will set the tone of SCOTUS for decades.

We see what happened when we lost control of the House in 2010. I was hoping that there was a chance to take back the House and maintain the Senate - but now I'm having my doubts.

I'm sure that the plan of the Repugs and the corporate money that is backing them is to demoralize us poor working folk. Well - it seems like it is working. I really was putting a lot of stock on winning back the Senate in Wisconsin. From the interest of Wisconsinites in this election - I thought for sure the people would win and take back their state. I'm demoralized and I don't even live in Wisconsin. I can't imagine how they feel. Futile!!! Futile!!! Futile!!!

[GoldenThunder]

1. Voting is not enough

Anyone who believes that the electoral process is the sole path to freedom and democracy will inevitably lose both freedom and democracy. If you truly love America, folks, voting is not enough.
It's time to start a grassroots VINE movement in America (Voting Is Not Enough). We must get the rest of our citizens to understand that ownership of democracy involves a lot more than filling out a ballot every once in a while. It will always be easy to rig the game so long as most people believe that its a game. Our freedom is not a game.

[global1]

3. Tell Me More About The VINE Movement.....

voting is not enough - what else besides voting is in the VINE Movement?

[GoldenThunder]

6. What VINE is about

Think about this movement as a kind of 12-step program for those addicted to mass-media diversion.
The first step in getting people to realize that their democracy is at risk is getting them to admit that their ignorance of political and civic issues has had a very real and detrimental effect on the process of government. Obviously, the greatest challenge that this movement has is the fact that it's focus will be on those people who have scorned government, sworn off politics wholesale, or for that matter were never interested in politics in the first place. The heavy lifting that needs to be made by us is going to be made by getting those individuals (and yes this is something that is going to have to happen one person at a time, so the more of us in this movement the better) who feel like government is the enemy to understand that American democracy is not a remote beuracracy housed in tall castles, but that American democracy quite literally is We The People. We must get people to understand that being an American is not simply about rituals. Being an American means far more than saluting the flag, barbecuing on weekends, and talking to your friends about your favorite football team/NASCAR driver/American Idol contestant. Lord knows I love our diversions every bit as much as the next poor sap. We in the VINE movement must teach. We much teach our fellow Americans that their freedom is intrinsic, that they own this beautiful thing called freedom. And in order to make the ownership of freedom a worthwhile pursuit. We need to teach our fellow Americans that democracy truly depends on their incessant and dutiful attention. Being a faithful and constant citizen of democracy is like being a faithful and constant driver. It does me little good to have a driver's licence if I only drive once every two or four or ten years, if ever. Inevitalbly, those driving skills, if they were ever there at all, will fade away to nothing.

Our democracy is fading away because people no longer know how to operate it.

I may have given this movement a catchy name but it sure as hell isn't my idea. I'm going to have to sharpen my own personal skills. I've never taught professionally and it shows. But I'm open to any and all suggestions. Especially those that involve bypassing the media. This movement must get personal if it is to work. We must all learn to sing the praises of freedom face-to-face. You don't have to abandon your message boards entirely. Just put the keyboard down long enough to talk. We can do this.

[readmoreoften]

9. VINE can start by looking at alternatives to voting power: strike actions,

community organizing, educating people on issues to make them less open to right-wing propaganda, supporting strikers. Did I mention striking? The rich hate strikes. They can't make their money when we strike. And if strikes get strong enough, the workers can just take over the company. I'd love to see Verizon become a worker-owned and operated enterprise.

[readmoreoften]

8. I'm with you. If 51% of Americans are propagandized to give up their labor and civil rights

the other 49% of us are obliged to fight them outside the ballot box. Rights shouldn't be up for a vote. Democracy means the common people run society (Demos=people). It doesn't mean the majority can vote to give the common people's rights to the rich.

[villager]

2. "Be of good cheer, for soon the entire military/industrial establishment will collapse under

...its own weight."
--Ed Abbey


Granted, many who shouldn't will bear the brunt of that downfall, but even those who keep this necrotic system going will one day face the "reality-based" world...

[global1]

4. And Now All The Gains From Yesterday's Stock Market Are Being Wiped Out.......nt

[seabeyond]

5. i was very disappointed and disheartened by WI results, too.

i really wanted a ground swell and obvious rejection of the repugs. it feels to me to be insight that regardless of what we see on du, this country still have the repugs that believe in their party. i keep waiting for them to wake up. since early 2000's. just not happening.

[readmoreoften]

7. Socialist organizations are growing around the nation. Verizon workers are striking

with 45K workers in one of the biggest fights in the past few years. The middle east is exploding with democratic demands and protest. All good stuff in my world.

We have to keep fighting or we die. If you're demoralized, find a political outlet where you can effect some change. It enlivens the spirit.