is there hope out there? is it all doom and gloom or are there small places strong enough to get footholds to climb out of the darkness? i will be honest- i don't know. the reason that i don't know- is because i have little faith in human nature. i don't. perhaps i know just enough to make me an idiot- i can't answer that either. if you look at history, and really what else do we have to go on at this point?, there are pockets of rebellion that have worked. many more that haven't. i know that there are many folks out there that wish i would just shut the hell up with my dark posts and the melancholy air- i am a serious buzz kill and that's no joke. i will not pretend to always be right- because i am not. i just call things like i see them.
so- here goes- i don't think that there should be one more holiday- which are supposed to be 'holy days'- until we take care of some political business. you don't get a reward- if you haven't finished your work. that's the way it works in the real world. that's the way it should work here.
we cannot continue to pretend that our lives are going on as normal. they aren't. we all feel it. we should not continue to lie to ourselves that there is this magical thing called hope. it isn't just out there waiting to be plucked out of thin air people- you have to create it. ghandi- created hope. mlk- created hope. any of the great leaders (and that is the word here) created hope. they were fallible human beings with many flaws- but they put the greater good above their own agendas- that's what leaders do- and that's what we are lacking. we cannot have hope without a leader- and i don't see a leader out there anywhere. what i see is another pack of corporate dogs panting for the profitable bone.
so- if you believe in fairies and light and that ethereal thing called hope- you lost me. now, is not the time for hope. now is the time for picking a leader and getting things changed. we have to create our own way. it isn't going to magically appear. and we certainly don't need the magic of christmas or easter or july 4th or any of the other distractionary twaddle to get in our way. we don't need another diversion people- we need a focus. a focus on changing this mess of a world we find ourselves in. we haven't earned rewards- we are the problem. no, we didn't directly create the war in iraq and we didn't directly cause the housing bust and we didn't directly cause the corporations to take over providing our necessities-- but we contributed with our rampant consumerism and attitude of letting other folks handle our business while we narcissistically and hedonistically sought pleasures only. well, it has come home to roost. we are paying with back payments for our self centeredness- and no amount of hoping that it will fix itself or go away with santa's sleigh is going to work. and that-- is the bottom line.
are we going to step up and get ourselves a real leader? or are we just going to do what we are told like good little americans? yes, that is contempt dripping over my consonants and vowels.
7 comments:
Hiyya Betmo, well Pema Chodren who wrote When things fall Apart, among other books and Joko Bech who wrote who wrote Ordinary Zen (i think that s the title) and Nothing special - they say that NO hope is a good place to start. even thought ego wise its emotionally painful.. Anyhow.
Noam Chomsky historian and social genius and commentator reminds us that actually socially things have changed very fast relatively speaking. Naomi Klein whose book i just finished WELL it actually HAD A HAPPY ENDING !!! - as the South American and other Nations have seen through the IMF and the World Bank and are electing Leaders who will NOT be sucked into the USA's greed and pilage vortex anymore.
So that is majorly hopeful - it just takes time. WE here are in for a big time shock ourselves..yep BUT if we understand that privatization and the propaganda of our endless GWOT for what it IS - we will begin to embrace Democratic Socialism for lack of a better term IN otherwords
WE will see the rightful function of GOOD SOLID GOVERNMENT doing what government is supposed to do in civilized countries..this will happen after the economic MELT DOWN but it will happen.
We will change the language people will not fear Socialism so much , this is not the freakin 50's anymore and not all socialism is Marist etc.
so yes we are the leaders Betmo WE are the leaders. in the grocery aisle , in the PTA, in the chruchs or temples or the book clubs WHERE EVER we are - we contribute to increasing the critical mass of consciousness. And plant seeds of ideas, even if people look at us like we are nuts. ie me i go to a smaller grocercy store and always talk up NOT going to walmart blah blah etc. The court jesters are often the truth tellers.
so yes its gonna take time, like maybe even to the 112th congress, but the people will see the dots connecting with outsourcing , they will finally get the grand theft, and the harm in shrinking essential services , and that workers need rights and all that stuff. ..And we stop pandering to our own religious extremists..
you watch hon, sometimes the darkest hr is really dark and painful VERY PAINFUL , and its not even here quite yet, BUT it is before the dawn.
But we need to be our own leaders. Learn everyday and spred the word etc.
- P2 and no u aren't a buzz kill. You are all heart !
There is no hope. All we have left is to fight.
Bravo, Betmo!! The only buzz-kill though, is apathy. I'm happy you've been inoculated against it.
It may be that it is simply too late to pick a leader. Maybe YOU are the leader now. Maybe you, and me, and all who are concerned must now do what Jefferson demanded of us, step up, and take back what is ours.
A Government that preys upon the citizenry is a Government that no longer has a right to exist. Our Declaration of Independence tells us that this is so.
I love your truthfulness, Betmo...it gets me motivated to do something.
JR- i couldn't agree with you more.
Hang in there, Betmo.
There are glimmers of light in the darkness. Keith Olbermann’s ratings are rising. The Cheney/Bush war with Iran was derailed by the NIE. There are more people awakening to the Big Lie.
Most politicians don’t get it and don’t want to get it. At best, I'm afraid the bottom line for 99% of the Republicans and 90% of the Democrats is politics over principle and power over people. So that gives us, at best, 1% of the Republicans and 10% of the Democrats who would even stand up for justice and the Constitution.
Corporate control of both parties is the problem. (I’m happy to hear Edwards saying this.) For too long the bottom line is we have, essentially, one corporate party in power. The Democrats are the right wing of the party and the Republicans are the radical right.
What's left is fractured, disintegrated, and crippled into complete powerlessness. The left still awaits unifying leadership to forge the conscience and consciousness of the scattered remnants of democracy into a viable political and economic force.
The Democratic Party needs to be rebuilt. It requires a moral revolution based on Constitutional principles.
As Thom Hartman frequently urges on Air America Radio, we need to infuse the Democratic Party with large enough numbers of progressives to stand together, instead of relying on the compromised weenies there now.
Two important steps are needed toward restoring democracy.
First we must first clean up our elections. We can remove the dirty money from elections by instituting public financing of public elections We can restore the old-fashioned paper ballots, where a vote is a physical reality instead of a digital abstraction subject to partisan tampering.
Next, we need to revoke the corporate seizure of personhood. A corporation is not a human being and should not be entitled to the civil and Constitutional rights that were intended for people.
We are the good guys. And we have the numbers. As you suggest, we need leadership. First, we all pitch in with information sharing, communication, and organizing at the local level. All this blogging doesn’t hurt either. Word of mouth works.
One tool could be organized mass boycotts of selected segments of the corporatocracy. A movement to buy only Citgo gasoline would be an example. Another, though more risky, option is to emulate Ghandi's non-violent passive resistance by non-cooperation. Maybe having a group calling themselves Constitutional Conservatives show up in numbers at certain events. And then not stand for the national anthem, while holding up signs saying, "When we are the Land of the Free again, we'll stand," or "Restore the Bill of Rights."
This will take commitment to a long term agenda. That's how the Right did it. If we can't take the same strategy, then we lose. We have nothing to lose and all to gain by action.
Let's carry the torch of liberty and let the light shine.
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