Month: January 2006

Massive Shit

(Washington, D.C.) – President Bush today addressed the nation and spoke bluntly about his vision for fighting terrorism, spreading democracy, and rejuvenate the economy.

However, half way through his hyped speech the President paused and turned to the Vice President seated behind him.  Without any advanced warning, the President once again used his signature move to convince the American people that he was serious about fighting the war on terror and winning in Iraq by SHITTING that “the military was destroying insurgent targets and building institutions of democracy every day.”
Looking presidential, he looked in to the camera and said, “hindsight isn’t a strategy”, and “defeatism doesn’t work.”  But to the surprise of viewers at home, as the President spoke, brown foam began to come out of his mouth with each of his words.

The Vice President and Speaker seated behind Bush grimaced, as the odor became visible on their faces.  President Bush was once again taking a shit in the middle of the State of the Union Address.  The feces flowing out of his mouth was apparent to everyone except those around him shitting with him.

The President looked so presidential he didn’t know what to do with himself.  He smirked when he needed to smirk.  He paused at the right times.  He looked to his right and glanced to his left.  Looked us into the camera and let us touch his heart.  He let us feel his pain and consoled us in grief.  But he still had shit flowing out of his mouth.  The shit looked all to familiar.

Shit about wiretaps. Shit about illegally spying on American Citizens.  Shit about the war in Iraq. Shit about fighting terrorism. Shit about capturing Bin Laden. Shit about values. Shit about democracy. Shit about everything that came out of his mouth.

Speaking bluntly, Bush shat on himself tonight.  

His shit flowed from his lips in the same manner that rivers flow into the ocean.  He was resolute and more determined than ever.  He was confident in his shit, and more importantly believed his own shit.

“The U.S. supports democratic reform across the Middle East,” shitted Bush.  

By the end of the night, experts said that President Bush once again delivered the  “greatest SOTU addresses ever given.”  He went beyond “the call of duty” said one pundit.  “Bush was vintage Bush” said another.  “He really knows his shit” said another.

As I went to sleep, I realized that I had heard all of this before.  It was many speeches given in the past, put together, recycled and pieced together.  By the end of the night it had the smell of feces–almost as though Bush was taking a shit out of his mouth.

An honest and logical study of the executive branch will show even the most casual observer that it has always been a source of the People’s oppression; from its support of slavery, to its extra-judicial impositions in the war on drugs and the poorly-named war on terror. It is the principal evil we face today, and in the future…

Read Previous Papers in this Series Here:
http://www.populistamerica.com/the_populist_papers

The administration of the American central government, in its most general interpretation, encompasses all the federal undertakings of the nation; whether legislative, judiciary, or executive.  But, in the common course of our lives, and perhaps in its most practical description, it is the executive branch, and all its related offices, which truly captures our attention.  Thus, the constitution of this branch, the pinnacle of American empire, requires a thorough examination.  It is my strongest contention that the structure of this branch was fatally flawed from its inception; resulting in such an accumulation of power that it has become repugnant to the most basic ideals of a free society.  As the presidency assumes endlessly more power for itself, it loses more and more of that great pillar of freedom; responsibility to the People; and without a fundamental alteration of its make-up, it will certainly develop into nothing more than a complete tyranny.

An honest and logical study of the executive branch will show even the most casual observer that it has always been a source of the People’s oppression; from its support of slavery, to its extra-judicial impositions in the war on drugs and the poorly-named war on terror.  It is the principal evil we face today, and in the future.

It is a widely accepted maxim that history will most often repeat itself; thus, it is reasonable to conclude that many of the acts of depravity brought upon us by the presidency, in the past, will reappear, or in the case of its current wrongdoings, simply continue.  It has launched unjust and extra-constitutional wars against nations and people who have never done us harm; resulting in the deaths of millions of people.  It has sunk our national dignity and credit to extreme levels.  It has repeatedly violated our rights, spied on us, and lied to us.

The presidency of the United States is the pinnacle of power in the most powerful government in the history of the world.  To be clear, I’m referring to the institution of the executive branch itself, and not any particular president; although a vast majority of them have regularly acted contrary to our liberty.  It is America’s sad state of affairs that the branch of government with the responsibility to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States represents nothing more than the opposite of freedom; and it would not be logical to expect, from this time forward, without additional checks and balances, that further such breaches by the executive, of moral obligation and social justice, would cease to continue.  The executive branch is one of the greatest obstacles to a true restoration of our liberty!

The executive branch is apparently restrained by the Constitution; but, in actual practice, the law seems to be adhered to only when the cost of violating it is greater than what can be absorbed.  In essence, without popular resistance, it does whatever it pleases.  It can deploy troops to every corner of the world, initiate war without a declaration by Congress, imprison people without charge, tap our phones, read our mail, and tell us, the Sovereign, what it has the legal authority to do, instead of the other way around.

The executive branch has shown us, over the years, that it has massive power.  Presidents have bribed foreign leaders, overthrown governments, used all sorts of inhumane weapons, silenced and kidnapped their enemies, authorized the torture of prisoners, engaged in espionage, imposed crippling embargoes, pillaged our resources, taken our property, and destroyed our economy and our environment.  Throughout history, even kings and queens have often failed to survive such disastrous acts; but, in “free” America, the major parties that produce all our presidents today continue to receive our approval through millions of votes.  It should be painfully clear to all of us by now, that voting for the lesser of two evils still gives us massive amounts of evil.

The insufficiency of a mere parchment delineation of the boundaries of power for all the branches of the central government; and the necessity of building additional checks into our system, has been both alluded to and discussed in previous papers, and this much is obvious.  The checks on the executive branch are painfully inadequate; many of the aforementioned acts may, very likely, have been prevented through proper checks on executive power.

All multiplication and expansion of executive power is dangerous, rather than friendly, to liberty.  Extravagant acts such as the aforementioned, which have disfigured the nature, and altered the fundamental structure of the executive; make it necessary to take in an accurate and objective study of its real nature and form.  It is my intention, in a number of forthcoming papers, to illustrate how I have reached the conclusion that this branch is in dire need of a fundamental restructuring; without which, our only fate is despotism.

A proper study of the executive must include an understanding of: 1) its intended form, 2) its current form, and 3) the possible merits and flaws of both.  We have clearly ignored an absence of the founding principles in our Constitution for too long; but a mere reliance on these principles alone will not secure our future, since such egregious violations and usurpations of power could not occur if these principles were not inherently flawed from the outset.  It is through the study of the above three that I hope to find a form best suited to serve our national interests, while ensuring our liberty for a long time to come.

Before I leave you to embark on my next paper, which I will publish on February 9, 2006, I urge you to keep in mind the following words of Thomas Jefferson:

“Unless the mass retains sufficient control over those entrusted with the powers of their government, these will be perverted to their own oppression, and to the perpetuation of wealth and power in the individuals and their families selected for the trust.”

“It is a happy truth that people are capable of self-government, and only rendered otherwise by the moral degradation designedly superinduced on them by the wicked acts of their tyrant.”

In the spirit of liberty and prosperity,

Franklin

Okay, so my two cents here in Canada may be worth a little less than the US two cents, but I offer it up anyway.

I have calmed down a little bit since yesterday.  I have read just about every diary on here about the state of the Democratic Party.  Vent has helped, a lot. So has an article that I read from the January 18 edition of The Nation .  The article is An Alternative State of the Union.  The article highlights the ideas of 20 members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus – people like Dennis Kuchinich, John Conyers, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Bernie Sanders.  All of these representatives, except Sanders, are Democrats.

These ideas address many of the concerns that we here talk about on a daily basis.  For example, Jesse Jackson, Jr. proposes an amendment (HJR 28) that actually guarantees Americans withs a right to vote.  It would also give Congress the authority to create a uniform voting system.  As he says in the article

We have fifty states, 3141 counties, and 7,800 different local election jurisdictions.  All separate and unequal.

I don’t know about you, but these ideas resonate with my principles; they fill me with hope that yes, there are Democrats that “get it.”

Only 64 percent of registered voters bothered to cast a ballot in November of 2004, and that is an increase,  Clearly, neither party is making an impression on a huge number of citizens.  Many of these people must be looking for something that they are not finding in either of the corporate run parties.

In my eyes, it is the corporate wing of the Democratic Party that is destroying the party and any chance of creating any real opposition to the criminals in the WH right now.  It is the corporate wing that must be the focus of our laser like vision.  It must be excised from the Democratic Party if there is any hope to salvage it.

When the extreme right-wingers of America decide it wanted to take over, for the most part, it did not go create a viable third party – it took over the Republican Party.  Slowly but surely, like the parasites they are, they devoured their host body and transformed it into the Republican Party of Darth Cheney, Tom Delay, James Dobson, and Karl Rove.  These men are power hungry monsters without souls.  

The Democratic Party, in its current state, is ripe for the picking, and thus a transformation.  It will not be easy, but the power behind the Internet could ease this process.  I humbly submit this three step process

Step 1 – Actively support the plans of the Progressive Democrats as outlined in
the article in The Nation .  I know that MoveOn.org does a lot of this, but we bloggers have the tenacity to push these issues with our writing.  I suggest that progressive blogs work together to eventually submit an on-line petition demanding(? too strong?) that the Democrats actively pursue these plans.

Step 2 – Create a Progressive Blog PAC. Sadly, in our political system, money talks.  I don’t want to pull an Abramoff, but there needs to be a way to direct money to those candidates (both national and local) who are willing to adhere to our platform, be they Democrats, Greens, or even the odd-ball Republican.  The MSM is wholly unwilling to cover progressives candidates, so we must be willing to support them financially.

Step 3 – Finally, let’s start running.  No, I don’t mean for the Canadian border (though you are free to visit).  We bloggers are sophisticated, passionate, and well-read.  For my brothers and sisters living in the U.S. of A., what is stopping you from running?  School Board?  City Council?  Zoning Commission?  Once people see that Progressives are not only human, but are competent and patriotic.  But, they need to see us in action.  I know that if my family’s immigration status wasn’t so complicated (it’s funny as hell to cross into Detroit and the immigration officer asks for our citizenships – US, Canadian, and Chinese.  Eyes usually just roll.) I would move back and run for something.  Activism is necessary and crucial, but meaningless if we are unable to elect people willing to listen o the activists.

I submit this to my Froggy brothers and sisters for their honest take on my two cents. I figure it’s easier to take over an existing party than to try to recreate that structure from scratch.
 

None were so brave … as those who sat crouched and shivering before their television sets on the dark, bleak, and rainy night of January 30, 2006, daring to hear of the words of the man who would end the earth as we once knew it … fearing the loss of all they once knew and the inability to save their children’s futures … the electricity had been turned off … only dried beans were left in the cupboard … the dog looked up woefully, hoping for more than a few pieces of kibble … at least the telephone still worked, until next week, the phone company had said … there was no work … the plant was shutting down … the kids were ashamed of the old clothes they wore to school and having to take the free breakfast at school, but the principal had told them they had to cut back on the number of kids because they weren’t getting as much money anymore from the government to help feed hungry kids … his tooth ached but he lived with it because there wasn’t a dentist in town who’d see him unless he had $300 cash in his hand …

PART II:

Washington, DC (Rotters) – President Bush strode to the podium tonight to uproarious and partisan applause from those in attendance. He was casually dressed without the formal necktie usually expected for the occasion. The president appeared relaxed and calm and to the shock of senators and dignitaries present he casually lit a cigar before proceeding.

Mr. Bush congratulated the Senate upon “doing the right thing” with its rapid confirmation vote and swearing in of Justice Samuel Alito this morning. He praised the body for what he described as a strong move for the future well-being and security of the United States.

“This has been a tough few weeks for our administration,” he stated, “but with the appointment of this fine man, I think we can all breathe a little easier.”

“Tonight, America has a number of things to be proud of,” he continued, “our economy is booming, the damage and destruction to our Gulf Coast from hurricane Katrina has been set right, Iran and Palestine are on the ropes, and we are poised for a great victory in the Middle East. While many may disagree over our need to invade Iraq and overthrow Saddam, we can be proud that his dictatorship is gone . The evil killers who attacked us on 9/11 are on the run, but make no mistake they will seek to harm us at any time and we must remain vigilant.”

The president then paused and began to speak on issues of security and surveillance of American citizens. “As you know, over the last month, our administration has fanned out and brought the message to the people about my constitutional responsibility to protect and defend America in times of war, and the constitutionally acceptable means of domestic surveillance that we have undertaken to do just that. It is with a heavy heart that I must tonight present to you, the citizens of America, the fruits of our hard work.”

At this point in the president’s speech armed Marines appeared and sealed all exits to the floor of the Congress.

“There is a growing cancer in our government which has been detected by our efforts, and this enemy must be eradicated.” The president then produced a list of 135 senators and representatives, all Democrats, and read their names aloud followed by various charges of treason, sedition, and providing aid and comfort to the enemy. Each senator, as their name was read, was escorted from the room by armed Marines, to the growing applause of the remaining senators present.

The president concluded, “God willing, this will be the dawning of a new day in America with full and complete trust returned to the executive branch.”

(This news release has been screened and approved by the White House)

Update [2006-1-31 21:13:39 by susanhu]: I hear that Cindy Sheehan received a ticket to the gallery and, when she got to her seat, she unfurled an anti-war banner and was arrested by Capitol police, and escorted out. (BradBlog has more.) Just before that news came out, Chris Matthews was opining that anti-war protestors like her become “cartoons — even John Murtha,” Matthews said. I switched to a movie. That’s enough cruel insanity for today.

Update [2006-1-31 22:3:39 by susanhu]: New thread started up yonder …

Sam Seder is hosting Political Science Theater 3000 on Air America Radio: It just started and it goes through the SOTU. Sam hopes to have enough chatter among his guests and pundits that you won’t be able to hear Shrub at 6pm PT / 9pm ET (all teevee networks).

G U E S T S :

State of the Union special LIVE from the offices of the Center for American Progress Action Fund in Washington, D.C.

Featuring:

Judd Legum, editor of Think Progress

Matthew Kerbel, editor of the new book Get This Party Started: How Progressives Can Fight Back and Win

Amy Sullivan, editor of The Washington Monthly

Blogger and regular guest Atrios

More Guest Info For Tonight’s Show

ALSO: When she returns home, Dina in Seattle is e-mailing me her photos of the Seattle anti-SOTU protest tonight. I’ll put them up here ASAP.

We don’t need to try to live blog this … ‘sides, the fingers of Maryb, CabinGirl, Other Lisa, and me are worn to little stubs now anyway … but we can make rude jokes and point fun. Why not. I’ll begin with a joke from my neighbor:

IT IS WORSE THAN WE EVER IMAGINED.

>At New York’s Kennedy airport today, an individual, later discovered to be a public school teacher, was arrested trying to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a set square, a slide rule, and a calculator.

>At a morning press conference, Attorney general Gonzolez said he believes the man is a member of the notorious al-gebra movement. He is being charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction.

>Al-gebra is a fearsome cult,” Ashcroft said. “They desire average solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in a search of absolute value. They use secret code names like ‘x’ and ‘y’ and refer to themselves as ‘unknowns’, but we have determined they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country. As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, ‘there are 3 sides to every triangle’.”

>When asked to comment on the arrest, President Bush said, “If God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes”

There has been a great deal of discussion lately on the state of the Democratic party. Should those of us who are progressive defect and start our own party? Should we work to change the Democratic party? Can we change the Democratic party? What are we going to do to get our country back?

Let me clue you in on something many of you already know: I am an outsider. I came into politics because I felt I had to do what I could to get George Bush and his cronies out of office and someplace where theycould no longer do damage to my country and the Constitution it is founded on. Even though I hold many of the same beliefs that are in the Green Party’s core statement of values, I side with the Democrats out of pragmatism: They are the one organization big enough and rich enough to take on the Bushistas.

Or so I thought. Some days — like yesterday — it sure doesn’t seem like it. But, like Booman, I happen to believe that a third party will not do anything but split votes that should be going to defeat the Republicans. If there’s going to be a third party in this country, let them pull votes from the Republicans.

And then I had a flash of out-of-the-box thinking. I came up with a way that we progressives can eat our cake, and have it too. Follow me past the break to see my plan, and let me know what you think.
Before I lay out my plan, let me tell you how the plan would be implemented.

One weekend this summer, Howard Dean would call an emergency Democratic National Convention. Party committee members, elected officials and high-level operatives would be invited to the convention, with mandatory attendance — but it would be a closed session. No one not invited would be allowed to attend. Media members would be held incommunicado until the very end of the convention, when Dean would make his blockbuster announcement:

The Democratic Party has been dissolved. As of the end of the convention, it would no longer field candidates, and would no longer have any legal status except as a caretaker shell charged with disposing of the assets of the party.

In its place, Dr. Dean would institute a new party. Let’s called it the Progressive Party, even though there have been several other Progressive Parties and there may currently be one in existence. It’s just a name, and this is just a proposal.

All national assets of the Democratic Party would be transferred to the Progressive Party. In addition, all state Democratic organizations would now operative under the Progressive banner.

The Progressive Party would unveil a set of core principles it would expect Progressive candidates to support as members of the party. Individual elected officials would be free to accept or reject these principles as they saw fit, and those who chose to not accept them would be wished well in their future endeavors elsewhere.

And then, we Progressives would get to work.

Now at this point you may be wondering if Omir has cracked under the strain. Why would you obliterate the Democratic Party in one breath only to restart it in the next?

The answer is fairly complex, but it comes down to this: The Republicans have spent 40 years demonizing Liberals and Democrats in this country, to the point where it is taken as an article of faith that Democrats don’t stand for anything, are weak and spineless, are soft on national defense, and are borderline traitors only because they aren’t organized enough to find the border. With this simple stroke we take all of that away. From that point on the Republicans would have to start trying to demonize the Progressives by saying they don’t stand for anything . . .

Ah, but wait. Remember the part about the core set of principles? I stole that idea from the Green Party, and I think it’s a great idea. It tells you up front what the Greens stand for. This way, when a Republican says the Democrats are soft on terrorists, our talking head can say, “Wait a minute, you’re talking about a party that no longer exists. You may not have noticed, but the Progressive Party stands for a strong national defense. It says so right here in our Core Principles. That stands in sharp contrast to the Republicans, who have actually made America’s defenses weaker by . . . ” and then launch into the laundry list of the ways Republicans have harmed this country’s ability to defend itself.

I don’t mind stealing ideas. In fact I stole the main idea for this diary from a favorite business tactic: reinventing the business. Just as an example, about the time the Surgeon General’s report on tobacco came out, tobacco companies started finding themselves vilified by Certain Outside Parties. Kraft Foods, for instance, suffered by its association with tobacco giant Philip Morris. The solution? Relaunch! Philip Morris was effectively reborn as Altria Corporation. Philip Morris USA is still a division of Altria, but now only one among several. Problem solved!

Many businesses have risen from the ashes by reinventing themselves, sometimes with new names. Movie stars carefully put their images together. Whoever heard of Melvin Kaminsky before he changed his name to Mel Brooks? Would anybody think Marshal Mathers wasn’t Jerry’s brother if he hadn’t changed his name to Eminem? So why can’t a political party do the same? This would give the new party a fresh new start. “Democrats? No, that was a different party. We’re Progressives. We do things differently!” It would give progressives a chance to choose new colors, a new icon, and most importantly, a new direction by articulating the core principles mentioned above and sticking to them. By making sure these core principles are inclusive items Americans have shown they want and need — health care, education, opportunity, community, a strong economy, a strong defense — the party would give Americans a reason to vote Progressive that’s better than “We aren’t Republicans!”. It would also jettison the baggage the Democrats have been saddled with for the past 40 years and more. No more a party of atheist surrender monkeys, no more a party of traitors and sellouts, the Progressive Party would work toward those goals the Democrats should be working toward, but are prevented from now because they’ve been cowed into submission by the Republicans.

Howard Dean could continue to do what he’s working toward now with the Democratic party — rebuild it from the grass roots up. Only now everything wuold be rebuilt on the bones of the old structure. We wouldn’t have to start from scratch to create a national party like we would if we were to form a new party out of whole cloth and elbow grease.

And as an added bonus, no longer would Republicans be able to use “Democrat” as an adjective, as in “the liberal Democrat agenda.”

There would be officeholders who would be unwilling or unable to go along with the change. That’s fine, but they would then be on their own. They could remain Democrats if they liked, but the term would cease to have any real meaning with no money or party structure behind it. Some would probably feel more comfortable as Republicans, which actually would be a good thing in my humble opinion. Some of the more centrist Democrats defecting to the Republican side might help bring the GOP back from the brink it teeters on now. Some former Democrats might prefer to be independent rather than sign on to the set of Progressive core values. That’s fine too, but I’m willing to guess that the vast majority would sign on with the program and that the local Progressive parties would be able to field replacements for them. To paraphrase George Patton, when you’ve got them by their wallets, their hearts and minds will follow.

I’m sure there are plenty of other reasons why this is too good an idea to ever take hold, not the least of which would be the inevitable disruption that would come of making such a radical change. But tell me this: Would it not be better to have a bit of disruption than to continue with things the way they are? Is the possibility of a strong, coherent alternative to one-party rule that could be competitive not in 40 years, not in 8 years but most likely in 2 years or even right now not better than the disorganized mess that has been the state of Democrats since the days when Will Rogers declared that he was not a member of any organized political party?

Think about it.

Someone recently asked me how I got so involved in politics…what was the catalyzing event? For me, the event was the impeachment of Bill Clinton. That whole process opened my eyes about the nature of the forces arrayed against us. And I include the media in those forces. The most surreal and revealing moment of the Clinton impeachment was Kenneth Starr’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, where he revealed that he had turned up nothing in his Whitewater investigation. How was that possible? I had been reading Whitewater articles in the New York Times for six years. Surely, some of it must have been true. But, no. Whitewater was nothing but a sustained smear campaign against a sitting President by the ‘paper of record’.

That was merely a precursor of the Judy Miller/William Safire fiasco. People like Real History Lisa and Jerry Policoff have known the true nature of the New York Times and Washington Post for decades, and they have documented their manipulation. The fact that the right-wing constantly derides the Grey Lady as unreliable and liberal only serves to make the New York Times more insidious. They seem to be on our side until something truly vital comes up. And then they take the side of the powers that be.

If we are about to invade Cuba, they’ll cover that up. If we are about to invade Panama, they’ll go along with the demonization of Manual Noriega. If we are in need of evidence that Saddam Hussein is sitting on a pile of deadly weapons, they’ll provide it. They’ll even let Bill Safire link Mohammed Atta to Iraq for months on end in column after column, and never do a correction. They’ll help cover up the Plame investigation, and hold the NSA story until after the election. The New York Times is not on our side.

It requires a paradigm shift to even see this possibility. Once you realize that even the liberal media will attack a Democratic president for years with bogus charges, and will provide fake evidence to justify the imperial ambitions of a Republican president, while covering up evidence of his crimes…you realize the magnitude of the enemy we face. The mere fact that you suddenly own this wisdom places you outside the mainstream. It becomes difficult to communicate with people that do not understand what you know to be the truth.

People will point out that the New York Times endorsed Clinton and Gore and Kerry. They’ll have examples of the Times being unfair to Republicans. How do you make them understand that that is all beside the point. You may convince a few people, but you will never convince enough: do not trust the (liberal) media on the really important stuff.

As for the Republicans, they did not just oppose Bill Clinton. They set out to destroy him. They tried to destroy Bill Clinton, not because he was a baby boomer, or a draft dodger, or a philanderer. They tried to destroy him because he was attempting to provide universal health care. People like Richard Mellon Scaife could not abide that kind of socialism. So, they enlisted the religious right to go after Bill Clinton. They attacked the person, which disguised their opposition to the policy.

There will always be more poor people than rich people. And rich people will always want to protect their wealth from large wealth redistribution programs. To do this, the wealthy need to find unwealthy allies that will vote with them. Today’s GOP finds these allies among the socially conservative, the hyper religious, the anti-gay, the racists, people with resentments against Washington insiders, or against coastal and intellectual elites.

By appealing to the worst in people they empower the worst in people. They empower the denial of global warming, the denial of evolution, the stifling of scientific inquiry, they weaponize ignorance (to borrow sbj’s phrase). They reduce the acceptance of gays, and they perpetuate crippling racial stereotypes.

They literally make people more stupid, more hateful, and more dangerous.

Defeating this pervasive evil is incredibly difficult, and it is only going to get more difficult as the fundamentalists continue to outbreed the reality-based community (worldwide).

We are locked into a battle not only against al-qaeda, but against our own fundamentalists…fundamentalists that are crucially important to the moneyed interests because they alone can provide the majorities that will stem populist economic policies.

And these moneyed interests have their paws not only in the New York Times and the Republican Party, but in the Democratic Party as well. And if a third party rose up, they would corrupt that party as well.

The only way we make headwind in this situation is by taking over the Democratic Party from below, by financing the Party, and eventually by passing legislation for publicly financed elections. We also need to grow the non-corporate media by any means available to us. And we have to be vigilant. Ever vigilant.

A lot of the old-timers, people that have been fighting for 40 years, are frustrated and beaten down. That’s understandable. We have been losing this battle for 40 years. The defeat is becoming manifest. But, by studying how the Republicans carried out their revolution, and by being better at using modern technology, we can carry out our own revolution.

This fight will never be won. There will always be people opposing social justice, there will always be religious fundamentalists, and they will always find reasons to make alliances against ordinary folks. But, we can remake the Democratic Party, and we can do it from below. We need to become delegates, we need to get involved locally, elect progressives to state offices. We need to grow our media. At first, we will be seen as far outside the mainstream, and as unelectable. That is how the John Birchers started out. Now they run the world.