Back to Democracy: Discussion on Resistance
This week, Back to Democracy is sponsoring a discussion of the motivation behind political resistance, featuring Mary Loehr from the Ithaca War Tax Resisters and Clare Grady from the St. Patrick’s Day Four. The event will be held at the Trumansburg Fire Hall this Friday, September 29, at 7:00 PM.
The Back to Democracy folks indicate that the discussion will center around questions such as “What gives one the courage to resist? How do we stay active in such disturbing times when it is so easy to become disempowered?”
I think that the contrary questions are really more to the point. Why are so many Americans not resisting?
Yesterday, false moderate Senator John McCain released the text of the legislation he crafted with George W. Bush, and it turns out that in spite of McCain’s promises, the legislation takes away the right of prisoners to appeal for protections from the Geneva Conventions, revokes habeas corpus protections, gives blanket amnesty to war criminals, and legitimizes Bush’s secret system of CIA gulags.
John McCain’s bill amounts to a coup d’etat against the Bill of Rights, folks. So, although some people may criticize me for focusing on the negative, I want to know how so many people can remain inactive.
We haven’t become disempowered – yet. When the disempowerment comes, I fear that Back to Democracy will be right, and it will be an all-too-easy process.
“We haven’t become disempowered – yet. When the disempowerment comes, I fear that Back to Democracy will be right, and it will be an all-too-easy process.”
It’s in process right now, and from the neocon prospective, it’s been amazingly easy. From the prospective of those of us with open eyes it is alarming. When a critical mass is reached it will become messy.
If the Democrats take over a house of Congress in November, it will take the clock back to zero. The investigations will begin, but I don’t think they will be done before Bush’s time in office will be through. These last 12 years will go down as some of the darkest in American history. The question to ask is if, if we learn our lesson, how long before the cycle comes back around again? How long will it take us as a people to forget?