It is easy to be skeptical.
Virtually all of our politicians are corrupt. See this, this and this.
The giant banks are running the show.
The healthcare bill being rammed through Congress "is just another bailout of the financial system", and law school professors say that it is unconstitutional.
America is on a permanent war footing, when the people (and soldiers) are sick of war.
Our civil rights have been eroded, and yet we are not being made any safer.
Top scientists, economists and environmentalists all say that cap and trade being pushed through in American and around the world is a scam which won't significantly reduce C02 emissions, and will only help in making the financial players who crashed the economy even more wealthy.
Obama has sold us out.
So there's nothing we can do, right?
Well, actually - as I have previously documented, things would actually change very quickly if enough people started raising a ruckus.
The ironic thing is that if all of the people who think of themselves as cynics or skeptics made noise, things would instantly change for the better. In other words, the millions upon millions of cynics/skeptics/self-described "realists" aren't raising a ruckus against the fraud being committed by the giant banks, the corruption of our political system, or the lawlessness and imperial arrogance of our military-industrial complex because they think things can't change.
But by staying silent, they are actually creating the conditions in which nothing can change.
If the millions of cynics woke up to the fact that they are a huge group - especially when combined with the people who are already actively working for the restoration of a democratic republic, justice, and the rule of law - they would suddenly realize that collectively we can change things in a heart beat.
Don't believe me?
Read what Daniel Ellsberg and Dean Baker and others say.
And remember that hoping that Obama will change things is a "hopiate". We must stop smoking the "hopium" - no good daddy or heroic leader will save us.
We have to save ourselves.
The truth is that:
- "Hope has never trickled down. It has always sprung up."
- "It's time to stop waiting for hope to be handed down, and start pushing it up, from the hoperoots."
The truth is that real hope is an act of will. Real hope is like a muscle that needs to be developed. Real hope is an act of freedom, defiance and courage in the face of power, corruption and tyranny.
Skepticism, cynicism and "realism" is an act of fear, of cowardice, of apathy. Because if the skeptics just got off their backsides and made some noise, things would change.
So abandon false hope (as the skeptics have properly done). But start getting a backbone, take some steps that can actually change things, and start getting some real hope.
Note: I am not going to tell you what to do. But if you don't have any ideas, start here.
I'm good as long as the stock market keeps going up and RE stabilizes.
ReplyDeleteSome may be mollified by soon-to-be legalized marijuana or legal prescription drugs.
Milk bar time. Pass the drencrom, droog.
But people rarely tend to raise a ruckus when it is dearly needed. And false hope is so much more belieable for many people because it gives the unrealistic sugar coated reality they so dearly seek.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog. I am glad that I stumbled across it!
Beth
P.S. If this posts twice I appologize, I stired to post it but their was a server error.
I think mailing in your credit card along with a sorry note and then mail the keys to your underwater house and see how the banks like that. There are over 10 countries that are preparing to default on their National debt why shoudn't the commoners do the same?
ReplyDeleteThings will only change when the status quo becomes intolerable. The best way to effect change is to accelerate the adoption of status quo, so that it reaches it's logical conclusion (and implode) faster.
ReplyDeleteThese banksters, etc. think they're going to rob us and then institute martial law or whatever they think. I think they better get ready to wear their lamppost ties. American history states... there's a lamppost out there with their name on it. It's really kind of amusing they think they're "getting away with their plans". I think they're going to be wearing lamppost ties in 2010. Pls post a vid on that one for me, k?? I'm just sitting here chuckling, becuz I believe 2010 may be the year of citizen protests gone wild - the year of the lamppost. If so, no, I won't be at the protest - and I probably won't make a ruckus - but I'd like to see the footage. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteA good quote from post-WW2;
ReplyDelete"The only thing needed for evil to succeed is when good men do nothing," - Edmund Burke
I know good and evil is subjective, but then again, as Mark Twain said, "History never repeats, but it rhymes,"
Actually, I think the continued resurgence of the single payer or public option during the work on the health care reform bill - even though our corrupt politicians and "news" organizations all said it was dead - is evidence that this article is right. They tried to kill it and it didn't die - it looks like it wont make it into this round, but it made it further than ever before. And now the folks who oppose it need to do so in broad daylight - thereby loosing public confidence and votes (i.e. the scummy politicians are already having to pay a price).
ReplyDeleteI'm jumping on all the campaigns I see to unseat traitorous Democrats myself... Whitman disgusts me in California, but maybe electing her would send a serious message to other turncoat Democrats. I'm not sure that there is a really big difference betwixt the two either beyond their rhetoric. But if we fire her, then a few years down the road maybe we can elect a real Democrat (or at least we'll have a chance). AND in the meanwhile other Senators and Reps might take notice that the lobbying dollars can't protect their jobs forever.
Viva President Olafur Grimsson!
ReplyDeleteThe people of Iceland have revolted against being saddled with $16,000 dollars of debt each while the private bankers who created it continue their lifestyle. May the spirit of the Icelandic people catch fire here.
Exactly.
ReplyDelete"The Continental Congres of 2009" in their 2009 Articles of Freedom also think so.
Take a read:
yes, everything the author says is true...but how do you get the "half a loaf is better than none" crowd to start insisting on the whole loaf?? i tried to show my "obamabot" friends and family where they were wrong BEFORE the 2008 election - to no avail...some of them still won't admit they were bamboozeled...defending obama at almost every turn (especially on health care) - some were so enamoured by the idea of electing a black man they refused to see what that black man was actually saying (or not saying) that said before clinton conceded the presidential nomination, some were so enamoured with voting for a woman they refused to see what that woman was actually saying (or not saying)...
ReplyDelete