Ten Years of Democratic Party Betrayal
Well, yeah, it’s way more than 10 years, but I’ve picked that point, exactly 10 years ago today, January 27, 2007, as a key indicator. That, and it’s a part of my personal history.
The Democrats had just been elected to majorities in both houses of Congress, and half a million activists assembled in Washington D.C. as a reminder that we elected them to de-fund and end the illegal war and occupation of Iraq, and to hold the war criminals in the executive branch accountable.
Included in that majority was veteran Congressman John Conyers, now Chair of the House Judiciary Committee thanks to the recent voter mandate, and as such with the power to do so, he fired up the assembled mass demonstration with a promise of impeachment proceedings. And there was a young Senator from Illinois, a master orator, who assumed that position, as many others had, with promises which history clearly demonstrates they would not keep. If ever there was a more blatant mass betrayal and tragic turning point of inaction in our history, we have yet to see it.
The UFPJ (United for Peace & Justice) and Code Pink rallies and demonstrations of that day, and the lobbying that followed on Monday, were unprecedented in citizen activism, and virtually ignored by mainstream media. I fear it may thus be lost to collective memory, just a proud moment for an aging generation of peaceniks, too disappointed to speak much of that day, whose stifled voices are fading all too quickly into history’s void.
With many having already participated in and won grueling mid-term campaigns, they now re-assembled for four successive days of intense, focused activism, climaxing with five hundred thousand marching loudly but peacefully along a route created by its own sheer mass, despite law enforcement plans, around the Capital, followed by 48 of 50 states’ representatives lobbied en mass by their own constituent citizens for an entire day…..and I’m left with a few buttons, lots of video & pics, a couple stickers on my fridge, and a tiny hope that our message of peace and justice can someday be resuscitated.
And I have a picture video I assembled of signs at the march. If you’re not already familiar with the significance of the white rose, do so. Now more than ever, do so.
Peace….and Justice!
Comments
Obama's performance: In the years 2012 - 2014, US
Special Forces carried out operation in 150 countries.
Obama switched from massive troop deployment to using bribery, threats, drone murders, and huge infusions of money to get local dictators either installed or made more secure.
Less then 2 years after his speech in Cairo, Obama's regime helped crush Arab Spring in Cairo.
"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"
The UFPJ (United for Peace &
Fast forward two years later and we got wall to wall coverage every time 5 dudes showed up somewhere wearing tri-corner hats carrying a Gadsden flag.
Funny how that works.
Conyers came on to the GOS in 2005 or so
He interacted with many of us. We took Congress the following year, and it's amazing how he changed from a firebrand to a wet dishrag in such a short time.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
I had a friend of a friend...
I had a friend of a friend that was a Conyers staffer ~2002-2005 or '06 or so. He got caught by the police trashing Conyers' opponent's campaign signs in the (I think) '04 election. He kept his job!?!? He was dangerously, storybook, teevee cute so maybe that was it. Or maybe that's just me. Did I mention he was cutie-cute. (I'm so shallow)
Compensated Spokes Model for Big Poor.
It was a betrayal! I wasn't ready to see it. I kept
being distracted by all the excuses, a la John Belushi in "The Blues Brothers." (Sorry, can't do videos from my tablet.)
I was sucked into the Obama campaign, although I had sat out the primary. I saw no real difference between Clinton and Obama, but got pulled into the groupthink of the Obama presidential campaign.
I watched the omens as cabinet picks were announced. Still, I got pulled into working for the ACA. Party leaders assured us rank-and-file that the public option was still on the table when the media indicated that it was dead. I stupidly passed the lie along.
I learned my lesson. Party loyalty is a lie sold by the power elite. I have seen how fast things can move when TPTB want them. It's time for the people to take back their power. We can't let ourselves be divided and ruled if we want things to get better.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
Remember when "The Sequester"
Remember when "The Sequester" started effecting people that matter - some had to wait in airport security lines for extra minutes!!!! - and the House and Senate, then the Prez, wrote, passed & signed airport security funding exemptions from The Sequester in under one day. Meanwhile children went hungry, unvaccinated, unsupervised and uneducated...but of course those children's parents don't own or lease congress critters....
Compensated Spokes Model for Big Poor.
My S.O. went to those rallies, back then.
After looking at photos from the event, I lost all hope in the MSM. It was so obvious that it was a huge event. Unprecedented. And not a peep out of the effing MSM. Comedian Jimmy Dore makes an excellent point about the MSM - that all those talking heads you see are millionaires, carrying out the orders of billionaires. Maddow makes the average American's yearly salary, every day. It's similar elsewhere.
And just WHY do we as a nation keep trusting them for "The News"???
"Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes
Oh, man! There are always a
Oh, man! There are always a few whose integrity, courage and empathy light the way for a path too few others dare to follow...
What is more than a superficial difference between the crimes that TPTB are causing Americans to commit against the rest of the world and their own people and what the Nazi's did?
From the Wiki link given, with minor edits:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rose
By the time the Allies had arrived to stop the process, the Nazis had also begun to mass-kill 'Good Germans' nonetheless not useful to the Reich and therefore a waste of space. I recall reading a quote from an elderly victim stating that she was satisfied and happy to die for the good of the Reich, and that over 100,000 had so far been put down, although I later saw references to far larger numbers, 'Good Germans' all...
Eternally leaving cheating, lying, undemocratic politicians in office to fix their own corruption, or that by which they've been cheated in or by which they've otherwise benefited/ defrauded the public, 'the next time' guarantees disaster Trumping all humanity.
"It's a Republic, Ma'am, if you can keep it."
But the promise of the wonderfully designed US Constitution has never yet been enforced by, of and for The People, and 'too late' is rushing upon us all, along with the demise of life itself on the planet...
All for greed, and the world well lost?
Edited for a typo, in keeping with Typo Queen tradition. And to add the Wiki link, which I had to go back for.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.