Diminish Obamanible INSANITY, indeed!

The importance of the Saturday rally can't be exaggerated. It represents the beginning (I hope not also the end) of a consensus social-democratic movement with the goals of which everyone on the Left should be able to agree. It also represents the hope of a continuing progressive movement during the dark night of the coming Republican dictatorship.

Sadly, the reporting has been all about the numbers. These, while impressive, were less than they might have been because of a) the contempt felt by the petty-bourgeois "netroots" for working people and b) the insularity of the labor unions (the major force in guaranteeing the turnout), which resulted in their making little or no attempt to reach out to potential sympathizers among the Netroots.

If you were there for even an hour during the five hours of speeches many of which were electrifying, or if you spoke in depth as I did with rank-and-file attendees and event organizers, you know how special this rally was and what potential it holds for a new-model Left movement in this country. It just dissolved boundaries that everyone has assumed for years were permanent.

Take me for granted, Democrats, and I'll make you pay. While I have utter disdain for much of the GOP's current platform, I have no interest in rewarding inert , ineffectual Democrats. The last 2 years has felt like a clusterfuck, and I'm starting to think that it makes more sense to sit this election out and let the GOP back in. The Democrats who oppose the GOP in 2012 and beyond will hopefully be a fresh band of upstarts who won't be afraid of their own shadows. Hopefully. In the meantime, I have little interest in rewarding this current group of do-nothings with continued "public service." Thanks for nothing. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

EVERY AMERICAN VOTER NEEDS TO SEE THESE TWO WEBSITES BEFORE THE ELECTION!

http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/rulings/promise-kept
This vital site and the facts it posts won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize, so the information is indisputable. 6 pages with about 20 promises kept on each one, and of such diversity and foresight, you know Obama's accomplishments in less than 2 years far outweigh what little Bush accomplished in 8! Bush, Cheney and Rove actually DAMAGED our country and its relations abroad! WAKE UP AMERICA and VOTE OUT THESE EVIL REPUBLICANS!
http://dccc.org/page/content/accomplishments
This crucial website shows how much all the Democrats accomplished to get our nation out of the quagmire the Republicans left us in:
http://dccc.org/page/content/accomplishments
And most of those crucial issues were won over the blocking, filibustering and negativity of REPUGNICANS!
REMEMBER, THE REPUGNICANS NEARLY CAUSED THE RUINATION OF OUR NATION!

You're just dead wrong.

My whole premise is that independent, broad-based social democratic movement with strong ties to labor must form and flourish within a progressive framework, but with a power base outside the control of either political party. Hence my joy at the potential revealed by Saturday's rally.

As a matter of fact, Obama is not now actually (or not yet) a dictator, and he is not going to become one if he wins re-election in two years. This doesn't mean we aren't under the thumb of an oligarchy or that the powers of the president aren't getting scarier. On the contrary, that's why an independent social-democratic movement is so important.

The Tea Party, on the other hand, represents the final stage in a takeover of the Republican party by a totalitarian element that came close to establishing an overt, literal dictatorship under Bush II. They will certainly go the remaining distance if placed in a position of power comparable to that occupied by Bush II.

These people are the literal heirs of the degenerate Jacksonian tradition once embodied in the Ku Klux Klan. They will stop at nothing.

If you don't understand the strategic difference between the two, then God help you.

I was told that several"Americans for Communism"groups attended this rally.Can anyone straighten this out for me?

Absolutely, even right wing idiots realize a Communist country is completely outproducing us and beating us at Capitalism, we insist they don't do what we've done forvere with currency. What a joke, teabaggers heads will explode when they realize the US is in 2nd or 3rd place. Meanwhile, better ideas need to see the light of day.

The people who attended this rally--union members, environmental activists, peace advocates, NAACP members, etc.--are the true heirs to MLK's dream of diversity and social justice.

By contrast, Beck's stunt represented nothing but self-aggrandizement and monochromatic backwardness.

Here is a link to the official website of One Nation Working Together listing the endorsing organizations. It looks like a good, diverse group of people including The General Board of Church and Society-The United Methodist Church. So overall not revolutionary. No armed militias or anything like that. Link:

http://action.onenationworkingtogether.org/index.php/partners/

If that's the best you can offer, 13:49, Democrats are indeed doomed - go back to Clinton and his bombing of Iraq and sanctions, his destruction of Glass-Steagall, through the gutless abdication of leadership by Democrats in attacking Iraq and Afghanistan, the complete treason of not bringing the Bush Administration to trial for war crimes, through the Obama lies and failures on health care, the economy, putting people back to work and in school, and the continuation of endless war, and the Democrats have little to nothing to offer. You ask a lot of questions, but have no answers, just like a typical Democrat.

Sun, 10/03/2010 - 20:51 — @Ehrich von Arschloch (not verified)
 
"My whole premise is that independent, broad-based social democratic movement with strong ties to labor must form and flourish within a progressive framework, but with a power base outside the control of either political party."

What does that even mean? Does it mean that you will have fewer restrictions on what you can legally do? No, it means more laws restricting your freedom. Does it mean that the right to own that which you produce will be restored? No, it means that other people will decide who owns that which you produce. Does it mean that you will decide what to do with your property? No, it means that self-serving politicians and
bureaucrats will make those decisions. Look at any country that has a ruling party with the word "social" or "progressive" in its name... people are no more than ants in an anthill, living merely to serve the state. The more positive rights that people have, the more people must be forced to provide those things that everybody has a right to.

People are gullible and will vote for anybody who promises a free lunch. Nobody realizes that they will not be GETTING the free lunch, they will be PROVIDING it, at gunpoint if necessary.

Read, "The Gulag Archipelago," by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (this should be required reading in all high schools). Read, "The Road to Serfdom," by Friedrich von Hayek. Think about the fact that, after reading "The Road to Serfdom,"Solzhenitsyn praised Hayek for his incredibly accurate portrayal of what it's like to live in a socialist country, and, most importantly, his logical demonstration that socialist countries must end in dictatorships. If people have mandatory health care, you will be forced to provide it. If people have a mandatory "living wage," you will give up your income to
provide it. You will be forced to provide whatever it is that people have a right to have, and the list of things that are rights will grow without end.
 

Yes, standards of living are higher in Western Europe and also in Canada, Australia, and Japan. It's not like it's a choice between pure capitalism or the Soviet Union! (Well, duh.) There are infinite shades of gray--and many nations have found a better balance between free enterprise and social democracy than we have. The important thing is to prioritize how we want to use our resources. For instance: Instead of spending so much on the military and funding utterly misguided invasions based on lies, as with Iraq, we should invest in universal healthcare like so many other countries have--including the ones with higher standards of living than our own.