If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything

[Jeffersons Ghost]

The American people are being duped by Big Business and our government. When do we make a stand? When do we exercise our rights under the First Amendment and start protesting? Are we going to wait until the top 3% of wealth-holders, along with their bought and paid for politicians drive us into abject poverty? It's time to make a stand.

[HillbillyBob]

1. Some of us are very very close to abject poverty

Only hard choices and fast thinking keep us living inside.

I have made calls (but getting to where I cannot hear well enough to use the phone much), written LTTEs, to congresscritters(state and federal), WH. All I ever get back is form letters that basically say, yeah yeah sure whatever you say, blah blah blah they then go on to give our hard earned to rich f ers, corpses, spy on citizens and tell us we have to be pertected(sic).
Who the hell is going to protect us from them?

I m glad I won't live long enough to see when the country turns into a total f ing sh*t hole with some theofascist running things.

[lunatica]

2. I like your word 'theofascist'

It describes the GOP and the Tea Party mentality perfectly. Scream of too much government while busy making laws that dictate what women can do with their bodies or who people can love, or whether people who have lived all their lives here can become citizens.

[nofurylike]

6. thank you for working so hard for progress, HillbillyBob. it's a

shame more do not work (even a fraction!) as hard to ensure their sens and reps do the bidding of their constituents.

so many are just armchair activists, and critics!

please keep on!

[Jeffersons Ghost]

7. This is about a wide variety of issues a facing America...

When everyone feels like this we can start improving all the truly important issues we face:

I Won't Back Down
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

Well I won't back down
No I won't back down
You can stand me up at the gates of hell
But I won't back down

No I'll stand my ground, won't be turned around
And I'll keep this world from draggin me down
gonna stand my ground
... and I won't back down

Chorus:
(I won't back down...)
Hey baby, there ain't no easy way out
(and I won't back down...)
hey I will stand my ground
and I won't back down

Well I know what's right, I got just one life
in a world that keeps on pushin me around
but I'll stand my ground
...and I won't back down

(I won't back down...)
Hey baby, there ain't no easy way out
(and I won't back down...)
hey I will stand my ground
(I won't back down)
and I won't back down...

(I won't back down...)
Hey baby, there ain't no easy way out
(I won't back down)
hey I won't back down
(and I won't back down)
hey baby, there ain't no easy way out
(and I won't back down)
hey I will stand my ground
(and I won't back down)
and I won't back down
(I won't back down)
No I won't back down..

[Sheri]

3. i don't think we're being duped. the people just don't have any real power.

here's an essay that shows how neither the democrats nor the republicans serve the people who elect them.

http://laelth.blogspot.com

it doesn't matter what the people want or think.

[lonestarnot]

5. Well it's way past time we get some of it back.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

9. It matters what some people want and think

[creon]

4. Both

If you are pragmatic without principles, you have no notion of your destination.

If you have principles without pragmatism, you do not know possible from impossible.

[DaveofCali]

8. Americans can't take a stand...

...because Americans are too vulnerable to disinformation campaigns, and are not knowledgeable enough to be able to know what is true and what isn't, preventing them from having a strong enough opinion (and firm conviction) in order to take a stand. Look at the last election, Republican's massive campaign of disinformation to blame everything on the Democrats worked. The American people don't know what to believe, thus they can't take a stand (because taking a stand requires firm conviction, pretty much believing at least close to 100% of your own convictions, which is based on strong opinions that have to be formed with large amounts of knowledge.)

[deutsey]

10. I agree, but why can't the Democrats ever seem to be prepared to counter such tripe?

There are smart, media-savvy Democrats, aren't there?

Why are they always taken by surprise (seemingly) by the bullshit the Right spews (from the Teabag morons to Limbaugh/Beck to the GOP leadership)? Kerry and the swiftboaters, Obama and the death panels, etc. :puke:

Why don't they ever seem to have a coherent media strategy for pushing, promoting, defending their agenda among the public and attacking the hell out of the Right's agenda?

With some notable exceptions, they're either incompetent or complicit with the Right's corporate agenda, imo.

Neither option is acceptable.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

11. a "a coherent media strategy for pushing, promoting, defending their agenda" is certainly needed

[patrice]

12. Agreed, though there are probably some similarities & some differences in our definitions of "stand"

One similarity would be that we MUST protest publicly much more, minutely or massively, we NEED to go out into the streets with the Liberal message.

[BeFree]

13. Actually

If you stand for nothing, you will fall for something.

Gotta keep that job and the bennies. Gotta keep paying the bills. I don't have time to do anything
else. Besides, there's nothing I can change. I'm just a little guy. LEAVE ME A LOAN!!