TREASON. I think the GOP'ers relentlessly persecuting Obama are now guilty of it.

[calimary]

55. Welcome to DU, Pragdem! I'm very appreciative of all the comments, both pro and con.

Glad you're here! And thanks for weighing in. I WANTED comments because I wanted to know what people here thought.

Perhaps it's not a reasonable solution. But the problem I have is - we've TRIED all the reasonable solutions.

Compromise? Yeah, look how well THAT one has worked.

Stern words? Nothing happens. Maybe not stern enough? And those on our side, if they even utter stern words, do NOTHING to back it all up.

Meeting them halfway? Yeah, look how well THAT one's worked. john boner once said openly that he got 98 percent of what he wanted. And Obama got two percent? How is THAT a reasonable solution? Especially since even 98% wasn't enough for boner and his crowd.

Extreme? Well, in the last regime, they threw all kinds of crap at us, called us unAmerican, people lost their jobs for speaking out, people were ostracised and shunned and ignored for speaking out. NO ONE on the other side was given much credence, attention, face-time, voice time on the radio, the press was against us, and even our own reps were against us and wouldn't listen. Precious few stood up and spoke out and tried to stop it. And too many of our reps just fell in line like good little puppy dogs and didn't object or resist or try to make a stink or try to force their way onto shows like "Meet the Press" where it was wall-to-wall bush/cheney supporters with the drumbeat for war given a FULL pass and 100% of the attention and coverage.

Make them pay a political price? How? By getting them voted out? How's that working in the red states - especially those that are FIRMLY and resolutely still red? How does that work against jerrymandering and politicking and the mass media and talk radio and Pox Noise machinery that somehow ensures that people in those red states keep voting for the GOP even when it is SOUNDLY against their own best interests? When, by now, most of them have been brainwashed by resolute and repetitive propagandizing so they won't listen to reason now, in any case. WHAT political price? That doesn't seem like a very realistic option at the moment, at all. Look, when you have a candidate as bad and as damaged as a mark sanford, who's a PROVEN sleeze and a cheat and a liar and a deserter (not just of his wife and sons but his whole frickin' STATE to run off to Argentina to see his backstage girl), and a deadbeat dad - and he STILL gets elected over a very capable Dem - mainly because the constituents in that district are SO DEEPLY inculcated with the GOP belief system that they cannot see beyond it, no matter what - what can be done? When you give them facts and they still reject. When you warn them and they still don't listen. What's to be done? What will make them stop?????

Perhaps the "T-word" isn't the answer. Perhaps sedition isn't the answer. So what IS? I just think we consider playing real hardball and putting THEM on the defensive for a change. Making them stop and think for a moment before they go further? Assuming, of course, that it's even possible to do that. I mean, what keeps assholes like darrell issa at it, term after term after term? We don't seem able to get him voted out, here in California. He keeps heading back to Washington time after time, and what was everybody saying about him when the GOP took over the House? The speculation was on high about how soon he'd start investigating Obama's bellybutton lint as the CONS did with Bill Clinton. And sure enough, that's what he's doing now.

What's to be done? I'm looking for other options because I think we need to think outside the box, and do something uncharacteristic for Dems - and fight back with TEETH. NOT the Harry Reid way, trusting the GOP to be reasonable on a handshake. It just seems as though the options we have, the tools we have, and all the approaches we've been trying, haven't worked. I think we need a political 2x4 to smack them across the faces and make them stop. Or at least stop and think for a moment. I don't see anything else working. And you know what Einstein said about continuing to do the same stuff that gets you the same bad results, but you keep doing it just hoping you'll get some different results for a change. Einstein defined that as insanity.

And at least to me, this situation is untenable, and unsustainable. I think we need our own "shock & awe." We've taken the high road for years with this opposition, which has only gotten stronger and more forceful and better-financed, and metastasized like a cancer, and nothing helps. And we the people are not served. And the people's business and interests and needs are not being addressed. All because of politics. I just think the status quo is unsustainable. It simply can't go on like this. I think we have to figure out another approach. We can't just let things go on as they are. This shit has to stop. The persecution of Obama has to stop. Or else, it's just going to continue and get worse - simply for the joy of persecuting Obama and keeping him hobbled so he can't get the people's business done. I'll bet we're stuck with mitch mcconnell again next year, for another six years. How's THAT for reinforcing bad behavior?

I also know that the REAL solutions will be 30 to 40 years in the making, as our side finally wakes up to the realization that we have to fight the way the bad guys have - with this well-orchestrated and funded campaign that started back in the early 70s with the Powell Doctrine and others - to put corporate America firmly in charge of this country and everyone in it, via think tanks and foundations and groomings of new operatives and candidates and future "journalists" to the corporate way of thinking. It was in reaction to all the social justice that the 60's brought to America. There was a Bill Moyers post about it here on DU a few days back, and here's what it was talking about:

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/news-and-blogs/campaign-blog/the-lewis-powell-memo-corporate-blueprint-to-/blog/36466/

And if we resolutely go about that (assuming our Dems and progressive groups even have the wherewithal attempt this), then maybe in 30 or 40 years we'll dominate the national mindset again. Which would be great. But it does NOTHING to address what's happening at this moment.

I appreciate everybody for weighing in, even those who've dumped on me and insulted me. Because I think we need to start talking about this OPENLY. Maybe even the sheer fact of bringing it up might open a way to bring some sense to at least a FEW on the other side, to stop this madness. Or at least slow it down.