People will fight when...

[yurbud]

I was wondering why people poured into the streets of Bolivia to protest Bechtel privatizing their water, why the Russians stood up against the hard-liner coup in '91, and why the Iraqis are fighting the occupation, but Americans are largely putting up with the Bush administration.

The usual arguments about the media, religious right, and the right's lock on all branches of government are true, but something more fundamental has to happen.

People have to feel that they have more to lose by doing nothing.

I didn't get health insurance the first seven years I taught college, Arnold's education cuts here mean it's less likely I'll get a full time job, and the right wing 'academic freedom' campaign on campus means they could squeeze the life and intelectual stimulation out of what I do in the classroom. They are attacking both my financial and emotional rewards from my job, so I have more to lose by keeping quiet.

The same was more dramatically true in Bolivia--when you can't afford water, you are fucked. If you don't do something then, you will die.

I suspect if Bush pushes through any version of the health care 'reform' he mentioned in the State of the Union, it will push more people over the edge, just as his prescription drug thing for medicare is doing for old people.

Maybe nothing short of Bush starting another unnecessary war will do it, but whatever it is, we aren't there yet.

Yet.

[Vincardog]

1. aWoL wants armed resistance. Their first response to another attack

will be to imprison large bodies of American citizens. I for one am fighting with every political took at hand. Here is hoping that we can wait out this cancer on the American Political body. The last hope now is that we elect REAL DEMOCRATS in November and impeach the whole corrupt CABAL in 07.

There I did ti see that Agent Mike?

[woodsprite]

2. I guess you could look at it this way -- that the liberals are

armed with more morals, more brains, and more ethics than the whole lot of them.

[yurbud]

8. we just need to take communication more seriously

[yurbud]

4. I don't advocate armed resistance--it wasn't necessary in Soviet Union

[Vincardog]

10. You asked when we would FIGHT BACK. I said there are many ways to fight

We need to resist without falling into their shit holes at GitMo OR rendered offshore to who knows where.

[yurbud]

13. ok, now we've both waved the white flag at the NSA

[OneBlueSky]

3. people are lobotomized by television . . .

you can blow up the house next door just as long as you don't interrupt "American Idol" . . .

[yurbud]

5. here in LA anything that doesn't affect traffic is ignored.

a tragedy is anything that causes a traffic jam, but only if it's on the freeway you are on.

[Nia Zuri]

12. Bread (McDonalds/TGI Fridays) and Circus.

Overheard in my office, the new survivor starts tonight. It's really going to be good there's more teams.." and "I don't watch Fear Factor any more, it just got too gross." As long as there's teevee and pro sports, people have something to live for.

[Katherine Brengle]

6. we're too comfortable>

The problem is that Americans are too comfortable. Yeah, we're losing our freedoms, but for most people, those freedoms are not things they spend much or any time thinking about.

Yeah, gas prices are going up--but as long as people can still afford to pay for it, they will just complain and do nothing.

Yeah, our soldiers are dying overseas--but until someone you know dies, you don't really understand the need to stop it. Yes, a lot of us are against it, and we worry about it, and we talk about it, and we protest, but most can forget long enough to go out to dinner or play a video game. Until it consumes us, there is not enough energy to ignite the revolution.

Life is too easy here, even when it's hard. And for the people for whom it isn't easy, there is no outlet for them to do anything about it.

[yurbud]

7. it is getting harder for a lot of people. Corporations are trying to

figure out how to get out of providing health care, and when they do and people see that they can't afford it themselves and the government isn't providing help, they will do something before they let their children die in front of them.

[Katherine Brengle]

9. I agree, all I am saying is that it will take more before people take a

stand in a big way.

[yurbud]

14. we'll probably get more

[Horse with no Name]

11. Which is precisely why there is such an assault on the Middle Class

So that people are so overburdened that they do the best they can do to eat, pay their utilities, credit card payments and house payments that at the end of the day, they are too tired to fight.
I highly expect the criminalization of debt in the near future.
Then not only will people be too tired to fight, they will be fearful because of the debts they owe.