Bleeding out....

[pat]

I keep having this mental imagery of us, as a nation, mortally wounded, standing around at a cocktail party, chatting about inconsequential things, while blood is running down over our red white and blue sequins and pooling on the floor to be licked up by the dogs. We are dying, the beliefs that have formed the basis of who we are as a nation for 200+ years are being destroyed, and we are resolutely ignoring that fact.

I have not been writing political posts. I can't. I can't say how many times I have started to write about what's happening with Padilla and had to stop because my hands started shaking too badly. And that started even before the NSA wiretap story broke.

I would make a heroic stand, except... how? where? what can I do? They are like thieves in the night. I vote. I write letters. I call my Congress people. I express my outrage -- but most of the people I talk to are here in California, in the Bay Area, the bluest region in the country, probably. I talk to my mom and my in-laws when I go back East, respectfully, trying to help them see what is going on, but I can't see where that does all that much good.

I don't know what to do next..

Niemoller talked about how important it was to speak out. He didn't say how to do so so that anyone would listen.

Comments

[griffen.livejournal.com]

I don't know what to do next either. It's one of the reasons I've not said much political lately.

*sigh*

[calebbullen.livejournal.com]

I understand the feeling, as does anyone who's been paying any attention to anything for the last few years.

But I think on the whole it's kind of a self correcting system. Things get bad then get worse and then get so bad that it wakes people up and they get better, repeat. I think Katrina was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. Since then, the press has stopped pulling it's punches so much and I've noticed that the important stories are being covered by more and more mainstream media. Things that last year would only be in The Guardian or Air America are now on CNN or the networks. Everyone and their dog are under investigation now and people are starting to wake up.

It seems like America has always been standing their bleeding and has always had something completely un-American going on and has almost always had some kind of horrible crisis going on that seemed like the end.

Start with Slaves in the Constitution then move on to our Indian policies then the Civil War where Lincoln's abuse of power makes Bush seem sane (although it could be argued that Lincoln's ends justified the means) on through to the killing of union organizers, the Japanese internment camps, McCarthy, the civil rights struggle with it's many setbacks, the bay of pigs on up through now.

I think if you look at the really big picture, things have been progessively been getting better in this country all along but if you zoom in to the close up view things have always been terrible too.

If you look at the long view we've become much more tolerant and equitable a nation over time going from white male property holders could vote to now when almost anyone can vote and even a crazy ass Austrian can be Governor. We're paying more attention to environmental issues, have better schools for more people etc. than we did back in the day. Right now we're doing worse on all those fronts than ten years ago, no doubt, but we're doing a lot better than we were 100 years ago. And 100 years from now they'll look back at us and wonder how we ever lived with such inequalities and irresponsibilities as we do in much the same way we look at the anti union and anti sufferage and corporate abuses that were going on 100 years ago.

At least that's how I look at it and what gives me hope when the immediate setbacks seem overwhelming.

[purplecthulhu.livejournal.com]

One thing that you can do is congratulate the media outlets that finally seem to have developed a spine, as well as asking some, like the New York Times, why they sat on things for far too long. The media is the lever that can get things finally moving - it worked on Nixon and McCarthy, and could work on Bush and the neo-Cons as well.

And here's a radical suggestion, from an outsider... If California really is completely out of step with the rest of the US (I don't think it is yet, but its clearly out of step with much of Redland) then maybe its time to start campaigning for secession? That's something that California could in principle do on its own which the rest of the US would surely take notice of. OK - I said it was radical!

[cyan-blue.livejournal.com]

Are there any political organizations that you could do some work with, that are in a position to make some difference?

Might you consider running for local office yourself?

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

You know, before I read this post, whenever I heard "Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes", I had thought of it as an admonition to someone who is afraid of public speaking. Now, I'm also hearing it as encouragement to someone whose voice is quavering in rage.

Please, continue to speak your mind.