Reply #21: Congratulations, MelissaB! I passed my 1000th this week, too! [View All]

[Peace Patriot]

I look forward to your posts, and always pay attention when you weigh in--you are always helpful. Your regular feature is a great addition to DU! I was surprised to read your comment--that you feel you are a political novice. Whether or not you've been active, you've obviously been thinking deeply about these matters.

DU Accomplishments:

I think we've succeeded in giving the Democrats in Congress a serious shot of Vitamin B!

1 vote became 13 votes became 36 votes, seriously challenging the Bush regime. Bang, bang, bang. Jan. 6. Jan. 26. Feb. 4. It's now a political movement within the Democratic Party to challenge the BushCons, and to take no more bullying from them. If we hadn't been here, hashing out the issues, formulating policy around election fraud and its implications, and going into action when it was needed, that wouldn't have happened. I think more and more Democratic leaders are realizing that they represent the majority of Americans. That is a huge and important development for which we are at least partly responsible.

We have kept election fraud and election reform alive as an issue. This is the MOST IMPORTANT CRISIS American democracy has ever faced. We are helping other Americans to understand it and to face it.

We are committed to the truth. We won't take any flak. We won't put up with "politics as usual." We have a kind of common consciousness that has developed, that sees right through the B.S. often with laser-like precision. We've emerged from the crucible of 11/2 and come out stronger and better citizens--and much more politically savvy than many of us were before.

Going into 11/2, what I saw developing was the most amazing grass roots democracy movement I have ever seen, absolutely unprecedented in this country (except for 1776 itself, and maybe the early labor movement). The civil rights movement and the anti-war movement of the 1960s don't compare. We had better news media conditions then, and a much healthier country in many ways-especially prior to the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther king.

This movement--to oust Bush--sprang out of nowhere. Suddenly--despite unrelenting propaganda--much of the country became determined to throw Bush and his gangsters out, and rose up to do so, and got organized, and would not be stopped--even when favorite candidate Howard Dean was forced out of the race, even when a man who had voted for the Iraq War became the candidate. We would not be divided. We would not be conned again. We would work with ANYBODY--even the compromised, corrupt Democratic leadership--if they would help us throw these creatures out of our White House! And, by God--from nothing, from nowhere--we rose up and threw them out! Do you know that our voter registration drive resulted in a 57% increase in Democratic registration, compared to 41% for the BushCons?

A magnificent victory for the grass roots! And then...and then...

...the crushing realization, by some of us, that it had been stolen--and, by others, that all their work was for nothing, that somehow Bush had won, that the propaganda had worked, that the country was turning against 200 years of progress. And that beautiful but very young democracy movement got sliced up into a million broken-hearted pieces, and into 62.2 million (according to Dr. Freeman) depressed, disempowered, disenfranchised voters.

And DU--especially the Election Forum--took those shattered pieces and started putting them back together. That democracy movement is alive and back on its feet today because of DU.

Possibly most important of all, this forum has provided a home, and a generally sane working environment, for those who refuse to accept this fascist coup as a legitimate government. When other activists, and other forums, and other Democrats lost heart and blinded themselves to the truth, DU and this Election Forum were here for us. Those who kept it going through our democracy's darkest hour deserve Congressional Medals of Honor, in my opinion--and maybe, some day, they will actually be so rewarded. (Who knows?) I wasn't here on 11/2. I was a latecomer. And I cannot tell you how glad I am to have found this forum, and how grateful I am to those who were here before me. I am in awe of their resilience and their intelligence and commitment.

And MelissaB, just remember, it was something brilliant and full of light within you that brought you here!