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I've been having fun perusing all these threads talking about how we're doomed, that there's no turning back now, that a police state is upon us, that facism won't be stopped, and other such nonesense.
To those people who want to just roll over and die, you want to slash along the vein lines so it will go faster. For the rest of us, I don't know about you, but my sword is ready and I have made my peace with my Gods.
Think about the heritage of this country.
Think about the men and women who have fought, bled, and died on the field of battle, in the streets, in the factories, in the parks, at the universities and colleges, even in the halls of Congress itself, so that we could be a working democracy.
And may the Gods strike me down if I lie, dammit it worked for a little past 200 years! 200 years, every generation with the rights of the masses being expanded, in spite of wars, the growth of corporations, economic collapses, and poor policy descisions. Think about that.
What other country, in the history of the Western world, can boast such a pedigree?
That does NOT mean, however, that we are going to pull this off just by "waiting for the inevitability of the dialectic" and other such propaganda. EVERY time in this nation's history that the rights of the downtrodden, the powerless, and the meek were advanced, it was because people met the challenge head-on, stood their ground, gritted their teeth, and FOUGHT.
Nothing in history, no great gains or victories, no great advances or triumphs, were made by those who did not act.
The 300 Spartans didn't have to make their futile stand at Thermapolaye, but because they did, Greece remained free of the Persian Empire.
George Washington didn't have to lead the Continental Army against the British, but because he did, we are a country.
Abraham Lincoln could have let the Southern states go without a fight and say "good riddance," but he didn't and we are still one country, and the descendants of slaves now help run the country that once oppressed them.
Winston Churchill could have made peace with Hitler and looked the other way instead of digging in his heals and telling Hitler WHERE he could shove it, but I don't need to say what would have happened if he didn't.
The Maquis didn't have to fight after the fall of France, but because they did, D-Day was a success.
Truman didn't have to defy the Soviet blockade of Berlin, but he did because he refused to see the one island in a sea of Stalinist-dominated territory go under.
Kennedy didn't have to blockade Cuba to keep the nukes out, he didn't have to face down Kruschev, but the way he did averted nuclear war.
Martin Luther King didn't have to serve as the figurehead and the symbol for the Civil Rights Movement, a role that cost him his life, but he chose to because it was the right thing to do.
To the inevitable response of, "But they didn't have to face what we are stuck with now," I say to you, "So what!"
The greatest evil that any one person can commit is not the slaughter of innocents, the violation of many people, or the devastation of entire lands. No, the greatest evil is to watch such things be perpetuated and do nothing to stop it.
Those who stand by a mourn the passing of democracy and do nothing more, or pack their bags to flee the country, you are just as bad as the people who voted Bush back into office.
Why?
Because by doing nothing, by failing to act when you should, you are giving Bush just as much of a free pass as his backers.
Dante once said, "There is a place in hell for those who remain neutral in times of great moral crisis."
I don't believe in a hell, but I do believe in that sentiment.
What is your choice, run and hide, or stand and fight like Americans!
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