The Times They Are A Changing!

[Quixote1818]

This thread is a tribute to Skinner and everyone on DU. I get the feeling the pendulum is beginning to swing back and we have a lot to be proud of here. Hopefully I can post this again after the midterms after even better news.

Before last years elections I felt so worried about the direction of our country. Tragically thousands had died and been mutilated by the actions of this Administration and the lies and manipulation that lead us into War stunned me. The list of things that disgusted me was a mile long and continues to grow every day. I felt almost hopeless when Bush was proclaimed the winner again after what I thought had been a complete disaster of a first term. I worried our country was slipping away and becoming something so foreign and against our founding principles I could no longer have faith in what we stood for. Still I retained a tiny flicker of hope and my will to fight welled up into a passion and I became a regular here on DU. I had never been active in politics before. I had never even voted before. I was jolted into taking action because I felt it was my duty as a citizen of the United States to fight to preserve the Country I love. I have learned so much from so many of you! Their are so many brilliant, kind, hard working people here who are the truest patriots and defenders of our founding documents and for human liberty. You are all an inspiration and it's great to know we are apart of something powerful and great here.

I am posting the Lyrics of 'Times They Are A Changing' because for the first time I am beginning to feel a sense that perhaps the people of our Country are waking up. That the thousands of letters to the editor those here on DU have written have had an impact. That the many angry e-mails to our leaders and media perhaps have started to sink in, that we are making a positive difference here on DU! I have a feeling that Karma and poetic justice is beginning to emerge and the current administration's power is withering.

Keep up the hard work everyone and remember, the Times They Are A Changing and YOU have been a big part of it! I want to thank Skinner for this website! It gives me meaning and purpose and an opportunity to be with like minded people who share the same values and goals for our country and the world we live in. It allows us to work together as a team.

Thank you Skinner! These lyrics are for you and everyone on DU! We are making a positive difference and their is hope after all!


PS If you have Bob Dylan or Judy Collins version at hand throw it in your tape or CD player and read along. The words are powerfully ironic to where we are now. They will give you chills and hope and the inspiration to keep up the good fight.



Times They Are A Changing! Bob Dylan


Come gather round people wherever you roam
And admit that the waters around you have grown
And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth saving
Then you'd better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone
For the times, they are a changing

Come writers and critics who prophesize with your pens
And keep your eyes open, the chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon, the wheel's still in spin
And there's no telling who that it's naming
Oh the loser will be later to win
For the times, they are a changing

Come senators, congressmen, please head the call
Don't stand in the doorway, don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt will be her that has stalled
The battle outside ragging will soon shake your windows
And rattle your hall
For the times, they are a changing

Come mothers and fathers all over this land
And don't criticize what you can't understand
Your sons and your daughter are beyond your command
Your old role is rapidly aging
Please get out of the new one if you can't lend a hand
For the times they are a changing

The line, it is drawn, the curse, it is cast
The slow one will later be fast
And the present now will soon be the past
The order is rapidly fading
The first one now will later be last
For the times, they are a changing


:party: :toast: :bounce: :hippie: O8) :7 :dem: :loveya: :grouphug: :hug: :pals: :headbang: :woohoo: :applause: :patriot:

Feel free to express gratitude toward Skinner for giving us such a magnificent website. This is what it's all about friends!

[AX10]

1. In 2008, chances are HEAVILY towards the side that...

the GOP will done with for some time. However, we must live with the horrors that DAS GOP has given us. :argh: Our courts will be lost for 10-15 years. The national debt will cripple us. Our civil liberties will still be negativly impacted (strong leadership and advocating from a strong liberal i.e. Wes Clark will help us). America's prestiege will be gone forever. Yes the world will be willing to work with America again, but they will NEVER forget that America supported Bush.

[belle]

8. and that's the *best* case scenario, but still worth fighting for.

[cyberpj]

17. I agree. And don't forget

they'll have all that money from oil, defense contracting and overseas business profits to tide them over while we're left to clean up the mess - as always.

Why aren't people smart enough to see that Republicans have always done this two-step? First - into politics to rape and pillage and then they sink out of that limelight and safely into big business and industry for a while to benefit even more from whatever laws they managed to arrange for that sector.

I'm so sick of it I could scream.

[firefox]

2. DU is 4057 at Alexa

DU continues to climb in Alexa ratings. Today it is #4057 in the most trafficked websites- http://tinyurl.com/a8l3z

[Viva_La_Revolution]

19. Thanks for the link...

I wrote a review - stole OneBlueSky's headline - because it needed to be said again - "Best political discussion board on the net"

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. yes things are starting to change

but it is no time to relax

[Quixote1818]

5. Great Point! It's NEVER time to Relax! nt

[Lecky]

4. I agree!

I hope the democrat leaders don't heavily depend on the republican failures to win elections. I hope they are getting their acts together and forming solid constructive messages to send to the people.

I also hope that the democrats (us) come together both moderates and liberals (including greenies) and try to steer our leaders in the right direction without tearing each other apart. I know our party is far from perfect but I can't stand it when people are always negative or play the defeatist "we are doomed" card. Honesty and bluntness can only work in our favor if we use it constructively.

Now is not the time to bash our party, now is the time for honest discussion with each other and constructive communication with our leaders. We should do our best on our own as well to send the right message out. The democrats (not any other political party) have the best chance of pulling our country out of the mud and steering us back into the right direction.

I'm very optimistic we can do this :)

[ailsagirl]

6. Dylan still speaks to us... forty years later

Thanks for the post-- thoughtful and articulate. I'm glad
you're onboard. :)

Peace

:patriot:

[newyawker99]

7. kick

:kick:

[rosesaylavee]

9. This is the best site

Thank you to whoever Skinner is - am assuming Skinner started this site. Thank you... can't imagine what it would be like without it! Have been reading DU for months now and just decided to jump in and join this week...

[ultraist]

12. Welcome to DU rosesaylavee!

:hi:

[NoSheep]

10. Yes!!!! An inspiration to us all! Dylan is my hero, forever and for always

:hi: :grouphug:

[babylonsister]

11. Thank you, Quixote1818, for your

lovely, heartfelt, hopeful post! :hug:

[byronius]

13. Skinner. The Magnificent Democratic Underground. I'm home.

This site has altered me significantly. Thank you.

[DemExpat]

14. Thanks, Quixote, this post is just great.

:thumbsup:

:kick:

DemEx

[Booster]

15. Thanks, Skinner. Without everybody on DU, I'd be a blithering

idiot, pissed off at the world and thinking I was the only one. I LOVE YOU GUYS.

[NMDemDist2]

16. ..

:kick:

[bonito]

18. Thanks quixote, tears for my eyes, and steam for my soul. n/t

[Viva_La_Revolution]

20. I had never been active in politics before....

you said..

"I had never been active in politics before. I had never even voted before. I was jolted into taking action because I felt it was my duty as a citizen of the United States to fight to preserve the Country I love. I have learned so much from so many of you! Their are so many brilliant, kind, hard working people here who are the truest patriots and defenders of our founding documents and for human liberty. You are all an inspiration and it's great to know we are a part of something powerful and great here."

Absolutely DITTO! I too was once politically un-informed. Now I'm a force to be reckoned with. I am informed and I am pissed off.
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[OhNoTheyDidNot]

21. Thank you Skinner and thank you Quixote1818

Skinner for this great site and Quixote, you have created some awesome threads that have ended up being quoted on Repuke websites. You are a really good writer and obviously get on 'thier' nerves. Thank you for that!

[Skinner]

22. You're welcome, Quixote1818

And thank you for the kind message.

[dalaigh lllama]

23. I wonder how many others are here

that were never political junkies before. I know that's true in my case. I didn't start paying attention to what was going on until 9/11, when I considered (with some personal shame that I had been oblivious) that it was my patriotic duty to become informed. I learned about this site last summer/fall, lurked here for months, and only joined recently (having given up on the idea that I should wait until a brilliant user name would ever occur to me). This site is my daily dose of reality -- it lets me know what's going on under the radar and it lets me know with some reassurance that there are other like-minded (and somewhat like-minded) individuals out there.

Thanks, Skinner, for an awesome site. (BTW, the format for this site blows freeperville out of the water.)