When the real America is going to wake up? Please tell me.

[kalazh]

A friend of mine was just called up. He is a reservist. His wife is pregnant. She almost lost her child when she heard the news. When she went to her doctor and finally told her the reasons for stress, the doctor told her that several of her patients whose husbands are already deployed having a tough time. Some of them had miscarriages. I realized that the scope of the problem related to Bush’s little adventure in Iraq is a lot bigger than I thought. So my friend’s family barely meets their ends. When he is gone there is no way his wife can pay her bills. All I can say it is so messy I don’t know where even to start. Democratic Underground is only place I gain support from. For me it is just like a sip of fresh air in the darkness that overtook our life. I hope that we will keep this site going. My only question is when this country is going to wake up and shake off the leeches that sucking off its blood. Please share your thoughts.
Thanks for cooperation.

[Tinoire]

1. I don't think anytime soon

America won't wake up until enough people are touched with a personal tragedy. It's going to take some horrible story on every block before people get out there and say we're not going to take it anymore.

Hang in there! The tide will change/

[kalazh]

5. Thanks for the

comfort but do we have to be so stupid not to see where white is and where black is .

[kalazh]

8. I loooooooooooooooove

Al Sharpton's style "no prisoners taken"

[Faygo Kid]

2. Personal tragedies, and tragedies for our nation

Thank you for a beautifully written post reminding us of the individual, human cost of this misadventure. I cannot add to your eloquence, except to say, don't despair. I was reminded again tonight, watching "Ken Burns' American Stories," that we can and must take back this nation. Those who came before us fought the good fight; now, it is up to us. We cannot flag nor fail. We owe it to our ancestors, and to our descendants. We must all personally reflect on what you have said, and act upon it. I will. Thanks again.

[kalazh]

9. Thanks

you touched me deep inside

[Sperk]

3. I wish I had the answer....sometimes I feel like I'm stuck in a bad dream

where millions of average, good hearted americans have gone completely brain dead. Too scared to think straight? I place most of the blame (aside from the evildoers themselves) on the media. Most people have no idea what is really going on. I know Bush and co. will go down eventually because they are just like an abusive spouse...nothing is EVER enough. They can't control enough, giving in to them only make them want more, etc. So they will self distruct eventually, but how much damage will be done first? I don't know. Thank God for DU, for I surely would have lost my mind by now.

[midwest_lurker]

4. tought times, much tragedy, but there is hope. n/t

i think it must be what my parents were dealing with during the LBJ/Nixon era. there is hope. the CIA for christ's sake on our side. the debate is becoming clear in this nation (its been clear overseas for a while). the notion this is a war to keep the war over there rather than here is a total falsehood and undefendable.

[incapsulated]

6. I wish I could tell you

The good news is that every poll shows dwindling support for the war. The more reservists they call up, the more everyone is going to know someone over there, and that will make it personal.

I hope everything turns out alright for your friends and their baby.

[kalazh]

7. Actually some

of them considering a law suits

[kalazh]

11. I am sorry man and with all respect

can I ask you a question? How many body bags have to come back before we take the blind fold off?

[alcuno]

10. Newsweek Poll - 50% say they would not vote for *

And this is with a majority OF DEMOCRATS having no idea who the candidates are. None.

[kalazh]

13. One guy told

me today that all we have to do is to vote out the who f@##$#G congress and stuff it with new faces.

[Hailtothechimp]

12. This is Lee Atwater and the politics of division at work

It goes back way before Atwater, I'm sure, but he was the worst purveyor of it. Limbaugh and the rest are swimming in his wake.

Read my tagline and see if it isn't in keeping with your comment about leeches.

[MoonRiver]

14. So sorry to hear this. I know someone in a similar situation, wife and

small children at home, and he'll be called up soon to "defend this country" in Iraqmire. :cry:

[kalazh]

15. I feel

for you

[fortyfeetunder]

16. a DRAFT will wake them up

As much as the White Whore House tries to deny it, a draft is coming along. Then I think will Murkans get a clue

[kalazh]

21. Well

they said it is not going to happen.

[sam sarrha]

17. Looks like they will all die in their sleep...............

[DivinBreuvage]

18. Don't despair.... it takes time

for awareness of the situation to filter down to the mass of folks who don't have the time or inclination to follow the news closely and in-depth. It takes time for people to become aware of the disconnect between what they constantly see and hear on radio/TV versus what they come to see with their own eyes and hear with their own ears, and to become aware that a significant number of the people around them see that disconnect as well. The national mindset of a country of 290 million people can't be made to turn on a dime, nor is it a quick and easy thing to overcome the inertia of such an immense body; consider the tiny bit of energy a mouse needs to dart from one hole to the next as opposed to what it takes a sitting elephant to rise to its feet and launch into a full charge.

As we all know, part of the reason Democrats have problems in elections is that Conservatives have successfully managed to persuade a large number of voters that Democrats like to raise taxes on the middle class and Republicans don't. But this influencing of opinion didn't occur overnight; a hell of a lot of time, hot air, and money was pumped into effecting that shift in popular opinion. The Great Depression went on for three years of worsening conditions under a government that clearly had no idea of what was broke and how to fix it, yet even then America wasn't quite ready to rise up in armed revolt, though a lot of people were moving that way (and it well may have happened if Hoover had been re-elected). It took decades to persuade significant numbers of Americans that black slavery was wrong, and even the increasingly aggressive expansionism of the slave power after the Mexican War was able to have its head for about ten years before the crackup came.

Despite being born in revolution, America is not a nation of hot-headed radicals, and that is, in the long run, a good thing. We're patient and we put up with a hell of a lot before we get angry enough to do something about it. But when that final straw is reached, we do get on our feet, we do come together as a nation, and we get the job done. True, the conservatives will be there as they've always been, fighting tooth and nail against progress and screaming that America is about to be destroyed, but the stronger the wave of national commitment the more helplessly they'll be swept along.

Françoise

[kalazh]

20. Great thoughts

only a small detail actually it is 190 million populaton

[DivinBreuvage]

22. Thanks, kalazh, but your "small detail" is inaccurate

"The U.S. population stood at 281,421,906 on April 1, 2000, according to the decennial census."

Source: http://www.prb.org/AmeristatTemplate.cfm?Section=Estimates__Projections&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=7502

[kalazh]

23. I know

I realised when I posted it
One of those mornings

[ScreamingMeemie]

19. Baby steps...

Today my husband is taking an article into work detailing Emperor Bush's demands upon London for security. A while back, he brought in articles describing the Bush family and their Nazi connections. Last week or the week before, he brought in Al Franken's book, after someone talked up Bill O'Reilly. So far two people have "woken up". If we all get the voice out there...if we all scream, scream loud, who knows what can happen. It's up to us.