Stop Doing Anything That Makes Things Better! No Volunteering!

[norml]

No more non political volunteering. No more unpaid public service work. Don't even pick up litter. No more charitable giving. Don't just boycott some,keep your spending to a minimum everywhere. Make the next four Christmas holidays your cheapest ever. No vacations that cost money. Contribute,and work only for the resistance.

[MazeRat7]

1. Fuck 'em

See this thread.....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1319216

Or put another way...

I don't get mad.... I get even

MZr7

[norml]

2. Thanks,I just checked out your thread,and I agree.

Fuck `em!

[Cocoa]

3. mass slowdown

I'm about four years ahead of you.

[Catfight]

4. No more meals on wheels, just fuck em all. I agree...no more compassion.

Let jesus bring their fucking meals, let jesus provide heat in the winter, let jesus drive their ambulances and sew up their wounds, let jesus do everything now. WE are absolved to help our fellow neighbors unless they are one of us. Fuck the rest, charity begins at home.

PS: I wonder how many Fucks have been on DU today?

[norml]

5. How many fucks on DU today? Not as many as yesterday.

And many of them are mine. Fuck `em!

[tnlefty]

6. In addition 2 days of no spending a week with as many people as

possible participating nationwide. A friend and I were discussing this earlier. If we could get millions to participate in 2 days of no spending I think someone(s) would notice. No more school fundraisers for my family either.

[bread_and_roses]

7. Yes, this is important

it is time to stop shoring up their bankruptcy of the social safety net with our $, time, lives. Do no social service for which you are not paid, do not contribute to charity, do not volunteer your time for United Way, etc.

The people have spoken: they want to shrink goverment, to get rid of welfare, to have no taxes? Fine. Let them see the world they've bought.

[norml]

8. "Let them see the world they've bought."

Absolutely!

[norml]

9. It's Friday and I still mean it.

Let it fall.

[norml]

10. It's Friday and I still mean it.

Let it fall.

[Cogito ergo doleo]

11. No spending

No credit cards, no volunteer work, no TV, no radio, no vacation, no nothing but books and music bought from home grown stores in town. I'm fed to the teeth with it, and I mean it, too.

[enki23]

12. bad idea. how about we help each other instead?

that's how the conservative christians do it. couple charity with evangelism. we could take on some of the more benign aspects of a cult (note, that by cult i mean religions of all shapes and sizes)

[zulchzulu]

13. Nope...not me. I'm sharpening my knives, cleaning up and retreading

2006 elections are now in the crosshairs. These neocon fuckers will be sitting ducks.

[info being]

14. Only help each other. Just like Christians.

[DemocracyInaction]

15. Are some of you people slow??? (maybe you live in red states so

I could excuse your slowness). I gave up this shit waaaay back in Papa Bush's era when I realized I was being taken advantage of. I was sick of being a Scout leader and having yuppie moms waiting until 7 at night for them to pick them up from their after-school meeting. I was a free babysitter. I was the town campaign chairwoman for the United Fund and I tossed it. Like I said in another post I started today---we don't demand anything from our government and just pay and pay and pay taxes unlike people in other democracies. I won't enable this anti-government (but couldn't live a minute without it) fuckers any longer. I just won't.

[Texasgal]

17. Can we PLEASE stop the

Bashing of red states? It really serves no purpose...OKAY?

[Dulcinea]

23. THANK YOU

We're not all mouth-breathers.

[SmokingJacket]

47. Yeah, red state liberals are hard core!

It's easy being a liberal in the northeast. No one here even touched my Kerry signs!

But you guys ROCK. :hi:

[snacker]

16. One idea

Buy your Christmas cards from charitable organizations. I posted this earlier. Hallmark doesn't need our money, but there are plenty of charities who sell Christmas cards and often, 100% of profit goes to help them.

[City Lights]

24. Here's a great site for Holiday cards:

http://www.syrculturalworkers.com/catalog/cards/Holiday1.html

[in_cog_ni_to]

34. I stopped sending out holiday cards when stamps hit 32 cents.

Remember, stamps support the government. :hi: I use the Post Office only when I have to.

[evilqueen]

18. WOW

You're all thinking like me. I had no idea, I've not been here a few days.

Yes. Stop consuming. Keep paying your monthly bills (just so you don't get in trouble), but no more spending on anything you don't absolutely need to survive. I'm not sure I'd recommend keeping the money you're not spending in your checking account at the bank long-term, however, because the banks use your money and make interest off that.

If you can wean yourself away from the television set, it would also be a good idea to keep the TV turned off as much as possible (you can get the news online and there's lots of free games to play). Even more effective if you are a Nielsen rater. Use the time you would have spent watching doing something else... write some essays, start a blog if you don't have one... maybe use the time creating/making xmas presents for your family. Time to learn a craft. :)

Some rightwingers told me that I should just shut up and get used to it, and if I didn't like it, I could leave. The thought of 55 million of us leaving seems a rather interesting idea, not that we could get organized enough to do just that, but imagine if we could. The thought of the locations of all those blue states... that is where all the money actually is in this country. We'd be removing the financial base. It's an interesting thought.

[norml]

25. Inflation will be rampant. You shouldn't pull your money from the bank.

You will need the interest to keep your savings from loosing value. In the bank it won't really be doing that much for the economy. Of course it depends on your needs. Buying gold ingots on Ebay would be another hedge against inflation. Stopping consuming entirely would also be nearly impossible. Just reducing your spending to a minimum I believe is the way to go.

[evilqueen]

26. That's why I said "checking account"

Mine doesn't pay interest.

[norml]

51. Sorry,I missed that point.

I am fortunate enough to belong to a credit union,and am so glad I don't have to deal with banks.

[funkybutt]

19. I understand the idea BUT that sounds miserable

It sucks bad enough that we worked so hard and lost but now we are supposed to live in misery and put our lives on hold for 4 years. I just don't know about that.

I'm on board for the boycotts but I won't boycott my life.

[phantom power]

20. The "Atlas Shrugged" solution?

[City Lights]

21. I will no longer volunteer at my kids' school.

Nor will I support any of their fundraisers. If they need bodies or cash they can ask _george for help. My kids are behind me 100% on this.

[tnlefty]

22. Here also. Someone called last night asking me to volunteer

at the elementary school. She sounded like I had slapped her in the face when I said, No, nor will we be attending the carnival either.

Her: It's a fundraiser for the school.

Me: I know and we'll be doing something else that day.

I'm not attending a ballgame tonight either. I've spent a fortune already this year and the ticket sales, concession sales, etc. help to fund the athletic programs. It looks like a carnival because the band has a donation table set up, every anything that needs help because of budget cuts has something set up for donations. NOT ANYMORE!

[in_cog_ni_to]

33. Great idea. I think I will be giving my school a call.

I work in our media center for 3 hours once a week, volunteer for the Science Lab once a week, chaperone the school dances and just spent a ton of $$$ at a fundraiser (dammit!). NO MORE from me. I live in a freeper village and am surrounded by chimp supporters. Let THEM volunteer. Screw it.

[yewberry]

27. Keep contributing to the ACLU

Please.

Funny thing: I was driving on 128 (notoriously bad MA highway) and saw a blacked-out "child-abduction"-type van...it had a homemade window sticker that claimed "The ACLU is the REAL enemy!"

Brrr...I braked and merged into the Lexington exit lane PDQ.

Also-Remember to support Planned Parenthood. Pap smears and pelvic exams are important, even if you're poor.

[tedoll78]

29. I joined the ACLU as soon as Kerry gave his concession.

It was only $20, but it helps.. and I'm unemployed..

[fidgeting wildly]

31. Done.

I made my first contribution to the ACLU on Wednesday because I thought, soon, this will be all we have. I'm all tapped out after this election, but with the money I will save from cancelling my cable, I was able to do it.

It was the first step I took in turning despair into determination, and it worked wonders for my emotional state that day.

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

41. Support ACLU and also

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Americans United for Separation of Church & State, PFLAG, Interfaith Alliance, feminist groups - groups that support victims of Bush and that fight his fake, hateful "Christian" agenda.

On edit: also media watchdog groups and alternative media.

[RPM]

46. Just spent 1/3 of this week's takehome on the ACLU

felt great...

1/2 went to little brother's birthday present; the rest to food.

Looking forward to working some extra time soon and donating again.

They are (as far as I am concerned) the 4th branch of our democracy now that the press is dead.

[Gyre]

28. Kill yourselves

and thereby deprive any potential freeper assholes in your future the incredibly great opportunity to meet you in all your glory!

Gyre

[meti57b]

30. Don't stop rescue work for dogs and cats, the little beings that give us

so much friendhip and comfort.

[tedzbear]

32. Exactly. If the government is going to cut back social programs to pay...

...for the dividend tax cut than I am no longer going to do my part either. Fuck the selfish bastards! Let them deal with the social fabric unraveling as they watch from their gated communities.

[wellstone dem]

35. As someone who works for a non-profit agency I say

SHAME ON YOU. The one's you will punish are the homeless people, the people without health care, the victims of violence who won't have representation at domestic abuse hearings, and the hungry people. It is wrong that we must look to others for charity to do this good work, but cutting it off forces those in need, many of whom turned out in record numbers to vote for Kerry, to suffer. A better idea would be to coordinate efforts of democrats volunteering to get publicity and to bring home the point that being a "bleeding heart liberal" means doing good whenever and whereever you can.

[G_j]

36. I don't get it either

punishing the homeless, elderly, inter-city kids etc. Those aren't my "values". :shrug:

[Tsiyu]

37. The key is to choose how you will help

not to refuse to help. I can understand the desire to retreat and observe, but other lives should mean more to us.


If you are talking about a local well-off school where the majority are Bushy Bootlickers, hell no. Don't give them even a second of your time. They made their beds, they can lie in them.


But you can be sure the folks working at a homeless shelter didn't vote for *. Don't punish them, too. If you could do something right now to ease the pain of an iraqi or a soldier, wouldn't you? Even though they are in their pitiable state as victims of *
?
Use your good minds. Help where you can and you build a base of support. You will need it one day.

[bread_and_roses]

39. I work for a non-profit too and I absolutely support no more charity

for any social service for which our tax dollars should be being spent. If the people of this country choose killing Iraqi children over money for schools, health care, and income support for the disposable labor pool on which their capitalism depends, then so be it. By donating our livlihood and time to the safety net for which our tax $ SHOULD be spent we are shoring up their destruction of every social support, their bankruptcy of government so that ALL our tax $ can be used for their perpetual war.

I exclude organizations like ACLU, alternative media, and animal welfare: our tax $ have never been used to support those causes, and even if they should be, that is a different battle.

All over this country there are progressives whose time, money, energy has gradually been more and more consumed by keeping people fed, warm, housed. Causes like the environment, animal welfare, the arts, have suffered so that those who would dismantle the social supports of government can ignore the real consequences of their stance.

When the homeless and hungry are visible on our streets, not invisible, when schools all over the country are in the condition that our inner-city schools are in now, people will have to face the world they say they want.

People are already suffering: we save one, another falls into hunger, death from lack of health care, homelessness.

We cannot help people one by one when the entire social safety net, the entire fabric of our system leaves them to die. It's time to make that plain.

[G_j]

42. so will you volunteer to be 'visibly 'homeless along with them

to make the point?

[bread_and_roses]

48. Let me give one example.

We have been a part of band-aid-ing these problems for years. An organization for which I do many, many hours of volunteer work has for over ten years been at the forfront of the fight to expand health care coverage to low-income residents of NY. We have had major successes in expanding various programs to cover more people. And at the end of ten years we have seen NO NET GAIN in the number of insured. For every person we got covered, someone else got uncovered. Ten years, hundreds of thousands of hours worked by thousands of people - to simply change partners and dance to the same tune.

I am not homeless. I am one of the lucky ones - in other words, I am a few paychecks away from homelessness. The difference between me and the middle/working class and poor people who voted for THEM (or didn't vote) is that I know it. I also know that homelessness, hunger, hopelessness, preventable disease and death affect ALL of us as a society, whether we are the direct victem or not - I am sure you know this as well, so that diatribe is not directed at you. However, obviously, by about 3% the majority in this country don't know it.

If I become homeless, obviously I will seek any help available. If I am hungry, I will seek any help available. But you know what? Some of those people who are homeless and hungry for whom I have donated time and $ have friends and relatives who are NOT homeless and hungry who voted for that murderous regime. They will have to go to them for help, instead of to me.

People are already suffering, my $ helps one while another dies. If I can summon any energy or heart to continue this battle, which right now I'm not sure I can, I will no longer prop up this death-dealing ideology by protecting it's advocates from the worst of their excesses. My $ and time will go to the ACLU, to alternative media, and to environmental groups.

The RW ideologues want charity and churches to take on the proper role of the government in protecting the common good. Well, then, let those making over $250,000 per year and the churches do it.

[G_j]

50. thanks for taking the time

to explain your position. You make valid points. However it just doesn't sit well with me. I feel like we've been burned by hoping that certain terrible situations will 'wake people up'.
It was conventional wisdom that American casualties would wake people up over Iraq. Didn't happen. The well of compassion seems pretty dry right now. If the few people exercising compassion towards the most vulnerable in our society stop, I'm not sure it would acomplish anything positive. Now if the fools who voted for Bush suddenly found themselves hungry and on the street, or on the front lines in Fallujah it might make an impression on them. Other than that, I'm not sure they really care.

[Mend]

43. Agree 100% n/t

[cmf]

45. I agree with you.

Sorry, but I'm not giving up my good works. I'm just re-prioritizing to help those who will suffer the most under this regime. The homeless, the environment etc. I'm also upping my contributions to the ACLU.

[norml]

53. It's a nonviolent way of protesting,and of fighting,to withdraw support

to not hold together what should fall apart. You may be right. I may be wrong. You say hold things together. I say let things fall apart.

[Name removed]

38. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[baldguy]

40. Those political organizations they call churchs TITHE their members 10%

[catbert836]

44. What?

I don't think so, reguardless of my political convictions.

[ohioan]

49. Yep - let's turn into them. THAT'LL show 'em!

This selfish, whining, "poor us - we didn't get what we want so we're going to take our toys home and leave the people we supposedly care about to their own devices" is sickening.

We are liberal Democrats because we give a damn, because we care about people who are not us. The tone of these posts sounds as if it's really all about us and our personal political needs.

Politics is hard. Being a Democrat is hard. It's hard to give a shit. If it were easy, Republicans would do it, too.

You can respond to political adversity by turning into a selfish, vindictive asshole if you like. But I'm going to continue being a Democrat - and that means not turning my back on the people who need us now more than ever.

[Piperay]

52. I agree that is

what I am doing and I am also not giving money to things that taxes are supposed to support. I'm still giving to the ACLU and animal groups but the rest the 'christains' can fund.