why we need Robert Redford . . . and soon . . .

[OneBlueSky]

face it, folks . . . the primary reason that the American populace is not rising up against BushCo and the Republicans is that they simply don't know the truth . . . about anything . . . because the corporate media from which they get their "news" largely reports lies, distortions, and half truths . . . of greater importance, however, are the events and issues that the corporate media doesn't cover at all . . .

the American people need to be told the truth, and by a source they will listen to . . . that source obviously will not be the corporate media . . . nor will it be any politician, Democrat or Republican, all of whose fortunes are tied to their corporate sponsors . . . it also can't be a journalist, because they're all biased one way or another, and their own fortunes are tied to what their employers will permit them to say and not say . . .

the truth must be told, however -- and heard . . . and it has to come from a respected American citizen (or citizens) who people look up to and generally trust . . . someone free of corporate control and free, therefore, to tell the truth . . . the truth about what's being inaccurately reported by the corporate media and, more importantly, what is not being reported at all . . . he or she needs to be free to tell the truth about things like . . .

- how the 9/11 evidence makes the "official" explanation impossible
- what depleted uranium is doing to Iraqis, American troops, and the Iraqi nation
- the true and full story of the demolishing of Fallujah and its people
- the Project for a New American Century (PNAC), who's behind it, and how it's being implemented by BushCo
- how Bush has altered every law he's ever signed with his little executive statements that accompany the signings
- the true cost of the Iraq war
- the breadth and depth of Bush's appointment of unqualified cronies to important positions
- the magnitude of the New Orleans/Gulf Coast disasters, and the treatment by BushCo of the survivors
- the impact of global climate change, and what the US should be doing about it (with the rest of the world)
- Bush's overt disregard of the U.S. Constitution, any number of laws, the Geneva Conventions, and international law
- the extent of "offshoring" of American jobs, and how laws and politicians encourage rather than fight it
- the danger of genetically modified crops to the world's food supply
- the true state of the American economy and the federal budget

and on, and on, and on . . .

what we need is someone to announce their candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president now for the express purpose of bringing these and many other issues to the forefront of public discourse . . . this person could even do so with the understanding that he/she will drop out before the primaries -- if that's what it takes to successfully recruit him . . .

the problem is that the message -- the truth -- is NOT reaching the American public . . . the solution may be for someone Americans will listen to to start telling the truth in a way that the media will find difficult to ignore . . .

I nominate Robert Redford for the task . . . he's intelligent, independent, articulate, progressive, charismatic and -- face it -- he's a movie star -- one of the best liked and most respected by Americans of all political persuasions (unlike an Alec Baldwin or a Tim Robbins, for example) . . . the point is, people will listen to what he has to say . . . and he'd be very difficult for the media to ignore . . .

and he shouldn't wait for 2007 -- he should announce now, and start campaigning immediately . . . in every state in the union . . . funded solely by individual contributions, with no corporate money of any kind . . .

yes, it's a long shot, it's over the top, it's way outside the box . . . but given the nature of the problem -- Americans not knowing the truth -- someone like Redford may be the best (possibly the only) way to wake Americans from their comas, get them thinking, and inspire them to participate in taking our country back from the corporate oligarchy that has kidnapped it . . .

[still_one]

1. no, the populace is not rising up because most haven't been affected

There hasn't been enough pain

It has been someone elses kid who goes off to Iraq

It is someone elses job that gets offshored

It is someone else who doesn't have health insurance

It is someone else who can't retire

It is someone elses phone line that gets tapped

It is someone else who is thrown in jail and NOT given access to a laywer

Until more people are affected nothing will change

I hope it is not too late

[IChing]

6. nice

Very well put in the totality of

IT.

THANKS

kick

[leftstreet]

10. Not until the faux "middle class" experiences hunger. n/t

[Surya Gayatri]

12. I'm with you, still_one

Most Americans don't want to know--they are still too comfortable, their wealth-induced coma is still too profound. Sadly, I fear things will have to disintegrate even further. As for Robert Redford being a viable candidate?
I agree about his sterling character traits, but he's never even run for elective office before. Don't see it unfortunately. SG

[firefox]

2. You are right of course

That is why it is necessary to have a controlled media. What happens when hundreds of pictures of Iraqi children appear on television with their head blown off and burnt beyond recognition as a human form? The same is true for all the strange birth defects that will never end due to depleted uranium.

Robert Redford's Sundance channel is an admirable thing and so is Robert Redford.

China has signaled they are going to diversify out of the dollar. Iran is going to adopt the Euro for a reserve currency. The US is going to delay IRS quick refunds to millions of poor Americans in an illegal manner whose incomes will only be $13K on average, alleging they are fraudulent . The dollar is being printed at a furious pace and M3 money supply is going secret in March, some say to hide the hyper-inflation that is coming. We were told today that the debt will be $400 billion and that is using government accounting and spin that ignores the Social Security surplus that hides the true operating budget.

There is going to be a new wave of American citizens pained into reality by the end of March. If winter heating bills and skyrocketing medical care and insurance including Medicare now reformed doesn't pain them out of their comfort zone, the price of gas is when we have Israel bomb Iran.

You know if you walk up to someone and slap them that they will immediately say something? Well, a lot of new people are going to get slapped very hard in the next few months. Support for Bush should already be regarded as a sign of a dehabilitating ignorance if not mental illness. In a few months it will just be a sign of mental illness . I might have some stretch in the last statement depending on your broad brush scaling.

All I know is there is more shit than fans and the call for impeachment/justice is not going away.

[snot]

3. I like it.

The corporate media will try to ignore and will ridicule him. Other respected folks should be enlisted as supporters.

But I agree with your thinking -- our problem is hugely exacerbated by the fact that so many issues are simply IGNORED by the media, and this might be a way to get more attention focussed on them.

[McKenzie]

4. Very insightful post

This is written in a hurry so I can't give your post the considered response it deserves. All I would say, at the risk of generalising, and possibly at the risk of sounding a tad negative, is the election of Presidents is almost certainly a corollary to, and a function of, the agenda of those who really call the shots. Whilst someone with the best interests of the people at heart might run for election and win, he or she would be fighting against an established power elite. The way that elite operates is blurry to say the least - "the man behind the curtain" and all that.

I'm also sceptical about the ability of a large section of the populace to engage with the political system. Why I believe that is a subject in its own right. However, still_one summarises the main obstacle very well - if it doesn't affect people directly they won't pay much attention. Our societies (I include the UK in that category) are fixated by trivia and that's probably been allowed to happen, or made to happen, over a long time as part of a long-term agenda geared towards suppressing the abnility of the populace to understand the real deal.

Good post though and some food for thought.

[Proud2BaLiberalMom]

5. Great Idea!

I think that's a great idea. I would donate. My question is would the MSM even cover it, put him on T.V.? Probably not. We really need alternative news on TV, but how? How can we make it happen? How in the world do we wake up the people? A draft? A war with Iran? Impeachment? I don't know. I just know I'm not going to give up.

[Wetzelbill]

7. yeah, but could he be reduced to a "Hollywood librul"

after a typical non-stop Republican attack campaign? It may take a bit, but after months of shit shoveling half the country will pretty much believe anything, be it Saddam and Osama in cahoots, WMD actually being found or Robert Redford being another Streisand. Not saying that it would happen, but I never misunderestimate the Right's ability to Swiftboat anybody. But of course, you do acknowledge it's a long shot, and I suppose if a conscientious American can't stand up for their country in this dark time than they must not care all that much, whether that person is you, me or Robert Redford. So yeah, it'd be cool to see The Sundance Kid do his thing. :)

[tcfrogs]

8. Hey, Reagan was a "Hollywood librul" once too

There's always hope.

[Wetzelbill]

9. hahaha

yes, I suppose he was, as ridiculous as that sounds. I always like how the Far-Right thinks that everybody who isn't completely berserk is a liberal. Those are the people who call John McCain and Chuck Hagel "liberals" or even Zell Miller. Never fails to astound me just how liberal they think people like Bill Clinton and all the DLCers are. Hell, Barry Goldwater is practically a liberal compared to how Far-Right the Republican party has become.

[Surya Gayatri]

13. Precisely, just the point

I was going to put in my post further up. The CORP. media would just hammer away at his "librul" leanings in order finally to discredit and destroy him. I doubt he'd care to undergo that--however laudable his politics. SG

[nicknameless]

11. At least, couldn't Sundance Channel carry the real news and other

Progressive programming?

(I don't have cable, but am aware that "Sundance Channel" exists. Don't know about its programming.)

[regnaD kciN]

14. Not a chance, sadly...

...and not because of Redford's image as a "Hollywood liberal."

Read Peter Biskind's Down and Dirty Pictures, which spends a great deal of time examining the Sundance Institute. While Redford's heart might be in the right place, he simply doesn't have the personality to be a candidate, let alone a President. Despite his movie-star charisma, he is actually a very private, almost shy person who shuns the spotlight and avoids public activities (including fundraising or even appearing in photo-ops for Sundance) as much as possible. And his leadership style at the Institute seems to have left a lot to be desired as well, alternating wildly between micromanaging and handing everything off to underlings while he himself took off for months...and then eventually firing those underlings without explanation and bringing in a whole new, inexperienced, group in its place.

There may be a case for running a progressive "movie star" as a Democratic presidential candidate -- George Clooney, perhaps? -- but Redford isn't it.

[JWS]

15. The reason they dont know

Is because they don't care. It's easier to sit in front of the O'Reilly factor with a beer and Doritos than to give a damn.

[Swamp Rat]

16. He should make an Outer Limits or Twilight episode about the

Brave New World.

[OneBlueSky]

17. hey, I'm just trying to stimulate some discussion and new ideas . . .

because the ones we've been employing sure as hell aren't working . . . I like the idea of George Cloony that's posted above as an alternative to Redford . . . what I was really hoping to see, though, is thoughts on new and different ways of reaching the American people with the truth -- no matter how seemingly far out or even impossible . . . 'cause right now we're headed straight into the crapper, with no relief in sight . . . we need to do something radical, and this was just one idea that popped into my head . . .

I hope others will brainstorm additional thoughts on how we might actually make a meaningful impact on the this country's political discourse -- and soon . . . 'cause if we can't figure a way to do that, we really WILL be living in a fascist dictatorship, and sooner than we might imagine . . .