The BIG question.

[Mythsaje]

Has congress heard the whispers around the water coolers? The hushed conversation asking if BushCo is going to declare martial law and suspend the elections? It's a low rumble, but it's growing in volume, a rumble eminating from a million different places across this country.

People are worried, not in the least because they suspect that something terrible would have to happen before this regime should make such a bold move. Something so horrific it's nearly unimaginable. Something that they themselves would have to arrange, simply because they couldn't trust the terrorists to get the timing right.

This rumble should become a roar. I don't say this because I believe it to be a fact, but because average people are starting to worry about it too. It needs to be addressed by those in high places, again, not because it's a serious possibility, but because the people are growing more concerned about it by the day.

It's one thing when political junkies and those who've followed and recorded the crimes of this administration craft complex theories as to the way something like this may come to pass, it's quite another when people on the street, in the offices, and in the grocery store aisles, are asking themselves "can it really happen here?"

Has our trust in our government fallen that far? The average citizen is worried about THIS rather than the things they should be worrying about, assuming that this was a normal world? They should be worrying about the next promotion or raise, or how well their kids are doing in school. They shouldn't be worrying whether the President is going to try to seize permanent control of the country by whatever means necessary.

Someone needs to tell the President and his people, straight out. "We're watching you." If they have to punctuate it with that silly two-fingered point to their own eyes, then in the direction of the "Great Leader," so be it.

But it needs to be said. And soon.

Call it a kind of "Dictator Insurance."

"Yes, Mr. Bush. Watch your step. We've got our eyes on you. Don't forget it."



edited for clarity

[grasswire]

1. put them on notice now

Here's a way to frame it:

"There's a lot of talk among people in the heartland about the possibility that elections will be cancelled and martial law declared due to some "emergency" next in the next 18 months. I am here to tell you that the American people are too wise now to be stampeded into giving up their Constitutional rights so that more power is taken from them. The people reject fear-mongering, they reject lies, and they reject tyranny."

[Mythsaje]

2. That wording works...

I think we need to get the meme out there that SOMEONE in a position of authority needs to say something like it. Hell, not even authority. Keith O could say it and it would mean something.

Someone. Anyone. Bueller?

[grasswire]

3. well, I've been thinking about this today

And since there aren't any Democratic leaders taking direction from us these days, I think we oughta talk that way in letters to the editor.

The key is to frame it in this way:

The American people are smart.
The American people respect the law and expect their leaders to do the same.
The American people don't like being deceived.
The American people have no tolerance for despotic rulers. The people will not allow elections to be cancelled or martial law to be declared by known liars and power-grabbers.

[Mythsaje]

5. Sounds like a plan

and something we should get a LOT of help on.

We don't have to say we're necessarily concerned that it's going to happen, but we're concerned that OTHER people are concerned about it.

A way to seem more credible.

[BeHereNow]

9. You must live in another America...

That, or you have not been grazing with your local
sheeple, who have no fucking clue what is happening,
at your local mall.

AS IF those brain dead, "I don't have a clue and don't want to know,"
dumbfuckistans are going to do WHAT, based on the fact that they have
no idea what is happening?

Sorry, but I can not help but observe that many on DU forget
that WE are the MINORITY in the citizenry.

The majority of Americans have NO idea what is happening!
NOR do they want to know, much less do anything about it!

BHN

[checks-n-balances]

10. There are also those who just haven't heard yet but would want to know

and might do something. I have to say I have only talked with one person about it so far and they had NO IDEA. Didn't believe me at first and I had to send articles & the radio interview clip.

Let's don't assume that people don't care; maybe they just haven't heard. And even if they aren't sophisticated about government to understand, it needs to be explained in the simplest and perhaps most self-centered terms (i.e., spelled out out about how this will affect THEM for the rest of their lives).

BTW, has anyone told their children, esp. their teenagers? How do we explain our sense of urgency about it without scaring them to death??

[grasswire]

11. the reality doesn't matter

The average Joe may not know the risk we're facing, but the statements are true. Americans don't like to be fooled. Americans believe that no man is above the law. Americans believe that leaders should act with integrity.

Republicans use that persuasive tool all the time -- to tell the listener what "the people" think about this or that. We can do the same. It works.

[Mythsaje]

4. self-delete

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

6. Maybe we can just quote Bush

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." George W. Bush, June 24, 2006

[Mythsaje]

7. There's a fraudian slip if I've heard one. n/t

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

8. Or mention this actual Pentagon contingency plan for martial law

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/aug2005/mart-a09.shtml

This apparently refers to a two-year old story appearing originally in the Washington Post:

"...According to a report published Monday by the Washington Post, the Pentagon has developed its first ever war plans for operations within the continental United States, in which terrorist attacks would be used as the justification for imposing martial law on cities, regions or the entire country.

The front-page article cites sources working at the headquarters of the military’s Northern Command (Northcom), located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The plans themselves are classified, but “officers who drafted the plans” gave details to Post reporter Bradley Graham, who was recently given a tour of Northcom headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base. The article thus appears to be a deliberate leak conducted for the purpose of accustoming the American population to the prospect of military rule.

According to Graham, “the new plans provide for what several senior officers acknowledged is the likelihood that the military will have to take charge in some situations, especially when dealing with mass-casualty attacks that could quickly overwhelm civilian resources.” ..."

Here's a link to the original Washington Post article dated August 8, 2005.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/07/AR2005080700843_pf.html