It is almost Too Much for ME to bear...

[FirstLight]

How do the rest of you DO it?
How do you pretend that everything is A-okay and that it is just a matter of time before the election changes everything...

How do you get by when things from rice to gas to milk have tripled in the last year and wages have been stagnant for longer than I can remember...?

How do you tell anyone who is freaking out at this point - that we are just imagining it?

EVERY time I come here to DU, or the Media, everywhere I go I see more pieces of our constitution shredded and hanging in the wind... more of MY future and the future of my children forfieted because of some greedy bastard's game of RISK on a larger scale...

And I have to ask of you who would "pooh-pooh" me:

At what point DO you really believe that our freedoms are null & void?
At what point do we see the red flag and feel it in our gut and
Do we have to see it on our street to give the idea credibility?

How bad does it get before we take action?
How bad does it get before we try and get out before the borders are truly closed...or will it matter?

Movies like Red Dawn come to mind, except the occupying force is Blackwater...


_________________________________
(part of these questions and an interesting debate of a similar nature here http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3486999#3494238 )

edit damn typos

[Subdivisions]

1. I can relate. I'm feeling nothing but dread and despair tonight. You're not alone. n/t

[peacetalksforall]

9. Yes, this is a very dark day. I will always remember a moment a few hours ago.

I've not heard a word of news for over eight hours and I turn on the Maddow show to hear that Obama is going to give George and the corporations everything they want on the spying on us racket. That minute will live with me forever. I just can't bare it. Our hope?

[Tigress DEM]

31. OUR Hope? OURSELVES.

BOOK TO READ FOR EVERYONE WHO IS BEREFT OF HOPE:

The Impossible Will Take a Little While by Paul Loeb
A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear

WE are NOT alone and MANY have paved the way before us.

I know about being devestated. I'm clinically depressed and on meds at this point.

STILL I will NOT allow myself to totally cave in because I have seen the DU move mountains worth of problems one issue at a time.

Go out and read about people who are working on alternative energy or green solutions for everyday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXyJrFKwjrc Solar break through!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTuCvx5o-P0 www.thesolarvillage.com - Zero Emissions Factory

CHECK OUT THE Tesla Roadster! NOW THAT'S AN ELECTRIC CAR THAT'S NOT FOR WIMPS! 0-60mph in 4 seconds!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1C44JQU7Pc

Grow bamboo.

Take a walk.

Check out some fractal art! http://home.comcast.net/~fractalsbykeith MY latest obsession with beauty.

Watch a baby laugh and laugh and laugh 52,478,797 other people have!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P6UU6m3cqk


THERE are SO MANY options other than wallowing in despair. :kick:

If I don't take advantage of them, it won't be pretty. :hurts:

I hope sharing these helps brighten your day a bit. THAT would make me feel much less depressed. :hi:

[peacetalksforall]

50. Yes, you have helped. Everything you've said has been perfect.

You're a little gift of healing today. Thanks so much.

[Tigress DEM]

29. But you have 1000 posts under your belt.. you won't stay in the pitts, right?

You have the compassion to reach out and let her know she isn't alone.

AS disappointed as I am. I still think the DEMS are taking pieces back as they can. It MAY be that there is more power in the DC Court than their is in the FISA Law especially if Obama can get another judge in the Supreme Court that respects the Constitution.

It may also be that we will file charges retrospectively on the war criminals or just sign up with the ICC and hand them over to International Courts.

I think WE need to let the TELECOMS and INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS that blew it know how we feel. In LARGE numbers. I am talking to my hubby about switching back to Qwest, the one telecom that DIDN'T.

My ISP is Comcast, so I think I will settle for finding a way to state my discontent that will really make them think about it. Nothing illegal, but maybe a media thing. I don't know.

What was it like when you first started posting on DU?

When I started it was BEFORE they wouldn't let John Conyers in the doors of the White House with 1 Million signatures asking Bush to 'splain himself on the Downing Street Memo and I was asking media reps why it took them 1 year and 30 days to get on that story.

[Subdivisions]

48. I've slept...

and though I remain profoundly disappointed and ashamed at the betrayal yesterday by congress, your caring and gentleness for myself, Journalgrrl, and higher class has provided light within the darkness that is my demeanor. Thank you.

[hlthe2b]

2. I take it day by day.... use denial when I have to .... and

keep my BP under control by hugging my girlie pup. But, in between, I have my share of major depression and momentary panic, I must admit...

I wish I had the answers, believe me...

[Tigress DEM]

32. Don't we all?

:grouphug:

[Breeze54]

3. Well stated, Journalgrrl .....

Thanks for sharing my your thoughts today.


:kick: & Recommended

[FirstLight]

4. Ya...just feels like the water is reaching the boiling point

in so many ways...what else do I do but TRY and enjoy the time we have that we still feel "safe" and still have food in the pantry...

this is seriously outta control, what DO we do now? How do we mobilize ourselves, much less others who are still asleep?

[Breeze54]

7. I'm doing what I did during the Raygun years... hanging on by my fingernails....

ands praying for the voters to wake up and smell the coffee

and I keep moving on, moving ahead; inch by inch...

It has to change at some point, right? It can't get much worse.

Well; I guess it could but I don't want to "go there" in my head.

It's to fucking scary. I survived Raygun... we'll both survive this.

Hang in there and keep posting here!!! :hug:

[Tigress DEM]

34. DO Enjoy LIFE! You deserve it. Then get busy.

I do a lot of emails to the people who voted in ways that mystify me and there must be something out on MOVE-ON.

But I also think that with the DEMS it may be a timing thing and even though I continue to put their feet to the fire, I wonder if it's only the tip of the iceberg and a greater plan exists?

Things are SO MUCH better than when I started on DU and one thing that happens here is we get impatient wanting as much change for the better as possible RIGHT NOW.

I recommend Paul Loeb's book The Impossible Will Take a Little While to anyone in this time. It's so uplifting and made me feel like I could make a difference even doing little things.

I go out to eat and talk about politics loud enough for others to listen in but in a reasonable tone. I started mentioning that the media needs to really give us the facts and not spoon feed us the opinion we are "supposed to have". Then I got brave enough to speak with co-workers and demand from management that they allow CNN if they were going to have FAUX on the lunchroom TV.

Media reform is probably the next best step and there are groups out there.

Or make a poster and stand out in a busy intersection for a day letting people know what is on your mind.

I remember reading about one teenager in Florida who did her own protest and thinking THAT is DEM spirit!

[tavalon]

49. That book is a godsend

It pulled me out of my funk in 2004 and the only reason it isn't on my bookshelf right now is I keep loaning it out. It's a book that must be read by as many as possible.

[maryf]

5. Good post, I don't like it

And the only way for me not to totally quit, is to keep looking reality in the face, man the past two days have been hard though...Especially when I see the lack of action and concern...keep talking sister...Thanks.

[TheWatcher]

6. Beautifully Stated Journalgrrl

In the 1930's, a lot of it was refered to as "Superior Indifference".

Today it is referred to as "The Matrix."

For what it's worth, if They Come For You, you can be damn sure I will be there to speak up for you.

And if they know what is good for them, they will go quietly about their business. :)

[FirstLight]

8. LOL same here, TW

I am glad someone is keeping watch on OUR side of the fence! ;)

[TheWatcher]

10. Always at your service. :)

We must all be forever Watchful of those who would steal away what so many who have gone before us have fought and died to protect.

And ever Vigilant. :)

[FirstLight]

13. ...and the Matrix isn't too far off

but the reality beind that analogy is terribly depressing.

I hate to be a nutcase :tinfoilhat: but it is difficult to believe that things like banking, transportation, etc will look the same after this house of cards comes tumbling down. The banking systems are so much illusion as it IS right now. The reality of the lifestyle shift we may be seeing is monumental.

[Tigress DEM]

36. Invest in Solar & Wind power & Get OFF the Grid is my goal.

I think there are a lot of ways that this is a great opportunity to reinvent the world.

I saw this thoroughly depressing dvd The 11th Hour... I would recommend going to the end and hearing the solutions to anyone who can't sit through an hour of doom and wake up people!

But there are new fields of science like BioMimcry and new takes on the old ideas (huge leaps forward in solar technology, for instance) that really could make life much better.

One guy proposes "Why not be happier with less stuff?" Right. Why not? It's a choice to be as happy about what we DO have as we want to, so less focus on what we don't have might help.

If it falls apart, we'll have to grow our own food and barter for the other stuff.

I live in MN so I have to find a way to keep the heat going during the winter.

For as many who leaped off the tops of buildings when the market crashed there were people who stayed and cleaned up the mess and America came out stronger than before, if a bit more neurotic.

[Tigress DEM]

35. ROFL "... they will go quietly about their business"

Hey Watcher!

You are MY KIND of people. Doing what you can and letting people know you care.

This is what I love about DU. Every little bit DOES count.

:applause:



I for one feel better already!

:bounce:

[az chela]

11. I am glad that I am old and wont have to be here

that much longer.I hate what this country has become

[defendandprotect]

18. Ah . . . but you may be coming back here . . . . . ???

[lonestarnot]

24. On earth as it is in heaven.

:)

[blues90]

51. I'm with you there .

With my luck I will live to be 100 that's like 40 years to go , I don't think I could handle that. We just go in circles and really never get anywhere. Where is there to get?

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

12. First of all, people are simply trying their best to survive their lives.

Life is difficult.

We work hard to do a bit more than merely survive. We want to improve our lives and the lives around us. Such a simple cause and purpose requires practically ALL our energy because,...life in America AIN'T EASY,...for most of us.

We would do MORE to contribute to that system that has escaped our grasp IF we didn't have to work so damn hard to sustain ourselves. It's not like we can ALL afford to have a nice home or send our kids to nice schools or hire someone to care for our sick parents or CHOOSE a career and financial situation. Life is difficult and we struggle everyday to get through it.

We want to do more,...but, we're doing the best we can AND when we do participate all we get is vitriolic crap from someone.

You ask, "what will it take,...before we take action,.."?

I answer: a seed of hope rather than desperation.

[erinlough]

14. I have hope because I can feel the 20-30 age group

waking up. It is they who are pushing Obama forward and when I talk to my 28 year old son he finally gets it. He is ready to work for a change, lots of young people are. I am hopeful that together the generations can take this country back.

When I feel too scared I work in the garden it's the only thing that gives me peace.

Hang in there we can do it together.......yes we can!!!!

[Breeze54]

16. I know a 21 yr old and he's not registered to vote. Rolled his eyes at me

when I asked if he'd registered yet. He answered that, "He just didn't have the time."

But he works afternoons and early NIGHTS at a convenience store!!!!

How do I reach HIM?!? :grr:

I'm very worried about the 20 - 30 year old people showing up.

[erinlough]

37. I certainly didn't mean all....

There seem to be more though and the ones who are involved are informed. I see it in the discussions I have with middle schoolers that I teach. In the 70's (yes I'm old) we talked politics and the kids were informed, sometimes on there own and sometimes just parroting their parents. I see that again on a smaller scale.

I'm not a pollyanna, I know there is a long way to go. I just look at the Obama speeches and I am drawn to the young faces with so much hope. I know my son, who was always capable of a great political debate, quit talking politics for a long time. Now, he is excited for an Obama Presidency and willing to work for one. That is a change I welcome. By the way, it was about 21 when he cut out of politics for a while, maybe this guy your talking about will come around.

[Tigress DEM]

44. But isn't it EXCITING? 75,000 people showed up in Oregon.

30,000 in St Paul at the Excel Center when Obama accepted the nomination. About half in the autitorium and half in the halls surrounding it.

Millions more registered voters since he's been involved. Many in that 18-30 age bracket.

People are fighting a lot about the issues and the non-issues but there is more engagement these days than I've seen in a long time.

[Tigress DEM]

43. Wanted Good Looking 20 something girl to explain "Rock the Vote" to a confused 21 yr old.

That or see if he can do it online or check if your local House Rep is doing any voter registration.

If you really feel strongly about it, maybe there is a way for you to get the materials, bring it to him to fill out and mail it in for him.

Very motherly, but it shows him just how determined you are that he has his voice heard.

I told my 25 year old. "If you don't vote, you forfeit your right to bitch piss and moan afterward."
He votes.

[Vilis Veritas]

19. They are the future.

It is what gives me hope as well. This is a generational fight.

It took 100 years for the corporation to get person hood in the 1870's and now it has taken over another 100 years to take control and create a Corpora-Fascist state where the insidious nature of fascism is not in your face but under the veil of corporate consumerism.

saddlesore

[Maureen1322]

15. I've been disappointed by politicians before. But today is different.

None of these mother fuckers care about what we think.
When I say none, I mean none.
Maybe tomorrow I will get some energy back, but tonight I am at
a loss.

[defendandprotect]

17. I've been looking at this for more than 20 years . . .

and as I awoke to it all -- I also awoke to Global Warming ---
which is our biggest problem.

I think we'd have a chance at saving the rest if we had enough time ---

We have to understand that patriarchy, organized patriarchal religions and their economic
system -- capitalism --- are all suicidal ideas ...

Of course, their war on women --
which in part aided their war on "values" turning them into something measured by a dollar bill.

"Manifest Destiny" and "Man's Dominion Over Nature" -- licenses to exploit nature, natural
resources, animal-life -- and even other human beings according to various myths of inferiority.

[FirstLight]

27. sorry, here's some global warming stuff...

just when we are staring to feel better...lol

Well…speaking of Global Warming
Here’s a excerpt from a blog by Sally Erickson, Producer for the movie “What a Way to Go” The title of this is ‘We’re drunk and we’re at the edge of the roof’(…link below)

…There I said it. It’s too late. It’s too late to get out of catastrophe. There’s no way this civilization is going to grind to a halt, get off the fossil fuel train, reduce the population voluntarily by 3/4 and start growing food sustainably, without catastrophe. We’re in for it. And we don’t even know what we’re in for.
…
My chest and gut get tight as I articulate these questions. Am I allowed to do this? Do I get to ask these questions? Am I breaking an unspoken rule when I question if renowned White Male Authorities could be caught in denial?
I have a lot of compassion for being caught in denial. At this very moment, in order to ease the discomfort in my chest and gut, I am tempted to run for denial myself. I’m tempted to defer to White Male Authority, especially to two of the best, brightest, and highest intentioned of the bunch. I’m tempted, at least momentarily, to judge as faulty or misguided my own perceptions and analysis.
But I don’t want to do that. I want to be intimately connected to reality.
…
Again I cried. I cried and I prayed.
“Help us. We’ve really fucked up. We really have. Help us. Help us be humble and open in the face of this. Help us respond in sane, heartfelt ways. Help us learn what we need to learn so we don’t ever do this again. Help us. We are drunk and we are at the edge of the roof and we don’t know what we’re doing.”
I wiped away the tears with the edge of the sheet and resealed the comforter around my shoulders. And then I drifted off to sleep.
Today I have the courage to say that I believe the most important thing we can do in the face of the current situation is to sit still. We have really fucked up. We are drunk on technology and insane with the power it has given us to turn fossil fuels and the very body of the planet into tons of meaningless toys. We need to sit still, sober up, and look at this.
We need to surrender to the reality of what we’ve collectively done and become utterly willing to learn.

MORE … http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com/2008/02/05/were-drunk-and-were-at-the-edge-of-the-roof/

The words are important to this argument as well about fascism, etc... because the idea of denail as a protection mechanism is valid and dangerous in society.... I also like what she says about centering and despite the awfulness of what we face, we have to find our peace and our way to wlk on the earth in Harmony. That is what so much of these challenges are about. and the polarity of our world is part of this tearing apart we see...

[defendandprotect]

38. The war on nature was a war on ourselves . . .

Cultural change is essential and we can't even get a discussion going re electric cars
or nationalizing the oil industry!

See: "Who Killed The Electric Car?"
GREAT movie ---

[defendandprotect]

20. Also, after the 1960's revolutions ...

evidently the elites decided that the public had far too much money and time on their hands --

Civil rights, women's rights, homosexual rights were all moving forward ---
political education --- anti-war movement --

When you have a strong middle class, it's usually going about its business and can't be
bothered worrying about something happening someday ---
Then, the middle class is attacked and everyone has two and three jobs and doesn't have
the time to try to react to what is actually happening now ---

[Greyhound]

53. Bingo. There was a backlash alright, but it wasn't any "silent majority",

it was a calculated and carefully orchestrated set piece by an infinitesimal minority, the true rulers, the people that matter. We scared the shit out of them and they nearly lost their hold over us.

[madokie]

21. I just try not to let it get me down

I think that in the end we will be better for having to have gone through this period, just how i'm not sure, but there will be some changes made by the time the dust settles that will be for the betterment of all of us. A new look at or constitution and related and its importance would be good. A whole new look at our mode of transportation with emphasis put on smaller and fewer with an increase in buses and rail travel. Plus on top of all that just think how unifying the impeachment hearings and trials at the hague will be, finally we'll have something for us all to rally around. Yes good times are coming I just hope I live long enough to enjoy it.

[Tigress DEM]

22. How do we do it? Well, listen heayarh dear grrrl...

Journalgrrl,

How do the rest of you DO it?
How do you pretend that everything is A-okay and that it is just a matter of time before the election changes everything...

We just DO. One day at a time.
Some of us take breaks and live a bit and come back to the front lines of the fight.
No one "pretends everything is A-Okay" here. Unfortunately we KNOW better.
But there is a lot of space between A-Okay and the bottom of Davey Jone's locker.

How do you get by when things from rice to gas to milk have tripled in the last year and wages have been stagnant for longer than I can remember...?
How do you tell anyone who is freaking out at this point - that we are just imagining it?...

WE DON'T tell people they are just imagining it. WE look at the truth, realize it sucks big time and just keep fighting tooth and nail to get our country back.

Think of it this way, if some psycho had your baby and you hostage in your house, but you knew a 911 call had gone through and help was on the way. No matter how bleak it was you would do any thing and every thing in your power and take advantage of every opportunity to improve your situation until it was resolved one way or the other.

You would not abandon that cause and you would deal with the worst of the trauma once you had accomplished your goal of saving your baby and hopefully yourself.

We do what we do because if we don't "they" win by default. THAT scenario is something we refuse to allow. We DEMAND to go down fighting.

EVERY time I come here to DU, or the Media, everywhere I go I see more pieces of our constitution shredded and hanging in the wind... more of MY future and the future of my children forfeited because of some greedy bastard's game of RISK on a larger scale...

GOOD. YOU ARE OVERWHELMED BUT YOU ARE PAYING ATTENTION. TURN IT INTO OUTRAGE. THIS IS YOUR COUNTRY JUST THE SAME AS IT IS ANY OF OURS. Individually we don't amount to much, but collectively?! Go to the main page and see just how many people are a part of DU.

ADD your voice to OURS. BECOME PART OF THE ROAR that makes rethugs run and wet themselves and a few DEMS too if they try to capitulate.

Any body "pooh-poohs" you, let me at 'em.

At what point DO you really believe that our freedoms are null & void?

When they pry them from my lifeless fingers.

At what point do we see the red flag and feel it in our gut and
Do we have to see it on our street to give the idea credibility?

Where do you live that you don't see it in your street? I live in the city, baby. It's been on fire for some time.

How bad does it get before we take action?

WHY Wait? Move it or loose it, child.

How bad does it get before we try and get out before the borders are truly closed...or will it matter?

It is a running joke that couches are available to the wonderful DU community in Canada and points elsewhere, but most of us feel obliged to fight. There are days that we seriously consider saner courses of action.


READ THIS BOOK: THE IMPOSSIBLE WILL TAKE A LITTLE WHILE by Paul Rogat Loeb

IT REALLY IS: A Citizen's Guide to HOPE in a Time of FEAR

It steps you through how other countries have fought and won battles and freedoms and how seemingly small actions performed by many really do change things.

Then go out and look at how many people are working on solutions. Oh, sure we can't agree on stuff, but the shifts that have happened since I first came on DU and my hope was that there would be a time when DEMS didn't have to go "underground" to speak freely.

It IS bad. I agree. But progress HAS been made. And when we focus on how far we've come and what we need to do for this day, it's easier.

PEACE!

Tig

[AccessGranted]

23. I Agree With You

And been feeling like that for a while and everybody laughs at me....tell me I'm a conspiracy theorist, paranoid, etc. Shit is really scary.

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. Two things

OUR freedoms are null and void... hey I hope they used KY...

Now the question is .... what are you going to do about it?

You have essentially four choices

1.- Go along to get along, and pretend all is A-OK, some posters do this every day... how I have no clue

2.- Surrender and give up and those in power would love that.

3.- Keep doing what you are doing, and continue to vote and call and pretend it is going to change things, even if you know better.... again a good percentage of DU is there

4.- Reevaluate tactics. What we are doing ain't working.... I posted a thread on ACTUAL things you can do right now and here are kinks

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3493450

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x349257

[earth mom]

26. I worry every damn day. EVERY.DAMN.DAY. And I keep looking for ways to downsize my little life.

But how do you downsize from a fixer upper with a mortgage on it?

The last 8 years has turned my brown hair completely gray and I'm not even 50! :wow:

[defendandprotect]

39. I bought a cast iron skillet the other day . . .

it annoys me because I don't want any more things --- but I got rid of my teflon.
I keep thinking about the people in the Midwest --
there was an old saying . . .
you can only own what you can carry on your back --

[Tigress DEM]

42. Doubles as a Congressional Education KA-Bong!

{{KA-Bong}}}}}} Now that I have your attention Mr Reid!

I SAID, "Give 'em Hell, Harry!" Not "Give 'em curtains in purgatory."



Thick skulls - not a problem with the Cast Iron KA-Bong!

[defendandprotect]

52. "Give 'em curtains in purgatory" . . .???

Never heard that one before ---
and not sure whatd it means -- a little dull today!

but, money seems to keep Congress from hearing well --- !!!

????

:)

[unkachuck]

28. How do the rest of you DO it?

....we do it by actively NOT supporting our economic system....there are many points in your life that you can do things for yourself with minimum system input....seek and do as many of those things as possible....

....you may need to educate yourself on how to repair a faucet or how to can vegetables....you may need to force yourself NOT to make purchases at your local Shit-Mart or you may have to start preparing meals instead of eating out....at every level of your life, STOP interacting and supporting the fascist economic system....

....everyone has particular skills and talents they can barter....do it....do you need your front brake pads replaced?....then babysit your neighbors kids a few times in exchange for her hubby replacing your pads....purchasing a set of $24 pads fucks the system out the $350+$24 they were going to charge you, money in part, that would help fill the fascist political coffers to fuck us....multiply this a hundred fold in your life....

....the more you do for yourself the more confident and secure you become....at some point you realize they really can't hurt you that much in a society as big, abundant and affluent as ours....there are just too many alternatives....

....and remember, smile :), it will never get much better than FDR or worse than george w. bush, and you've probably survived both....the fascist crap will stop, when we stop supporting the fascists....

[Tigress DEM]

41. How about small businesses that are in your neighborhood?

I agree with your general premise, but not everyone who provides a service or product is screwing us over.

Going to the farmer's market. Getting a bike at a local shop instead of a big chain.

AND doing more for ourselves.

Some neighborhoods even have barter networks so you can get points and so if you don't really know which neighbor will be able to fix your car and which one will make a big mess of it...

Just a little easy does it and a little less abandon the system entirely. There are good people out there working for a living.

[riverdeep]

30. As far as America is concerned, it's over.

All empires die, it's just the way of things. There are predictable stages, and we're in the last. From the Romans, to the British, to the Vikings, to the Chinese, they all die, usually from the inside. Now, it's our turn. We had a good run, and we gave the world some important things. Now, the hope for humanity lies largely in the rest of the world, and I think they will surprise us, in a good way.

As far as Obama, did you really think they would let anyone near the power structure that would actually change it? It's a self-selecting process that filters out those individuals. It's no accident that the only two people who were actually for change, Kucinich and Paul, got almost no media coverage and were ridiculed when they did get it. Don't get me wrong, I'll pull the lever for Obama (although he wasn't my first choice), but I'm not delusional.

[rhett o rick]

33. I agree completely. The corporations have a strangle hold on the government.

They let us vote as long as we vote the way they want. They control 99% of the media and what we hear on a daily basis. They own most of the politicians.

It might be possible for Obama to reduce the speed at which they are raping the country but he can't stop it.

[Tigress DEM]

45. Corporations CAN be dealt with and made to obey reasonable laws.

America has already been through this several times and the laws that were created to deal with Monopolies are mostly still on the books.

They just need the political will to appoint someone like Fitzgerald as Attorney General to enforce the laws we have and competent people to manage the agencies that monitor and enforce reasonable consequences on corporations that run rough shod over people. We need unions again and whistle-blower protections.

As President Obama will have the opportunity to bring on about 6,000 appointees to key positions that drive the Nation in a direction other than to "hell in a hand-basket". He isn't going to be doing this alone.

Also, if he puts teeth into the IRS enforcement of Corporate Tax Avoidance and has them really, really look closely at the top 1% who have about 85% of the money or more and gives them the same "freeze those assets until we know why things aren't adding up" that they do for people accused of drug dealing, corporations will be falling all over themselves to clean up their acts.

Corporations only have more power than US while someone is in the White House that lets them by skewing the laws to favor them over real people.

303+ million people in America and how many CEOs? It only takes a couple of dragons slayers to start in on the job to get these corporate beasts to consider their own best interests and behave themselves.

If there is no one to be bought in this new administration, they will have to settle for what they get.
Decent profits and responsibility to clean up their own messes if they choose to keep making them.

[Tigress DEM]

40. Pessimism vs Pragmatism

Pessimism is a good strategy in some ways. Expect the worse, plan for the best just in case, so either way, you kind of win. Either you are right if things flop or you are happily pleased to be wrong if all goes well.

I prefer to be "pragmatic" hope for the best, plan for the worst, just in case. Either way I feel like I win because I'm being part of the solution until there is no other option. Then like my non-delusional compatriots I too will run like Hell (if/when things fall apart).

But I think in a Democracy, even one as wounded as ours we CAN get someone in who will change it.

I think the re-thugs are betting on being able to wreck it so badly that it will be impossible to fix, but they forget it isn't JUST Obama that will be getting in there, it's everyone who voted for him that will be getting new chances to get things done.

This is going to be a real landslide. I think getting Nader out of the picture will help. He won't get that many votes but if his name isn't on the ballot they can't flip the votes in the black box to his name or make it go to him when you pick Obama.

But I digress.

What we really need is a way to independently count our votes apart from the election process. Voluntary, anonymous and accurate. Visual and track-able.

A slip with zip code and check box for candidate selected that has a carbon copy and a non traceable voter id. So that it can be listed on line and followed up on to verify accuracy by the voter without traceability.

In the case of tampering, the copy of the slip with the time of vote and result listed could be presented.

Since DEM'S aren't the ones pretending they didn't vote for that guy we'll at least get a handle on how many votes WE cast.

I don't doubt he'll win. Realistically Kerry and Gore did win if the votes had been counted.
I'm simply worrying about the votes being counted correctly.

[Breeze54]

47. Pen & paper is the better route. Eliminate E-Voting all together.....

Go back to X marks the box, with a black crayon, Imho.

[Xenotime]

46. Agreed. The founders never meant for it to go this long.

I'm suprised the US hasn't merged with some other country.

[Greyhound]

54. Fight back, quit playing their game, sabotage their efforts at every opportunity.

Make them go the full distance in trying to enforce their power.

It makes life much harder, but much more interesting and fulfilling.