"We are the change we've been waiting for."

[Political Heretic]

Over and over again, I see people looking for saviors in politics. When we see some spark that we identify with in a political leader, we say things like this:

We have our "fighter".
We have our policy-wonk.
We have our ethical leader.


All in one person.

And then we speak of all of our hopes for change, then go back about our lives waiting for that change to be delivered. What I see here are lots of people absolutely desperate to find some reason - any reason - to keep clinging to hope that one noble leader will fix things for us.

But guess what?

You are our "fighter," along with me - its up to people to stand up, not one man or a political class dominated mostly by its own interest in maintaining its own power and position.

You are our policy-wonk, along with me - its up to people to wake up, and engage in understanding how bad policy gets made, what it looks like, and why its made, along with the commitment to being personally informed by independent analysis, rather than simply seeking out political talking points or partisan opinion makers for that "understanding."

You are our ethical leader, along with me - its up to use to demand not just social justice, but economic justice from a corrupt system in which corporate will and political power seeking are blended into one horrible machine.

All in one person? That's what's wrong with our country right now. We keep emotionally investing all our hopes and wishful thinking into one person - looking for some inspirational figure to comfort us with the thought that he or she will fix everything so that we don't have to worry about it and can go about our business.

Barack Obama was so very right one one thing he said: we are the change we've been waiting for. We are. Not any one man. Not even any one political party. We are what we've been waiting on.

Reading this morning that "President Obama is the only thing standing between us at the bad guys" this morning brought tears to my eyes.

An overreaction I suppose. But I'm so weary and saddened by the number of people so desperate for a Savior so that they can go about their business in peace that they ignore the truths of history told over and over and over and over again.

President Obama, no matter how great one believes the man to be, is not standing between us and the "bad guys." We stand on the front line Our political leaders - even ones that we think are "great," are only as good as the people demand that they be.

He was so right about that, and yet here we are - looking to one man to be our savior. That's got to change.

[Political Heretic]

1. What about FDR?

FDR did not come into office with radical liberal ideas. His political history in New York was exactly the opposite - economically conservative and business friendly. His first year in the Presidency was not what we now remember when we think of FDR. And FDRs transformation from political economic conservative to authentic liberal and populist occurred because of the overwhelming anger and action of ordinary people - who were fed up and in the streets in protest.

While I'm not necessarily ready to put my stamp of approval on rioting, it was the fact that there was enough popular action to even sustain large riots in cities across the country that reflects a period in term where people decided that they were the change they've been waiting for.

Today, we couldn't find enough popular awareness to start a riot in a driveway, let in cities and townships in every state across the union. It's not "rioting" itself that I admire or long for. It's people in the streets absolutely demanding the change they want to see, and refusing to accept all of the silly political apologetic about why they're "just not being reasonable."

A time when general motors works chained themselves to their machines and refused to leave, shutting down GM in their fight for fair wages and rights. A time when people marched in masses and confronted exploiting bankers or rich right in their faces and made it impossible for them to continue on with business as usual.

I say this again, and you should note my full agreement with Obama on this point and my use of his own words: WE are the CHANGE we've been waiting for!

[truedelphi]

3. Big Difference between FDR and Obama - FDR commissioned a 100 day

Session of Congress that immediately tackled the economic crisis facing the nation.

Obama left it to his "experts and advisers" to handle the situation - leaving both himself and We the People out of the fray.

Thus we have watched as some 14 trillion and counting has been given over to a small circle of the Upper Elite of Banking - who are still operating without a single regulation in place from causing the whole system to come crumbling and collapsing back down again.


Obama gave a speech which has many on this board mesmerized. But when/if the economic house of cards comes down, what then? No one will care one whit about the speech - what will matter is whether they need a wheelbarrow full of dollars to buy a loaf of bread.

[Political Heretic]

10. That's really not quite how it happened.

FDR's first term looked a lot like this one... with weak bank-first type action.

FDR came into office a staunch economic conservative and friend of business. If you don't believe that, then you will really enjoy delving into some history of FDR, because it will surprise you.

Particularly, his political history in New York and life leading up to winning the Presidency.

FDR's first year was primarily a year of personal change - the intense crisis of the situation combined with overwhelming popular protest, civil unrest and relentless demands for populist action changed the trajectory of FDR's political actions.

FDR grew into the "radical" he was thanks to overwhelming public pressure and people rioting in the streets.

[truedelphi]

12. Here's the thing - although a record number of banks failed during the time

Of FDR's first year, those banks failed across the board. He did not set up a system that kept only the top Biggest Banks and Financial Institutions from failing - the markets did the leveling, not this ersatz inner circle of Goldman Sachs connected officials deciding who gets what, with none of it trickling down to Main Street.

Also, he was not having to fund two very expense war efforts, such as we are undertaking with Iraq and Afghanistan. And of course, while WWII would have the huge support of most Americans, most Americans in poll after poll do not at all want us to be in Afghanistan. (I do concede this - perhaps right now, half the money going to Iraq is being used to pull people out.)

In letting fourteen trillion bucks of our money evaporating from those digitized coffers of the Federal Reserve, into the coffers of the Upper Elite of the Banking world, we are already seeing the style of money management that FDR was forced to employ mid-way through WWII...

However one big difference between FDR having to spend 153% of the annual USA economy during just one of those war years and what Obama's money policy experts are doing is this - the war efforts employed almost every able bodied American. While the current 100% expenditure of the domestic economy - 14 trillion - being slightly more than the annual GDP - differs from FDR's war year expenditures is that very few people are receiving jobs in return.

[Political Heretic]

21. We seem to be talking past each other.

You don't need to explain all the great things that FDR did.

What I'm telling you is that FDR was a staunch economic conservative for his entire political life, and it was a combination of the crisis and - I believe most importantly - and the people in the streets demanding to be heard - that helped shape the course of the Presidents direction.

You seem to be trying to defend Obama's first year compared to FDR's. I don't have an opinion on that, and don't really care.

My only point is to address a misconception, that FDR was somehow born a die hard lefty with a radical agenda. He wasn't. He was moved there by a combination of situation and popular action.

That's how it always works. Few dramatic structural changes have happened without popular movement. They don't happen because on savior rises and leads everyone to the promise land. It happens when the people lead themselves, and demand that their political REPRESENTATIVES (not "leaders") carry out their will or face the consequences.

[truedelphi]

24. Okay, I get the message you are trying to bring us here.

But even if every single American takes to the streets this very week, the money is gone. Vanished.

Coffers are empty. Whether it was all planeed that way I don't know.

Obama can turn around and decide to discover his inner most, most socialistic inner self - and there still remains the fact that the monies are gone.

Any and every thing the people of this nation need and want are only wishes at this point in time. And unless the Big Banksters suddenly discover a conscience and start loaning their amassed fortunes to the Main Street crowd, the story of Democracy in this nation is done. Over. Stick a fork in it!

[Political Heretic]

25. Then we can build something else out of its ashes.

[Political Heretic]

26. kick

[Political Heretic]

2. kick

[patrice]

4. We are the miracle we have been waiting for - I dislike mumbo-jumbo, but the whole IS

greater than the sum of its parts, so a whole comprised of millions and millions and millions of people, each taking his/her responsibility to act consistently and constructively on the issues, will INDEED accomplish wonders.

[scarletwoman]

5. First of all, that phrase never ceased to grate on me, since it's derived from an internet-spawned

ersatz "Hopi prophecy" that was all the rage in New Age circles several years ago:

http://www.matrixmasters.com/takecharge/hopi-prophecy.html
Hopi Elders' Prophecy
Oraibi, Arizona, June 8, 2000

You have been telling people that this is the Eleventh Hour, now you
must go back and tell the people that this is the Hour. And there are
things to be considered. . . .

Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relation?
Where is your water?

Know your garden.
It is time to speak your truth.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for your leader.

Then he clasped his hands together, smiled, and said, "This could be a
good time! There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and
swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on
to the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart and will suffer
greatly. Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let
go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes
open, and our heads above the water.

And I say, see who is in there with you and celebrate. At this time in
history, we are to take nothing personally, least of all ourselves. For
the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey come to a halt.

The time of the one wolf is over. Gather yourselves!
Banish the word 'struggle' from your attitude and your vocabulary. All
that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.

We are the ones we've been waiting for.

Hopi Elders Prophesy
To my fellow swimmers:
here is a river flowing now very fast.
It is so great and swift,
that there are those who will be afraid,
who will try to hold on to the shore,
they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly.
Know that the river has its destination.
The elders say we must let go of the shore,
push off into the middle of the river,
and keep our heads above water.
And I say see who is there with you and celebrate.
At this time in history we are to take nothing personally,
least of all ourselves, for the moment we do,
our spiritual growth and journey come to a halt.
The time of the lone wolf is over.
Gather yourselves.
Banish the word struggle from your attitude and vocabulary.
All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.
For we are the ones we have been waiting for. (my bold)

It's bogus, of course. No Hopi elder ever said any such thing. When a Hopi elder issues a statement, they do so with their name attached.

But as I said, this was widely disseminated on the internet among New Agers all through the early 2000s.

When the modified version of this showed up in Obama's campaign, it struck me as an enormously cynical ploy. It's not that it's a bad sentiment, but just like the phony "Hopi prophecy", the context of it's use is manipulative. A sop to the spiritually bankrupt -- and then to the politically naive -- longing to be given some supposedly profound wisdom.

That being said, the phrase does hold a faint echo of Gandhi, who exhorted people to "be the change you wish to see in the world". However, Gandhi was building a movement to defy the System of his time. A far different thing from a politician trying to get elected as head of the System of HIS time.

It's not just that we need to stop looking to one person to be our "Savior", what we REALLY need to be doing is what Gandhi called for: non-cooperation with an unjust System.

sw

[glitch]

6. Brilliant post, deserves its own thread.

Hard to believe it's been 10 years!

I think we need a combination of true citizenship and true leadership, otherwise it seems like either the citizens or the leaders are shifting responsibility for their own inactions on to the other. Case in point: we have provided Obama with huge amounts of feedback on HCR, yet he still asks us for a clue in the SOTU. !?!?!?

[scarletwoman]

7. Thank you. I'm glad someone noticed my post.

"Case in point: we have provided Obama with huge amounts of feedback on HCR, yet he still asks us for a clue in the SOTU. !?!?!?"

Yeah, funny thing, that.

Personally, I no longer have much interest in looking to our political system for "change". It's way too corrupt, it's nothing but a con game that the Ruling Class uses to keep the proles befuddled and disempowered.

Our only hope lies in building a social movement that defies the Ruling Class and strikes fear into their black shrivelled hearts. The leaders we need are NOT politicians. Electoral/partisan politics is essentially useless as a vehicle for TRUE change.

For example, the Civil Rights movement didn't depend on politicians, it depended on its own leaders who were NOT part of the political establishment. The Movement comes first -- then, when enough of a ruckus has been raised, you find politicians who will accede to your demands. If we look to the political system first, we'll never get anywhere.

sw

[glitch]

8. I am with you on all of that.

Their model is GMO, destiny of ecocide, we have to be organic if we want a living existence. And to be organic we have to go grassroots. That's ok, more fun for us. See my sig links :)

I don't think the corrupt realize they are decay.

[truedelphi]

14. Thanks for these links, Glitch. n/t

[Political Heretic]

9. I like the phrase personally, but I also like your broader point:

It's not just that we need to stop looking to one person to be our "Savior", what we REALLY need to be doing is what Gandhi called for: non-cooperation with an unjust System.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7541683

[scarletwoman]

11. Thank you for your reply.

I remember your other thread -- I'm sorry I didn't post on it at the time. We seem to be pretty much on the same page re: the value of building a movement. It's a theme I've written about for years here, though without much notice. (I'm used to that, not being a particularly prodigious DUer :) )

What calls to non-ccoperation that I've attempted over the years here on DU have also largely gone unnoticed. However, I blame my own inability to make a rhetorically coherent and compelling case at least as much as the general lack of interest most people have in taking any action that might inconvenience them or detract from their comfort.

It's easy for me to say, "Drop out! Don't cooperate!", because I'm an old hippie who did indeed drop out 40-some years ago, and have always lived my life as far to the fringes of mainstream life as I could. I have no idea how to rouse those for whom "normal" life is something quite different and alien to my own experience.

So, harking back to Gandhi, how do we inspire and organize our own "Salt March"? That act of concerted defiance of Authority and rejection of the System.

I don't know.

sw

[H2O Man]

17. A population

that is not only expecting -- but willing -- to have a "leader" make decisions for them, to "save" them, is a population that lacks the ability to process a message that involves either "doing" or "not doing." Hence, you ability to communicate such a message is not at issue.

The majority of the people in the US, including democrats and the like, are not there yet. But they will be, my friend. They will be.

[scarletwoman]

20. Oh my dear Waterman, thank you for your kind and supportive words!

Thank you for your hopeful words, too: "They will be."

To that end, I've long assumed that if nothing else, what I can be is a keeper of the truth. Keeping knowledge safe and passing it on so it won't be lost.

It may not be me who lives to see the spark finally catch hold and light up the collective mind, but at least I will have kept the spark safe in the meantime, until that time comes.

sw

[Political Heretic]

22. I agree. And, they have been there before.

[truedelphi]

13. May I offer you a small and very warm

Sunday afternoon

:toast:

[scarletwoman]

15. Thank you. Always appreciated.

:toast: back atcha!

sw

[leftstreet]

16. +1

Very well said!

[Selatius]

18. I like to reference a particular quotation from Eugene V. Debs, an old-school labor activist.

I am not a Labor Leader; I do not want you to follow me or anyone else; if you are looking for a Moses to lead you out of this capitalist wilderness, you will stay right where you are. I would not lead you into the promised land if I could, because if I led you in, some one else would lead you out. You must use your heads as well as your hands, and get yourself out of your present condition; as it is now the capitalists use your heads and your hands.

-- As quoted in "Life of Eugene V. Debs" by Stephen Marion Reynolds, in Debs : His Life, Writings and Speeches (1908) edited by Bruce Rogers and Stephen Marion Reynolds, p. 71

[scarletwoman]

23. Thank you! That's an excellent quote!

We have to be willing to each of us free ourselves.

[scheming daemons]

19. If you're going to quote from my OP directly, at least attribute it to me..

..

[Political Heretic]

27. nope.

If you want to identify yourself great, but I'm not calling you out.