I'm tired, frustrated, and sorry.

[mmonk]

This is our Gettysburg, our Waterloo, our Dunkirk.

Over the last 7 or 8 years, I've poured more of my time into politics at the precinct, district, state, and national level than the 20 years combined I put into disability rights for children. I'm tired because the right wing wave in America just keeps coming no matter how much I try to stack sand bags in its way along side others who are doing the same.

I'm frustrated because we've put majorities in office up until the 2010 elections with little success in stemming destructive political forces. I keep hearing about bipartisanship with people who will slit our throats at any chance and run over us and back up and do it again. I hear about Senate rules while the opposition plays by no rules. I'm tired of hearing about why we had to extend the tax cuts which are huge factor in our troubles because of the 2012 elections. I'm tired of hearing how me must sacrifice and why budgets need to be slashed further when they have already been slashed to the bone. I'm tired of hearing how now we have to seriously look at chipping away our safety net to balance a budget in so many years while the recipients of the tax cuts are making record profits with no real sacrifices. Any sacrifice they make is their investment in political campaigns and unlike us, they are getting a return on that investment.

I'm sorry but because of the above, I cannot always bring my poms poms for nationally elected Democrats when I post here, Not while average citizens are now having to disrupt their daily lives and man the barricades just to hang onto what little they have left. Thank God for the Democrats in Wisconsin that make up the 14. They are aware of where we are and are not aloof. I am asked frequently here why don't I vote third party, leave, or why am I am here. I suppose it is because I am stubborn. That makes me seem intransigent. I do not give up easily. Not in what I believe in anyway.

I hope that explains it. No hard feelings.

[northoftheborder]

1. I share your feelings.

[NRaleighLiberal]

2. Similarly tired, frustrated and sorry in N Raleigh as well....n/t

:hi:

[loudsue]

72. I live near Raleigh, and it seems especially awful here in NC w/ the rightwing.

They have funded this area so thoroughly, and for some reason, people in North Carolina gravitate to the faux noise teevee as if they are clinging on for their lives.

The NC legislature just capped awards on medical malfeasance, and you hardly hear a thing about it. If a hospital cuts off a childs legs & arms, the most they will EVER get for the whole thing is $500,000. And that is the most drastic award. Lesser awards are for simply hideous malpractice. But for the first time in over 100 years, the NC legislature is controlled by republicans in both houses. They are doing what they can for the corporations, and screwing the citizens to the wall.

The Wake County Bd. of Education is rolling back 50 years of civil rights by eliminating bussing for diversity. Everywhere you go, it's the rightwing taking control.

A friend who ran for the NC house last election, and lost, told me the entire dem party in NC at the highest levels is infiltrated with anti-union republicans who call themselves democrats.

It's like the nazis have taken over all the political parties, and there is nowhere to turn.

[madmax]

73. Re-located to NC from NJ am shocked by the Wake Board

of Ed decision.

[loudsue]

77. I watch their hearings and I just can't speak. I just shake my head.

It is the most blatant, misdirected bunch of rightwingers I've ever seen. And they somehow feel justified. Like they have a mandate or something.

This area has been saturated with those assholes.

[madmax]

79. We need more liberal Yankees to move down from NJ nt

[mmonk]

81. Tedesco and Margiotta (leaders of the tea party faction) are originally from NJ..

Seems we are getting some of the wrong ones moving here.

[OneGrassRoot]

3. Well said and I agree completely. K&R n/t

[sadbear]

4. No, this is our Alamo!

[jillan]

5. Many of us share your feelings. Sometimes I just have to ask - what are we fighting for? But I

keep on fighting, full of hope that maybe one day it will make a difference.

:hug:

[Horse with no Name]

27. I don't expect to win

The forces are against us, sadly.

But when my kids tell their kids who tell their kids when they are in history class in 100 years, they will be able to say that THEIR GRANDMA (GREAT GRANDMA, etc) did NOT go gently into the night.
She fought with everything she had.:patriot:

[GrannyK]

51. I'm right there with you. And

when those future great grandchildren speak of their GrannyK they will
say the same. She refused to give up. And that she alienated most of her extended family because of her liberal, progressive and democratic beliefs.

[loudsue]

74. I wonder how very many of us have alienated our families because

of our political views. I lost a very dear friend last year who also alienated her family and most of her friends. And even as she was dying w/ the help of hospice, it was the republican members of her family that were robbing her blind.

It's how they are.

[dotymed]

65. I doubt

if they'll be allowed to teach about our struggle. It would interfere with indoctrination.

[Snoutport]

6. I feel the same way.

This all hurts on an emotional level.

All of this helps no one except a very few rich people at the top. All these attacks are just about privatization and making the rich richer.

How do we wake up the middle class?

[patrice]

16. Exactly right, privatization is about hostile takeovers in order to re-seed a CRASHED business model

They want to "share their 'wealth' (digits, actually)" with a certain very few and very selective others. Criteria #1 is to actively oppose the people deciding for themselves how to spend their own aggregated tax dollars on shared investments in OUR OWN commonweal.

This is not conjecture on my part; I have seen it up close and personal and it IS a profoundly powerful, and hence frightening, force.

[glinda]

19. I thought the new model was the tv show where the rich give out money to the chosen.

:sarcasm:

[patrice]

25. NAILED it! ergo, our job 1# = JOBS with respect for Labor Capital . . . .

the Primary Real Value, according to Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations.

[Enthusiast]

57. This very moment Ohio governor Kasich

is studying how to turn the management of the state lottery over to private corporations. This is war.

[snappyturtle]

7. I think your OP more than answers the question put to you in a thread

I read yesterday. I didn't understand the question, why are you here?, or something to that effect, at the time. However, I think this answer is very plain.....should inquiring minds want to know!

[mmonk]

36. Thanks.

It wasn't the first time nor the last I suspect but that is fine. I just wanted to express why. I don't come here expecting everyone to agree.

[Historic NY]

8. Perhaps its time for the left to get politically ruthless.......

the GOP game of personal political destruction was perfected by the late Lee Atwater and now his students are in full swing. The goal is the permanent destruction of the Democrats and the Democratic Party....hell they even say so.

[The Doctor.]

11. We've been saying that for a while.

The Democrats have by now proven that their role is as victims. Thus the show goes on.

[tibbiit]

13. I heard the role best described as

Repugs = Harlem Globetrotters
Dems = New Jersey Generals.

Pugs run circles around the dems, the dems are there to putz around, fumble, then lose.
Sadly this is as it seems to me too.
tib

[russspeakeasy]

78. Nailed it !!!

[tallahasseedem]

14. They wont...

The Washington Dems have had every opportunity to step up...they haven't and there is not a damn thing we can do about it at this point. The Republicans are running the show. Absolutely pathetic.

[bobbolink]

35. Of course there is something we can do about it.

Vote.

:sarcasm:

[Enthusiast]

60. Imagine, we had the house, the senate and

the presidency yet not a single step was taken to make our elections more fair and transparent, enact significant climate change legislation, make the media more fair, protect a free internet, stop the wars or correct any number of other critical issues.

[Spyderama]

29. Democratic Wimps

We have to look in the mirror at ourselves as a very selfish, racist, greedy nation and begin to change the way we think at our most basic level. The complete story can be found in Paradigm Shift: The Progressive Left Strikes Back!

[Jamastiene]

75. The right makes us out to be dictating ogres, hellbent on bringing total socialism to the US.

Maybe if we lived up to that even the slightest, even halfway, we might be able to do some good.

As it stands now, we are trying to play nice with people who are steadily cutting our throats every chance they get, while they run roughshod over us in the process. They are destroying anything we work for faster than we can make progress.

We've been playing nice with them for too long now and it is definitely not working. Something has got to give.

[tallahasseedem]

9. I have to admit...

that I'm depressed this morning. I was in shock last night when Cenk announced it. I hope to God that we can get this overturned.

[myrna minx]

10. K&R from Tired in Mpls. n/t

[RoccoR5955]

12. You have to work hard, for a long time, to get just a little progress

I know how you feel, but I have been active for about 41 of my 56 years on this earth. My friend, Pete Seeger, has been fighting for a long time as well. He's going to be 92, and still showed up at a local union rally last week to sing a few songs, and rally the masses.
I understand your frustration, but if you give up, then they win.
You just have to pick your battles, not give up, and take a breather once in a while.
Imagine what it was like protesting against Reagan's giving arms to terrorists, when he was so popular, while stabbing people in the back.
There will be setbacks, but it is up to WE THE PEOPLE to keep up the fight, because to rely on ANY politician is delusional.
Perhaps you should read Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States," for then you will see, that decisions that politicians make are driven by outrage from WE THE PEOPLE.
Don't surrender, don't be defeated, never give up. You may only gain a little, but it will be more than when you started.

[Tx4obama]

46. +1000000000000000000000000000 n/t

[Enthusiast]

61. Just beautifully said. nt

[patrice]

15. You express my own feelings & thoughts very precisely.

I do not necessarily vote 3rd party, because the most important thing to me right now is SUCCESS on our ISSUES. Because of their history, that almost completely rules Republicans out, but I will take any opportunity presented by the rest of the political spectrum that, upon examination, presents the highest probability of accomplishing something concrete on my/our issues.

[Solly Mack]

17. K&R

[abq e streeter]

18. I hope it's another Dunkirk....The Allies escaped to regroup and fight to victory

another day in the not too distant future.

[mmonk]

39. And the Union fought off Lee's invasion at Gettysburg.

We can fight now and win or fight another day and then win. But the time for resolve I think is here.

[abq e streeter]

20. I share that same frustration, anger etc, but they've "kicked the hornets nest"

and the real battle is just beginning.

[gracchorumspes]

21. K /R

Good points, your frustration is understandable. Keep in mind that your insight is still very valuable, no poms poms are required for that. Please continue to guide and inform others when you feel it is the right thing to do.

[patrice]

24. Greek to me . . . ?

gracchorumspes?
Hippolates
Aristophanes
Hippocrates
Diogenes etc. . . .

gracchorum? grac? chorum? What phylogeny is this?

................

Whoever you are . . .

Welcome to DU!! Enjoy!

:hi:

[mmonk]

37. Thank you very much.

And welcome.

[RainDog]

22. but, but, you look so nice in your pom-poms!

:hug:

[patrice]

23. I'd bet s/he does!

[mmonk]

40. Why thank you very much.

:hug:

But I look bad in everything.:)

[patrice]

26. Kick!

[KamaAina]

28. Our Gettysburg?

Bear in mind that the Union (with a capital U) won at Gettysburg, repulsing the Confederacy's only advance north of the Mason-Dixon Line.

[mmonk]

38. In importance. The Union was facing an invasionary force.

[Deep13]

30. agreed. We've been stabbed in the back. nt

[SoCalDem]

31. Right wingers NEVER give up.. They are the Energizer bunnies of politics

All throughout time, they plod on with their bad ideas every chance they get.

The rest of us must keep fighting the same battles over and over because every "victory" we have, the other side just moves that particular item to the top of their "un-do" list.

Selfish people cannot be changed. Ideology is rarely changed either.

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

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

[blackspade]

32. well said

[bobbolink]

34. Understandable. Many of us are feeling that despair, and not allowed to post

what we are really thinking.

That is a shame, as then the party will be "shocked, I tell ya,..."

:pals:

[mmonk]

58. It's hard to finesse sometimes.

[bobbolink]

80. Finesse? Or mask?

"How are you?"

"I'm good." (Dying inside....)

Honesty is not allowed.


.....later....

"I just can't believe he killed himself. He was always happy and had a smile for everyone."

[Demeter]

41. Remember What Gandhi Said:

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

We have just barely begun to fight. And there are 3 generations in this now on our side, in spite of the Quislings and Benedict Arnolds.

We will win. What cannot continue, will not continue.

[roody]

42. Change will come from the grassroots, not the so-called leaders.

[Zax2me]

43. Thousands died at Gettysburg, Waterloo, Dunkirk

Really?
Perspective.

[mmonk]

63. Key battlesof importance.

[Jester Messiah]

70. It's called a metaphor, look it up. [nt]

[grahamhgreen]

44. +1. Never give up.

[WillyT]

45. K & R !!!

:hi:

:kick:

[Honeycombe8]

47. This moderate feels the same way. nt

[crim son]

48. You ought not be sorry.

You are right. The sorry state of affairs arises when you feel you must apologize for stating the truth.

[bbgrunt]

49. mmonk, do not be sorry.

you are one of the most articulate posters here and I always appreciate reading your perspective on things. You are never vindictive or nasty. Without the efforts and help of people like you we would be in a much worse situation. The reward we may get may not be victory but the knowledge that we are right to fight the good fight.

[Tripod]

50. k&r. n/t

[airplaneman]

52. I'm tired, frustrated, and sorry.

A lot of us share your feelings.  It is my hope that a grass
roots movement starts with people like us who realize we need
to be compassionate to each other and start doing things that
make sense.  Our Society has social issues and is not to be
run by or for a Corporation that does not care about social
issues.  Wealth is finite and the rich cant get richer wihout
the rest of us goind down.  FDR figured it out corretly and
did something real to change it.  We need to do it again. We
are here to get involved with others who share the same
ideals.  Maybe over time the right movement may really begin. 
We need to reject misinformation and lies of our opponents and
counter with argument that sonund reasonable to most people. 
Persistance is a must even when we get tired of it.  I have
good days when I am willing to battle the world and bad days
where I just keep quiet with my tail between my legs.  More
days keep coming and better ones appear along with more bad
ones.  Hang in there and keep on communicating.
-Airplane

[Enthusiast]

62. Nice

Welcome to DU.

[Hamlette]

53. on a day, after a month, when dems did stand up, doesn't seem right

but I guess I just don't understand that "I'll show Obama how much I hate him by not voting in 2010 just like Ed said."

How's that working out for you all?

[kevinbgoode]

54. Perhaps it is time to consider something here. . .

and to not be afraid to state this with conviction. The Republican Party in its present form is incapable of governing a free country.

[Nay]

55. Overwhelmed here in the Capital of the Confederacy - Richmond, VA

Not much hope here in VA; it was right wing (among the white folks everywhere except NoVa)when I moved here, and still is. I've never seen so many people so deluded.

[Enthusiast]

56. K&R Hey, brother,

I can't bring my pom poms, either. Support for labor issues is fundamental to the Democratic Party. Nationally elected Democrats forgot to dance with the one that brung them.

In retrospect, I now see the decision to vote for extending the Bush tax cuts as an even greater betrayal than I originally thought. Now Republican governors all over the nation are armed with the excuse of budget shortfalls in their attacks on labor. And believe me, the FICA shortfalls will be used in the exact same manner. That is the very purpose for enacting the FICA tax holiday.

'Starve the beast' is a very real phenomenon. If we lose enough seats to Republicans or corporate Democrats in 2012 expect them to finalize the starve the beast strategy with a preemptive strike on Iran. Republicans have been whining for it for years.

If DUers fail to see this as a long term strategy by the corporate overlords they simply lack imagination. It is coming. We will see a massive assault on the social safety net. Indeed, it is already underway.

They are counting on us to feel so discouraged that we will stay home in 2012, as in 2010. From now until then they will be actively discouraging us.

This is war. Many of the enemies wear our uniform. Don't stick your heads in the sand. Wake the fuck up.

[OKNancy]

59. Bring out the Pom pons because if you don't, we will have a repeat of 2010

I have the opposite reaction. I barely come to DU anymore.
The failure here by some to see the real world is too depressing.

[placton]

64. Nobama in 2012

Sorry Barack

[loudsue]

76. Nobama insures a new republican president. That would be the last straw.

It's bad enough having a semi-republican president.

[WilliamPitt]

66. (((HUG)))

No worries.

Well...plenty of worries.

But not about you.

:hug:

[joshdawg]

67. I understand your frustrations.

I must add, tho', that voting for a third party will only help elect right-wingers.
Not voting at all will only help elect right-wingers.

As disappointing as some of us are with the Democrats, one only has to look at states like Wisconsin, Ohio, and Florida and Texas, and others to see what kind of lunacy can be expected if one does not vote or if one votes third party. We all lose!
Regardless of how one feels about the Democratic Party, the alternative is much, much worse.

[woo me with science]

68. Good post.

It reflects the frustration that many of us feel.

[Faith No More]

69. We must first try to get someone in the White House who is actually

for the working people. Obama's astounding lack of backbone has given away everything the Democrat party stands for. I have never seen anyone so willing to lay down and let their opposition have it all the way he does. A primary challenger is our only hope because four more years of Mr. Obama is going to be a disaster.

[Chorophyll]

71. Well said. I think a lot of us feel that way. nt