commence...RANT! --->
You know, I’m sick of people whining about Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi not stopping the war. Otherwise intelligent people acting as if they really expect politicians to just do what we want them to do without us going out of our way to make it happen. People who otherwise might talk about the system being broken, even just taking it for granted, suddenly expecting it to work in this case, and then getting all bent out of shape when, lo and behold, it doesn’t. The people who saw what happened in May, and with FISA, and have now suddenly abandoned the process, withdrawing, like pouty petulant little kids who lost their first fight with a bully and now suddenly don’t want to defend themselves anymore. It’s a god damn shame. But it doesn’t have to be.
Shut the fuck up and hit the streets. ONLY when you get THERE do your complaints have any credibility. ONLY when you get THERE does your will carry any weight. ONLY when you get THERE will anyone take your desire for peace SERIOUSLY.
Because Pelosi, Reid and the Democrats are not going to just stop the war, just like that. Sorry, just not gonna happen. Sure, a lot of us expect them to, and it’s the right thing to do, and it would save lives, and it’s their jobs, and they’re doing a shitty job, but it’s just not going to happen because the Democratic Party is driven by fear and accountability. They’re risk averse because people expect more out of Democrats. Dems are held to higher standards. And therefore Dems have more to lose by acting against the public will. Hence dainty institutions like the DLC and "triangulators" in our ranks. For better or for worse, Democrats are just hypersensitive about the public will.
Of course you say, oh, but the public will is to leave Iraq. And it’s true. The public wants us out. But the public isn’t very passionate about it. The public isn’t doing JACK SHIT to back up its desire. The 70% of the American people who "oppose the war" in these worthless fucking pollllllls are lazy, whining bastards with no cred to back it up, just going about business as usual, just grumbling a little more, but not actually DOING anything that clearly demonstrates and communicates their passion. Pelosi, Reid and the other Democrats see soft support. They see people who think something, and talk shit, but who don’t back it up, and ARE NOT DEPENDABLE VOTERS.
I would argue that if they saw hard support---which, incidentally, would also create hard PRESSURE, as a byproduct---we’d be in a very, very different situation right now. Something better than the rampant defeatism I’m seeing throughout the ranks lately, which could very well lose the war to stop the war before we even get the chance to fire our September shots. There’s so much fucking cynicism out there. No, actually, not ‘cynicism’.
In 2006, some people thought they were voting for change. A bunch of people were fucking NAÏVE enough to think that just changing the identity of the party in power, from an R to a D, would be enough, in itself, to drive a 180 degree turn in policy. This is just lunacy. No fucking way. Idiots, anybody who thought that. We didn’t get enough numbers. There are a lot of good Dems now, but not enough, and the Republicans feel safe trying to pick off the weak ones in our ranks, instead of vice versa. This is where we lost the numbers battle in May. But it doesn’t have to happen again. No, REALLY, no.
The time’s come to back up our stances with hard action. It’s time to bear down and get active. We need to go all in. We need to create a REAL antiwar movement in this country.
There won’t be a draft (NO, there WON’T), so don’t count on young people to do it out of self interest like the ‘60s kids did. But I can assure you that the energy is there, if we can just get over that god damn hump of believing in ourselves. The desire for change is there. I’ve seen flash in the pan moments of this generation doing incredible things and I know it’s in us. We just have to mobilize better. We need to be smarter. We need to use the tools available to us. Hell, with the Internet, we could make 10 times the peace movement the hippies had in ’68, and with 10% of the effort.
To paraphrase a famous warmonger named Donny, we can’t stop the war with the antiwar movement we want. We can only stop the war with the antiwar movement we have.
I think we have enough. We have bright, passionate people on our side. We recognize that we’re having problems mobilizing the 70% who oppose the war. We understand that there have been huge problems with tactics and most people don’t believe in democracy enough to take the leap of faith it takes to ENGAGE. The organizations at the forefront of organizing have been so watered down by "coalition building" that they lack credibility with the mainstream. But this can be changed. It’s all in the message and presentation. Nay, actually, it’s SIMPLER than that ---- all we need are some kickass events to rally around. Gee, ya know, like the chain of September events, right there, STARING US ALL IN THE FUCKING FACES, and we need to get over the idea of EVER taking no for an answer from this pansy ass unpopular monkey fearmonger of a leader who hasn’t even cracked 40% in an opinion poll in YEARS.
We need to create a culture of USING THE FIRST AMENDMENT. Pushing up. Pushing back. Assembling. Organizing. Creating pressure so heavy, and so clearly grassroots driven, that when the GOP tries to smear it, they’re firing at 70% of the American people, and they PAY THE PRICE and those who DEFEND the 70% REAP THE REWARD.
"Carrot and stick" is usually used as a foreign policy term. Fuck that. Let it be domestic policy now, too.
And when this happens, when the 70% put themselves on the LINE to oppose the war, we’ll have made Nancy and Harry an offer they can’t refuse. Because they will have reason to FEAR us---the stick---and I’m sorry, but that’s what it’s going to take to end the war in Iraq. As May indicated, politeness ain’t doing so well. Fortunately, it’s not difficult to change that.
A thin "silent majority" (60% maybe?) was enough for Nixon to point at to keep us in Vietnam. Surely an overwhelming VOCAL majority (70%+) would be enough for Pelosi and Reid to tame Mr. 25%. We need to give them the carrot, and we need to be fucking obvious about it, because subtlety isn’t rewarded in this game.
So my question for you is,
What are you DOING?
My question for everyone is,
Are the American people serious?
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Obligatory action items: there's Iraq Moratorium Day, and more info for the unfamiliar. Sign the pledge to participate here: http://iraqmoratorium.org/
Check out the Enough protest series and see if there’s one near you. World Can’t Wait has a program called Orange Fridays. There's also the 9/11 General Strike or if that's too much for you, the September 15th protest in DC (more info here).
Just scratching the surface. We need to do more, much more. I'm willing to kick it up another notch or 2, how about you?
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update: fixed a typo, plus here's a link to the Campus Antiwar Network facebook group for anyone looking to get involved with good nitty gritty organizing and a link to Antiwar Tuesday for fans of more casual pressure.