Help me out here: who are the meanest, toughest, baddest advocates for the 95%? [View All]

[MannyGoldstein]

I understand that some on DU feel that Obama and the bulk of our elected Democrats are powerful, effective Progressives. If you're a member of that group, you should probably stop reading this post, you won't like it.

I grew up in in the 1960s, in a slightly-rough section of New York City. Archie Bunker's very neighborhood, in fact. Jewish, bookish, and pudgy, I was a nice target for the Catholic toughs in the neighborhood (sorry, I know this is not PC, but that's how the neighborhood broke down in that time and place). After being on the receiving end of a good ass-kicking (scumbag was kicking me in the head when I was already down and bleeding), my dad decided it was time I learn how to fight.

Dad sent me to boxing lessons and Judo, and I learned how to defend myself pretty well, and I started winning fights. But the very most important thing that I learned, by far, was the psychology of dealing with a bully. Dad said "First thing you do, you hit the bully over the head with a 2x4, and you tell him "That's for nothing! Just wait and see what happens when I'm pissed!"

Bullies need to understand that fucking with you will cause their lives to suck. Until they understand that, they will bully you. Sounds fairly simplistic, I'll admit, but dad has a PhD in Psychology, and he grew up in the South Bronx, so he's qualified to give such advice. And I've seen, time and time again, that his advice works. In fact, it's the only thing that works with bullies.

Our national crisis, right now, is that we are being ridden roughshod by a gang of bullies: a group of wealthy malevolent thugs represented by their Republican mercenaries and a cast of useful (to them) idiots. And the folks representing our side either have zero clue as to how to deal with these swine, or they personally gain from letting them run rampant - but either way, nobody's taking a 2x4 to the bullies, and they fuck with us nonstop, with absolute impunity. Certainly, by now, only a few can still believe that giving gold stars to Republicans when they fail to totally suck is a winning strategy.

Remember when the HIV/AIDS crisis was in its infancy, slaughtering gay men with brutal efficiency? A group of New Yorkers decided that wringing their hands was not the way to go - they formed ACTUP, and raised all kinds of holy hell:



and scared the NIH and Big Pharma into researching and developing HIV treatments ASAP. HIV quickly went from being a quick death sentence to a treatable chronic disease. A friend of mine is an MD/PhD in infectious diseases. Back when ACTUP was acting up, he told me that because of ACTUP, vast pools of money were being unleashed to researchers. He and many others in his field switched their research towards treating AIDS because that's where the money was, and sure enough, treatments came quickly.

I'm tired of watching today's bullies run roughshod over the 95%. I want to join up with like-minded folks who also want to end this reign of thugs and crazies, and who are willing to go to the mat. I want to join an ACTUP for working America, a group that understands that it needs to be feared in order to win back our country.

So here's my question to the good denizens of DU: are there any groups who represent the 95%, and who really want to play to win? Anybody out there that I can hitch my wagon to? Any and all suggestions most welcome.

Thanks in advance!