The American Spirit is Dying

[devarsi]

The American spirit is dying, if not dead.

Elections are being stolen (2000/Florida/SCOTUS mess), the Constitution is being ignored or overruled (Patriot Act), the rights of the people have become second to the rights of the corporate (Enron, etc), welfare for the poor has been replaced by welfare for the wealthy (tax cuts for the top 10%, etc), and our elected representatives no longer represent the interests of the citizens (too many instances to list!)

Yet, we still think that the patient can cure itself, using the establiment's methods to purge corruption from the establishment.

The Declaration of Independence tells us that the founding fathers
believed that it was the duty of the people to overthrow any government that has become oppressive. My guess is that an oppressive government will not go gently into that good night.

I, and others, have asked what it would take to start a revolution in this country. Some have answered that elections must be overturned. But if that has not already happened in 2000, then what is your definition of overturned? Must the polls be closed? What if your vote is just not counted? Hasn't that already happened?

Others have said that the Constitution must be revoked before they act. Yet, habeus corpus has been denied, American citizens are being held as political prisoners, and the government is forcing libraries and bookstores to help them covertly investigate your thoughts, as if your thoughts were crimes. Must the Constitution be publically burned before you act?

Can America, born from a revolutionary mindset, be righted without restoring our revolutionary spirit?

I propose that the revolutionary spirit, the "Spirit of '76" is a foundational part of America. When we simply accept our future, like domesticated cattle, when we no longer understand what it means to be free, when that spirit to revolt against oppression dies, so does this country.

I think it will take more than talk, more than voting, and more than hoping to set things straight.

My question (finally) is this: How can we restore our revolutionary spirit without resorting to war?

[Pillowbiter]

1. Turn off the tv, get off the internet

and meet me in the streets.

PB

[whoYaCallinAlib]

4. Agree, there is NO OTHER way.

Where do you live?

[devarsi]

11. Public Burning Of The Patriot Act

Would you agree to that?

You say meet you in the streets, but to what end? Carrying signs? staging a protest?

We need a new Boston Tea Party. A symbolic act, a patriotic act!

An act of patriotism - burn the Patriot Act!

[Mandate My Ass]

2. Jose Padilla

I have a sick feeling his name will become a verb in the not-too-distant future ala Miranda.

Murican Subject #1: "What happened to Joe Blow? I haven't seen him around recently."

Murican Subject #2: "Haven't you heard? He was Padilla-ed last week. Won't be seeing him no more."

[proud patriot]

3. Not til the flesh is ripped from my bones

Fight to keep it alive with every breath you take .

[devarsi]

5. Brush Fires of the Mind!

Excellent! I love that Samuel Adams quote! (Edited the added D)

Question is, with complacency and apathy at record levels, will it not take more than words to ignite these fires?

Any ideas on how to force the Governments hand to get them to display their true colors to the public?

In the past, flags were burned. Draft cards were burned. Bras were burned!

I suggest a public burning of something symbolic, something that would push the government to respond in a way that completely revealed the underlying fascism.

Any suggestions?

[quinnox]

6. I'm on board for bra burning

In a public square, I'm all for the nudity of women for a good cause!

[devarsi]

7. Oops

I may have hijacked my own thread with that bra stuff. :eyes:

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

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

[devarsi]

9. I'm beginning to doubt that

That just any old Dem would be any different.

Do you think that Leiberman would be the answer? No more than kicking out Bush and putting in Orin Hatch. Say hello to the new dog, same as the old dog. Different pedigree, same old tricks

It would still be about corporations over individuals, and big money over the little guy. That was my original concept, and I'm sticking to it.

Besides, without something drastic to awaken the sleeping intellects of the domestic animals known as the average Americans, what makes you think that a Dem will have a chance at getting elected now, or ever?

[PROGRESSIVE1]

10. As long as there is one piece of bread left on the table..

Americans are not going to say a word!

[annagull]

12. With the tv showing digital heads on spikes of our enemies

and so many bathing in the bloodlust, I am losing hope. What has our country become? After the concentration camps we managed to have trials and obey our sense of justice even through that horror. Now we throw money around and obliterate 4 people with Apache helicopters, Warthogs and the 101st airborne. Then our leaders display the dead enemies and thump their chests on tv. Yes, our American spirit is very sick.

[tpub]

13. All of you, please note that even the Repubs

are revolting against the Bush adminstration. Things are moving in our direction, we just need to keep fighting and don't give up. If you want to listen to that wacko in the Politics forum about total revolution, go ahead.

But I'm for working within the system we have and winning this time. (Well, yes, I believe we actually won last time, but we can win by a much bigger margin this time and I don't think even they will be able to refute that.)

Edit: typo (Hell, for an English major...)

[devarsi]

14. Total Revolution?

I hope you are correct, TPub, I really do.

I hope that this spiral into a nightmare can be avoided, but part of me thinks that its too late for avoidance.

Democracy has done been hit--HARD--and the reality of that has yet to sink in. My gut tells me that 2000 only made the Bushies more bold, and that 2000 was just a warm up for 2004.

Think about it....if a person would go to such extremes to gain power, would they not go much further to maintain and increase that power?

The answer, I fear, will make your feelings of outrage over the 2000 election seem small and remote. Yet, even now, there are those who would have us "get over" the 2000 theft. Some of those post here at DU! We need something to wake this country up, fast, and to restore our distrust of big, intrusive government. We seem, as a country, to have lost that healthy distrust. We are no longer free men and women. We are a domestic herd of livestock.

I don't know about the "wacko" in the politics forum, or what he/she has suggested, but my post was reduced to the final question, which I repeat here. What can we do to restore our revolutionary spirit (our American spirit) without resorting to war?

[nolat]

15. Our Freedom

Has come too easy, to too many, too quickly. They do not fully appreciate what it takes to keep liberty or even how to earn it to begin with. We did it to ourselves with our welfare and lax immigration policies. Like the drunk, we will have to hit bottom to get well.

[aquart]

16. Dead? Read the BBV columns in DU?

Because the American spirit is alive and well and damned determined.

Seen the Texas Dems in New Mexico?

THERE ALWAYS HAVE BEEN AND ALWAYS WILL BE RICH GREEDY HEARTLESS CREEPS TRYING TO DESTROY DEMOCRACY AND EVERY GOOD THING ABOUT THIS NATION. They can't help it. They're sorta mentally ill.

But whining about the hopelessness of it all is just oogy.

Our revolutionary spirit is just fine, honey.

Spirit takes work to work, however.

[devarsi]

17. Pockets Of Resistance

and vast waste lands of sheeples, grazing on the grassy plains of an American dream gone dark.

The Texas Dems are a good example of the American spirit, Bill Richardson is another.

But when I refer to America losing its spirit, I'm refering to the everday people who have no idea whats happening, the 50% plus who don't vote, the ditto heads, freepers, friends and family members that we all know, all across the country, who blindly support the very organizations that screw them of their livelyhoods.

But am I without hope?

Not in a million years, sugar booger!

And I'm not whining, either. Unless you think that asking for ideas on how to keep the brushfires burning in the minds of Americans is whining. If you do, then I gotta disagree.

What I do agree with is that spirit takes work. Ideas, work, inspiration, and fire.

I just don't see that fire catching hold across our country. I see it sputtering slowly out, and I want to change that.

I assume you do as well. Thats why we both are here.

Yeah, there will always be the greedy sum'bitches. But, will there always be people to fight them?

I'm not going down, counting on somebody else to do it. Would you?