Grassroots used to DELIBERATE INACTION/UNACCOUNTABILITY of most heinous crimes against the nation...

[omega minimo]

There is a real danger for this party and its candidate in too many potential voters without the "edge" to assess honestly and question informedly the forces that are really at play here. That lack of insight has "lost" Democrats the past two presidential elections. It has enabled the continuing criminality of the current administration (and its war). It degrades the quality of discourse here.

Our Constitutional government has been gutted. Our Congress members hope to add numbers for more power. Our people want to believe in change for the better -- many without understanding (the depth of) what has been changed for the worse. Our Congress members refused to do their SWORN DUTY TO THE CONSTITUTION in that regard. And a grassroots raised on DELIBERATE INACTION AND UNACCOUNTABILITY of the most heinous crimes against the nation AT THE TIME THAT THEY ARE OCCURRING, as if there is some magical "later" when the Democracy Fairy waves a magic wand and reinstates the Bill of Rights, can NOT be expected to fully understand or invest themselves in participatory democracy. It's a brand name to them, not an individual responsiblity, not a vital, living process.

Experience instills that. Martin walked the walk, talked the talk. Now he's a logo.

That is why, no, #8 does not answer my question:
Is Obama going to change anything about how -- and by whom -- this country is run?


Especially if you accept as a given that:

1. "Knowing the correct way that our Constitutional democracy is supposed to work is the first step" (for the grass roots to bring about any real change). "That includes knowing how the three branches of the federal government are intended to balance each other."

So, with a public, media and (most of) Congress that has tuned that out for the past eight years -- allowing high crimes and misdemeanors, stacking the Supreme Court in favor of the Unitary Executive, illegal war/profiteering/privatization, gutting of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, domestic spying, etc. to continue anabated -- exactly how and when are they supposed to develop an informed working knowledge of how Constitutional democracy is supposed to work?

How is anyone who has that knowledge supposed to have any confidence in those who think the process can be put on "pause" until a more convenient time and refuse to stand for the right thing AT THE TIME THAT IT MATTERS (including Democratic candidates who campaign two years early rather than demand accountability in Congress)?


2. "...in a very real sense, the majority of elected leaders in Washington, DC are corporate canines."

If that is a given, then further calls for grassroots participation and Constitutional awareness are severly undermined, if not irrelevant.


3. "...after Obama is elected, our real work begins."

See above.


4. (Between now and the November elections, people at the grass roots level should be) "exercising their Constitutional rights, as defined by the Bill of Rights. That is our democratic muscle, and it is sadly out of shape. We should be exercising it at every opportunity."

It's that "sadly" that's really irksome. It trivializes the severity of the situation we are in. There is no mention of the urgency of neglected opportunities to protect our basic rights and to safeguard our nation.

It amplifies the sense that even someone as astute and articulate as you (and your readers) skip over the importance of discussing democratic muscle "sadly out of shape" and how it relates to your core point about grassroots.

It reinforces the ease with which too many folks overlook completely the democratic muscle that has been drawn and quartered, barbecued and ripped to shreds by the harpies of Bushco's Hell. (insert Swamp Rat art here)