"Fooled Again" ... utterly destroys the reflexive "It can't happen here"

[understandinglife]

... response of those of us who refuse to believe that it HAS happened here. I say "those of us" because acknowledgement of the basic premise of the book is the most revolutionary of thoughts for anyone who has learned to believe in the sanctity of our electoral system, and the basic premise is extremely painful to admit in spite of the overwhelming proof: Our government has been hijacked by undemocratic forces that manipulated election results to reinstall the Bush administration, an illegitimate administration initially installed by a Supreme Court decision that invalidated the results of the 2000 election, an administration dedicated to world domination and the destruction of American democracy, the U.S. Constitution and the individual rights that made this country the envy of striving people throughout the world.

<clip>

Why do we refuse to believe that it can happen here and, indeed, that it has happened here? The reason is that the inevitable conclusion that American democracy has been fatally compromised can lead to only one reaction: and that reaction is action. "And what if it's true?" people ask. "What can we do?" Indeed, what can we do? Can we go on as before? Certainly not. Can we ignore it? No. (Only the press can ignore it.) We as citizens have several options: vote the bastards out, have them removed by impeachment, or take up arms against them. Yet if elections, with the help of Diebold, Sequoia, ES&S and the other private machine proprietors and counters of votes, are permanently fixed, the first option is eliminated. In that case, we are truly doomed.

But, as Bush suggested in the days immediately following September 11, 2001, we have yet another option: we can go shopping. We can drink the Kool-Aid. Congress, by all indications, has opted for this most comfortable option. The author of this book thankfully has not.

<clip>

From A Government Hijacked

by William E. Betz -- A review of:

Fooled Again: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election & Why They'll Steal the Next One Too (Unless We Stop Them)
by Mark Crispin Miller
364 pages; New York, Basic Books, 2005

More at the link:

http://baltimorechronicle.com/2005/122105Betz.shtml

Not news to folk in this forum, but many at DU and elsewhere need to read Miller's book. It happened, now the issue is, do we allow it to happen again in 2006.


Peace.

[EFerrari]

1. ("Only the press can.")

Sending this book out to fence sitters -- no disrespect to fence sitters at all -- may be a good idea. Once a question has been raised, it can't be unraised.

Once a truth strikes you, it's extremely difficult to be unstruck.

:)

[understandinglife]

2. "Once a truth strikes you, it's extremely difficult to be unstruck." Yep.

:hi:


Peace.

[mod mom]

15. Once you witness it with your own eyes, you just can't believe others

blindness and unwillingness, despite the 2000 election, to accept the truth. For me, it started as UN-AMERICAN civil rights abuses but the investigation showed a lot more.

[thecai]

3. AMAZING, Isn't It?

We've all seen right through the smoke and mirrors since the first election-theft. Finally, more citizens, including a few Republicans, are opening their eyes. Better late than never.

I'm anxious to read the book. Thank you, Understandinglife!

[EFerrari]

4. I wonder how amazing it is, actually, when such bastions of truth

as THE NEW YORK TIMES were very patiently telling us we were wrong. :eyes:

I've being involved in some way in every Federal election since Kennedy was elected. I have NEVER seen anything like the effort AND turnout the progressive community put together and sustained in the two years leading up to 2004.

There is no way we lost that election. No way. None.

[kster]

6. This is the way we lost

[EFerrari]

7. Yup. That's right. n/t

[garybeck]

5. Get the book here

http://www.solarbus.org/store/election.shtml#fooledagain

and Miller's 40 min. interview on CSPAN is on the new version of the free CD-ROM here --->
http://solarbus.org/election/cd

[EFerrari]

8. Thank you, Gary. When Mark was reading here in town

I bought two copies but gave them away. Will have to get some more and KEEP one.

[understandinglife]

17. Thank you, Gary!

Peace.

[kster]

9. Election Reform has a few threads that only need a vote or two

to get them over to the greatest. Lets show them what ER is made of, Please Vote them up!!

[EFerrari]

11. I tipped one of Gary's threads. The others have timed out.

But, thanks for the reminder. :)

/typin'

[Ellipsis]

10. ho ho ho

Over the top you go.




Peace.







Moooo Moo! (cow for Merry Christmas)

[DemReadingDU]

12. Not gonna be fooled again!

Edit to add: Miller is good, I have seen him on C-Span. People need to pay attention!

[greiner3]

13. I know of no way;

For us to get rid of the deibold's. Strickland MAY win govenor but house and senate are too entrenched to kick out. Maybe 2008 or 2010!

[mod mom]

14. Blackwell controls the elections in Ohio. Do you really think he will

concede to Strickland? The Dems and "others" must SCREAM about the corruption of our election system, otherwise you can kiss all your GOTV efforts goodbye.

[EFerrari]

16. If our votes aren't counted, there is no 2008. n/t

[BrklynLiberal]

18. If we are not careful, some day someone will be writing the American

version of "They thought they were free..."

What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if he people could understand it, it could not be released because of national security. And their sense of identification with Hitler, their trust in him, made it easier to widen this gap and reassured those who would otherwise have worried about it.

"This separation of government from people, this widening of the gap, took place so gradually and so insensibly, each step disguised (perhaps not even intentionally) as a temporary emergency measure or associated with true patriotic allegiance or with real social purposes. And all the crises and reforms (real reforms, too) so occupied the people that they did not see the slow motion underneath, of the whole process of government growing remoter and remoter.

<snip>

http://www.thirdreich.net/Thought_They_Were_Free_nn4.html

[iconoclastNYC]

19. It's a good book.

Quick read to. I read it on my way to and from work on the subway.