Okay... As A Liberal Or Even More Hard Core Than That I Would Like To Pose A Question...

[ChiciB1]

In the past, during BFEE I was always wanting to see "we the people" START a REVOLUTION. It never happened. Sure we had some Marches that didn't get much coverage and Cindy Sheehan was "all the rage" for a while, John Conyers made some noise, but for the most part.... NADA!!

Now that we have Obama as POTUS, why don't we stop nit-picking what he has or has NOT done in just 50 days and perhaps focus on some other VERY important issues.

Where are the people who are up in arms about PROP 8? Where are the people who see that Sacramento may close down the tents and leave people basically homeless? I realize that these are only issues in California, but they are issues that affect ALL of us who call ourselves Progressives, Liberals or more hard nosed. Why is it that more people around the United States aren't coming together in "force" to show the nation how seriously we feel about these things?

In the past, I've been told that this kind of action is no longer affective, it was a BOOMER thing, but I don't buy it. People organized for the Unions, people organized for Civil Rights and many, many other issues I could mention. And that was BEFORE THE BOOMERS! They worked way back when, so why not now??

Repukes seem to stick together "no matter" how STUPID the issue is, they form their little circle and get GREAT air time by jumping up and down, screaming and hollering. Why is it that the Democratic Party, or Independents or even like-minded Repukes sit by and DO NOTHING??

BTW, since I've asked this before, I want to add that a person who doesn't belong to DU wanted me to do this. The person considers themselves more of a Radical, but would like some feed-back from DU.

Thanks!

[stillcool]

1. No organization, and No Common Cause...

there is no 'we'. Even when there have been huge demonstrations they are criticized here for one thing or another. It's really pathetic.

[Caliman73]

2. I cannot speak for all

I think it is somewhat in the nature of more "liberal" thinkers to question. Conservatives tend to flock together because they believe (erroneously) that there is some kind of homogeneous "American" culture and ideal that we should all be striving to create. Liberals on the other hand are very heterogeneous. We keep moving the goal posts and so we are never satisfied. We get complacent and we get tired, but we continue to search for a different ideal or maybe none. That, I think, is why we don't seem to coalesce around one particular issue, unless it affects all of us equally. Sometimes it is hard to see how something affects you from the angle at which you stand, unless you are immediately affected.

[theoldman]

3. Will Rogers said it best of all.

"I do not belong to any organized political party, I am a Democrat". The Democrats have always been a splinted group and I do not see any change in the near future. Of course I would like to see us work together on a few issues. We could start by not criticizing Obama. He has done more good in his first few weeks in office than any other president. Isn't this much better than Bush who tried to do as much damage as possible? We criticize Obama for his cabinet selections yet forget that Bush made very poor selections. Off my soapbox for now.

[ChiciB1]

5. It Doesn't Matter To Me If Democrats Have Always Benn Splintered...

I KNOW that, but I'm not just talking about California issues. I'm talking about why we are not more pro-active against how the Repukes are conducting themselves.

[ChiciB1]

4. Perhaps Now We Can Make Noise BECAUSE Obama Is In Office...

I don't know. Would it be counter-productive?? Is blogging and sitting here complaining any better???

[lob1]

6. The problem is the press.

In the 60's, the press hated us, but they covered the marches, usually calling the protestors hippies or commies, then would underestimate the number of protestors by a factor of 10. If they reported 500 in attendance, there were actually 5000 there. If they said 5000, the real number was 50,000. And we somehow always managed to convince the police to beat us up. (That was sarcasm.) But we got coverage. Today, they just don't cover the protests, and therefore they don't exist. The trick is to somehow force the press to give you coverage, and be able to keep it up for years. I don't think using violence to get attention works, either. I don't have an answer.

[ChiciB1]

7. I Agree With Most Of What All Have Said, But WISH It Were Different Myself...

But things are what they are, but my friend says "we" are only giving excuses and not answers.

To that I say... go organize and see what happens. She is very radical about this stuff, but has yet to go to any large march. While I would like "our noise" to be heard, over time I see that it just doesn't seem to work anymore!

Thanks to all!