If We can beat the Great Depression, win WWII and the Cold War, and get to the Moon...

[Octafish]

...We can beat this Depression, end these ridiculous wars for empire, solve the nation's problems, and return Justice to America.

Who can possibly do all that? Only the government of the United States.

Who is that government? Well, no, it's not some mummified enemy agent coming out of a conservative pruneface campaign commercial: "I'm from the guvment and I'm here to help you." (pause for laugh)

The government "is us." "Us" as in "We the People."

The record shows that We can do any thing. Even the impossible like winning the Cold War without going nuclear or getting people to the moon and back in under a decade.

Like then, today We are the ones who can solve our nation's problems. And We know what needs to be done. The list includes re-installing a justice system where no one is above the law; a sound economy with jobs where people can support their families; universal health care; a quality public education; affordable housing; safe neighborhoods; sane energy policies; a clean environment; and a government-backed safety net, including social security, for seniors and those in need. There's more, please feel free to add.

We can afford to pay for all of that. For starters, We the People can the illegal, immoral and unnecessary wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as butting out of the hundreds of other nations and hot spots around the world where the Pentagon protects Big Dollar's rackets. Privatization of war, cough Halliburton and Blackwater, means that money trumps peace for the connected warmongers.

Speaking of the Have-Mores: We could do more than balance the books if we raised taxes on the people who've most benefitted from trickle-down economics of the last 30 years. A lot of them are in the crowd who benefitted handsomely by the recent bailout of AIG, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Chase, Bank of Scotland, Union Bank of Switzerland, etc. I'm sure more than a few greedheads would be happy to pay more in taxes rather than face imprisonment or the electric chair.

What I'm suggesting is We the People need to get busy and let our elected representatives know they better get busy. That's why we voted for change in 2006 and 2008 -- by a landslide.

Unfortunately, even at this late hour, they need reminding. Our representatives work for us, We the People. It's way past time for them to get to work.

[mdmc]

1. you sir, are a socialist

:patriot:
k/r

[Jim Sagle]

2. Fuckin' A.

:headbang:

[Octafish]

3. Used to be called a Liberal Democrat.

We believe the government should use its powers -- our power -- to make life better for ALL Americans, not just the people Smirk and Sneer work for.

PS: You can call me a "Socialist" or a "Commie," my Friend. It's better than being called a "Republican."

[mdmc]

6. peace and low stress

yesyesyes!

[hootinholler]

21. lol

Peace in your life my friend.

-Hoot

[Overseas]

32. K&R! //nt

[readmoreoften]

40. Proud socialist here.

Ready to end this system. Reading history and getting involved in burgeoning mass movements to try to put the people in power and make real change.

[rzemanfl]

13. I was sure this was posted by the Magistrate. n/t

[SammyWinstonJack]

15. I AM a socialist!

:hi:

[mdmc]

27. God Bless

and welcome! :pals:

[Democrats_win]

4. Exactly right. The problem is that idiots vote Republican who stab America in the back.

That is, they stabbed America in the back right after bush shot us in the foot. "We the people" have been f'd over by the Republican party and the so-called conservatives (who are a bunch of con artists.)

[Octafish]

28. GOP Economic Terrorism Destroys the Safety Net of 38 Americans Every Minute

Meteor Blades agrees:

The GOP's shameless goal is clear: worsen the economic situation for millions in hopes of scoring more seats, so they can cause even more damage to people's lives.

[Ozymanithrax]

5. You do know that some credit World War II for removing the last vestiges of the Depression...

I hope we don't have to start a massive war in order to end this one.

[dflprincess]

11. War spending only ends depressions when it creates jobs

manufacturing the equipment needed to fight the war. We no longer manufacture much of anything and we have let our manufacturing base deteriorate so badly we would never be able to mobolilze the way we did after Pearl Harbor.

You'll notice that the current policy of never ending war has not created jobs but only run up the deficit and made the economy worse.

[Ozymanithrax]

24. As we geared up for World War II, the U.S. rebuilt much of its...

industrial capacity, that had decayed due to the depression.

The current wars followed the standard model and affects of war, which is to cause enormous economic hardship. WWII was an anomaly. Actually, it was followed by a post war recession caused by the return of the troops to civilian life, loss of jobs for the women who filled many jobs during the war, and the economic hardship that always follow changing an economy form a war economy to peacetime.

I have a suspicion, we will follow the Japanese model after the collapse of the tiger economies in the late 80's early 90's. They never recovered completely. Not a nice thought.

[Octafish]

31. Castro said he sees war coming with Iran and North Korea that'd go nuclear.

Solve a lot of problems for the world's capitalist elite, provided they survive.

[anarch]

7. I wish I could recommend this a hundred million times.

The government is there for the people, not the people for the government (or the profiteering robber barons).

[H2O Man]

8. I'll add one.

And hopefully, many more individuals will add one, as well. And that is not only the theme of the OP: it is the concept of government that you define so accurately.

[datasuspect]

9. but we don't have statesmen in politics anymore

there will never be another FDR, JFK, Truman.

never.

we've become too stupid to be an engaged citizenry. we deserve everything we get for abdicating our liberty to debt and television.

[tekisui]

10. KNR!

[MrSlayer]

12. That all sounds nice. But "We the People" is a sham.

It's "We the Corporations" and fuck everyone else. That's the reality and I see no way out of it. They are entrenched deeply in both parties.

[rzemanfl]

14. I hate to say it, but the first thought that crossed my mind when

I saw your subject line was "we're too tired to do anything else."

[smalll]

16. Um, "we can win WII and the Cold War!"

Yeah! We the people! We can do anything!

We beat the Nazis and the Soviets! And now, with that same can-do American spirit, we can run home with our tails between our legs and let penny-ante insurgents and mickey-mouse islamofascists come out of their caves and WIN! We can do anything!

... Marvelous analogizing. Think a little more perhaps before you try that sort of literary gambit again.

Sayin! :shrug:

[unkachuck]

17. K&R....n/t

[tex-wyo-dem]

18. Big KNR!!!

Exaxctly! The goverment is a reflectio of us and should work for the benefit of the majority...last time I checked, that's the definition of a democracy.

[BanTheGOP]

19. I've been saying this for YEARS

And here is my post outlining everything that needed to be done following the Obama win in 2008. It pretty much encapsulated everything you said needs to be done.

CONGRESS: THE FIRST 100 DAYS

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/BanTheGOP/39

Of course, the best method would be to ban the republican party, but people around here are a bit skittish at doing that, despite the fact that doing it using RICO statute laws is legal and justified.

[slipslidingaway]

20. knr nt

[Karmadillo]

22. K&R

nt

[Odin2005]

23. K&R

[laughingliberal]

25. K & R nt

[lib2DaBone]

26. "Our representatives work for us, ...." not any more...

"Unfortunately, even at this late hour, they need reminding. Our representatives work for us, We the People. It's way past time for them to get to work."

Agree 100%. But the corruption is so deep.. Goldman Sachs money has bought and paid for CONgress.

We have let our manufacturing base wither to the point.. that China is about surpass the United States as the largest producer of goods in the world.

NO COUNTRY can be a super power without the ability to manufacture. We are in serious, serious trouble and our 'servants' in Washington do not have a clue.

[lunatica]

29. We won the Cold War?

How'd we do that? It must have been some impressive stategery!

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

30. There is no "we" anymore. The government works AGAINST the interests of private citizens

And I can prove it. One single thing proves it.

What kind of a government makes a conscious decision to NOT negotiate the prices of drugs in a government healthcare program (Medicare)? To keep prices high, which costs the government more money and the taxpayers more money, but which puts more dollars in the hands of a private, for-profit industry? Even though the same government does negotiate prices in other government healthcare plans(the VA)? What kind of a government does that? One that is bought and paid for by the private interests.

Case closed.

[glitch]

33. Only if we can take back our election process. Until then we are captured.

K & R anyway.

[Better Today]

34. Except, we didn't win WWII by ourselves, we didn't win the Cold War at all,

Russia simply quit, their loss doesn't equal our win, and the war and the deaths of tens of thousands of soldiers along with the need to replace them in the workforce cleared up the depression. In this day and age, warfare simply doesn't cost the USA very many lives, instead it costs us a huge amount of treasury. We aren't in the 20th Century anymore, we are in the 21st Century, wherein war is simply a costly a game, where our population grows during ten years of war instead of declining, ...

It just isn't the same, we're not the same, warfare isn't the same, poverty isn't even the same, and Americans aren't the same.

[Yavin4]

35. American Attitude Towards Government, Social and Economic Progress

changed dramatically after passage of the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s.

[Javaman]

36. Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?nt

[bvar22]

37. The top 2% are doing very well in the present circumstances.

Why would they want to "CHANGE" anything? :shrug:

[robertpaulsen]

38. K & R! And end the war that's been a quagmire for 40 years: The War on Drugs!

:kick:

http://www.drugpolicy.org/library/factsheets/economiccons/fact_economic.cfm

[Vinca]

39. It seems "we the people" are pesky gnats to be swatted away and nothing more.

[bleever]

41. This could be carved in marble in the DU entry hall.

So well said, and so in need of saying.

[bobthedrummer]

42. The hour is very late indeed, I'm NGU hope-and I'm not going to let "these truths" die without

putting OUR rights into practice regardless of the power of OUR adversaries across the political/class spectrum.

Kick.

:patriot:

[Motown_Johnny]

43. we did all that with a top tax bracket at or above 70% (and reaching above 90%)

not gonna happen with the top bracket so insanely low