My Number One Fear

[fascisthunter]

...is the fact politics is not working for the people and people are coming to that conclusion now in the US. What happens when a majority of citizens give up on politics altogether... historically speaking?

I'm gonna just leave that question for others to ponder and answer to see what folks think or know.

[The Wielding Truth]

1. In a Democracy the people have the power, It's time to flex our muscles.

[GliderGuider]

2. You seem to assume you live in a democracy...

I thought 2000 and 2004 would have taught you Yanks who your owners are.

[The Wielding Truth]

26. Time to stop Gliding and rise up and Guide. Noone really owns us!

[fascisthunter]

3. problem is, we no longer have an actual democracy

we have no way of verifying our votes and the pool in which we chose who to vote for is censored by the corporate for profit media, especially if that candidate doesn't have enough money. Money right now decides elections and those running in our elections... our votes are do not matter that much. Those we end up with a beholden to corporate fascists.

[The Wielding Truth]

28. Time to Hunt those Fascists and rub their noses in some people power!

[gateley]

6. Looks good on paper, but what if we can't get enough people to flex? nt

[The Wielding Truth]

32. There are plenty and they are swelling. People are so disgusted

by the con job being pulled on the US that we are ready to kick these greedy fools out on their ridiculous behinds! I have confidence that the movement that stopped Vietnam is coming to America again.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. We have no way to verify ANY election, for starters

so until that changes, our elections are as clean and transparent as they are in the worst third world hell holes.

[fascisthunter]

17. the fact that nobody seems to give a damn about voting verification

says it all right there. People are living in a fantasy to trust a system that isn't transparent... that or just ignorant of history.

PS - I am not assuming The Wielding Truth doesn't care about voter verification.

[The Wielding Truth]

25. If we have to start over,it's time! Democracy for America is our duty.

[OKDem08]

4. the french revolution resulted in a change in the status quo

[Shagbark Hickory]

21. King Louis didn't have tanks though. nm

[sabrina 1]

5. I don't know if that has ever happened here. But if it did, would

the people be any less represented than they are now? I think that's the problem, the people did give up. When so many don't vote at all, it looks like either they don't care or they think it doesn't matter who they vote for. The vacuum is filled by Corporations who buy their own candidates and put them in office.

However, I see a glimmer of hope in what the Unions are doing now. They are no longer trusting that the Party of the People will represent them so they are going to keep their money and use it to put behind their own candidates. This is a start and I hope they stick with it.

We can do the same. Do not give money to the Party, give it directly to candidates who represent us. Then if while in office they do not, throw them out and replace them.

We've been doing the same thing over and over again, voting for the 'lesser evil' when we do not have to. Maybe I'm being overly optimistic, but I think things are going to change for the better, but it will take time.

[gateley]

9. I think you are being overly optimistic -- at least at this

point. There aren't enough people involved to get the people who truly do represent us in office. (Except, maybe in Vermont? I heard a guy from the Progressive Party on Norman Goldman yesterday, and although they haven't won all their races, the do have some people in office.)

So when we put our support behind the good guys, the not-so-good guys get reelected anyway. And it doesn't send much of a message because the size of the dissatisfaction isn't a threat to the big boys. You'd think the mid-terms would have sent a CLEAR message -- to the government AND to the citizens, but if it did, it's not enough, apparently.

I think it's got to get worse before it gets better, sadly, when more people feel they have nothing to lose. Until then, all we can do is keep chipping away and hope it doesn't get TOO much worse (but I have no doubt it will).

[sabrina 1]

14. Well, you may be right. But we the people, have to stop following

and start leading. And we have to start somewhere. That is the only way I can think of, not to continue to do the same thing over and over again. Then come up with some strategy of our own. We have no strategy other than voting for either of the two parties and allowing them to choose the candidates. At least if we could start by choosing some of the candidates ourselves, by not giving the party our money which they then use to back candidates who do not represent us? It's all I can think of right now ~

[gateley]

20. I wouldn't know what else to do, either. I just hate the

idea that by our doing so it might help the Republicans gain more seats. We're between a rock and a hard place until little by little, more and more people get on board. I think it will take a long time - the majority of the country seems to be asleep, unbelievably.

[fascisthunter]

16. Well, I could use some optimism...

...I do not have a crystal ball so anything is possible I suppose. Thanks for the reply sabrina!

Oh, and I agree about the "lesser of two evils" being at the root of our current situation.

[marions ghost]

7. A majority already gave up on politics

seems to me.

All we have now are the gladiator wars in the media. Political spectacle. Faux Snooz.

And when the majority give up you have the perfect conditions for just what we are seeing now.

[Eddie Haskell]

8. I've already given up.

No matter who is in charge, they won't change the system they depend upon until it fails those at the top. The poor is expendable, the middle class is expendable, they don't give a shit about us.

[Safetykitten]

10. People get red shirts and threaten gay parades for a start.

[GliderGuider]

11. It all depends on the supply of bread and circuses.

As far as I can tell, revolutionary spirit develops when large numbers of people feel personally oppressed but have no distractions or other outlets.

With an ample supply of bread and circuses - and the occasional scapegoat thrown in for good measure- the Power Elite can keep kicking this can down the road until the wheels fall off (to mangle a metaphor).

If TPTB run out of bread and/or circuses, they will probably substitute more scapegoats (bearded swarthy guys in caves are good for this purpose, I hear) at which point things could become a little ugly.

Revolution in the USA will not be a realistic possibility for at least a couple of decades.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. Either of two things:

1.- People retreat until things get so bad that there is no more to lose.

2.- They get active and again realize that there is no more to lose.

Either way, in time it can lead to the kind of activism that some of us rightfully so fear. Why I have said now, we are in the midst of a global slow motion revolution

I reached that conclusion over three years ago... when I decided to try to take over the local party from the bottom up with a few others... now if more people join me we could, but it is going to take a generation. I don't think we have that long.

Oh and I know people will probably not vote in the short term. I mean why bother? really.

[fascisthunter]

15. it's sad and infuriating at the same time...

people died for a democracy so many have given up on because of wealth and greed... for too long folks made excuses for politicians actions and inactions, now we are this point where we are about to lose it all...

[county worker]

18. I look at the past three years and see how we elected what we thought

were people who would make change that was progress for us. We elected them and sat back and expected them to do what they said they would do. I think that sooner or later we will find ways to make the change happen without elected officials doing the work.

We know that we can't have a growing economy without consumer spending. I can see things like boycotts and work stoppages in the future. I see "social unrest" in the near future.


There will be riots like in the sixties but it will be class warfare rather than race warfare.

[sudopod]

19. They already have in many places.

Look at Alabama. If every black adult in Alabama voted, people who by and large hold very Democratic values, it would be as blue as California. Unfortunately, after a century and a half of broken promises, violence, repression, and poverty after Reconstruction, most of them have given up. From what little I can see of the world, it looks like the fact that our system is broken is only now sinking in to what was once middle-class America.

As you say, what will happen after they give up is hard to tell, but there's a large chance that it won't be good.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

22. i would say the majority already have

when you look at turnouts for anything other than presidential elections...

sP

[blkmusclmachine]

23. Time to "pop" that DC bubble:

The party is over.

[fascisthunter]

24. Thanks folks....

[LetTimmySmoke]

27. My fear is a Perry election in 2012..

...followed by wholesale financial deregulation and a massive bubble in 2013, followed by a massive crash in 2014.

[McCamy Taylor]

29. Well then, you should be pleased with the econonmy. Americans get political when it affects their

pocket books.

[Odin2005]

30. Roman Empire.

Over the course of the Imperial period people more and more retreated from public life. Originally the various cities that made up the empire had a substantial amount of self-government, but as more and more folks retreated from public life the central imperial bureaucracy had to take up the load.

[Major Hogwash]

31. Historically, low voter turnouts favor the Republicans.

Because Republicans look on voting as their duty, not as a privilege, like the Democrats and other party members do.
Republicans will go to the polls when it rains, snows, or even if there is a threat of a tornado.

Republicans have the mindset of it being their duty to destroy the Democratic party because they hate FDR.
They still hate FDR.
They thrive on hating FDR.

They hate social programs.
They hate liberals.
They hate Democrats.
But, most of all, they hate FDR.

Because FDR was elected President 4 times.

And the Republicans will never be able to elect one of their own even 3 times.

[Dreamer Tatum]

33. Mine is spiders. nt

[amborin]

34. "Bowling Alone" suggested many already had over a a decade ago.. 2008 was an exception & now squand

ered