'Dear fellow educated bourgeois lefty white Americans'

[Newsjock]

http://substitute.livejournal.com/1956764.html
By LiveJournal user 'substitute'

The Angry White Guy on TV is nasty, brutish, and probably short. He bulges with barely repressed bigotry. He and his Angry White Lady wife hate foreigners, Muslims, intellectuals, and anyone with politics to the left of Ronald Reagan. He's poorly educated, or perhaps just willfully ignorant. He feasts on improbable conspiracy theories and violent languages provided by TV personalities who are paid to do this by nauseating billionaires. Worst of all, he's intent on sawing off his own branch by attacking public infrastructure that he needs, and taking everyone else with him.

Christ, what an asshole.

That having been said, we need to check ourselves. Angry White Guy opposes us on serious political issues. No good can come from appeasing know-nothing reactionary populism (hear that, White House?) and we mustn't. There's something else we mustn't do either.

... I propose a different line of communication. Set aside the aristocratic mess detailed above and just talk straight. There's an honest, simple message with some punch to it:

You and I are up against the same enemy. I know you don't think so, but hear me out, because we're in danger. The big money guys and their friends in Washington are doing their best to grind us all down into the streets. Everyone on television is lying because they're paid to lie, and that means the ones you like as much as the ones we like. There aren't any fancy conspiracies, just jerks with money who want more. The only way we can push back on these guys is to hold our noses and work together on the shit we have in common. Otherwise, we're all fucked.

Read more: http://substitute.livejournal.com/1956764.html

[liberal N proud]

1. Yes

[polichick]

2. Two problems: Repub. voters won't believe anyone who isn't "one of them" - and our side...

...is in the tank for corporations almost as much as theirs.

That said, imo tea partiers, indies and liberals could get behind a true populist movement with a straight-talking fearless spokesperson - that may be the only way to stop the corporate take-over.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[OHdem10]

4. Here is the secret. They will never openly admit you are correct.

However, they may end up voting with you and never
telling you. It is not a lost cause. In these Union
and Workers protests around the country, there have
been Republicans defecting and joining the Protests.

[polichick]

5. I'm not even sure what "voting with you" means anymore...

Both parties are filled with corporate whores.

[Scuba]

6. Maybe this would work...

President Obama’s message to the Nation – Election season - 2012

To Americans everywhere, I ask not only for your vote, but that you provide a filibuster-proof Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress.

With these majorities we can pursue policies that will help all Americans, not just those wealthiest few who have tried to buy our government.


With these majorities, I, along with the other Democratic candidates commit to the following:

We will pass new tax laws that spread the tax burden fairly across the economic spectrum, with those benefiting most from our society contributing commensurately.

We will pass law to protect the right of workers to organize and have a voice in the operation of US businesses. This will include raising the minimum wage to $20.00 per hour to ensure a reasonable standard of living for all working families and to stimulate our sluggish economy.

We will pass law to provide Medicare for All so no American is denied care or has to suffer financial hardship because of health problems, and no American businesses are saddled with health costs that keep them from competing fairly with foreign competitors. This plan will include a “safety net” to guarantee every citizen is provided the food and shelter necessary to survive difficult challenges in their lives.

Additionally, I am taking the following steps:

I am ordering the withdrawal of all US military and contracted personnel from Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead of the hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of lives being wasted on these wars, we will instead provide aid to these countries, and to other depressed areas where atrocious conditions breed terrorists.

I am ordering the Department of Justice to investigate those who led us into these wars to determine if war crime charges are warranted. If so, they will be prosecuted with vigor and any ill-gained profits shall be returned to the people.

I’m ordering my Cabinet to present a holostic plan for maintaining and advancing the infrastructure of our great country.

I’m ordering the Secretary of Education to present new plans to guarantee all Americans have access to our public schools, from pre-kindergarten through advanced degrees.

I’m ordering Homeland Security to present a new plan for securing our borders from those who would do us harm while allowing appropriate travel and visitation to our many friends around the world. This plan is to include a path to citizenship for those who serve in the US military, or who came here as children and are now productive members of our society.

I’m ordering the Department of Energy to begin another “Manhattan Project” to enable us to cease our dependence on fossil fuels. At the same time, I am announcing the nationalization of all US oil and gas reserves, as well as other reserves owned by the citizens of the US that are currently being extracted from our soil for private profit without regard for our environment.

I am also ordering the Department of Justice to begin immediately to root out crimes of corruption within our government. In concert with this, I want Congress to pass laws to ensure elected officials are serving for the benefit of the American people as a whole, not to gain wealth or power for themselves or their friends.


And finally, I’m asking you, the People, to help with the most critical problem facing our Democracy today. I’m asking you, the People, to pass a Constitutional Amendment prohibiting political spending by corporations or any other entity or individual not qualifying as a person with citizenship in this great country.


These and other policies we will put in place will cause a sea-change in how our country serves the citizens - We the People - rather than a tiny handful of super-wealthy who would subvert our democracy and plunder our wealth while denying even the most basic services for our citizens. Thank you for your support and thank you for standing up for the rights of all citizens.

[Carolina]

7. I would have believed that in 2008 if

he hadn't turned around and populated his cabinet/inner advisor circle with DLC types and Goldmann Sachers. He made choices early on in this term that belie any pretty populist words he previously uttered or may spout in the future.

[Scuba]

8. I hear that. n/t

[Raksha]

9. Wow, I have a strong temptation to field test this one on Facebook.

There are some teabaggers who have pretty much brainwashed one of my friends, and it's getting worse by the day. She voted for Meg Whitman for CA governor in the last election, even though she's been a Democrat almost her entire life. She's always had a bug in her head about illegal immigrants (we live in very Latino neighborhood) but recently the hatred has extended to Muslims (she thinks they are all terrorists or terrorist sympathizers), and even some union-bashing and gay-bashing, when she's never been anti-gay before.

At least she hasn't affiliated with the religious right--not yet anyway. That's more than I can say for some of her other FB friends, the ones that feed her the latest Obama- and immigrant-bashing screeds by e-mail, which she then forwards to me. The religious ones are the real hardcore nutcases. It's impossible to get through to them because they basically think liberals are subhuman and don't deserve to live. So I automatically have no credibility with them because I'm a liberal. I can't tell them that the fundie preachers and Faux News screaming heads who have been pouring the kool-aid down their throats for years lie to them about everything.

Another reason I can't talk to these people is because quite frankly...I hate them!

I feel sorry for them because I've come to believe fundamentalism is a kind of mental illness, but mostly I hate and fear them. I read some of this Islamophobic crap, and what I'm hearing again is the blood libel that ignited the pogrom the was the impetus for my grandparents' immigration. I even told one of them recently: "Substitute the word "Jew" for the word "Muslim" and what you wrote sounds just like Nazi propaganda." I think that MAY have caused her to stop and think, if only for a nanosecond. She probably thinks all Jews are RW Zionists who hate Muslims.

Anyway, when I read this stuff I just go insane with rage and become incoherent, incapable of convincing anyone of anything. Not that they would be capable of understanding it anyway. So I may just copy and paste that paragraph onto my friend's FB page and see what happens. If nothing else it will keep my blood pressure down to a reasonable level.