I've been thinking about this all the time lately and woke up this morning to find the following diary here entitled "Is It a Revolution":
http://www.dailykos.com/...
But my thoughts are not so academic. I think that this country will never see the unrest that accompanied the televised horror of Vietnam or the eruptions that occurred in 1968 or even what happened at Kent State on May 4, 1970. Among other things, I think the intertubes make a difference. I think the fact that there is no draft makes a difference. And I think Obama knows this and has touched this part of us through his amazing campaign.
There is, IMHO, a form of quiet revolution going on. Come join me in the revolution.
You say you want a revolution -- we all want to change the world.
After the last seven excrutiating, frustrating, and downright obscene years of Shrub and Cheney's Got a Gun, I think the country is waking up. We're sick of being lied to. We're sick of the boondoggle and cronyism that has been the Iraq War and our regulatory state. We're sick of our government killing our civil liberties. We're sick of Clean Skies Initiatives and No Child Left Behind Acts and Patriot Acts. We're sick of the "silly season" of politics. And I think we're waking up.
But when you talk about destruction -- don't you know that you can count me out.
Now I've been avidly watching politics since I was 14 when Watergate occurred. It instilled a heavy and I think healthy distrust of politicians in me. Then Raygun came along, and I watched my country swallow the crap he and his cohorts were spewing, and I watched as AIDS decimated the gay community, and I watched as mentally ill people were thrown into the streets. I knew he was not to be trusted and couldn't for the life of me understand how this snake salesman was brainwashing whole swaths of our population. Clinton came along and to me he was always "Slick Willie." Yes, it felt better to have a dem in office, but the Gingrich and Delay "revolutions" destroyed any hopes I had felt.
You say you got a real solution -- we'd all love to see the plan.
But I really believe there is a revolution going on. Not a violent one. Not even a loud one. The thing hardly anyone is really talking about is that people are voting in droves, and Obama is bringing in money from all the little people (like me) out here in the real America who are "sick of it, and are not going to take it any more!" And we have to credit Shrub for it. The abuses we have endured during his administration have woken those who voted for him because of gay marriage or anti-choice issues. They have figured out that it was all really just empty promises. They've been horribly manipulated, and they are beginning to see it. I think it started with Terry Schiavo when the repugs told the entire country that Congress and the administration can dictate intimate and difficult family decisions. It was rammed home by Shrub's attempt at the same time to take away most of these people's only social safety net when he toured the country to advocate the privatization of Social Security. The final straw has been the crash of the economy. Jobs flying out of the country, giant golden parachutes and bonuses for corporate execs, and, of course, the bursting of the housing bubble.
But when you want money for people with minds that hate -- all I can tell you is brother you have to wait.
I think the money donated to dems in this elections is their way of saying no to corporatism and K Street. It's their way of saying going to war for oil and Halliburton is a crime. It's their way of saying leaving bin Laden in Afghanastan or Pakistan is an abomination. It's their way of saying "Go Shopping" is no answer to the attrocities of 9/11. It's their way of saying having lots of choices of which health insurance company is going to deny them coverage is not a choice at all. It's their way of saying being able to shoot a satellite out of the sky and safely get money out of an ATM means we ought to be able to guarantee open, honest elections without hanging chads or without paper trails. It's their way of saying the Supreme Court should not pick our president (in what I believe to this day was a coup d'etat). It's their way of saying being able to unionize should be an inalienable right. It's their way of saying to the media that they're sick of Britaney and Lindsey, they're sick of the hate of Rush and O'Reilly, they're sick of a media more interested in the horserace than in the issues and being manipulated for the benefit of sponsors rather than actually being given news and information. All of this is to say that I believe the people of this country are quietly taking their democracy back through the power of their purse at $5 and $10 and $20 at a time.
You say you'll change the constitution -- we all want to change your head.
And I think that's why they are voting in droves. The entire country wants the age of Rovian politics and Scooter Libby/Gonzo justice to be over. They want accountability again. And they are demanding it through their donations and activism and voting.
It's gonna be all right!
As Michelle Obama said, "for the first time, I'm REALLY proud of my country." Amen, Michelle.
Now, this is my first diary, so be kind.