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May 8, 2003
Why Aren’t We Winning and Who Really Is"
The following questions are addressed to progressives in the United States. Why haven’t we taken back America" Aren’t we on the side of right" Why do the Fundamentalists and Neo-conservatives still run the show" They look like such easy targets. Is it the media" Is it money in politics" Both certainly contribute. But could it also be that we might have the wrong objectives" Could it be we are aiming our “guns” at the wrong targets"
When you keep trying to change something, but it persists, you can be certain that you haven’t targeted the root cause. An example might be when the left resists tax cuts for the corporations and the wealthy. Notice how, if one is defeated, another just pops up in its place and it’s even more draconian that the one that preceded it" Or how about pollution" Getting any better" Most schools are getting worse at teaching the basics and have mostly eliminated the arts and music. Public broadcasting looks more and more like corporate media, with the same talking heads and the same slanted view of the world that are espoused by CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC and Fox. Global warming, corporate corruption, poverty, homelessness, racism. They just don’t seem to be going away. Is it because they are endemic to the human condition or is it that we aren’t understanding and acting upon the engines that drives their perseverance"
To find out, we must start looking more deeply at the history and root causes of the ills in our society. And if we are able to determine what they are, we must speak out and we must act to change them, no matter how many sacred cows are found wanting or who’s toes are stepped on. An obvious example is the huge shift of wealth from the poor and middle classes to the richest five percent over the last twenty-two years and how it has devastated communities, schools and social services of all kinds. But, if you blame the fundamentalist right, then you must look at whether the fundamentalist right is the real beneficiary. You have to conclude that most aren’t any better off than the rest of us. They have merely consented to be pawns of the real power in return for hollow ideological victories. If you blame the fundamentalist right, you blame the mechanism of power. No, it isn’t the fundamentalists who are to blame. They play the same sad role that poor white people did in the South for over a century in being the instruments of hate.
Though it has been blatant and obvious who the real beneficiaries are, we are afraid to call their true names. Sure, it is the Bushes, the Cheneys, the Rumsfelds, and all the rest of their tribe But it is more. Much more. It is that part of humanity who rise up whenever the world is frail. It is the psychopathic seekers of power. The beaters of the war drums. The war whores. The shameless amoral cowards who don’t believe in justice, or equality and who don’t want anyone but themselves to have freedom. They see themselves as the Ruling Class, the dominators, the chosen. Their members include the super rich, the generals, and all the excrement that rises to the top when the peace is fragile, when times are hard, and when the rest of us get too comfortable to notice. That part of humanity always seeks domination. The ones who never have enough. The ones who precipitate and maintain class warfare. Do Democrats in Congress speak out against them" No, and you know why. It is because most have sold their souls to or are card-carrying members of this exclusive club, or because they are cowards in fear of losing their own power and comfort.
These are harsh words. They are also true. It is time to open our eyes. It is time to choose leaders that match our ideals instead choosing those who play to our fears. If we want to regain power that makes the world a better place we need to recognize the true enemy. The enemy that is also within all of us. It is said that to call the devil by his true name is to gain mastery over him. It is time to start calling.
Johnny Peaceseed