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"You Can't Do
Anything Unless You Try!"
By Mary Pitt
11/01/08 "ICH" -- -- In the many, (too many) gang interviews
that are currently called debates by the mainstream media, the
question is asked at each gathering, "What will you do on your
first day in office?' The candidates of both parties will harrangue and equivocate, one after another, but not one will
reply with the answer that would gladden the heart of a real
progressive, Constitution-loving citizen of the United States.
Can't you just imagine the roar of approval if any one of the
prospective Presidents would give the following answer?
"On my first day in office, I will sign an Executive Order which
will cancel every Executive Order instituted by any former
President. I will open the records of every official department
to the Freedom of Information Act so that the press and,
thereby, the people can learn what has really happened to the
liberties which every one of us once took for granted. In
addition, I will send a letter to Congress stating that, despite
the "exception statements" that may have been signed by any
former President, every law that has been passed by them and
signed into law will be followed in both letter and intent by
this administration. Further, the powers claimed by the
Executive Branch will be those outlined in the Constitution; no
more and no less."
Why is it so impossible for anyone to run for the highest office
in the land without acknowledging their recognition of the true
problems of our democracy and the necessity to restore its
once-proud state of affairs? They touch upon the Iraq War and
debate how and when to disengage American troops but refuse to
touch the question of the lies that put them there. They will
turn over and discuss briefly the milliions of illegal aliens
but never bring up the Mexican military incursions into our
sovereign territory as protection for their drug runners. They
lament the state of our economy but not one, of either party,
has any plans or even suggestions as to how to deal with it.
True, some on the far right will offer that taxation must be
ended, the Internal Revenue Service eliminated, and Social
Security "drowned in the bathtub", but none are able to project
what would happen next.
As a vastly important "planning meeting" is being conducted in
Oklahoma to try to build compromise and pull the political scene
back to "the middle" with "compromise and coalition", all we see
from any candidate is precisely "compromise and coalition" as
every one of them claims to be in the "middle-of-the-road".
Meanhwile, the few who might speak for the disenchanted, like
Dennis Kucinich on one side and Ron Paul on the other, are
discredited and ignored by most of the media so that there is
really no chance for their views to be considered by the
"slobbering masses". Only one candidate, former Senator John
Edwards, even comes close to expressing our hopes and fears.
Born without the proverbial "silver foot in his mouth". he
worked his way through college and has made his fortune by his
own legalistic abilities. He knows the worries of working-class
families and, though winning no primaries, has made a
respectable showing in all, not only this year, but sufficiently
in 2004 to become the candidate for vice.President. Hwoever,
lacking the glamor and charisma of Obama and Clinton, he is
evidently not going to be the "people's choice", and that is to
our detriment. Our choices have been made by the media.
The progressive movement turned out in force in 2006, defeated
many of the hard-core Bushites and installed "liberal" Democrats
in their stead. It didn't help. They were stymied at every turn
by their business-as-usual senior colleagues of both parties
who really understood "how the game is played". Congressman
Robert Wexler has accumulated over 200,000 signatures on a
petition to impeach vice-President Dick Cheney but don't bet on
it ever getting to the floor of Congress or, for that matter,
the presence of the good Conressman there after the next
election. The people in Congress say that it would do no good
for them to begin anything that would not go through the Senate
and the Senators will not approve or even propose anything at
all unless they have the backing of a veto-proof majority. Both
sides are desperately afraid of provoking a filibuster so, if
they can't work out a compromise, they will do nothing. Never
mind the hordes of hurting folks out here who are screaming,
"You can't do anything unless you try!"
As the politicking season began, we were faced with choosing
between several of these Senators, all of whom are charter
members of a "do-nothing" Congress and all scrambling for the
"middle of the road". The two exceptions on the Democratic side
are Congressman Kucinich and former Senator John Edwards but,
instead, the media spotlight shines only for the glamour and
charisma of the inexperienced Senator Obama and the
all-too-experienced Senator Clinton who must have callouses on
her behind from "straddling the fence".
Must we wait until the nation is in another Great Depression
before the huddled masses realize what their negligence and
nonchalance has cost before we can anticipate a "savior" arising
who can put our democracy back together on the pattern set out
by our Founding Fathers and we can again walk in the sunshine of
freedom and equality? I shall not be here to see it but I have
the utmost confidence that the blood of our forebears will
arise, even if belatedly, but I believe that it can and will be
done once the people awake and arise. Otherwise, we will all go
down in history alongside ancient Greece and the mighty Roman
Empire as an example of the folly of caring only too late to
preserve our own honor.
The author is a very "with-it" old lady who aspires to bring
a bit of truth, justice, and common sense to a nation that has
lost touch with its humanity in the search for societal
"perfection."
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