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How to Save America In One Week
Many people think we just have to sit here and take it.
Many others are starting to call for revolution. See this, this, this, this and this.
But there may be a third way.
As I wrote a year ago:
As MSNBC news correspondent Jonathan Capehart tells
Dylan Ratigan, the main problem is that people aren't making enough
noise. Capehart says that the people not only have to "burn up the phone
lines to Congress", but also to hit the streets and protest in D.C.Even though most politicians are totally corrupt, if many millions of
Americans poured into the streets of D.C., a critical mass would be
reached, and the politicians would start changing things in a hurry.
As [liberal] PhD ecnonomist Dean Baker points out:
The
elites hate to acknowledge it, but when large numbers of ordinary
people are moved to action, it changes the narrow political world where
the elites call the shots. Inside accounts reveal the extent to which
Johnson and Nixon’s conduct of the Vietnam War was constrained by the
huge anti-war movement. It was the civil rights movement, not compelling
arguments, that convinced members of Congress to end legal racial
discrimination. More recently, the townhall meetings, dominated by
people opposed to health care reform, have been a serious roadblock for
those pushing reform….
A big turnout ... can make a real difference.
Baker is right about Vietnam.
Specifically - according to Daniel Ellsberg and many others - Richard Nixon actually planned on dropping a nuclear bomb on Vietnam Nixon also said he didn't care what the American people thought. He said that -- no matter what the public did or said -- he was going to escalate the war in Vietnam.
However,
a well-known biographer says that Nixon backed off when hundreds of
thousands of people turned out in Washington, D.C. to protest an
escalation of the war.Similarly, no matter how completely sold-out
to the Wall Street giants D.C. politicians are, they would start
paying attention to their real employers - the American people - if we
make enough noise.If 3 million Americans all peacefully
surrounded the White House and Capitol Hill, holding signs saying
"We're Not Leaving Until the Too Big to Fails which Caused the Economic
Crisis are Reined In", things would change pretty fast.3
million might sound like a lot of people. But many millions of people
read popular alternative financial and economic news sites. You are
probably one of millions of people who will read this essay (by the
time it is published by some of the larger sites).In other
words, it's not even a question of convincing other people to go. We -
those who read alternative financial websites - could do it ourselves.If millions of us don't go protest in D.C., it's because we are choosing not to sacrifice a tiny bit in order to change things.
The bad guys are only winning because we - the American people - aren't making enough noise.
Not Now . . .
It is human nature to try to put things off until tomorrow. Tomorrow, when things are easier, we'll do it...
It is easy to despair that it is already too late. Should we whine and give up hope?
Well, about a month before the American Revolutionary War, Patrick Henry said:
They
tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an
adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or
the next year?If not now, when? Like Patrick Henry asked, when will we be stronger? When will the robber barons be weaker?
If we're going to save America through non-violent protests, now is the time.
To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.
- Bruce LeeThere
is no act too small, no act too bold. The history of social change is
the history of millions of actions, small and large, coming together at
points in history and creating a power that governments cannot
suppress.
- Howard Zinn, historianThe power of an aroused public is unbeatable.
- Dr. Helen CaldicottThe most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.
-Ferdinand Foch
In
times of danger large groups rise to the highest pitch of enthusiasm,
courage and sacrifice . . . Mankind will be refashioned and history
rewritten when this law is understood and obeyed.
-Helen KellerNever
doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
- Margaret MeadWe
must remember that one determined person can make a significant
difference, and that a small group of determined people can change the
course of history.
-Sonia JohnsonYou
let one ant stand up to us - then they all might stand up. Those puny
little ants outnumber us a 100 to one. And if they ever figure that
out, there goes our way of life.
- Hopper (a grasshopper who is the
leader of the gang of thugs who are stealing money from the other bugs,
speaking to fellow grasshoppers in the Disney/Pixar movie A Bug's
Life)If you don't like the news, go out and make some news of your own.
- Scoop Nisker
Similarly, conservative financial writer Karl Denninger writes today:
You
- America - You - can fix this tomorrow. Put 500,000 people around
The Treasury and The Fed in Washington DC and refuse to leave until
Geithner and Bernanke both resign and depart and the FDIC goes through
all four of the largest banks, marks their "stuff" to market, and
resolves all that are insolvent. Lay peaceful siege, MLK-style.
Denninger wrote last week:
Everyone wants a way to save them - an investment strategy, a place to hide their assets, etc.
Let me give you the answer folks, and you're not going to like it:
There is only one way, and that is to save everyone. That is, to force this crap to stop - by whatever means are necessary - and possible.
Yeah, that's a strong statement. It's also true.
Let's
presume that we don't do this. That Bernanke does his QE2 thing as
threatened and announced. It won't work - it can't, because the
commodity price ramps will cause margin
compression and destruction of those in the middle and lower classes.
That in turn means people buy less, which means employers fire, not
hire.
That in turn will cause him to believe he has to do more. This is his thesis. So he will.
And that will in turn impose even more effective tax on America.
At
some point one of two things happens: Either the world blows the
dollar off and it literally collapses in value by half in the space of a
few days, or we get into a printing spiral that debases the currency
so fast that prices change between the time you go to work and get
home. But your wages won't go up because of exporting our labor to
China, so you will slowly - or not-so-slowly - be unable to buy
necessities - food and energy, along with medical care.
Either
way the end point is the same. The government becomes unable to issue
Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid checks, along with paying people
like the Military. At the same time you're literally being starved to
death. In desperation the government will then attempt to seize
everything through some form - whether it be through massive fines and
forfeiture, or whether it is through simple tax increases. That of
course will simply make it worse.
You can try to hide in
something like Gold, but it won't do you a bit of good. The government
is not that dumb. They already have in the law provisions requiring
reporting of transactions over $600. They'll go to a fully-electronic
currency (we're damn close to being there now) and force clearing of all transactions through The Fed. This will effectively create a 100% reportable - and taxable - data stream.
If you try to barter around it, and you will, they'll fix that too. Treasury will simply expand the already existing
IRS program for "rats." Your neighbor and everyone else will be
"enticed" with a 20% reward for all "off-grid" transactions that they
report. And civil forfeiture will be used to literally steal everything
you own when - not if - you get caught.
Forget it folks,
unless you're planning on going Rambo. And if you're going to do that,
you may as well get started now. You'll go to prison or die - but
over time people dying for what they believe is nothing new. We call
them terrorists when they lose - and freedom fighters when they win.
In 1776 a bunch of men decided they had enough, and they pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honors. They, in aggregate, won and thus are "freedom fighters" - but some of them also died.
All
the noise I hear - all words and bluster behind keyboards but no
gunshots - tell me that nobody's prepared to do that. So quit babbling
about it. All that does is get you on the No-Fly list and a visit from
the guys in the black (and armored) Escalades. Don't bother with
"sound and fury" nonsense. You're not only wasting your breath you'll
get arrested - for nothing.
No, the only solution is for the people to get ****ed off enough to rise up peacefully but in a form and fashion that makes clear that we're not talking, we're demanding. We're putting in front of Congress and other officials positions that are not "polite requests" - they're instructions, as all citizens are entitled to put forward to their elected officials.
The people en-masse must come to the conclusion that this will not be allowed to stand.
Enforcement
of that mandate does not require unlawful acts. There may be some
people who decide to embark on them, but that's not the message that is
being sent or intended.
No, instead the message to send is that we have choices that are lawful and peaceful, and we will exercise them in full.
- We will not do business with banksters who caused this or any merchant who does.
- We will not work overtime or even work hard; we will instead engage in consumer withdrawal, making as little as possible and drawing as much from the government as we can. That is, we will try to suck the government teat dry and lawfully minimize what we give both to big corporations and government.
- We will NOT cooperate with law enforcement.
"You have the right to remain silent" is an absolute. This already
takes place in parts of America - go try to investigate a crime in some
gang-ridden place. Nobody will talk. Well, we can make that the rule
everywhere - we can make the decision that the government is a bunch of gangsters,
and we will not help them. Our eyes are closed when it comes to
Government. All we will respond with is a polite "Have a nice day."- We WILL picket, protest, and show up in front of banksters and politicians homes - not just offices. We have a right of free speech in The Constitution and we will use it. You don't have to listen, but the streets are PUBLIC PLACES. Peaceful protests - but lots of them, in your face, every single day. Public shaming is very effective. If you want to be in a public role - running a big publicly-traded bank or in a political office you're fair game to have signs waved in your face no matter where you are. Sure,
they'll withdraw from the public - that's fine. Guess what?
Barricading themselves inside a fort hurts them - and their families -
more than it hurts us.- We WILL intentionally ostracize both banksters and politicians. We will NOT
cut their hair, sell them gas or groceries, or fix their air
conditioners. A Bankster comes into church, they sit in an empty pew -
nobody will get within 10' of them. Communion? Surely you jest. You
want 20% of our income as a tax due to QE2? Fine. You can have it,
but you're cutting your own hair, your own grass, and fixing your own
damn car. We won't rent you an apartment, we won't quote your new
windows or a new roof. In short, we're going to say "screw you", and
every time we see you on the street, we're going to say it literally
and loudly, just to make sure you understand. If that drives them into
isolation, that's good, not bad. The Amish call it
"shunning." It's part of your civil rights - you have a right to
freedom of association, which includes the right not to associate. Guess what - being a bankster or politician isn't a protected class.Look, at this point folks we have a former Chief Underwriter for Citibank who has testified under oath, in written form, that they were knowingly
making bad loans to people. It wasn't an accident, and it wasn't
carelessness - certainly not when they took these knowingly-bad loans and sold them to investors.
Yet people still [do business with the too big to fail banks who have committed massive fraud on America].
Its your dollar.
This nation is yours.
Its currency is yours.
And the actions of these people - Bernanke, Congress and the rest - ultimately only happen because you consent.
Are you going to continue to consent?
Once more, can I ask why? Do you like being screwed? Do you like high taxes - especially illegally-imposed back-door taxes used to fill in the holes in the fraudsters' balance sheets - the
very holes that were created through the process that caused you, or
your neighbor, to wind up with a bubble house and an un-affordable
mortgage - one that was or will be foreclosed upon?
Let's assume you refuse to continue to consent.
If
you choose to protest, to withdraw consent, and to engage in every
lawful act available to you to stop it, when do you consider the job
"done" and stop?
That's up to the politicians, but I'll put forward my standards for what would be "sufficient" for me to call my job done and stop writing Tickers.
The politicians can choose tomorrow
to initiate forensic audits, mark everything to the market, force the
bogus loans out into the open and, likely, take these firms into
receivership. Detonate the bad debt, renegotiate the loans that are
viable and have a lower loss in doing so rather than foreclosing, clear
the balance sheets. Break the big banks up, bar the executives from
any financial or publicly-traded firm for life. Refer anything crooked
found to prosecutors with instructions to not only prosecute but seek
forfeiture of all the ill-gotten gains. Impeach Bernanke and make
clear, through changes to law if necessary, that "price stability" means
just that - we all go to the store seeking mild deflation every day, and we insist that The Fed both stop trying to prevent it and
leave those with savings able to earn a decent low-risk return by
ceasing their tampering with interest rates and protection of scammers
and frauds.
If and when they make that decision, we the people stop, because we will no longer have anything to be ****ed off about.
Until
then, we don't - and if that means that the banksters and politicians
wind up with hair down to their ankles, a leaky roof, a broken car and a
hundred people waving signs in their faces every time they open their
door?
So be it.
Will you step up, or are you going to continue to consent to being assaulted?
And see this.
How can both liberals
and conservatives be calling for the same thing - massive protests
against the banking elites and their water-carriers in D.C.?
Because that's what all Americans want.
While the elites have tried to divide and conquer America into a false left-versus-right dichotomy, all Americans want the rule of law to be enforced.
All Americans want the big boys to be held accountable to the same laws that we have to follow.
All Americans want there to be a level playing field so that the little guy has a chance to compete fairly.
For liberals, remember Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi.
For conservatives, this is what Jesus would do: kick the moneychangers out of the temple.
You know it ... now act.
We can save America in a week if we follow the call ...
Postscript: George Orwell - author of 1984 - pointed out in the Tribune (October 19, 1945),
the effectiveness of arms in preventing tyranny partly depends on
whether the average citizen can afford the current weapon of choice
possessed by the government:
The
connection between the discovery of gunpowder and the overthrow of
feudalism by the bourgeoisie has been pointed out over and over again.
And though I have no doubt exceptions can be brought forward, I think
the following rule would be found generally true: that ages
in which the dominant weapon is expensive or difficult to make will
tend to be ages of despotism, whereas when the dominant weapon is cheap
and simple, the common people have a chance. Thus, for example,
tanks, battleships and bombing planes are inherently tyrannical
weapons, while rifles, muskets, long-bows and hand-grenades are
inherently democratic weapons. A complex weapon makes the strong
stronger, while a simple weapon--so long as there is no answer to
it--gives claws to the weak.The great age of democracy and of
national self-determination was the age of the musket and the rifle.
After the invention of the flintlock, and before the invention of the
percussion cap, the musket was a fairly efficient weapon, and at the
same time so simple that it could be produced almost anywhere. Its
combination of qualities made possible the success of the American and
French revolutions, and made a popular insurrection a more serious
business than it could be in our own day. After the musket came the
breech-loading rifle. This was a comparatively complex thing, but it
could still be produced in scores of countries, and it was cheap, easily
smuggled and economical of ammunition. Even the most backward nation
could always get hold of rifles from one source or another, so that
Boers, Bulgars, Abyssinians, Moroccans--even Tibetans--could put up a
fight for their independence, sometimes with success. But thereafter
every development in military technique has favoured the State as
against the individual, and the industrialised country as against the
backward one ...The one thing that might reverse it is the discovery of a
weapon--or, to put it more broadly, of a method of fighting--not
dependent on huge concentrations of industrial plant.
- advertisements -
Good rationality - the last twenty years the population has been mindwashed - reward - for action. ...the will relies on the actions to achieve it's desires, which it doesn't. ..besides, protests would make Washington panic, their world, such as it is, creaks worryingly enough.
the revolution is eternal and ever present. it never can begin
because it began eons ago and it can never end because it is the
end itself. it is the human heart.(the weapon of choice) living.
eternal and ever present.
you can't escape it, you can only pretend that you don't know, but ,
you do. action in every second in the revolution, sleeping revolution
too. it is nothing. that is how it happens.
.
"the tongue has no bone
clear water has no taste
the great way has no gate
in complete stillness a stone girl is dancing." some guy.
that is the mystery of it
I believe the theme of this blog offers a little window into where energy for change can come from. There is a scene in Fight Club where Durden tells his peers that they have all been told they could be movie stars, rock gods, etc. - but we won't, and we're very pissed off - our great war is a spiritual war, our great depression is our lives. Obviously "Operation Mayhem" did not provide a good solution to their woes; the important part is that the raw fuel of any revolution (which need not be violent) is middle class, generally unmarried men in their 20's and 30's who see the prospect of permanently losing their middle class status, along with all the amenities (home ownership, pussy, respect, etc.) it entails. The basis of the Democratic Party was completely changed in the 30's because of this demographic threatening to go outside bounds entirely (become fascist, communist) and making organized labor a confrontational force. The entire upper Mid-West changed their party affiliation because the President was willing to play ball. Whether this mess is cleaned up by elections or not, the dispossessed middle (soon to be lower) class young unmarried males are the key.
p.s. I worked at an office several years ago that actually had a fight club; the office employed numerous low-paid "white collar" workers relentlessly propagandized to enjoy a lifestyle they could not afford.
I am not an unmarried male in his 20s or 30s, but I apparently have more balls than the keyboard commando contributors that inhabit ZH.
You'd likely be surprised at who I am.
(So, I guess it's just me, Jason and the poster who doesn't want to miss Dancing with the Stars. I'll have to check the schedule.)
We don't need the "youth" for this. Look at the attention a bunch of old, fat-assed Tea Partiers got in the early days before they we co-opted by Republican Party operatives.
"Age and guile beat youth, innocence and a bad hair cut" any day of the week.
...don't fucking vote so no one gives a shit what they think.
If there is no resolution of the economic crisis in the next few election cycles, there won't be voting. Think Germany or Russia at the end of WWI. What happens when QE2 and kindred atrocities make "getting by" impossible? Americans are not Hindus or Buddhists who will sit down and starve to death.
So Karl or GW,
what was that date agin in Jan. 2011?
Come on boyz.
Put up or shut up.
Be there or be square.
I'll be there!
They still put their pants on one leg at a time. "They" are humans, subject to the same mental, emotional, and physical limitations as the next guy.
Here's the reality of their situation: in a fractional reserve economy, debt must expand for the economy to expand.
Want to screw the big guy? Simply get and stay out of debt. Do you realize that even doing something simple like paying one extra payment a year on your mortgage is screwing them out of tens of thousands of dollars? People talk about the revolution of non-payment, but they actually have some solid legal recourse to get you back. Paying off your debts above the minimums, there's literally nothing they can legally do other than lower your credit score, and again, they lose a hilarious amount of money.
And don't even get me started on not borrowing money in the first place. That smaller, older model TV on clearance you decided not to buy, because your current one still works fine? That's a protest vote with real pain points.
The very, very last thing they want is for consumers to become human beings that live within their means and help eachother out without any assistance from their government. "They" have substantially less power when you simply disallow them from feeding on you. When I got laid off back in November 2008, there was a period of about 3 months where I was working odd jobs and temp work, before accepting a job making a mere 23K/year. I have a wife and two kids to be thinking about here. No more cable TV, no more cell phones, did internet through NetZero, clothes from Goodwill, rice 'n beans, 2 BR apartment w/ spartan accomodations, I even rode the city bus, and I'm white! Deleveraged $4600 of debt despite making literally a grand total of $23,000 gross salary and my wife staying home with the kids.
That, my friends, is their worst fucking nightmare.
As a simple start, why not post a sign in your front yard with something like
"END THE FED" for lack of a more original term. Get discussion going in the neighborhood. When you see half the street with them the movement will be underway.
Great idea, although I think the focus needs to be clearly on bringing the control fraud of the TBTF to justice. If we can force prosecution of their crimes the rest solves itself. That's the problem the FED, OCC, FDIC, SEC are all complacent worthless regulators. It is taking State action before they would even look at the forclosure fiasco. These agencies could all be disbanded they are worthless wastes of tax funds.
Convert them into worthwhile sources of tax revenues.
25% short-term cap gains should make their perfect quarters a bit more palatable to the US populace.
"As MSNBC news correspondent Jonathan Capehart tells Dylan Ratigan, the main problem is that people aren't making enough noise. Capehart says that the people not only have to "burn up the phone lines to Congress", but also to hit the streets and protest in D.C." Even though most politicians are totally corrupt."
There are quite a few responses to this that come to mind. One of them is that until more pain has been felt by the lower, middling, (and muddling through) classes, the sort of action that would might concievably put a definite stop (in a week's time) to that which needs to be stopped will simply not occur. Another response is that the very medium that you are using to make your appeal systematically works against the liklihood of a mass protest occuring that has teeth. The internet, to keep it short and sour, works against effective collective action against the machinations of the TPTB. Look at all the outraged and angry folks who are calling, nay, demanding that "We The People" rise up and foment a revolution, pronto, and, then, observe how little comes of it. Another, and for the moment, final response to your post is, if what you would have transpire is what is required to compel the political class to "do the right thing" then we definitely need a revolution-and it almost certainly will not be able to come off without bloodshed.
In the meantime, I am strongly considering expanding on this post on my own blog, http://www.disasterporn.blogspot.com since Mr. W's post comes hot on the heels of my last post which is germane to his call to action, if not arms. Finally, pardon my shameless plug.
I like the idea very much.But the degree of unwind will be EPIC in scale.
The derivatives.It will produce a real global chain reaction, and very possibly war.
It would be hard to control the fallout from what the super villains have done.
Perhaps swift ultra harsh punishment would help, but these people have stolen the entire planet's wealth.So the revolution would end up being global...and probably very nasty.
That being said, we should still do it....the faster, the better.Or the downside will be too high...as I fear it already is.But the longer we delay, the worse it will get.
...it is easy to manage a crowd legally protesting and illegally protesting by simply microwaving them away like roaches...and the people are very away from kent state (and other examples) that our armed services will fire on its own citizens...asking private citizens to take on this task is a bit much, in my opinion...hmmn...how to get around this problem? may i recommend our representatives at all levels, local, state, and especially federal...take the lead in line of fire or expose them for the frauds and cowards that they appear to be...naive, you say? well, what the hell are they being paid to do? by ignoring them, we are complicit in our system of governance and we should not be, for that is how we are in this mess...gathering en masse is asking for IT.
I suggest post-holidays and after the new Congress is seated--gives some of us the opportunity to make it clear to the new Tea colored pols that their constituents are watching.
Anytime after both houses convene for the second session and before State of the Union address.
That puts the date somewher in the 3rd to 4th week of January.
Also gives you plenty of time to organize.
The damage is already done; the only solution will be to pay the piper via one tune or another. I see some form of social critical mass taking shape in the future. But who can say whether that means the coming of the mob, the blob or the Age of Aquarius? Too much core-good for complete anarchy; yet more than enough angst to make it interesting.
I feel for the middle-class retirees; the folks that sacrificed and worked diligently for their families; the ones that may have bought into the BS that is America, but honored their lives in the way they conducted their living. Played by the book, in good faith.
The cops and the military had better get their shite together and decide early on which side their on. I know where I stand.
Watts Riots. The real mess will take place in the most disadvantaged areas. There will be lots of law enforcement oppression. Along with that will be much understanding from the other folks who are not so well armed or motivated. Much different from last time. It will be hunger that drives them this time, not any other reason will be needed. There are plenty of lab experiments to show what happens when too many are packed into too small a space, regardless of the resources available to them. Nearly every city over 100,000 has the boiling pot for this action.
I'm all for it as long as I don't miss dancing with the stars.
It's called a TiVo, jackhole...now get your ass out there.
Hey, GW,
If Karl whimps out and can't set a date, why don't you?
Make it the same day as the Euro bank withdrawal and "demand physical delivery" day - December 7th?
Naw Uncle,
I think this should be an uniquely American effort and on a different day.
Though it will be interesing to see what happens to our Euro friends when they hit the streets. Karl and GW take note.
And December 7th already has a special meaning.
It sounds like a good plan, GW, and it very well may be the best option at present, but I fear that any such protests will be met with lip service and more of the same the minute the crowds die down.
What this country really needs, unfortunately, is for more people to lose their jobs and become destitute. It needs the prices on the store shelves raised to shocking levels. It needs to get bad enough that people start taking action. It needs to be shaken to its foundation.
The country needs an enema, not a rimjob.
Karl, you need only set a date for your demonstration. (The ranting and raving is all fine and well, but really--Colbert and Stewart managed to draw a sizeable crowd for one of the worst displays of political theater I've seen--well, since ever, but at least they SET A DATE.)
Go ahead Karl, I'll be there. I like a good demonstration and have been to many local and national.
Maybe you can pry the ZH keyboard commandos outta their chairs.
And if you set a date, be prepared to lead.
well that just pissed me off to no end....you see, i'm the guy who has been saying for the last three years in assorted forums of one sort or another,"there will be no revolution"
you are asking people to be revolutionary
aint gonna happen.period.exclamation point.
on the day i see a television in the trash in front of every home i will believe we have a chance.
the control structures are just to perfect.they are that way to prevent what the article recommends. any leader to any movement is done for one way or another....jfk,bobby,mlk,lennon,etc
if i wouldnt go to jail for exercising my rights i would exercize them....but i would, and it would accomplish nothing but get me on a list,if i'm not already,or imprisoned, and isnt that the whole point of whats been going on since 911 with the security state?
i got pat down searched at a dave mathews concert saturday nite...for what?
just to get people used to getting searched everywhere they go.....fucking pointless to get pissed off or try and do anything against those who have everything
we cant compete with them
its impossible...and we have all let it happen bit by stinking bit for the last nine years, more if you count not continuing the fight started in the 60's
why must they kill our prophets?
duh...because they have to
short of a miraculous intervention by a superhero,we're fucked
everything is an inside job, and the reactions accounted for far in advance
the infrastructure is already in place to deal with all three million of you who follow this insanely naive advice
flag the entire article as junk
"i got pat down searched at a dave mathews concert saturday nite...for "what?""
I guess you could fail to go to Dave Mathews concerts at venues that require a pat down. If there aren't any alternatives, then I guess you could fail to go to Dave Mathews concerts at all. That's why they make recordings. Alternatively, if the venue is paid for with tax dollars, work politically to ensure that such public venues, where these events are held, are not excluded in right-to-carry firearms concealed CCW legislation, so your RKBA rights aren't totally screwed (arguably, CCW is already a screw to purists). If it is a venue on private property then you are out of luck, although you can always organize a picket of the events to lean on the show organizers/venue so long as you stay on public rights-of-way. Don't feed the machine unless it's a sabot.
You're assuming that DMB have bargaining power with the stadiums where they play and ticket vendors they use and this is simply not the case because they are ALL on private property.
JohnQ...,
"...try and do anything against those who have everything."
They don't have everything. And when you become rational, they will be afraid of YOU. You are able to go very, very public with what you feel. THEY cannot because they have to stand for election next time.
So we should just purchase more K-Y jelly?
I'll go...and bring 10 friends. We just need a couple hundred thou people like my possie. Keep your ideas coming G.W. They aren't as strong as they want us to believe. Like George Orwell said: The proles underestimate their strong positon. They know this and exploit it. It's true. Fear is their biggest weapon just like in 1984.
You will never come out of the box and get 3.0m people to march on DC...you need to start small and local, make some noise...if people are angry enough they will rise to the occasion. Look at the Tea Party as the most recent example.
You mean the TeaParty that re-elected Pugs who voted for TARP?
Heckuva job...
I dont know man, millions HAVE been in the streets of DC and get promptly ignored! I sure wish the theory which seems reasonable would actually translate to reality, but it seems inside the ramparts of govt the people simply arent heard no matter what!
SheepDog...,
Consider Grayson of Florida. He was doing, IMO, the right thing. Was he reelected?
WHY?
OK, Are the people of Florida just a population of boobies? Do the people of Florida read? Are they not capabile of cognative thought?
What does a productive, honest Congressman like Grayson have to do to get reelected in Florida, appear on "Dancing with the Stars"?
Maybe that would have done it for the Floridains.
Those on the take now outnumber (greatly?) those 'on the give' and, unsurprisingly, they probably feel pretty passionate about anybody messing with the hand that feeds them.
i heard more and more military forces patrol cities in US along with cops
maybe the "government" has anticipated such a population's move...
Not in my nabe...cost-cutting has the popo well-nigh invisible.
yes it is past time to take to the streets....not just washington but every street in america should be swarming with protesters who aren't going to take it any more....
and whoever leads the protests will be murdered the same way the fbi murdered martin luther king jr. but i would happily do so...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUdqgD6-cLM
james douglass - great american hero.
I will come and stay.
And so it is with mulch.
I will come and stay.
ALL AMERICANS SHOULD SHORT BAC. IT IS YOUR PATRIOTIC DUTY. A JOURNEY OF ONE THOUSAND MILES STARTS WITH THE FIRST STEP.
How incredible would it be to put together a cabal for the middle class that determines the most corrupt players to short into oblivion, I would join today.
that's not very patriotic :)
In short, the third way is to put you in charge. Evil.
You know a country is going out of business when people write articles titled "How to save <contry code> in a week"
Very idealistic and naive article...
why is it naive?.. Most people have a switch in their brain that would allow for an Epiphany.. OK,,, maybe not most.. but a big enough chunk of us to make a difference.. I would guess most on ZH that have been "enlightened" were at one time part of the "sheeple"..
Better ideas?