-------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2003 Subject: FW: Emergency: Democracy under attack in Texas From: H To: "Richard K. Moore" <•••@••.•••> Richard, Does this make sense??? Cheers! ------ Message transféré Date : Wed, 20 Aug 2003 20:10:58 -0700 Objet : Emergency: Democracy under attack in Texas Dear MoveOn member, Impeachment. The 2000 Election. The California Recall. The pattern is becoming clear: there's a group of men in power who will do anything to consolidate that power, including undermining our democratic institutions. We've got to fight back. In Texas, they are fighting back. And while the world is focusing on the California mess, they are fighting alone. They need our help. A partisan plan pushed by Karl Rove and Tom Delay will redistrict up to 7 Democrats out of Congress. Right now, 11 Democratic State Senators are hiding across state lines -- with the Texas Governor calling for their arrest -- to prevent this illegitimate plan from being strong-armed into law. They have put their reputations and careers on the line for all of us. A letter below from State Senator Rodney Ellis explains the situation in detail. Please read it, and then please help us launch a hard-hitting ad campaign to fight back in Texas. Whether you donate $5 or $5000, you will be helping to hold accountable reckless leaders who think they can get away with anything. Please contribute to this effort now --<snip>--- http://moveon.org/texasads ------------------------- Dear H, Certainly the situation in Texas is deplorable and deserving of opposition. For those choosing to work in the political arena, that particular cause is one of many that deserves attention. I don't know much about MoveOn, but I have heard that they are very effective in organizing campaigns and promoting contributions around selected issues. However I find it difficult to respond to the more general question of how worthwhile it is to use our energies in trying to influence the political process. On the one hand, I do not want to dismiss or discourage the actions of sincere people who are trying to make a difference. All such efforts contribute toward "building the movement". The movement is not helped by factional divisiveness. On the other hand, I sincerely believe that such efforts, in terms of their direct effect on public policy, can do very little if anything to improve our situation. I believe there are more promising uses for our energy, which I will mention a bit further on. It was different in earlier eras, such as that of the civil rights movement and the early heady days of the environmental movement. The tone of government then was, relatively speaking, more open and responsive to popular campaigns and movements. In those days, the government achieved the support of the people by maintaining a kind of 'liberal consensus' in society generally. From the collective actions of millions of people, significant gains were achieved through political action. But now we must acknowledge that most of those gains have been or are being undone by subsequent administrations. In the end the gains turned out to be temporary. They lasted only until the demands of "economic growth" caught up with them. Nonetheless, many people would say the results were worth the effort, if only for the few decades in which we enjoyed the benefits. Today, however, the tone of government is quite different -- particularly since 9-11. Instead of liberal consensus, fear has become the strategy for achieving public support. Economic growth, globally, is becoming more and more difficult to maintain, and we can see that reflected in Bush's policies of discarding environmental protections and seizing control of global oil reserves. I think it is clear that America's elite leadership, both top officials and those behind the scenes, have firmly adopted a strategy of "pull out all the stops". No one can be allowed to stand in the way of further growth on Uncle Sam's terms -- not the UN, international law, foreign governments, anti-globalization or anti-war protestors, liberals in Congress, nor anyone else. That was made very explicit in the agenda of the "New American Century", whose promoters now control the White House. There is even reason to doubt the legitimacy of the electoral process following the fraudulent election in Florida, the unconstitutional decision by the Supreme Court giving the presidency to Bush, and the nationwide switch to unverifiable, corporate- controlled voting machines -- and the suspension of exit polling. Today, I do not believe that even short-term gains are achievable through the political process, at least none of any significance. The tide of public policy is going very much in the other direction. The most we could hope for is to create small eddy currents in policy at the expense of great effort. The overall tide is going toward grosser exploitation of the earth and its peoples, and toward suppression of dissent with gestapo police tactics and the "Patriot" Acts. The people of America, and therefore all the world's peoples, are currently faced by a triad of dire threats: 1) The biological systems of the earth are being rapidly destroyed and depleted, threatening all life on the planet. At the same time societies are being destabilized, people's lives are worsening, and imperialist interventions are on the rise. 2) The needs of capitalism's "economic growth" require that such destructive patterns be not only continued but accelerated. 3) The US government, the Pentagon, the mass media, and the political apparatus are all controlled by an elite establishment that is firmly committed to pursuing growth and maintaining the economic system that requires that growth. Change through traditional means has been systematically blocked out. It seems clear to me that we cannot afford to spend our activist energies on seeking slight modifications to the path which is plummeting the whole world toward collapse and catastrophe. The best we could hope to accomplish by such efforts would be to slow slightly our slide into oblivion. If we want to survive as a civilized species, and if we want the world to avoid ecological collapse, we need to address our energies to turning the whole machine around as quickly as possible. I see no way to escape this conclusion, however discouraged or hopeless it may make some of us feel. If we don't acknowledge that we're in prison, we cannot begin to find our way out. There are many ideas going around about how we might turn the machine around -- how society might be radically transformed. And there are many people involved in organizations and embryonic movements that are developing programs based on those ideas. Some are exploring new ways for people to council together, ways which bring out the wisdom in us ordinary folks and help us find our common interests and our sense of empowerment. Some are developing the new economics, agricultural methods, and technical strategies that can enable us to live sustainably without destroying our Earth. Some are articulating the vision of a transformed society -- inspiring new worldviews to replace those based on competition and exploitation. Some are putting it all together in sustainable communities were their ideas can be tried out in real practice. Some are seeking ways to build an effective popular movement that could hope to actually bring about social transformation -- despite the opposition of a hostile and powerful regime and its media. And some are investigating new models of governance that are closer to the people and which can avoid the corruption and over-centralization of today's political systems. The solutions are not yet clear, but progress is being made -- and the different groups are generally communicating with one another. I believe that this is where activist vision, ideas, and energy are most urgently needed. This path is a difficult one, but it is the only path that has any hope of saving us from the approaching collapse and moving us toward a humane, democratic, and sustainable age. only the messenger, rkm -- ============================================================ "...the Patriot Act followed 9-11 as smoothly as the suspension of the Weimar constitution followed the Reichstag fire." - Srdja Trifkovic There is not a problem with the system. The system is the problem. Faith in humanity, not gods, ideologies, or programs. _____________________________ cyberjournal home page: http://cyberjournal.org "Zen of Global Transformation" home page: http://www.QuayLargo.com/Transformation/ QuayLargo discussion forum: http://www.QuayLargo.com/Transformation/ShowChat/?ScreenName=ShowThreads cj list archives: http://cyberjournal.org/cj/show_archives/?lists=cj newslog list archives: http://cyberjournal.org/cj/show_archives/?lists=newslog 'Truthout' excellent news source: http://www.truthout.org subscribe addresses for cj list: •••@••.••• •••@••.••• ============================================================
