OK....when.....please someone say GENERAL STRIKE..PLEASE

I don't want to come down on anybody...but....what the hell is it gonna take for America to wake up?...I do realize there are people out there loosing their lives or being intimidated by being run off the road or dogs are getting killed, people are shooting themselves in the head a few times(we all know what happened there)...but there seems to be a wave coming over people..just wanting to give up and move on(please don't do that)...So many without work..so many without a home...so many without a COUNTRY.....It saddens me to think about how much we are being driven to madness by the *WACKOS...playing the game exactly the way they want it....
someone, anyone please tell me why no GENERAL STRIKE? I do realize you are boycotting stores and business' and you are doing the best you think is possible...but is it a reality to continue those avenues of protest...is it time to do something bigger....? Obviously I think people just don't want to bother or they don't feel like it is a good enough reason to put their jobs,family,health, or lives at risk....people are too scared to acknowledge their own feelings of outrage against the administration...they don't want to think about the consequences of what that would mean...I have always said that no one wants to give up what they have to make a change..we are all to used to having STUFF and getting more STUFF (as George Carlin would say)... Well that stuff isn't gonna be around much longer if a regime change doesn't happen in the US....it is hard to think about the 60's and the change that happened then...people said ENOUGH!!! All the rights that people died for during the Civil rights movement and the radical 60's are being taken from you..little by little..REAL CIVILIZED! I have always hated that word....Civilization! there is nothing civilized about what is allowed to happen on a daily basis...in the states or anywhere on the planet...we are truly blind....and we don't care....we make excuses to make excuses as to why its not a good time to be a part of the change...we will get to it when it is...that time never seems to come....thousands upon thousands is what is needed....can't see that happinin'...we have grown to used to the GOOD LIFE....LAZY....is what we are.

MONEY TALKS
FREEDOM WALKS
MONEY SPINS
BAD MEN WIN

IGNORANCE IS BLISS
SO THEY SAY
RICH MEN GET RICHER
POOR MEN MUST PAY

DON'T TELL ME ITS TRUE
THE WORLD SAID "NO!"
THEY RE-E-LECTED
THE GOVERNMENT BOZO

HOW MUCH CAN THEY TAKE
AS THE ANTHEM THEY SANG
IT WILL START OUT SMALL
AND END IN A BANG

:nuke:

That was written on November 2/04...the day democracy died...I went home that night in such a high!..I was sure Kerry would win...I can't even explain(many felt the same)how I felt...my heart was ripped open that day...and I don't even get to vote there...I was amazed at how much that has affected me...

I AM STILL STANDING...NOW ITS YOUR TURN...PASS IT ON!!

I have said all of this before I know...but I am still waiting...who is gonna make the first move...

BOY....that is enough of a rant for one day.....carry on!!!

thanks for listening....everyone here at DU has been great..I appreciate every thought that comes from here.

Now "LETS ROLL" to getting your democracy back....cause it is lost and can't seem to find its way home.....leave the light on!!!

Peace Out!! and love to all!!! I am such a freak sometimes!

don't make waves, don't rock the boat. Our government would NEVER do anything to harm us. George Bush is a very honest man and I'd like to have a beer with him.
They're sheep. They'll always follow, never lead. In their religion, their government.......every aspect of their lives, they want to be lead.
And slaughtered.

they can be reached for the most part. Some will never be reached but reality is most of them can and will be reached as soon as we change the language...

100% with you. enough with secret little wrist bands and ribbons. after 130 years of french occupation, the algerian people went on a one week strike. no shops opened, no one went to work. it started the battle of algiers which was long and arduous, but the french lost in the end. to me it feels as though we are being "occupied" by criminals who do not respect the constitution. boy am i ready.

I hear you...Criminals have occupied the WH for the last few years...lets stop the madness!!:hi:

too full, too satiated adn too busy to notice... or have a reason to notice

Paul Krugman danced around the issue of the missery index on the radio the other day when he said... that Progressives make a headway only when the society is faced with a major shock (think 1929 Crash)

From compiling the data on my own I'd say overall, nationwide we are at about 50% in the index (some regions such as OH are reaching 70%)... usually you start having riots at 80% and 90% means all bets are off.

So it will take the crash, and the draft... that is what it will take

and this country doesn't have that. Also, 59 million people just voted to keep the head warmonger in office. They aren't about to protest him.

Whether it was 56 or 59, the point about the unions still holds.
Strikes aren't organized out of thin air.
I don't think there has been a general strike in this country since the 1910s. Perhaps in the 1930s, but certainly not since then.

It might be helpful to do some reading on social movements. The conditions aren't right in this country. General strikes often are part of revolutionary movements or attempts to overthrow a government. Such actions tend to occur in countries where change can't be affected by electoral methods. They always involve some sort of material goal--the deaths of Iraqis and American soldiers won't prompt people to risk their own lives and the well-being of themselves and their families. Social movements--whether general strikes, peasant revolts, or revolutions--involve a coming together of economic goals and ideology. Often the ideology is an expression of outrage to economic injustice (E.P. Thompson's Moral Economy) far greater than Americans experience. If corporate America has it's way, they just might produce the conditions that might lead to such collective actions, but not yet.
Now Americans can and do launch protests and demonstrations, but the general strike is a method advanced and organized by unions. The majority of the country would need to be unionized for it to work. The level of unionization in this country is the lowest it has ever been. General strikes have also involved socialist or anarchist ideology. Obviously neither of those have strength in this country.
I'm afraid the Christian fundamentalist backlash is the strongest social movement in our country today. The Left and those who feel disenfranchised have to care as much as the Right does and has to be willing to work just as hard as they do to bring about change. Unfortunately, I don't see evidence of that now.
Your passion is admirable. Since we have the ability to use the political process in this country, I would suggest that is the arena in which we have greatest chance of affecting change. That doesn't mean, however, we have to accept the parameters established by the Democratic party.

get the young involved in politics....get the old involved....get the average Joe involved...we as people in what ever country have to get involved in the process...and start to understand how to make change happen on all levels....it starts with ONE!

I do hope people get their voices out into politics at every level...they then will be able to start making life better for all who inhabit the earth...not just the few.....

Makes me want to run for office in my own city....but I always said I never wanted to become a politition cause you have to change how you feel to be able to get anything done...meaning you have to become one of "THEM"...lying,cheating bastages.!

I do hear what you are saying!! and thank you!:hi:

We need people who truly care about society.

That's scary enough.

We're overburdened with mortgages on overvalued homes, making payments on multiple cars, buried in credit card debt...the thought of losing weeks worth of income scares most Americans to death. Couple that with the fact that there are no general strike job protection laws in the US and that most employers would happily fire and replace a worker who vanished for days on end, and you can see why so few Americans are willing to chance it.

when the US crumbles...what then....anarchy?

Who has time to worry about "society" when your own life and family are teetering on the edge of ruin? Historically, great social change only occurs when society is at one of its extremes...either the individuals and families have lost everything and fight because they cannot go down any further, or the individuals and families are so secure in their positions that they can push social change without fear of personal loss. We're in the middle right now...materially most Americans are still comparatively well-off, but they aren't secure enough in their positions to take any real risks. No matter how loudly you scream, most people will not join you until we reach one extreme or the other again.

Look around you. When the US crumbles, the good burghers will demand totalitarianism, most likely in its fascist manifestation. No way will people pick up the personal responsibility that true anarchy demands. (Of course, you meant "chaos," since anarchy is not, as the common parlance has it, the absence of rules but, rather, the absence of rulers.)

and agree with your feelings. I also agree, though, with what's posted above. I'm ready to hit the streets but unless the majority of this country is hurting, it's not going to happen. And that's exactly why this will be "depression by attrition" -- no huge decisions all at once to motivate people; just little nibbles at our civil rights and standard of living and misery index so the sheeple won't even be able to notice.

Why not get the bag now and put it over my head?...I can't accept that......And I can't come up with anything to change it either..boy we are in a hole....I don't want the light to go out!!!

But a symbolic general strike is.
Suppose everyone stopped what they were doing at noon on Inaugural Day and evryone did something like blew their car horn for a minute? Imagine the sound of car horns echoing throughout a city proclaiming defiance at Bush.

hear the voice thats fed thru the wire on his back!!! LOVE IT!!

That could really make some noise!!!!

wait until the draft. That will wake a few more up. Not to mention what could happen Jan 30 in Iraq. We haven't come to a stop yet, all these events are still unfolding. I think the near future might re-light the fire under a bunch of us and, more importantly, a bunch of on the fence Reublicans. I only pray this is so, as sad as it might be.
On the other hand: If a strike were to begin DU is probably the place for it to start.

You are a lovable freak, and a passionate freak. We need more freaks like you. :loveya:

and yes....I do have to learn a little patience...that is one of the lessons I need to learn..I know there are things on the go and people are making their voices heard (no matter how small to start) and there will be change in the future...just hate having to wait!!!

Boy the line of my life!!:hi:

to get people off their asses, but i don't. I think the problem is most people are too caught up in their own affairs, so we never get unity we need to stand up to the Thugs in Washington. I'm afraid we are about as united as a 1000 piece puzzle after it's been torn apart and shoved in a box.

for real though....I want someone to start to put the puzzle back then!!! I do believe its coming piece by piece...just not fast enough for this peddle to the metal girl!!

...we're on a bender and in complete denial. We feel great, we're killing hated muslim's in Iraq (or so we think), we've given all the elites, minorities, welfare queens, liberal media and everything else we hate, the big fat finger with this election. We think because we're a superpower we can make the rest of the world kiss our ass and bomb them to hell if they don't.

But after a bender there is hell to pay. Someday, SOMEDAY, the people of America are going to wake up and realize we fucked everything up royally.

An alcoholic can't be helped until he hits bottom and finally admits he's got a problem and needs help. As a country we haven't reached bottom yet.

edit : spelling...not so good