Stalking the Shadows-If I were King of the Universe

Actually Supreme Ruler of The United States of America would be more appropriate. I’d even settle for duly elected representative of the people; anything where I can get my hooks in and do the kind of shit we really need in order to save us from this tremendous cluster fuck we find ourselves in as a nation and as a species.

We’ve been promised change with an Obama Presidency and I have no doubt we will see some. Incremental inflections from the status quo that will make a centrist electorate all warm and fuzzy inside and put a different, but all too familiar, mask on our damaged nation in an attempt to let the world know we are on the right track again. Whether they buy the facade or see through the veil is for them to decide.

Here is what change would mean to me if I were in control the next four years or so

Can’t wait any longer
Hope needs fuel to survive
Action not rhetoric
No compromise on vital issues
Governments should do what is best for humanity
Everyone needs to stand together and demand it.

Let us examine each of these points shall we?

Can’t wait any longer- Can you say “The fierce urgency of now” boys and girls? I knew that you could. From our impending environmental and potential military disasters to our current economic one, there is little to no time left, in the context of our country’s age, to fix what ails us. What has taken us two hundred thirty two years to fuck up must be addressed in considerably less time than that or it may mean the end of America as we know it. We can argue day and night about how close to the edge we actually teeter, but I don’t think many will dispute that there’s no time like the present to get to the tasks at hand.

Hope needs fuel to survive- As does the fire so does the human spirit need both spark and substance. Throw us a bone. A constant barrage of corrupt politicians, overblown scandals, an irresponsible or largely incompetent media and misery after misery wrought by the inaction, or worse, at the behest of our leaders has whipped the common folk of this country and this world into an apathetic bunch of lemmings; allowing the distractions of shiny things pull them toward the inevitable cliff.

Action not rhetoric- A unit in our local military base has a creed of “Deeds not words” same difference and see above. Talk is cheap and getting cheaper by each tick of Wall Street and Main Street’s clock. There is desperation going on everywhere. We don’t just believe you anymore when you tell us “Everything will be ok”, “Go shopping”, “Merry Christmas”, “We’re creating new jobs”, “Sending jobs overseas is a good thing”. Sorry, you’ve lost us. Those of us eating peanut butter five days a week or those not eating at all sometimes. Reality is finally drowning out your voices and we need desperately to be told the whole truth, no matter how ugly. Let the burning chips of incinerated illusion fall where they may, and let the conflagration consume what it will.

No compromise on vital issues- Enough is truly enough! Come on! This is the 21st Century for fuck’s sake, that far off future world that many of us saw in movies and prescient books in our early years and are horrified to see only the most dystopian ones coming to pass. Much as I’m loath to use bullet points in a column they are useful here to illustrate some of the basic shit we, as a people, should have figured out by now and in my opinion cannot be allowed to go without immediate remedy, by Presidential decree if necessary.

• Equal marriage rights now! If you don’t want to accept homosexuality as part of the human condition and as worthy a waste of carbon and water as you are then that’s your problem and you should probably apply for membership in a different species. Except they probably won’t want your bigoted, backward ass either.

• Keeping an imperialistic military presence in other countries is a bad thing. It makes your country look like a resource grabbing empire under the despicable guise of spreading “Democracy”. It usually looks nothing like “Democracy” to the people in the aforementioned occupied countries. This will not change until our policy does. To think the rest of the world sees it through such rose colored glasses is completely naïve.

• Everyone in the United States, and eventually the world, should have the same access to the same quality of health care as anyone else. There is not one person living on this planet whose breath, blood, happiness and health, is worth more than anyone else’s, save perhaps what the annals of history might prove. If we are a civilized country then we must be civil to all. Advocating socialized medicine? Damn right I am.

• To expect your country to be a moral leader of the world you have to have the moral high ground. Right now I’d put America’s ground level at only slightly higher than Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot, thanks to the machinations of the evil fuckers behind the curtain for too many years. Once again no matter how sweetly we think our shit smells the rest of the world is still holding its nose and we need to make a clear break from anything remotely resembling “business as usual” and we need to do it in a loud but humble way.

• Back to basics. Day one. Founders represent!!! We actually have a fairly simple form of government and a beautifully and justly written Constitution and Bill of Rights which are pretty clear in intention and practice despite the unending effort of our elected officials to morph it to their own ends over the years; and they’ve done a hell of a job. Crime by the President or any of his administration? IMPEACH. It’s not a choice. Anyone in Congress who doesn’t choose to wield their power to check the executive needs to be swiftly shown the door. People need to be better informed of their rights and their power. CSPAN should be prime time television, marketed with all the vigor and money of any American Idol. Proper marketing can sell snow to an Eskimo, why don’t we want to sell America to the American people? Back to basics also means, I’m afraid to say, for the religious among you, that God needs to be immediately expunged from all aspects of our government. I mean right down to the money, no more national Christian holidays; all of it. Religion has wielded too much power in this country for too long. It wasn’t our founder’s intention to allow this. The language is clear and it has been the most destructive force to civil rights in this country in my opinion.

Governments should do what is best for humanity- Pretty much see above. What it all comes down to is we’re all on this ball of rock together and for whatever reason we decided we needed social structure to get along. Whether or not that has worked out well so far is open to debate, but for now it’s the system we have. So, governments, you can either decide to do the right thing for your members or I assure it the whole ball of wax will eventually break down completely and you’ll end up ruling over a smoking ruin.

And finally…….

Everyone needs to stand together and demand it- I’ll be the first to admit I’m the best armchair warrior in the world. Broken body, occasionally fractured mind, and flaws a plenty in character and past actions. One thing is abundantly clear about our country though. Since I was young, the apathy has grown, the silence from our leaders is deafening and we are more and more ignored. The right thing to do is more and more ignored day after day.

Our voices seem brushed aside; suffering and injustice continue and gain speed and despite outcries, our marches, our boycotts, the game still seems rigged. Are we allowed to gnash and wail in the streets, with much less freedom now, just to perpetuate the illusion that we are still in control? Have we ever been? What if they still don’t listen? Will things have to get to the worst point to motivate necessary action, which at that fever pitch can’t be anything but bloody and hopeless. If it comes to it that we are sure we’ve been had will we have the guts to throw our bodies on the gears of the machine? Will we stand together for justice no matter the cost or go gently into that dark night that all empires eventually see?

Well that’s my not so little meandering on how I’d bring about the nebulous “Change” we all seek and so desperately need for our country and our world. I still live with high hopes that President Obama will prove to be an exceptional and visionary leader but I am admittedly tainted by extreme cynicism; always have been, but will be greatly appreciative of the leader who finally proves me wrong. So one more chance for the folks in Washington to fix things, and then if that doesn’t work I guess I should start my campaign. Or we better all put on our marching shoes, and bring a tent this time, because we’re camping out until we get our front row tickets to the big show.
-S

CHANGE begins now--with each one of us.

I'll work on the list of bands that I'll need to play at the inauguration.

Let's see?

Neil Young
John Mellencamp
Bruce
What's left of the Grateful Dead (But don't bring "The Angels" in as security. Thank you.)

I think you are confusing the Stones with the Dead.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altamont_Free_Concert> I knew it wasn't true but it's one of those "Paul is Dead" things.

It seems like the really big steps forward either occurred under an FDR type leader who did two or three big radical changes and otherwise stayed committed to maintaining the status quo, or under a Lincoln type leader who, whatever his commitment to the status quo, ended up requiring a lot of bloodshed.

To me "gradualism" means raising your voice, fighting like hell for what you believe in, and realizing you're only going to win some of the time.

On the whole, I like your ideas. But "No compromise on vital issues" is the first thing an effective leader has to be willing to compromise on.

Well, except that I would try to make sure our country was significantly less bloody all the way around.

And what do we think Democrats have been doing all this time. I don't just want an "effective" leader as you described him or her, I want one with vision and uncompromising loyalty to the Constitution and the American people.

The United States isn't a business that we should tolerate business speak either. You can compromise on the things that do not destroy the lives, livelihood, and land of the American people.

I will give an example. I want America out of Iraq and Afghanistan NOW. A compromise could be to pull out slowly.

And for anyone on DU to argue that compromise is necessary is very strange without giving specific examples. The R's have been all about getting their way. We won, it is their turn to offer compromises but they won't will they? And if PE Obama uses his skills and you know he is gonna be good, I can only hope that he goes in asking for MORE than what he expects.

:toast:

We need to make this country true to our ideals, and to do it now.

Notice it did not take Congress even three weeks to vote for a 770 Billion dollar theft from taxpayers' pockets in order to help the uber rich swindle us all.

So why should good things take longer?

not a single soul, homeless in the USA. Plenty of money to build prisons and detention centers?
Build housing that can be accessed just like unemployment benefits or food stamps. Out of a job?
You should NOT be out of a home. Disabled? You should NOT be out of a home. Veteran down on luck
or with health issues related to your service? You should NOT be out of a home.

There should not be a single person on the streets in this country begging for money due to being homeless. It is a national disgrace. As long as this country has billions to spend blowing up other countries, it had better damn well have a home for every American citizen first.

On edit: And I'm not talking about the projects, either. I'm talking about decent housing.

housing sector recover from the mess created by the bursting of the housing bubble if he would put a team of people on to solving the homeless problem.