I'm Calling for a National Strike!

I'm calling for a national strike, one designed to close the country down for a day. The intent? Real campaign-finance reform and strong restrictions on lobbying. Because nothing will change until we take corporate money out of politics. Nothing will improve until our politicians are once again answerable to their constituents, not the rich and powerful.

Let's set a date. No one goes to work. No one buys anything. And if that isn't effective -- if the politicians ignore us -- we do it again. And again. And again.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-flynt/common-sense-2009_b_264706.html

Because it came from Larry Flynt?

that the mainstream media is too owned to want to bother with.

And hey, a good idea is a good idea. (Hey, I happen to think a general strike is a good idea, anyway.)

It doesn't even have to be "legal", but it needs a very strong bond of Solidarity, as well as very close ties to the local community. Nothing even approaching that, in a cyber-community.

The "General Strike" is usually proposed by the anarchist or anarcho-sindicalist branches of the labor movement, but don't let that fool you. They are most definitely NOT a collection of individuals, each "going their own way".

pnorman

this is America, not France. The American people will never have a general strike in 2009. We have people out in the streets screaming for the right to continue to get fucked by insurance companies, and Flynt the sleazebag thinks we can do a nationwide general strike? Get real.

We really are in Bizarro World aren't we?? I really can't wrap my mind around just how fucked-up-in-the-head these people are.
Jeebus H. Christ on a trailer hitch...

But I do think that until we're ready to take to the streets EN MASSE or have a general strike, nothing is gonna' really change...

Four things keep the masses really really stoopid and sheeple-fied -- schools, religion, teevee and sports (the fourth kind of goes under "teevee", but oh, well...)

...with the most to lose. That would be the country's ruling elite -- the very ones who own congress, the judiciary and apparently the executive branch as well -- who would lose hundreds of millions, perhaps billions of dollars if the peasants finally decided to bring the hammer down.

"It'll never happen" as long as the majority of our wage/debt slaves keep saying it'll never happen. But even a cursory look at US labor history -- such as it is -- reveals a long, colorful and sometimes violent tradition of telling the man to stick it.

The railway unions, teamsters, longshoremen, textile workers, miners (coal and hard-rock both), the WWW -- all have made their presence felt and have achieved everything from the minimum wage (pathetic though it is) to overtime pay to OSHA and so forth.

And it must always include withholding their labor, whether as skilled craftsmen and journeyman builders or as members of the Laborers Union who do the really heavy lifting and would probably find a certain pleasure in putting their fists through those patrician facial bone structures we've come to despise among members of the professional "expert" classes on TEEE-VEEEEEEEE.

I know one thing with absolute certainty: If you strive for nothing, that's exactly what you get.

I also know that looking for leadership and moral authority from the political class is just pissing up a rope.


sf

At least these days it's becoming just that simple.

And that is not directed at Uzybone. That is the general State Of The American People.

As much as I respect Larry, a multi-millionaire calling for a national strike doesn't quite hit home.

If Bill Gates called for a national strike I bet that would get some attention and might even happen.

What this nation needs is some powerful people to stand up and tell some truth and lead.

Where are they?

Some guy sitting atop his industry calling for a national strike of workers that don't affect him personally is one thing.

A multi-millionaire in charge of a company that employs thousands, if not millions calling for a national strike and clearly indicating he means his own workers as well is quite another thing.

Were Bill Gates to call for a national strike, I'd pay attention, especially if he put teeth behind that call. (And he could put some serious teeth behind such a call.) Larry can't do that in quite the same way, as much as he would like to be able to.

Systems would crash all over the world, as stealth mac users finally realized a fantasy- shutting down the POC's they have to use at the corporate cube farms.

It is far more effective than marches on Washington these days when our corporate controlled media don't report on our marches. It even beats sit-ins in Congressional offices, which only results in arrests not positive votes. The general strike gets everyone's attention, especially the corporations who are hit in their pocket books, the only conscience they have. Bring on the general strike!

And don't by shit!

Last time was for 20 months; wiped out bank account.

I cashed out half my 401k and it will be gone in 2 months. I haven't taken food stamps yet but do get indigent health care from the county clinic.

That was tried once.

Didn't go very well :)

people are just not that involved in the politics of the country to get that involved, as someone wlse stated earlier its either be owned and working or be free (and starving) for a lot of people in the US and it is not going to change as most people are not going to put their family at risk in order to save a total stranger..

I do that if LABOR gets behind something like this that everywhere people could
agree to leave offices in the afternoon -- 2/3pm? -- and get together at an agreed
upon area in their locales and demonstrate for single payer/MEDICARE FOR ALL --

:patriot:

If people didn't pay their credit card bills it would have a much more positive effect. And it wouldn't hurt workers who cannot afford to lose a day's pay or the folks who actually LIKE their jobs and their bosses.

A general strike is just not targeted in the right direction. Only the little people would feel it.

Besides, there is something Biblical about the money-lenders and usurers the heave-hoe, isn't there?

Your credit card strike idea seems like a better idea. The general strike idea doesn't seem it would hurt the powerful very much. I agree with you that the general strike idea will hurt workers, especially ones who live pay check to paycheck, and need every bit of income they can get.

i like ideas like this.

so "the boot to the neck of the man."

except not...

I don't think you understand who the money-lenders are.

They would be forced into negotiating. And that is the point of any strike, isn't it?

What else could they do? Choose to go out of business? Think it through a little bit.

how do we deal with the credit bureaus?

Unless we address that as well, a national credit card strike will turn around and hurt us in the long term, with everything from being able to get a job in the future to being able to find housing.

If we were to nonpay them out of business (perfectly acceptable; these legal entities aren't even alive), they would make sure we all paid for it, and paid dearly. We already know that these are supremely vindictive companies; why throw them a weapon they can use from the grave?

If only a few go along then they are easily targeted for retaliation. Every strike is like that.

If enough people withheld payments then the companies, or Congress, or someone, would be forced to step up and negotiate with the people making the demands. I think realistic rates could be negotiated, together with many other fair practices that would protect consumers, including a guarantee that no one would be retaliated against.

And, worst case scenario, if everyone gets black-listed then someone will start a company to service all those folks, as long as there are enough of them to create a legitimate market. Remember, this is not illegal conduct or anything like that. And if we continue to wait and do nothing, most people's credit will be shot anyhow, owing to the the deepening recession. (I know, things are supposed to be getting better now, except that unemployment keeps rising every month.)

Or, if the idea is to rip them off by not paying for what is already spent, then open escro accounts where the money that would have gone to them can stay until we get what we want. I think that's legal. Maybe that's a better idea. All that money that they cannot get their hands on until we get Single Payer.

That might work if it were organized properly.

Escrow the money. The key, as you say, is all in being able to organize.

This confrontational posturing some have between "we the people" and "the politicians" is irrational.

We choose the politicians in elections. If we don't like how they conduct themselves, we can replace them in the next election. If the people have enough clout to organize a general strike or credit card strike that has an impact, then they have enough clout to stop electing unresponsive jackasses.

I don't remeber electing the credit card companies that are bribing our legislators.

When did that happen?

There is a real tension between "we the people" and "the politicians."

I've been hearing that since Bush was elected, just elect Democrats! Well, we've tried that and it looks like most of them get bought off as soon as they get to DC. And we don't have fifty years to replace them all, we just wasted ten trying to do exactly as you suggest and look where that got us.

:thumbsup:

come up with something that will work.

No one goes to work. No one buys anything.

It's called being unemployed. Sorry Larry, I don't have residual income from a publishing (shall we say) empire to tide me over for the time it takes the politicians to 'get it'. :eyes:

A general strike wouldn't hurt the powerful very much. It would hurt workers and mom and pop stores the most.

That way I can be halfway finished already.

I'd suggest a national strike if the Public Option Health Care fails.