There are no coincidences. There are no mistakes.

First they divided the country into blue or red--now they are working on dividing neighbors. State by state by state.

They are being so brazen about their overreach--defying court orders, ripping down art they don't like...etc--that you kind of have to stand back and wonder WHY?

The same phrase that echoed through my head the entire presidency of dubya is resounding very heavily in my head..."whatcha gonna do about it?"

Indeed. "Whatcha gonna do about it?"

I don't believe in TPTB.

They believe we are beaten, broken, lost, and defeated.

They are wrong.

Living in their guilded cages, they have no concept of what the average American is made of, that eventually our limit will be reached. Ever see a school teacher loose it? Not fun.

They don't fear us because they believe they have the cops and the military as the ultimate weapons to use against us, even as they continue to attack cops and veterans. Yeah, thats going to work out well for them - not.

Hopefully we'll all wake up and stop playing their game before it comes to that. But you never know...like Tommy Lee Jones said in MIB, "Individuals are smart. People are dumb, panicky, stupid animals, and you know it."

Let's hope good 'ol rugged American individualism asserts itself, and soon.

that rugged individualism is what brought us here and we are experiencing the peak of the phenomenon.

I do tend to consider the idea of the individual, in that sense, as a fiction or illusion if it tends to lead a person to imagine an individual as something that exists without any intrinsic need for, or inescapable relationship to the environment it exists in.

I understand your point, but would suggest that some newfangled, American collectivism would provide a stronger way to assert ourselves. In fact, it seems that our survival once depended on the recognition that we are all in this together rather than the notion of every man for himself.

I was just trying to be snarky...I'll try again later after I figure out what the hell I did with my damned joke effec-tiv-o-tron...omatic...thingy...'round here somewhere...

And no, that's not a reference to the Tea Party. It's a reference to Libyans. Gaddafi said in a speech that Al Qaeda was putting drugs in their Nescafe, and that's been adopted as the meme to end all memes. Saw a video of Libyans in Benghazi singing a song praising freedom tea and insulting Gaddafi. :)

But thinking about the Tea Party....

I think enough of us know something is really really wrong for a critical mass. We just all have different ideas about what it is that's wrong and how to fix it.

We need to talk to each other. See beyond ideals and politics and prejudices. I know that's hard - it's hard for me to see Republicans as people with hearts and souls, for example.

I think that's because I tend to think that they all agree with the most extreme public examples of Republicans. But I don't think that's true.

Here's an open letter to Governor Walker from a Republican:

http://scholarcitizen.williamcronon.net/2011/03/28/open-letter-from-loyal-republican/

And then tonight on Twitter I saw someone saying that the left was crazy for saying that Iraq was about oil because our gas prices aren't ridiculously low. But the person was a good person who cared about other humans and seemed intelligent. Just maybe a bit ignorant about how oil companies and speculators work.

Like you say - "they" are dividing neighbors.

So our answer must be to unite them.

I'm going to make a pledge. I will listen before judging. I will not assume things about how other people feel or think. I will separate normal people who say they're Republican from the fascists and not paint them all with the same brush. I will, for real and for true, believe that most humans are good and that they would make the right choices if they had the information and knowledge they needed.

If you approach other people with openness and care they'll be more likely to listen when you try to give them the information they need.

It's just - Libya has really shown me the failings of ideology, how it gets in the way of us seeing each other as human. We need to listen to each other and to see each other and to recognize that we are all human and we are all in this together.

We're seeing the results of what happens when you do that in the MENA region right now. Do we have to get to the point where they're at? Do we have to live for 30+ years under the fascists before we get it? Or can we learn from them now?

As if he is King. I feel like the Re shits have been planning this for a long time and executing it knowing they will get away with murder, (I also have more hope that they might this time just pay for their crimes)