A Delaration of (Class) War

WHEREAS those who hold the real power in America have committed numerous acts of war, and
WHEREAS the same persons decry any protest against such acts as class warfare,and
WHEREAS the people of these United State of America long ago committed themselves to justice, domestic tranquility, equality, and the pursuit of happiness:

BE IT RESOLVED THAT a State of War exists between those who own the power, known as the Class of 1% and the great and ordinary Citizens of America.

The Shadow Government
Those who hold power in today's America have created a system which benefits only themselves. Over the last 30 years, beginning with thear saint Reagan, they have bought every piece of our national government, with rare exceptions. Every Congress person, every Senator, nearly every Supreme Court Justice, every President in the last thirty years has been owned by The Corpoatocracy.

On some level, most Americans know this, see the pointlessness of voting, and stay home at election time.
Most citizens are blinded by managed (or wholly fabricated) news; so numbed by the blurring of reality and fantasy in our entertainment, so sickened and wreakened by an adulterated food system, and lack of health-promoting care to take action.

The Crimes and Acts of War Against the Citizens
1. The deliberate crashing of the economy by the finance moguls of Wall Street
2. The exthortion of billions in bailout funds from the ordinary citizens-victims of their financial schemes
3. The militarization of local police forces
4. The blatant attempt to eliminate the middle class, and expansion of the under clas to serve the every need of Robber Baron class through
such means as:
* Undocumented foreclosure of working families' property
* Attempts to destroy collective bargains rights of hard working citizens
* Sitting on billions in bailout funds, lent to the banks by citizens, and denying loans to those seeking to rebuild lives
* The blatant and coordinated denial of free speech and assembly rights of citizens
* The purposeful creation of permanent unemployment for our young citizens, leading to hopelessness

The Struggle Against the Monied-Corpoate-Privelaged Class
Non-violence must be the only course of action in this class war. Otherwise we descend to same pit of our opponents. I stand with Ghandi, Martin Luther King, and Jesus, The Christ on this issue.

Thoughts on Goals for the Revolution
* An end to the policy of Perpetual War, which bankrupts us financially and morally
* An end to unlimited private funding of election campaigns.
* Repeal of the War Powers Act
* The break-up or nationalization of all banks, investment banks, and other financial institutions of a size to be determined
* A Constitution Convention that re-asserts the primacy of real, living people over the imaged corporate personhood
* Establishment of a simple, progressive income tax system, which prohibits corporation from hiding income by 'off-shoring' it
* Establishment of a powerful SEC which has veto power over issuance of murky 'derivative' securities

This is meant to be a beginning; a vehicle for dialog. It is not complete, and is my personal Delcaration of Class war. So much has gone wrong with Americam Dream. Democracy, true of the people, by the peopl, and for the people, is in trouble, but not dead yet.

Let us begin to rebuild.
In Peace and Solidarity,
Steve Clidas

What Next For Progressive Demcrats?

For me, all of the debate about healthcare only gives support to those who, like myself, say: "A pox on both your houses." It has become increasingly clear that both parties are in thrall of the corporate oligarchs who actually control and manipulate the economic, legal and political institutions of this country.

We can find, support and elect any number of progressives to Congress, but eventually, each will be destroyed, compromised or co-opted by the same systemic rot which has destroyed American democracy (see E Massa).

Is it not time to recognize and ACT on the reality that working inside the system will never bring the kind of systemic change that is needed?

I believed that in the '60s (Hippie), turned inward in the '70s to change the world by changing me (Yippie), succumbed to the culture of greed in the '80s (Yuppie, & DINK), went bankrupt in the '90s (Deadbeat), and gradually became an outraged Progressive in the millennium.

Now, full circle, I am coming to believe again that revolution is the only way, that a well educated people, secure in body, mind and spiritually renewed, and schooled in the real meaning of democracy, are the goals that Progressivism must seek, without regard to party or any other political creed.

Realistic? I don't know. But I know that the idea of capturing the heart and mind of the Democratic Party has not worked and ignores the reality of our current situation.

The Greeks got democracy right the first time: Participatory. When things get really lousy, elect a term limited dictator.
Jefferson also had t right when he advocated a revolution every generation.

Why Can't President Obama Govern the Way He Camapigned?

Barack Obama and his team ran possibly the most effective campaign in American political history. It was in many ways a grassroots campaign, relying solid local organization, small contributions, decentralized and democratic social networking. His message was decidedly different, substantive, seemingly progressive and more responsive to the needs, desires and hopes of ordinary people. He energized and engaged people beyond the Democrats’ traditional base.

Yet, a year after his landslide victory, he seems unable or unwilling to govern in a way that is consistent with both the concept and substance on which he campaigned. Building consensus has morphed into repeated cave-ins to the power brokers of the status quo. Seemingly progressive concepts (“The only way to get to universal coverage is ingle payer) have been so totally compromised away that there is almost no reform in the healthcare bills now nearly eertain to pass and to create more problems than it solves. Maybe the financial bailouts were necessary, but where is the strong medicine needed to reign in the too-big-to-fail robber barons of Wall Street.

A year after liberals, progressives and persons of color celebrated an historic election, the financial, multi-national corporations and insurance executives who hold the real power in this country are firmly in control, not worried by the President’s program. The oligarchs of the Corporateocracy are, well fed and secure.

I recognize that politics is the art of compromise. I don’t expect an overnight revolution. Nor do I want to fall in with those who have declared a presidency ‘failed’ after less than a year. But for this veteran of the ‘60s failed revolution, and 21st century Progressive, I fear that this presidency is teetering on the edge of a failure to launch.

The Dreamer

A friend just said, 'I'm so confused.' When I asked her 'about what?' she said 'life.'

Sometimes I think my life is just a dream and I will wake up one time and know that for sure. But whose dream is it? Once I thought I was the dreamer, then the dream. What if I am (we are) both dream and dreamer?

Suppose if I am both, I can change the channel, like the TV. Today I want a sit-com dream/life. Drama tomorrow; comedy today.

So where is the line between dream and dreamer?

The longer I live, the more I believe that life is a dream which sometimes come out right and sometimes doesn't. But I also believe that I am the dreamer and dream maker.

Most of us let the dream control us, and never get to know the dreamer. And maybe that is where the confusion lies.