Time For Real Conversation

The reason a government of checks and balances makes sense is that it can ensure that no one wields so much power that they can do whatever they want regardless of the will of the people. It is supposed to ensure that a large portion of the country does not feel so disenfranchised that it becomes an angry mob. Tonight I saw an angry mob. We really are in deep trouble in this country on many levels. We have an incompetent Administration hell bent on its own agenda. It is supported by people who think logic and understanding are quaint politically correct oxymorons that only dirty hippy atheists believe in. Liberals, leftists and people who just know something is deeply wrong are frustrated to the point they just do not know what to do. That is not a good thing in any society.

If you box people in; if you put them in “Free Speech Zones; ignore their rights, deny them their votes and marginalize them to the point they can’t really have any voice at all…

Well, you have what we have today in America.

I am a leftist, I shower everyday and as far as I can tell, I am not a hippy. Ok, I am an atheist, but I respect religion and people’s belief in it as far as it goes. I don’t consider myself to be a lunatic. I don’t think my ideas are worthless or worthy of contempt. I don’t think, as Anne Coulter does, that I should be locked up in Gitmo.

Michelle Malkin published the phone numbers on her website of some people from Students Against War who had successfully driven out some military recruiters from their school. They have received death threats. Malkin should be ashamed. She should apologize, remove the phone numbers and publicly tell people not to harass these folks. She won’t. She has decided to destroy her credibility (what little there is.)

In response some people have come up with her phone number and home address and the counter campaign of harassment has begun. I shudder to think. This is just not the appropriate response. I can imagine blogs being created for the sole purpose of creating hate targets.

The atmosphere in this country is very bad. We may be on the horizon of using nuclear weapons in Iran. Many people are convinced that there is nothing that can be done to stop George Bush. This kind of frustration leads to violence against people you can get to. Malkin is about to be violated. There is nothing good to come out of this.

People need to wake up and consider some more creative and appropriate responses to the hate coming from the right. For a month I have been pleading with people to come to this site and brainstorm ideas to confront this madness in a non violent way that may, if we are lucky, work.

Scapegoating people is not the answer. We can lead ourselves right into having hit squads, death squads. Do you really think sliding into a civil war is a good idea? That is what would happen next.

You want to change the world? Get off your soft behinds and start planning and implementing some actions that confront power with truth. This website was set up for that specific reason. Tell me to go to hell. Tell me you have an idea. But make some comments and give some input. Time is getting short.

Peace to all of you, friend and foe alike.

Mike