(ED. NOTE: The following was co-written by Karen and Dick Bell,
after a morning discussion about people and groups floundering between
despair and hope over the past week. Karen and Dick co-founded The
Democracy Cell Project, along with a group of remarkable
citizen-activists, in 2004. They live in Washington DC.)
The understanding that Bush has provoked a “constitutional crisis”
is taking root and spreading. Al Gore is expected to deliver a speech
on Monday that is going to focus on this. (We will be there and hope to
do a little live blogging, if possible.)
We think we are entering a period of extreme fluidity; Bush’s
ability to control the many dark forces that he has unleashed is
diminshing by the day. But, this is a time of both great danger and
great opportunity. Watching Americans slowly coming to grips after
years of indifference is not a pretty picture, but it is movement in
the right direction. In American history, we know that there are
periodic convulsions in which the forces of evil sometimes get the
upper hand. (i.e. The Alien Sedition Acts of 1798, the red scare of the
early 1920’s, the internment of Japanese-Americans in WWII, McCarthy,
decades of J. Edgar Hoover’s illegal actions, COINTELPRO, and now Bush,
the NSA, and the Patriot Act.)
In each of these dark times, the ideals on which the country was
founded appeared to be headed for the junk heap of history. But time
and again, the American people have ultimately returned to the arms of
the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of
Rights. The ability of the American people, again and again, to find
ways to transcend these efforts to subvert freedom and liberty is the
true exceptionalism that has made America a beacon of hope for lo these
two centuries.
History shows that we can do what we need to do; the biggest
obstacle is persuading enough people that all is not lost, and that by
working together, as our ancestors have done repeatedly, we can win
this fight.
As one of the spirituals would have it, “Freedom Is A Constant Struggle.”
In practice, we need first to keep on keeping on with what we have
been doing; second we have to be ready to act boldly and seize the
opportunities that we know are coming as Bush’s criminal enterprise
unravels. History being the elusive prognosticator that it is cannot
tell us where the openings will be. What revelations are still to come
that could light such a fire for impeachment that even the Republican
House would at least have to hold hearings? Jack Abramoff may implicate
enough Republican members to switch the House of Representatives all by
himself! And then, of course, there is Iraq, as well as the deepening
crisis over Iran’s nuclear weapons intentions.
No matter how bad things get, however, Bush will never voluntarily
surrender an iota of the power he has grabbed. Our energy has to go
into organizations, be they existing organizations, or brand-new ones
that we found, to push Bush and his congressional support out of power
as soon as possible. These are opportunities and they abound.
Code Pink, the World Can’t Wait, United for Peace and Justice,
Progressive Dems of America, MoveOn and many many other groups sponsor
town meetings, rallies, petitions, mobilize, march, and conduct
nonviolent civil disobedience and street theatre, or run serious vigils
and gatherings; PACS raise money to support candidates, blogs report
new findings faster than the mainstream media–all of this is worthy
because we simply do not know the threshold or when critical mass will
be achieved.
Neither of us is suggesting there is a need to choose BETWEEN
actions or that any of these groups have THE answer. The solution is in
our daily actions, saying “yes, and…” to all the opportunities. We
each need to contribute, in the largest sense of that word. It could be
a simple as forwarding an email that you know has truth. It could be as
complicated as building an online community for a cause or a candidate.
It probably needs to be “all of the above.”
In business, managers and consultants are always talking about
“capacity building”–growing the organization to the right size so that
more growth can happen, building on the infrastructure set in place. We
each must build our own capacity for taking action, making sure the
infrastructure is in place, contributing to the hands reaching out for
us, and joining them.
We don’t have to say yes to everything asked, but saying no brings
the effort to a halt. Offer something back–a suggestion, a small
check, a networking moment, a hug of encouragement.
Think of it as being a good citizen.