World
Can’t Wait asked what you think the meaning and significance of the
election is and what the movement to drive out the Bush regime needs to
be doing right now. Below is an initial batch of responses – check back
here for more.
Click here to send us your thoughts.
Click here for Part 1 of the responses.
The MOST critical issue that MUST be addressed, VERY SOON, is to set-up MANY Progressive/Democratic/Liberal MAINSTREAM media stations (TV, Radio, Cable, Newspapers) EVERYWHERE throughout this country. That is essential to trying to win back the hearts and minds of open minded, independent Americans.
Currently the mainstream media is lacking basic coverage regarding Progressive, Democratic or Liberal points of view (although republicans talk about the liberal media, it, in fact, doesn’t exist anymore! The public masses (without even trying) are being force-fed one point of view from: Conservative Talk radio, Fox News, MSNBC, The Wall Street Journal, Christian Evangelical stations, thousands of conservative Daily Newspapers and other right-wing extremist media. Their sole goal is to repeatedly bash anything the Democrats say just because it’s a Progressive/Liberal stance. They pounce on anything that doesn’t meet their sick hypocritical and warped world view.
Although I am very happy with the results of this election it is NOT an affirmation of Democratic ideals or a repudiation of Republican hypocrisy, corruption and lies. What the Conservative and Christian base is angry with Republicans about is the fact that they didn’t pass enough legislation to make Christianity an even stronger presence in American politics then what it currently is. (As if Alito, Roberts and Gonzalez won’t do enough damage to our civil rights). Proof of this is the closeness of so many of these races. The fact that so many evil deeds were made public and still vast numbers of Christian/Conservatives were willing to overlook these “flaws” for the sake of the “party” is a very bad sign. The scariest part is that they ALMOST won many key races!
Without having a chance to prove themselves the Democrats are already being attacked by the mainstream right-wing sleaze machine. People NEED to hear the good things about Progressive ideals, or this will be a short-lived victory. And, that would be a tremendous loss for America and for the world.
So I repeat: We desperately NEED to “buy back” control of Progressive, Liberal, and Democratic Mainstream Media more than ever before! Until that’s done the Republican/Conservative point of view will continue to dominate the public mind with their brand of “Fair and Balanced” distortions of the truth. Progressive ideals need a strong, continuous voice! So, rich Democrats, please heed this call and pool your vast resources together and buy back mainstream media before it’s too late!
Dear WCW,
In my opinion, the mid-term election’s “significance” is not a mandate to “drive the Bush administration from power” as often stated in WCW rhetoric. Rather, again in my opinion, the significance of this election is that the public has wearied of being manipulated by corrupt & often patronizing, autocratic politicians whom have taken the American public for granted for political power. This election was not an endorsement of the left, rather it was a rebuke of the right for its political high-handedness.
The challenge now is to represent the people & inspire Americans to be somewhat more than fearful war-mongers. Politicos would be wise to realize the importance of the word service in the term “government service”. To advance an extreme agenda would be folly. Rather, I propose, empowering the public by being civically responsible, above board in all dealings & a bi-partisan cooperative for the betterment of all Americans as opposed to agendas & causes. In this way our causes can be advanced by making them less threatening to others. Because common goals, as represented in the constitution, can be recognized & advanced for the good of all.
The Bush administration shall fall of its own weight. It is our job to see that not to bring down the house, rather I suggest witnessing its fall & being willing to testify so that it will be brought to justice. When one becomes consumed with hate one becomes as hateful as that which it hates.
While the “crimes” of this administration are many & needs reconciling. That said, it would be prudent to use the remaining tenure of this administration reinforce our strength through a grassroots effort so that by 2008. The new administration, whomever that may be, would realize our strength & the importance of the United States to sign the UN treaty that would bring the current administration & its “neo-con” allies to justice before the world court. To advance heedlessly like drunken sailors would be foolish without the will of the people behind one. My advice is to consolidate & provide a tangible win in 2008.
I am thrilled that the dems took back the House and Senate, but I to am aware that there is much work still to be done and much within our own democratic ranks. I would hate to see this win squandered by dems/progressives now that they feel that we are out of danger. We are not. If we learned anything from this last six years is that democracy takes diligence and participation.
My fear is that dems/progressives will not seriously address issues like global warming, energy dependance, civil rights, and impeachment. I am afraid we will get bogged down and will get suckered into the washington beltway mentality! We must get the media back with the fairness doctrine and break mega conglomerates back down to manageable sizes. we need to keep educating , and reaching out. please continue the work of speaking out! and up.
Well, we’re off and running with George W. Bush the same old liar with empty words. I do not believe that he will seek “common ground” with Congress. He already is trying to sneak around Congress and dilute their power in the case of Josh Bolton, the temporary UN diplomat. He thinks he can have his way once again by modifying Bolton’s UN title. He continues grabbing power for the Executive branch. So as far as I’m concerned, impeachment proceedings for Bush and his regime cannot begin any too soon. He has done or allowed behavior that is illegal, immoral, unconstitutional and very hurtful to many Americans. Also so many Iraqis, so many children, Coalition forces and their families, journalists. How long should it take for Bush and his regime to be tried and found to be WAR CRIMINALS. Almost six despicable years and Bush will continue if allowed to.
Thank you for keeping The Founding Fathers dream alive.
I believe the American public has finally awakened from a long sleep and taken action. Too bad this didn’t happen in 2000. Bush is an evil man; hopefully this drastic change in power will at least give us a toe hold in controlling him before every other country in the world organizes and attacks us to get at him. He has finally lost his smirk and his cocky strut and the timeliness of Rumsfeld’s “retirement” is significant. All we can do is hope and pray that his replacement, another crony, isn’t even worse. How convenient for Bush to always have a scapegoat in time of emergency; rather than be a man and admit his mistakes he just replaces one body with another.
Unless the new Democratic congress introduces a bill of impeachment Bush will continue to use executive orders and signing statements to turn this session of Congress into a rubber stamp just as he did with the Republican Congress.
I believe that Bush and Cheney do not want to give up Iraq because of the oil and Halliburton and the new congress democrat and republican alike will have to remove them unless they listen to what Lee Hamilton and Jim Baker say. I also think Rove is a terrible enemy to this country as he doesn’t care what happens to America in order to put his agenda through.
At last politicians have had to listen to the voices of real people instead of only hearing the voices of those waving the corporate dollar in their faces. It’s too bad people only have the chance to be heard (and listened to) at election time. After 6 years of playing hardball and riding rough-shod over the dems, the president wants to play nice because he got thrumped and Nancy Pelosi appears to be willing to go along with him. It will all be for nothing if the Dems don’t make GWB, Cheney, Rove, etc pay the costs of being so nasty, power-hungry, arrogant, and intransigent. Pelosi has said impeachment is not on the cards although it should be so I’m not all that optimistic about there being any big changes in the current policies. You don’t play nice with people like Bush, Cheney, Rove, Rumsfeld etc. they take it as a weakness and take advantage of it. It will be a tragedy if the Dems and the new congress go the same way that GWB and his crew did. We’ll have to do the same thing again. When will politicians learn – you can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time – but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. The Bush legacy will not be one to be proud of.
Yes, I agree that this is a very important milestone–BUT as I was so impeachment oriented before, I now realize that there is so much to do, that mainly investigations need to take place before we mention the “I” word.
It makes me very comfortable that John Conyers will be the committee chair for the Judiciary Committee. Lots to do!
You can’t shame the shameless Bush administration.
But you can shame the newly elected Democrats to hold them to their word. (They’re already showing signs of splintering) How? Use one umbrella theme line that can accommodate a local issue they won on, which could be ending the war, reviving the middle class, ending unwarranted wire taps, etc.
Each chapter of worldcantwait should organize a march in front of the homes of the Dems living closest to them. Rough examples:
“What’d you do today about leaving Iraq, John Murtha?” (signs and protester’s chant)
“What’d you do today about wire taps, Jay Rockefeller?” (sign and protester’s chant)
This must be more covert. In other words, not on your website, but through phone calls. Preferably it should all happen on the same day. The media alerted the day before, so it’ll be a surprise. Repeat weekly.
You can’t form a mobocracy; too many people with too many personal issues. Which your web site messily shows. And that shows up at protest marches. It all turns into mush. Besides, marches are for activists. It’s time for actionists.
I appreciate your newsletter and the awesome work you do.
In response to your query, my thoughts on how this regime can be driven from power are strictly from memory, albeit vague. Sorry I don’t have the time right now to do the research, but maybe the information will offer a beginning to someone on your staff: An Illinois State Senator, a female (if memory serves me correctly), discovered several months ago in the Illlinois State Statutes a section that addresses the impeachment of the president. If this procedure is followed and served on Congress, either the House or Senate (and, I believe, signed by a number of other State Senators from Illinois), that Congressional body must cease all work on other bills or issues, and address the impeachment issue, exclusive of any other pending business. I haven’t read that this State Senator garnered the signatures of other Illlinois State Senators and served the impeachment petition, or maybe the news just hasn’t surfaced. At any rate, it occurred to me that this is one avenue and, perhaps the most direct, to the impeachment process. And, I would be surprised if there were not similar Statutes in other States which address this process.
Oh, wait a minute, I was just sent a link to an organization involved in the impeachment process: http://impeachforpeace.org/ImpeachNow.html
Impeach for Peace, a Minnesota-based impeachment group, has researched a method for impeaching the president using a little known and rarely used part of the Rules of the House of Representatives (“Jefferson’s Manual”). This document actually empowers individual citizens to initiate the impeachment process themselves. “Jefferson’s Manual” is an interpretive guide to parliamentary procedure, and is included (along with the Constitution) in the bound volumes of the Rules of the House of Representatives. It is ratified by each congress (including the current one), and has been updated continuously through the history of our democracy. The section covering impeachment lists the acceptable vehicles for bringing impeachment motions to the floor of the House.
In the recent World Can’t Wait email, Debra Sweet says, “I”ll be speaking about impeachment with Jerome McDonnell on Worldview, the global affairs program on WBEZ, Chicago public radio, Thursday, November 16, noon to 1 PM.” I plan to listen.
To satisfy my curiosity, I decided to look at the order of succession should articles of impeachment actually pass the House and then the Senate. Should Bush be removed from office, his replacements are (in descending order):
* Vice President – Dick Cheney
* Speaker of the House – Nancy Pelosi
* President Pro Tempore of the Senate – Ted Stevens
* Secretary of State – Condoleezza Rice
* Secretary of the Treasury – Henry M. Paulson, Jr.
* Secretary of Defense – currently Donald Rumsfeld, possibly Robert Gates
* Attorney General – Alberto Gonzales
* Secretary of the Interior – Dirk Kempthorne
* Secretary of Agriculture – Mike Johanns
* Secretary of Commerce – Carlos Gutierrez
* Secretary of Labor – Elaine Chao
* Secretary of Health and Human Services – Mike Leavitt
* Secretary of Housing and Urban Development – Alphonso Jackson
* Secretary of Transportation – Mary Peters
* Secretary of Energy – Samuel Bodman
* Secretary of Education – Margaret Spellings
* Secretary of Veterans Affairs – R. James Nicholson
* Secretary of Homeland Security – Michael Chertoff
My question is this: do we want Cheney to rule us? Pelosi? How far down this list do we go before we find the name of an acceptable leader?
Is impeachment REALLY the answer? Is it a compromise to the original mission of World Can’t Wait?
Will impeachment actually accomplish that which must be accomplished?
I think this analysis on the elections hits the nail on the head, the imperialists say they will promise some crumbs to the masses and then everyone tows the line only to be fooled again. We cannot let that happen. We must keep the steam up and be in the streets and educate more than ever. We must all demand accountability for the blatant dismantling of the constitution that has happened under the Bush regime. The eyes of the world are on us.
“We Are The Ones We’ve Been Waiting For”
(attached) In recent weeks I have been thinking about the direction or future of the anti-war movement. Now that the Democrats have won both houses of Congress the purse strings for continued occupation and war in Iraq are the responsibility of the Democrats. In addition, the new Democrat-controlled US Congress is responsible for what will happen to the infamous PATRIOT Act, secret renditions, torture, police-state wire-tapping, the Military Commissions Act of 2006, and the nefarious elements in the John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007. So, what will this Congress do for the sake of truth, justice, and peace? But, more importantly, what will the peace and anti-war movement do especially since many of the people put into office represented the anti-war sentiment and opprobrium of the electorate?
I have an uneasy feeling these days. Something isn’t sitting right in my gut. Recent experiences indicate to me that the Iraq anti-war movement, as we know it now, may soon come to an end or go dormant until another round of war-making is foisted on us all. The Bush Administration will soon “officially” hear from the Iraq Study Group on what the direction of the occupation and prosecution of the war should look like. News reports indicate that one of the options is a phased withdrawal or redeployment of US and coalition forces to places like Kuwait. This is also proposed by elected leaders like Rep. Murtha a conservative Democrat from Pennsylvania who spoke out many months ago against the war in Iraq. Phased withdrawal and redeployment is what I would like to focus on as it is the plan that will take the energy of the anti-war movement.
The Iraq Study Group is a collection of establishment insiders, Democrats and Republicans, who have been picked by the Bush Administration to analyze and develop the present Iraq situation and to come up with alternatives to the Bush plan. The co-chairs of this group are former Secretary of State/Treasury James Baker and former US Congressman Lee Hamilton. As with the rest of the group they are all consummate veteran insiders. They are overseeing policy that is not exclusively designed to “save” Bush-Cheney with regard to Iraq, as has been reported or widely speculated, but to protect the ruling elites and governing establishment in the US. They are no more concerned with spreading democracy and human rights than Bush’s reasoning for war is.
One plan of this group is phased withdrawal or redeployment of troops when the Iraqis “assume responsibility” for their own country. Several lawmakers on Capitol Hill are also calling now for a timetable for with withdrawal. If this happens I fear the anti-war movement will almost evaporate just as it diminished in power after the first bombs were dropped over Baghdad in March 2003 and after the November 2004 election.
We have all seen how large anti-war marches ceased happening after the start of the war and following the 2004 elections. Now, the Democrats have won and a phased withdrawal may soon be presented. People will soon be led to believe that the troops are coming home eventually and there is no need to protest the continued occupation. If anti-war groups, large and small national and local, cannot manage to get people into the streets after a war begins or with the atrocities of repeated assaults on places like Fallujah, torture implemented in our names, and domestic spying by many different police-spy agencies how then will people react after they are presented with a timetable of withdrawal? People apparently aren’t even either aware of or concerned with an imminent attack on Iran.
So pacified or fooled by recent political events, the elections, people are now even disagreeing with impeachment, a long-time call by those against Bush’s war. Several times this week people I know, who marched and protested against war and torture, have told me that impeachment is a bad idea. It is a bad idea, I was told, because soon-to-be Speaker of the House Pelosi has said that we have to focus on healthcare and the minimum wage and that impeachment is off the table. She has been supported by Rep. John Conyers who may chair the House Judiciary Committee that would open up investigations leading to impeachment. Another reason I have been given for not supporting impeachment is that it may hurt the Democrats in 2008.
While I do not believe impeachment will solve the underlying reasons for why we go to war and why we occupy and oppress people here and abroad I believe it is a tactic that must be employed for the sake of justice and for exposing the truth about the criminality of not only the Bush Administration but the entire system. But, I have to say I find it breathtaking that people who claim to work for peace and justice, who marched and protested against the war, occupation, and torture will decide to align themselves with those who value political campaign victory over law and justice.
Essentially these people are turning away from their responsibility to hold accountable those who have committed war crimes so that other parts of a political agenda (minimum wage and healthcare) can be addressed. And how long have the people been promised adequate healthcare and a proper living wage!? Decades, well over half a century, that is how long the people have been strung on! Fooled again!
And so now, many who marched with us for justice and peace barter away this same justice because it is not politically expedient at this time to continue seeking justice. These people are willing to turn away as hundreds languish in places like Guantanamo. We will overlook the slaughter of hundreds of thousands so that Nancy Pelosi can give us a minimum wage! This is why the Iraq anti-war movement will go dormant or die very soon. People are being fooled and lulled into sleep again. We saw so many not get involved as war approached and finally happened. They will now be joined on the sidelines of slumber by those who joined us in the streets demanding peace and justice. The war is over! But where is the just peace?