Indeed, and to bring about this robust, prophetic, and rich utopia, we are more than willing to crack a few eggs to produce this beautiful omelet.
I'm V.I. Lenin, and I approve this message.
Posted on 09/02/2004 4:57:36 PM PDT by ROCKLOBSTER
Progressives recognize that it's time for America to resume its glorious journey. Time to look out upon the world for friends, not enemies. Time to tell the world that we wish to be their partner in peace, not their leader in war. Time to recognize that winning hearts and minds comes from dialogue and mutual respect--not from a gun. Time for the greatest military power in the history of this world to act with humility and restraint--not to arrogantly and illegally impose its system and values upon others. Time to recognize that war must truly be the last desperate measure of self defense--not merely a handy tool to promote policy.
It's time to reject our current detour towards fear and greed. Time to remove the dark veil of secrecy and deceit from our government. Time for leaders who embrace hope, honesty and generosity. Time to reject shrinking jobs and wages, disappearing savings and rights. Time to again dream the dreams of Martin Luther King, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Bobby Kennedy. Time to give birth to a New American Dream in which the government is on the side of its people and not an agent of corporate interests.
Most of all it's time to act on the words of Dr. King that "Our lives begin to end the day that we remain silent about things that matter." And the deteriorating economic health and rights of the American worker matter greatly. The "wellness" of American workers is the underpinning of our democracy. We can help secure their health by creating and retaining high paying jobs, by guaranteeing fair--not minimum--wages and by encouraging workers to organize to counter the corporate control of our politics, economy and mass media.
We must not remain silent when the income of the top 13,400 households is greater than the bottom 96 million Americans. When the disparity of wealth between rich and poor is even greater than the shocking disparity in income. Nor can we remain silent when the dreams of social and economic equality remain unfulfilled for so many African-Americans and others marginalized in our growing plutocracy. America can not be allowed to become a banana republic where wealth and power reside with a few. Instead, America must again be the nation where we stand--and share--united. A progressive tax structure and a federal estate tax are a necessary part of that sharing.
Unfortunately, America now leads the world in categories we should not be proud of: America is now the world's leading jailer with an incarceration rate higher than China and Russia. We lead the industrialized world in poverty, infant mortality and the growing gap between rich and poor. And to our shame we are the only industrial nation not to provide national health care--a cause of more than 18,000 deaths a year. Poverty is truly a weapon of mass destruction.
Even more worrisome is that America has ignored the warnings of George Washington and Dwight David Eisenhower in turning away from our proud history as a Republic to embrace Empire. We now maintain over 725 military bases around the world and have a military presence in at least 153 of the 189 member nations of the United Nations.
Not surprisingly, people resent Empires who occupy and dominate. Yet when we ask our leaders why the rising tide of anti-Americanism, they offer the glib propaganda that "they hate us because we are free." As William Blum laments in Killing Hope because of post-World War II military and C.I.A. action "a few million have died in the American holocaust and many more millions have been condemned to lives of misery and torture as a result of US interventions extending from China and Greece in the 1940s to Afghanistan and Iraq in the 1990s." It is a story of which too few Americans are aware in the midst of incessant propaganda.
Progressives believe that our great strength and courage allows us to act compassionately and cooperatively with the rest of the world. Being the most feared and hated country in the world does not benefit us in the long run. Progressives know that until America ratifies the International Criminal Court and a host of other agreements we will remain a rogue nation in the minds of many. Progressives know that a War on Terror is only won with the cooperation of other nations. A cooperation that is earned through hard work and multilateral agreements.
All progressives do not think alike. But we share a blue collar attitude that America is something you work for, not something you passively receive and use--typically as an accident of birth--and then throw away. We have an unquenchable optimism that America is an unfinished journey to a better place. Of course, some conservatives intentionally slander our criticism as coming from "The Hate America Crowd" when our intentions like that of the Abolitionists and the Suffragettes is to improve--not destroy--the land to which we owe so much. Has anyone ever met a Progressive who hates the dream of America and wants it to fail? Instead, Progressives wish to give back an even better America when their stewardship ends.
Progressives reject the current blood sport of American media politics. We reject the venom and vitriol spewed from the corporate media which quickly turns all political discussions into name calling, labeling soundbites marked by sneers, guffaws and distortions. We know that the true intent of the radical right is to discourage discourse on issues in favor of sloganeering, of turning politics into a sports match where you cheer for your team's colors no matter the players--or values or issues in the case of politics. We recognize that true Progressives receive little air time on the corporate airwaves of "Clearchannel." We remember that in the run-up to the Iraq War of the 393 "experts" used by the mainstream media over several weeks, only three were anti-war. This at a time when 61% of Americans wanted to give inspections more time.
Instead, we share a belief that by working and talking with others America can be restored to our place as a moral leader in the world community. We remain committed to a dialogue with--not diatribes against--those who disagree because we know that when our sense of hope and vision for a just society is heard, it will be compelling.
Progressive recognize that most Americans share their values – but not their label. As Arianna Huffington points out in Fanatics and Fools: The Game for Winning Back America (Miramax 2004): "In politics, he who controls the language defines the political debate. So we need to take back certain magical words that have been appropriated and perverted: responsibility, values, family, security, strength and, yes, morality, which the right wing has reduced to sexual morality."
Most Americans believe that universal health care should be provided by the government, that wars should only be fought in self defense, that big money controls the government and media, that workers are not fairly paid, that Americans should be able to import drugs, that tax cuts should go to those who need them most.
It is now up to us to go out and help redefine the vocabulary of the political dialogue. It will not be easy considering the forces--and money--arrayed against us. Few things of value are. If we fail, we leave four things to our children which Chalmers Johnson calls "The sorrows of empire" from his book of the same name:
1. Perpetual war leading to more terrorism against Americans
2. Loss of democracy as the government morphs into a "Pentagonized presidency."
3. "Propaganda, disinformation, and glorification of war, power and the military legions" will replace the last shreds of honest government.
4. "Lastly, there will be bankruptcy, as we pour our economic resources into ever more grandiose military projects and short-change the education, health, and safety of our fellow citizens."
This is the George Orwell future we must mobilize against. Progressives are not engaged in a self-indulgent academic exercise. We are working to save the last remnants of our democracy. Working to insure that the West Coast is the not destination for North Korean missiles in the decade ahead.
Help us, the Proletariat, redistribute the wealth as we collectively bargain against the evil bourgeoisie and as we create more do-nothing bureaucratic "positions" all the while pretending to do it "for the children."
Yada, yada, yada!
Indeed, and to bring about this robust, prophetic, and rich utopia, we are more than willing to crack a few eggs to produce this beautiful omelet.
I'm V.I. Lenin, and I approve this message.
Communists recognize that it's time for America to to resume the glorious march we communists tried to divert it to years ago under Clinton. Time to look out upon the world for more potential victims, not enemies. Time to tell the world that we wish to be their conqueror in peace, not their leader in war. Time to recognize that winning hearts and minds comes from Marxist propaganda and brutal imprisonment--not from a gun. Time for the greatest military power in the history of this world to act with permission of a council of dictatorships--not to arrogantly and illegally impose its system and values on dictators. Time to recognize that war must truly be eliminated so we can establish Marxist states at will .
It's time to reject our current detour towards freedom and prosperity. Time to weaken America's intelligence agencies and let we Marxists propagandize you eliminate your freedom of speeach so we can better be heard. Time for leaders who embrace utopian illusions, deception and wealth redistribution at the point of a gun. Time to reject working for a living and encouragement of small businesses and propose more confiscatory tax rates and government theft of individual earnings. Time to put black people back on collective farms, time to sell out half the world to another bloody communist empire and time to install more puppet leaders to sucker you into voting for us. Time to give abort the American Dream and thrust the country into famine and poverty and slavery so that we shall all be equal (except for those that are more equal than others.).
Most of all it's time to act on the words of Karl Marx that "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." And the deteriorating economic health and rights of the American worker matter greatly, because we can profit off of it to become your overlords. The dependency of Americans on welfare is the underpinning of our movement. We can tell them what to do, take away any choice people have about their own health care and allow all decisions to be made by some faceless government bureaucrat who couldn't find his own butt with both hands and a flashlight, all by imposing demands on business that will run them into the ground and force them to lay off as many workers as possible so we can make them dependent on us for their every needs. We can encourage these newly unemplyed workers to organize into collectives where they and their offspring for generations to come will be trapped into a life of abject poverty.
We must scream and rant to make sure that we can safely parasitize any successful people and use the spoils of our theft to bribe an underclass we shall create and exploit. When the disparity of wealth between rich and poor is even greater than the shocking disparity in income, we will send any malcontents to the gulags. We will remain silent when the dreams of social and economic equality remain unfulfilled for so many African-Americans because our policies doom them from birth to single parent homes or foster care and they have been utterly marginalized in our growing totalitarian dictatorship. America can not be allowed to continue as the beacon of hope for the world, where wealth and power reside in any willing to work for it. Instead, America must become the puppet of the United nations where we stand--and share--the misery. A progressive tax structure and a federal estate tax are a necessary part of that sharing.
Unfortunately, America now leads the world in categories we should not be proud of: America is now the world's leading jailer with an incarceration rate higher than China and Russia and where America's prisoners are overfed, underworked, live in fancier accomodations and in more comfort than the average person in any 'progressive' state. America leads the industrialized world in lawyers, abortion and whiny people- we need more of these to impose our failed econiomic ideas one more time just in case they might for once work. And to our shame we are the only industrial nation not to have long lines and waiting lists for the most basic health care, because our doctors are still, in spite of our best efforts to sue theim out of business, the best in the world. Poverty is truly our weapon of mass destruction against Americans. We want to create as much of it as possible to kill off those capitalist running dogs.
Even more worrisome is that America has ignored the warnings of Ho Chi Minh and Mao in turning away from our proud progressive cause to surrender at every opportunity. America now maintains over 725 military bases around the world and has a military presence in at least 153 of the 189 member nations of the United Nations; this prevents us from taking over those countries again and once more milking even more of them into oblivion.
Not surprisingly, people resent Empires who occupy and dominate. But the USSR persevered and was able to absorb many nations because we progressives were thier propagandist buttboys. Yet when we ask Americans why the rising tide of anti-Americanism, they offer the annoying truth "they hate us because we are free." As the delusional but delihghtfully progressive William Blum propagandizes in his "Killing Hope because of post-World War II military and C.I.A. action," "a few million have died in the American holocaust and many more millions have been condemned to lives of misery and torture as a result of US interventions extending from China and Greece in the 1940s to Afghanistan and Iraq in the 1990s." It is a story of which too few Americans are aware in the midst of all this horrible free speech and we must correct that by banning talk radio and imprisoning talk show hosts as soon as possible.
Communists believe that our great strength and courage entitles progressives to undermine and coerce the United States. The US, being the most powerful and respected country in the world does not benefit the communist cause in the long run. Communists know that until America ratifies the International Criminal Court and a host of other agreements they cannot use these stupid facades of corruption to destroy American and the freedom we despise. Communists know that a War on Terror is going to make implementing our plans much more difficult. We need an axis of weasels to push for multilateral agreements that will trip up the US war effort and allow our allies the terrorists to escape.
All communists do not think alike, we just seem like we do. But we share an elitist "we know what's best for you" attitude that America is something you mooch off of even as you destroy it, not something you try to defend. We have an unquenchable lust for America's blood. Of course, some conservatives frankly and intentionally expose our rants as coming from "The Hate America Crowd" when our intentions like that of the Khmer Rouge, Stalin, Castro and Mugabe is to destroy the middle class and have peasants to do all our work for us while we use our self-created titles, fear and force to direct their every move. Has anyone ever met a Progressive who hates the dream of America and wants it to fail? Of course you have. Communists wish to force our ideas onto Americans at every opportunity for the greater glory of Internationalism. America makes us look like the fools we are - we must eliminate Americanism so our rotten ideals will be better appreciated.
Communists reject the current blood sport of American media politics though we appreciate using it for our ends. We reject the venom and vitriol spewed against our favorite leaders like Castro and Chavez, and do our best to insure that no criticism of Marxist dictators, marxist ideas, or our backgrounds can ever be voiced. We know that the true intent of the radical right is to encourage discourse on issues and this might foil our plans; they take politics way too seriously and refuse be silenced. We recognize that true Communists do not yet run the corporate airwaves of "Clearchannel" and how this slows down our progress. We remember that in the run-up to the Iraq War we had virtual control over all other news sources. This at a time when Europeans wanted to give inspections twelve more years so that France could keep getting cheap oil and countless progressive leaders could get more oil vouchers.
Instead, we share a belief that by allowing other nations to determine American foreign policy, America can be harnessed to do the will of the impotent UN and set up more cushy deals like the Oil For Food program. We remain committed to a Marxist purge of those who disagree because we know that when their sense of hope and vision for a free society is heard, it will blow all our arguments out of the water.
Communists recognize that most Americans despise our communist dogma – but not with the deceptive progressive label. As Arianna Huffington points out in Fanatics and Fools: The Game for Winning Back America (Miramax 2004): "In politics, he who controls the language defines the political debate." So we need to appropriate and pervert the English language even more to continue to deceive our victims.
We think that everything should be free, provided by people who work to those who don't, throught the coercive power of government run by Marxists, that wars should only be fought when Castro needs reinforcements, that our utopian government should control the media, printing presses, the internet, and everyone's keyboards should require licensing; that workers are the property of the state, that Americans should be able to be stoned all the time, that tax cuts should go to those who need them most (don't pay too much attention to our logic we will think this out for you). By this we mean anyone who supports our revolution even if they have no taxes to cut because they are not required to pay any in the first place, and even if their "tax cut" (giggle-snort).
It is now up to us to go out and help redefine the vocabulary for the promotion of our Marxist propaganda. It will not be easy considering the forces--and money--arrayed against us- you know, God, people with guns, the Constitution, truth and all that. If we fail, the only collective thing about American will be the American's collective sigh of relief- they will remain free. Horrors!
This is the future we must mobilize against. Communists are immature regressive parasitic murderous douchebags, but if we call ourselves progressives people might fall for it. We are working to save the last dregs of the Soviet dream of equality through misery under an enlightened group of elitists with a large cadre of informants and secret police. We are working to insure that the US surrenders to North Korea in time to save Kim Il's butt, and we are working to insure the US has no defense against the ballistic missiles our communist allies abroad have spent so much time building with stolen US technology.
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