Coronation and Beyond

"Not One Damn Dime Day". Do it.

Go immediately to the new Village Voice and read their special pieces on the coronation.
Rick Perlstein has a brilliant analysis on the psychology of Bush's machine, the damages he's done so far, and those still to come. James Ridgeway describes the shameless display and Nero-like consumption of the victors as they play. Kareem Fahim explores the whole mess from the wounded soldier's perspective. Sarah Ferguson gives tips on how to protest in your own small (or large) way.

We must find a way to limit the destruction this puppet mediocrity plans to inflict on us, our parents, and our children. He is not our friend. He is not our Dad. He is not our leader. As corrente notes, he is a lucky sociopath with enviable connections who was seen, because of his character flaws, as the perfect puppet to move forward the agenda of the reactionaries who still haven't forgotten their losses in 1964. Given the chance, he and they will dismantle the small social safety net of old age, health, and disability security that we do have. They will paint public education with a false brush and set into motion the events required to eliminate it. They will rescind some of our most basic constitutional rights, destroy what's left of our unionised workforce, eliminate regulatory barriers to the destruction of our land and water and the safety of our workers, set up a plutocracy of robber barons and power-hungry martinets, eliminate paths for the disenfranchised to be heard, and eventually establish a class-based apartheid the likes of which haven't been seen in America since the 1600's. To pretend this is impossible is to ignore the events of history and the seemingly bottomless capability of the human race for oppression and greed.

Get mad. Stay mad. Do something. Let me quote from the wonderful Howard Zinn, writing in his "A People's History of the United States", in a paragraph that seemed especially relevant given the SS debate of late:

"If there ARE necessary sacrifices to be made for human progress, is it not essential to hold onto the principle that those to be sacrificed must make the decision themselves? We can all decide to give up something of ours, but do we have the right to throw into the pyre the children of others, or even our own children, for a progress which is not nearly as clear or present as sickness or health, life or death?"