what John Bolton's, and Dick Cheney's, and Donald Rumsfeld's, and Condoleeza Rice's "final solution" for Iran might be, and also, what it might mean for the rest of us (i.e., Carl Sagan's "The Cold and the Dark," which describes what will happen to our planet's atmosphere with even a limited nuclear exchange). (Hint: all life on earth will die.)
We are being ruled by madmen--who think NOTHING of slaughtering tens of thousands of innocent people. And what might they be thinking about US, as to "final solutions," if we should be so bold as to assert our rightful sovereignty and try to stop them?
Very touchy wording.
Anyway, secession is not anything like a "final solution" (neutral meaning). It wouldn't solve the problem of warmongers in the "blue" states, or corrupt, collusive Democrats (plenty of those in Calif), or vast inequity in wealth, or what the remaining states in the formerly united federal union might do to get their cashcows back (sorry!). Or a lot of problems. People are just thinking sort of mechanically, that, a) it will stop the money drain from us "blues" into Bushite pockets for Bushite wars, and into "red state" rich, corporate pockets for ag subsidies and frankenfoods; and b) will keep our women unveiled.
But I want to go back to the red/blue thing. It seems to me overwhelmingly evident--from all the evidence that we've gathered about the real election result of 2004 (Kerry won), and from numerous (really, all) issue and approval polls for more than two years--that the "reds" are a minority of about 35% of the population (all mixed around everywhere, with some obvious concentrations). But their views are given a BIG TRUMPET by the war profiteering corporate news monopolies, way out proportion to their numbers--so that the rest of us get the IMPRESSION that WE are the minority. It is an ILLUSION. It is not real. But it does make us feel...alone, isolated, disempowered. And now, of course, with the electronic voting, we are also DISENFRANCHISED.
They say things to us, like "Bush won," and we think, "Na-a-a-w. Not possible. Nobody *I* know voted for him," but we believe them anyway, without really looking into the evidence on which "Bush won" is based, because why....because we don't think these war profiteering corporate news monopolies would lie to us? Or--more plausible, "The Democrats wouldn't let that happen, would they?" (--Bushite companies running the highly insecure and hackable new voting machines on SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code, and taking advantage of that situation to steal the 2004 election).
We shouldn't be asking, "Would the Dems let that happen?". The truth is that they DID let it happen--or, if you want to be more neutral, it DID happen (Bushites--natural criminals all--getting control of the vote tabulation, and not resisting the temptation to steal it for the very unpopular Mr. Bush and his junta), with Dem leadership remaining silent about it. So the question is not, "Would they let it happen?"; it is "Why DID they let it happen?"
It's not really plausible that it happened without their knowledge. Some of these electronic voting systems, owned and controlled by Bushite companies with secret programming (and no paper trail), were purchased by Democratic election officials--some of them even in California--who are born to trust Republicans, I guess. But say, it was ignorance or inattention--why didn't they scream their bloody heads off after it became evident that the election system is non-transparent, and before it could be used against us?
This problem cannot be solved by secession.
It is a very deep problem, that needs looking into. What I'm getting at is that the deepest division in the United States is not between "red states" and "blue states," nor, really, between "red" voters and "blue" voters. The deepest division--and one that seems to baffle solution--is between the majority of the people and their corrupt, collusive, bought and paid for, pro-war, pro-corporate Democratic leaders.
How can we secede from THEM?
If we vote them out--or lodge protest votes--we get Bushite mafioso. And now, with the electronic voting scam, Bushite companies (major donors to Bush; supporters of far rightwing causes) get to directly "select" who we can nominate in the primaries. It's NOT JUST corporate news monopolies and corporate and super-rich campaign money, and corporate/military contractors. It's DIRECT "selection" by them, or OUR candidates--and direct control over the final results in general elections.
And I've no doubt that they will "select" a pro-war, pro-corporate Democrat for us in 2008 (and limit our gains judiciously in 2006)--no matter what 90% of the Democratic Party rank and file thinks, and no matter what 70% of the country thinks about Bush's war. I also think it likely that they will let the War Dem win (for their own purposes--such as getting a military Draft, which Bush can't do; and expanding the war in the Middle East, which requires competent administration).
Upshot: We have one way we can secede from this Corporate War Program, and that is to...
...throw Diebold and ES&S election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor'!
Use the War Dem's administration to get election reform. Make it priority #1. (Russ Holt's bill HR 550 would do it, just about--it bans undisclosed software, among other things. (Sign the petition at:
http://www.rushholt.com/petition.html )
And start electing people who represent the majority!
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"Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything."--Josef Stalin