Picking Up on the Feelings of Democrats in America

In some ways I hate being sort of psychic. Like this a.m. I woke up with these "feelings" and they weren't especially positive. They were feelings of "disgruntled," "can't go on like this," "don't know what to do," "know what to do," "sad," "determined," and an assortment of others along that vein.

I so rarely have this kind of feeling, especially upon waking up, and that's when I realized I was picking up on the feelings of the protestors yesterday. I was among many who participated in the 51-capital march. Yesterday I just perceived it as a positive experience--as a step we have to go through to rid ourselves of these criminals we have in office. Today I'm getting a bit more than I bargained for, though.

Sigh. I wish I could rid myself of these feelings and go back to my usual self, which is mostly a feeling of being engaged with whatever I am doing at the time, usually work. I guess that's why I'm going to make an exception to my usual routine and go work in my garden. Maybe that will help.

I'd like to know if anyone else in our area of the forum is getting these feelings. If you are, what are you doing about them, if anything?

Here's an article on some Dems who are getting psychological help to deal with our stolen election/democracy:

http://www.bocanews.com/index.php?src=news&prid=10386&category=Local%20News

Kerry supporters still ranting as group therapy hits second week

Published Saturday, December 11, 2004 at 1:00 am
by Sean Salai

Fifteen John Kerry supporters met Thursday for a second group therapy session in South Florida, ranting at President Bush as they vented their self-described “emotional helplessness” to mental health counselors.
Participants in the American Health Association-sponsored support session, designed to treat what psychotherapists call Post Election Selection Trauma (PEST), allowed the general press to cover them for the first time on condition of anonymity.
“I haven’t been able to sleep since the election,” Sharon, a retiree from Delray Beach, told the group. “There is no sense of fairness. There is hypocrisy and a feeling of impotence. I feel hopeless, powerless.”
“I feel like I live in a dictatorship,” added an elderly woman from West Palm Beach, making gagging sounds as she described the reasons people voted for Bush. “The election was rigged and it was rigged in a lot of ways. It’s scary.”
Although the support group shouted just as vehemently at the president as last week, when the Boca Raton News reported on their first PEST meeting, mental health counselors from the non-profit AHA said their patients were making progress. “We’re a step closer,” Rob Gordon, group facilitator and AHA executive director, said afterwards. “Now that we’ve had two weeks to vent, we’ll move to the actuality stage next Thursday. We’ll introduce some meditation techniques and psychiatric theories which may help them.”


Cher

lots of 'negative' stuff in general.
It seems to be everywhere. Lots of fear, lots of frustration and hopelessness. Even everyday Bush supporters I think deep down sense something is very wrong.

I have been very fortunate in that since the election I joined a band once again. Music has been a lifesaver!

That Dems are acting and feeling like abuse victims.....and I must say I agree with what he says here...

DemEx


12/13/04

Dear Friends,

It is no surprise that the Republicans are sore winners. They have spent the better part of the past month beating their chests, threatening to send to Siberia any Republican who doesn’t toe the line (poor Arlen Specter), and promising everything short of martial law if the Democrats don’t do what they are told.

What’s worse is to watch the pathetic sight of the DLC (the conservative, pro-corporate group of Democrats) apologizing for being Democrats and promising to “purge” the party of the likes of, well, all of US! Their comments are so hilarious and really not even worth recognizing but the media is paying so much attention to them, I thought it might be worth doing a little reality check.

The most people the DLC is able to get out to an event of theirs is about 200 at their annual dinner (where you have to pay thousands of dollars to get in).

Contrast this with the following:

* Total Members of Move On: More than 2,000,000
* Total Attendance at Vote for Change Concerts: An estimated 280,000
* Total Union Members in U.S.: Around 16,000,000
* Total Number of People Who Have Seen “Fahrenheit 9/11”: Over 50 million
* Total Number of You Reading This: Perhaps 10 million or more

The days of trying to move the Democratic Party to the right are over. We lost a very close election (a one-state difference) by running the #1 liberal in the Senate. Not bad. The country is shifting in our direction, not to the right. But the country was attacked and people were scared. They were manipulated with fear. And America has never thrown a sitting president out during wartime. That’s the facts. Oh, and our candidate could have run a better campaign (but we’ll have that discussion another day).

In the meantime, while we reflect on what went wrong, I would like to pass on to you an essay that a friend who works with abuse victims sent to me. It was written by a woman who has spent years working as an advocate for victims of domestic abuse and she sees many parallels between her work and the reaction of many Democrats to last month’s election. Her name is Mel Giles and here is what she had to say…


Watch Dan Rather apologize for not getting his facts straight, humiliated before the eyes of America, voluntarily undermining his credibility and career of over thirty years. Observe Donna Brazille squirm as she is ridiculed by Bay Buchanan, and pronounced irrelevant and nearly non-existent. Listen as Donna and Nancy Pelosi and Senator Charles Schumer take to the airwaves saying that they have to go back to the drawing board and learn from their mistakes and try to be better, more likable, more appealing, have a stronger message, speak to morality. Watch them awkwardly quote the bible, trying to speak the ‘new’ language of America. Surf the blogs, and read the comments of dismayed, discombobulated, confused individuals trying to figure out what they did wrong. Hear the cacophony of voices, crying out, "Why did they beat me?"
___________________________________________________________

read the rest here:

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?messageDate=2004-12-13

I read it just the day before and it really hit home. Hit home, I mean, in the sense of so many Dems acting like battered women.

I could at least say (with a bit of self-satisfaction) that I have never said anything along those lines and I also feel disdain when I hear such self-recrimination. It's not that I shy from constructive self-criticism but dammit, we've won the last two elections so stop already with the hair shirt.

Dems are entirely too accommodating and easy going. Yesterday after our protest, a state police officer came over and very nicely asked us for information so he could fill out a report. It included getting the organizer's name and social security number. Hardly anyone standing there protested giving this information. I said to the officer that I thought the request was outrageous and I didn't feel we needed to give him any information. I was polite about it--not antagonistic. The police officer handled it very well but still--I couldn't understand why my colleagues thought this was OK. It's not OK. No one should have to give a name and social security number just for speaking out!! That's a constitutional right!!!

I have got to get out to my garden. Instead of doing that I sent out media notices with tommcintire's media blaster, LOL. Then I came back here to see what thoughts there were. Thanks for the input; I hope there's more.

Enough already. To the garden! It will do me a world of good.


Cher

energy from yesterday

did it help? I hope so :pals:

Thank you for posting this, I think it describes the Democratic Party perfectly. I do feel depressed over our status. We desperately need new leadership with new ideas, so many wonderful ideas are posted right here on DU but are never used by our party. I remember when Howard Dean broke out and started inspiring hope when we all felt so marginalized....this has to happen again by new people on the scene who are pissed and not going to take it anymore.

i often wake up early in the morning - between 2 and 4, and get the distinct impression of negative feelings being 'broadcast'. it has even occurred to me... well, no, i'll keep that to myself.

what i do to counter this: i invoke Maat, goddess of truth and justice, then i imagine positive and hopeful thoughts radiating outward.

i think there are people who benefit when activists & the general population feels like nothing they do will make a difference.

it was clear enough and frankly, I wouldn't doubt it, esp. after reading this just a few minutes ago, definitely worth reading:

The Power of Delusion
By Dale Allen Pfeiffer and Elizabeth Anne Pfeiffer
http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_13897.shtml

I'd like to know if anyone else in our area of the forum is getting these feelings. If you are, what are you doing about them, if anything?


I disconnected. Literally. It wasn't hard; I'm not really a political person. I've never belonged to a political party before 2001. I became a democrat in response to the Bush administration. I participated fully and enthusiastically in the primaries, and I got a great education on party politics. By the time the convention rolled around, I was disenchanted with the democratic party itself. I donated to Kerry and I voted for him, but I never felt any enthusiasm about his campaign or about a Kerry administration. Since I didn't feel confident in the party's choice, my focus was all about who and what I didn't want; Kerry represented "not what I want, but not as bad." And I didn't like the focus and direction of his campaign from the convention on.

When I checked in with early results, before going to bed on election night, they looked pretty good. I was optimistic. When I woke up to NPR the next morning, I was horrified. I was also not surprised. I always thought there would be fraud involved, and that TPTB at the top of the party didn't take it, and the media control, seriously enough.

Even more, I thought that way too many Americans were fooled; they were not "awake" yet.

I'm not happy with GWB in office. I don't have any illusions as to what we have in store, politically. I believe the election "results" will lead him to even more extremes, given that he has claimed a "mandate." And that the destruction wreaked by those extremes will lead to his downfall, and to the downfall of some of the power structures that have been so dreadfully used and abused. And that is where and when the cleansing and rebuilding will kick in.

I believe we need to be "pro" active. Acting, not in rage or in the desire to "win" at any cost, but acting in "pro"gressive ways, for progressive ideals, and literally, each and every one of us as individuals and groups "being" the change we wish to see. Becoming that change, we then bring it to all those around us.

I wish to see our politicians act with integrity for the good of all; act to support and nurture our magnificent diversity, making our nation peacefully appreciative and inclusive of all. So I have to be all of those things myself. Which means I have to act with political integrity, and I have to support political diversity, even when it doesn't match my personal pov.

And I have to continue to speak truth, to live it, and to "be" it, regardless of what the government says. My light will shine; it won't be extinguished by fascism, and it won't be tarnished by playing the game "their way."

So I disconnected. I'm still here, and I'm still willing to work in actions that I believe move progressive ideals forward. When all is said and done, I'd like to see the two party system go the way of the dinosaurs. I want consensus and cooperation among all the diverse povs out there, not entrenched warfare between two mega-corporate parties. I'm willing to see the demise of both sides, rather than the constant, never ending battle to see who will grab the most power for a period of time before the other side grabs it back. At any cost to the citizens themselves. As a nation, let's become 3-dimensional instead of 2-faced. Or let's become more dimensions than I can currently see and comprehend right now; but let's leave the duality behind.

I'm going to "be" that change; so, I will participate in any progressive action to move our nation forward, without needing party id or sanction. And I feel fine.

I like the way you put that. I feel very much the same way. After putting my heart and soul into defeating Bush, I was left feeling completely empty after yet another slap in the face of democracy. That was when I decided that worrying about the big picture was fine, but doing something about it locally was vital. I'm still working on what that "something" needs to be.

I have a really high level of anxiety since the election, if it can be called that. However I am going by some of the channelled readings and e-lists that have called this second term necessary to wake up more people. It is somewhat dangerous to rely on channelled information, as some of it is bs. But I just don't have an internal barometer going at this time. I mean, I see what the worst could be, but don't sense that the worst will happen. I think it's really impt for us on du to continue our shared postings, as well as doing whatever political work we can.

1) Eloriel, that link is astounding. I read it all, including most of the links. These people really lay it out, don't they? Many of the points touch on Chomsky but it is, nevertheless, a quite thorough list of the tactics of mass control.

That is a link I will return to time and again. There's so much there.

2) lwolf, I read your response awhile back and took some time to think about it. I can identify with much of what you say about the disconnect and I felt similarly about Kerry. Of all you said in your post, this is what so hit home with me:

I want consensus and cooperation among all the diverse povs out there, not entrenched warfare between two mega-corporate parties. I'm willing to see the demise of both sides, rather than the constant, never ending battle to see who will grab the most power for a period of time before the other side grabs it back. At any cost to the citizens themselves. As a nation, let's become 3-dimensional instead of 2-faced. Or let's become more dimensions than I can currently see and comprehend right now; but let's leave the duality behind.

One thing that does intrigue me about Kerry, though, is his investigative background. Also that I have read there is a past life connection/dynamic between he and bush.

Here's what I've come around to thinking:

a) whether we live in a true democracy matters very much but what matters more is how we respond to threats to it. I am looking at this from the standpoint of the internal journey.

b) no one is guaranteed a democracy. Yes, that is the way it would be ideally and that is what we should work for. When I see fascism staring us in the face, I have to say: why would be any different from any of the other peoples of the world? Just because we are America does not mean we are immune to the forces of corruption and oppression.

I don't know if any of this is making any sense. I'm going to "sit" on this for awhile and then see if I can tie the threads of my thoughts together.


Cher