Is It Already Too Late?

[marym625]

Last night I commented on a post saying a certain part of our judicial system needs fixing. Then thought, what doesn't?

There are so many things we need to fix or change it seems insurmountable. It is getting to the point I honestly don't know if it is possible to recover from what we have allowed to happen in this nation. 

When a "liberal" President excuses and allows the clearly unconstitutional spying on all US citizens, without reason or warrant but for profit; when the SCOTUS rids us of voter rights; when banks and other financial corporations dictate law and abscond billions of tax payer dollars; when the President starts a war, attacking a nation based on lies, is not tried for war crimes and there is little call for him being charged; when our elections are bought and paid for by the highest bidder; when an amendment, so simple and beautiful, that protects a person from discrimination based on sex, 90 years after it was written, cannot be ratified; when a woman is legally raped by the State if she wants to control her body, how do we recover?

And that only touches on the problems. 

I believe public funding of elections is the first step but I honestly think it's too late.

[NoOneMan]

1. Its worse than too late

We don't only have a shitty society, but a shitty environment that is losing its ability to support this level of human life at an alarming rate (which is mostly alarming for humans, but other species feel it as well)

[MrSlayer]

2. Yes. The time to stop or slow it was November 1980.

Since then they've just been solidifying their grip on power in both parties. Reaganism is the disease by which America will die.

[marym625]

8. I like that

I may steal it if that's okay

[MrSlayer]

9. By all means.

Spread it around.

[Junkdrawer]

13. In the 70s, three things hit America:

1.) We hit Peak Oil. The oil companies then worked with their Saudi partners to gin up an oil embargo and the cost of energy tripled.

2.) Europe and Japan recovered from WW II. Their new, modern steel industry produced steel cheaper and better than our under-capitalized industry.

3.) Our auto industry took too long to respond to the need for high quality, fuel efficient cars.

Taking all these things into account, our capitalists put the blame squarely where it belonged: Union Workers and Cadillac Driving Welfare Mothers.

Reaganism was born.

[marym625]

26. never did like

those Cadillac driving welfare moms. Having kids just to scam the system of our tax dollars!

[Nay]

16. Yep. The Reagan bell can't be unrung. That ancient old fraud, with his B-actor bullshit,

started this mess. Everyone after him ran with it. This is not something we people on the street can stop, not in any effective way. The system itself will have to begin collapsing and killing people and communities wholesale before things will change, and I doubt that the change will be nonviolent and democratic. Knowing people, I'd expect some sort of SWAT-enforced corporate fascism. They'll let you live (such as it is) if you keep your nose clean.

[marym625]

29. That's a frightening thought

But not far fetched. Never thought when I was a kid we could ever come to this point

[Arugula Latte]

51. They'll let you live if they need you as a low-wage drone to do their bidding.

[marym625]

53. such a brave New World

[reusrename]

3. The Supreme Court must be where we begin.

I have little doubt that if the torturers were rounded up and tried and convicted that this Roberts Court would overturn the convictions. We would then be further down the rabbit hole (by rabbit hole I mean our descent into fascism).

I honestly believe that any real gains made on any other front are subject to being rolled back immediately by this Supreme Court. To change the makeup of the court, Scalia should be impeached. He has broken the law and he should be made an example of.

Politically, this is the correct fight to have. The 99% against the 1% doesn't really make any sense since you have good people and monsters in both groups. It's sort of a distraction.

The real political fight should be between the folks who abide by the law and those who openly flout the law. This is where the battle lines should be drawn. Scalia is a law-breaker and he should be removed from the highest court in the land.

[questionseverything]

24. agreed

http://www.velvetrevolution.us/newVR/?q=node/24

Huffington Post: Clarence Thomas Should Be Investigated For Nondisclosure, Democratic Lawmakers Say

Share: Facebook Twitter MSN Live Yahoo Digg Google Plus
-by Jennifer Bendry

September 29, 2011- Democratic lawmakers on Thursday called for a federal investigation into Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas' failure to report hundreds of thousands of dollars on annual financial disclosure forms.

Led by House Rules Committee ranking member Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), 20 House Democrats sent a letter to the Judicial Conference of the United States -- the entity that frames guidelines for the administration of federal courts -- requesting that the conference refer the matter of Thomas' non-compliance with the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to the Department of Justice.

The letter outlines how, throughout his 20-year tenure on the Supreme Court, Thomas routinely checked a box titled "none" on his annual financial disclosure forms, indicating that his wife had received no income. But in reality, the letter states, she earned nearly $700,000 from the Heritage Foundation from 2003 to 2007 alone.

Slaughter called it "absurd" to suggest that Thomas may not have known how to fill out the forms.

"It is reasonable, in every sense of the word, to believe that a member of the highest court in the land should know how to properly disclose almost $700,000 worth of income," Slaughter said in a statement. "To not be able to do so is suspicious, and according to law, requires further investigation. To accept Justice Thomas’s explanation without doing the required due diligence would be irresponsible."

[marym625]

30. insane excuse

If you or I tried doing something like that, we would be hit with interest, fines, penalties and tarred and feathered

[rhett o rick]

4. It's too late. Nothing can get fixed by a Congress that's corrupt.

If we could get anything, we need to start with the election process. Without a free and fair election process, nothing else will be sacred.

[marym625]

11. that is what I believe

And we cannot have a fair election process with the current private funding.

[Skittles]

5. Obama has never claimed to be a "liberal"

[bvar22]

19. No, but he did claim to be Anti-DLC,

and made the DLC delete any reference to him from their website.
He certainly suggested that he was Anti-Hillary, and Anti-Clintonism to eve nte casual observer.

He carefully painted himself as an advocate of the Working Class and Organized LABOR
with promises to Union Crowds of "making EFCA the LAW of the Land".

He promised numerous times that he would immediately Renegotiate NAFTA,
and acknowledged that "Free Trade" and was a disaster for America's Working Class.

He said he would "fix" the MFN Trade Status with China,
and "Raise the CAP" to Fix Social Security permanently.

He appealed to the Healthy & Sustainable Foods coalition
by promising to mandate Country of Origin Labels and GM labels on our food
because "American have the RIGHT to know what we are eating."

ALL of the above are "Liberal" Democratic Positions,
and every single one hit the trash can on Day ONE of the Obama Administration,
never to be heard of again.

So it is NOT completely honest to say that he never claimed to be a Liberal,
because he certainly played one on TV when he was in front of Union/Working Class crowds and other Liberal advocates.

I have the videos if you need to see them.





You will know them by their [font size=3]WORKS,[/font]
not by their rhetoric, promises, or excuses.

[marym625]

23. perfect

Thank you!

[Skittles]

27. well I do agree he FOOLED a lot of people

no doubt about that

[marym625]

31. twice

[Skittles]

34. you cannot negate those who voted against the republican

many of them were not fooled

[marym625]

35. true story

I'm one of those

[Skittles]

36. same here

[quinnox]

6. Obama is no liberal

far from it. He himself has said he would have been considered a republican in years past.

[marym625]

14. hence the scare quotes

I don't know any liberal that would consider President Obama a liberal. I thought the quotes would be clear but perhaps I should have used the word "Democratic. " Just didn't fully convey my meaning .

[chimpymustgo]

7. I, too, fear it is too late. EVERYTHING is broken. Congress, courts, infrastructure, taxes, schools,

food system, ecosystem, pharmacology...

EVERYTHING is BROKEN and CORRUPT. And that seems to be okay with way too many people.

[marym625]

64. way too many. n/t

[global1]

10. Unfortunately - Most Everything Is Fixable - And We Know What Needs To Be Done To Fix It......

It's just that we all can't get on the same page to do just that. As long as we have a situation where one party says 'black' and the other just to be contrary says 'white' things will never be fixed. There is very little agreement on most everything in this country and that is what will take us down.

[marym625]

12. so where do you think we should start?

What is it that you think would be a catalyst for real change?

I'm hoping for ideas from anyone who doesn't think it's too late.

[global1]

39. I Guess The First Place I Would Start Is To Take The Money Out Of Elections....

reverse Citizen's United. Only public financing of elections. Give all Americans the same fair chance to vote for the candidate of their choice - don't make it tough for some people to vote or deny their votes. I think a lot of what needs to happen for real change is to start with a fair voting system. Let the people elect the candidate they prefer without any gerrymandering or other shenanigans.

Once we have a fairly elected Congress - without the influence of money and without them having to spend the bulk of their time raising money for their next election - maybe we'd start getting things done around here. I would have to give serious consideration to 'term limits' for Congress as well. No more career politicians in D.C. that go for breaking records as to how many times they get re-elected.

After they leave office they can't take on lobbyist jobs.

Remove the filibuster rule in the Senate. A simple majority is all that is needed to move things along in the Senate - no matter which party is in power.

I think these changes would give us a good start.

[marym625]

40. I completely agree

With the election reform and voting rights. We won't have any chance without it. Now we just need to figure out how to make it happen

thank you for responding.

[DeSwiss]

15. Too late for this system.

- It's never too late to create a new one.

K&R

''You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.'' ~Buckminster Fuller

[marym625]

17. hmm

I honestly never considered that.Will have to think about that. Rather frightening thought but no more so than where we are headed.

Good quote. Thanks!

[DeSwiss]

44. De nada.

“Since mankind's dawn, a handful of oppressors have accepted the responsibility over our lives that we should have accepted for ourselves. By doing so, they took our power. By doing nothing, we gave it away. We've seen where their way leads, through camps and wars, towards the slaughterhouse.” ~ Alan Moore, V for Vendetta

We. Have. To. Wake. Up.

[marym625]

47. EXCELLENT quote

I posted something the other day that said "we are all to blame." Was vilified for it. Wish I had that quote then. Thanks

[marions ghost]

42. "Build a new model

that makes the existing model obsolete"--I like that idea.

[DeSwiss]

43. Coming to a community near you!

- The present system is no longer sustainable. Changes are coming. And they don't involve the use of old paradigm concepts except to the extent that they serve as examples of what not to do again.....

[center]

[/center]

[font color=gray size=3]A Different Perspective[/font]

If Everyone In The World Lived In Texas

If you divided the square footage of the State of Texas by the world's population, what would be the square foot area available per person?

Texas land area is: 261,232 square miles

1 square mile = 640 acres: 261,232 x 640 = 167,188,480 square acres

1 acre = 43,560 square feet: 167,188,480 x 43,560 = 7,282,730,188,800 square feet

World Population: 7,000,000,000

Thus: 7,282,730,188,800 square feet divided by 7,000,000,000 people = 1040.39 square feet per person

Conclusions:
It occurs to me that if the world's population could fit inside an area the size of Texas giving each person 1000 or so square feet each to live in (the average size of a 2BR apartment), that would put the ratio between all the people of the world to its resources in a mind-boggling skew in favor of people, thousands and thousands of times over. We are all billionaires. So why does this planet have poor people? At all? We all know the answer to that question.

[font size=4]THAT'S OUR MAIN PROBLEM[/font].

~DeSwiss

[marions ghost]

45. thanks

"A resource-based economy"

[marym625]

50. good stuff

Thanks!

[marym625]

62. DeSwiss

I haven't been here long enough to email someone. Can you send me a message, please?

[marym625]

48. thumbs up

Is there a"like" button? Still new here. Would hit if there was

[BlueJazz]

18. Too much big money in the hands of those who plan to keep it and who have zero...

... loyalty to the United States and it's people.

It's VERY hard for people (like the people on DU) to understand that some people in this world don't care.

But can't... NO!...They don't Care.
Well, what if... NO...They don't Care.

That's the sad truth and you and I are not going to change it...

[marym625]

21. I believe it

That's why I believe it is already too late. Or at least am pretty sure it is.

So what do you suggest? Just watch everything fall apart? Continue to fight knowing only small, insignificant battles will be won?

I'm truly at a loss. There are so many things to fight for and against and each is as important as another.

[BlueJazz]

28. I have an "out" but I still hate to see America go down the proverbial drain.

It would seem that when life gets unbearable for the average citizen, things will resonate in their minds that the system is broken and SOME kind of change is needed.

BUT...the powers that hold the money and news could and will blame it on the wrong people (US)...so I'm not sure of what do.
Seems like at the present time. we're just crawling through reality.

[marym625]

32. that's how I feel

[H2O Man]

20. Heck, no. Not at all.

The foundations of our legal system are solid. While there surely are "bad" laws, they can be changed. The real problem is found in the quality (or lack thereof) of those who are in charge of the legal system. And they, too, can be "changed."

[marym625]

33. it's the money

That holds the cards. The media is controlled by the same people that control elections. It is only through media we can have a chance to change to public funding. We're trapped without a very strong, grass roots movement

[bvar22]

22. My Wife & I sold everything,

paid off all debts,
moved to The Woods,
and started growing our own food in 2006.
So far, so good.


We have "hope" that it can be fixed,
but believe that our darkest days are still to come.

Despite the Government claims of a "Recovery",
I need to see a reversal in THESE trends
before I will believe a single word that comes out of Washington.

Right now, forty percent of Americans make less than the minimum wage from 1968.
http://pac.petitions.moveon.org/sign/raise-the-minimum-wage-19/?source=search


Daily CEO Pay Now Exceeds the Average Worker's Annual Salary –
http://thecontributor.com/daily-ceo-pay-now-exceeds-us-workers-annual-salary




76% of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck
http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/24/pf/emergency-savings/index.html


New Rule (Passed by Congress and signed by President Obama) signals Kiss of Death for Pensions
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100694955

Wealthy win lion's share of major tax breaks
http://www.boston.com/business/news/2013/05/29/wealthy-win-lion-share-major-tax-breaks/Ua0UyYle21EUXub7g1suCI/story.html

Half of America is in poverty, and its creeping toward 75%
http://www.alternet.org/economy/real-numbers-half-america-poverty-and-its-creeping-toward-75-0

Wealth gap widens as labor's share of income falls
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/wealth-gap-widens-labors-share-income-falls-1B6097385

As the Economy Recovers, the Wealth Gap Widens
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/rick-newman/2013/03/11/as-the-economy-recovers-the-wealth-gap-widens

Top One Percent Captured 121 Percent Of All Income Gains
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/12/top-one-percent-income-gains_n_2670455.html

Corporate Profits Hit Record High While Worker Wages Hit Record Low
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/12/03/1270541/corporate-profits-wages-record/?mobile=nc


These things ^ do NOT happen by accident.
They take careful planning, preparation, marketing, buying the right politicians, message control, courts packed with Conservative Corporate Rights Judges, and the marginalization and suppression of any opposition.


[font size=5 color=firebrick]Solidarity99%![/font]

[marym625]

25. have room for more?

Pretty picture you draw. To state what you just did and still have hope is what might get us through.

Problem is, as someone else stated, those with the money do not care.

Thanks for all the links!

[Safetykitten]

37. Yes it is. The opening to make a significant difference was passed.

We have a President who is more than comfortable as a care-taker President and watch as we are sold don the river by his pals.

[marym625]

38. sadly, yes.

Actually he's worse than that

[HardTimes99]

41. It's not too late, but people have to be willing to make massive

sacrifices and place their futures at risk. I have seen little sign that the vast majority of Americans are anywhere near ready to make those sacrifices or take those risks. Thus, we shall continue sliding down the slippery slope your third paragraph so aptly details.

[marym625]

61. Thank you

I very much appreciate that. This is only my third post so I'm grateful for any feedback.

I'm more than willing to make sacrifices. My problem is not knowing where to focus my efforts. If things were a little closer to normal, I would put my efforts toward women's rights, more specifically getting the ERA ratified, anti-bullying and equality for LGBT community.

However, I realize those are not the issues that will change where we're headed.

[deutsey]

46. I heard an interview yesterday with someone who was a citizen of the former USSR

He said what he sees happening in America reminds him of what he witnessed prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

[marym625]

49. well shit

That's frightening

[marym625]

52. some responses

Last edited Fri Jul 19, 2013, 01:51 AM - Edit history (1)

Put me in mind of the Six Million Dollar Man, "..we can rebuild it. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic country"

[factsarenotfair]

54. I think that if Obamacare succeeds, it will change the game in a positive way.

That's why Republicans are obsessed with destroying it. Obamacare could make it clear that red states are sociopathic and hopefully Americans will turn away from that.

[marym625]

56. one can hope

But damn! They are hell bent on killing it

[factsarenotfair]

58. Yes they are.

And it looks to me like the media is helping them.

[marym625]

63. considering who owns

most of the largest media outlets, that's not surprising

[woo me with science]

59. BWAH HA HA HA HA.

The mandate was the goal, and they got that.

Care? Affordability? Pfffffft.

[factsarenotfair]

60. It's already saved us thousands of dollars not spent on tests.

And we're hoping that premiums will go down for our next renewal.

[marym625]

65. I haven't read the whole thing yet

I hate to admit. But I do have one relative and one friend that received life saving care for nothing because of it. Care they didn't have access to without it

[Myrina]

55. Susan Brooks - nutbag senator in Indiana - wants to change the 'check box' on tax forms ...

... so instead of donating to the Federal Election fund (which she claims nobody uses anyway, so why have public funding cough cough)
people can choose to donate that money to 'medical research'.

Yeah, because Lilly, Pfizer & Glaxo need so much more of our money, right?
Chances are they'd just turn around and donate it to anti-regulation candidates in the next election, anyway.

[marym625]

57. indiana has gone nuts

I'm sure you are correct. Sneaky bitch that she is.

[AZ Progressive]

66. It's not too late, however the amount of effort needed is incredible and unprecedented...

[marym625]

67. So do we do nothing?

That can't be the answer. Whether we fight to save what we have left of our freedom and return to some semblance of normal and right, or we try to build something new, we need to do something.
I will not pretend I have the answers or have the know how to organize an effort that could make a change. But I am willing to try.
It seems pretty clear to me that unless we change how elections are run, we cannot change anything else. We need the koch brothers out of Congress. We need Murdoch out of elections. We need Goldman Sachs out of everything.

Until then, we cannot win. The people in this country lose