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KoKo

(84,711 posts)
2. And, Why Is This? We worked so Hard for Change......How can this be?
Mon Nov 30, 2015, 09:36 PM
Nov 2015
One of the curious dynamics in American society today is that “bad” people are more organized, and making better use of time, than “good” people. That is not to suggest this is either new, or true across the board. However, I am convinced that the rates of organized action has been expanding with the “bad” people, creating greater difficulties for those “good” people who are social-political activists and organizers.

This afternoon, on CNN, there was a “discussion” that featured a rabid republican and a gentle Democrat, regarding the gross violence aimed at Planned Parenthood. Locally, I know for a fact that Planned Parenthood has offered free services to a number of young men, primarily in the context of couples considering family planning. But, even if PP only offered services to females, it is of such value that every man should be actively supporting it.


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And THIS from DU POST AND LINKS, Today?

And, Joe Bageant (Deer Hunting With Jesus & other books)
Website:

http://joebageant.net/

Rep. Keith Ellison has "Deer Hunting With Jesus" as one of his top Book Recommends:



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In Response to This Post:

The AGE of the DEMAGOGUES -- Chris Hedges -- MUST READ

http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/the_age_of_the_demagogues_20151129

excerpt:

A faux liberal class, epitomized by amoral politicians such as the Clintons and Barack Obama, has led many disenfranchised people, especially the white underclass, to direct a legitimate rage toward liberals and the supposed liberal values they represent. Racism, bigotry, religious intolerance, homophobia, sexism and vigilante violence, condemned by liberal, college-educated elites, are embraced by those who have been betrayed, those who now speak back to liberal elites in words, gestures and acts, sometimes violent, designed to denigrate the core values of a liberal democracy. The hatred is the product of a liberal class that did nothing to halt corporations from driving tens of millions of families into poverty and desperation as it mouthed empty platitudes about rights and economic advancement.

The Republican business elites, which declared war on the liberal class’ call for cultural diversity, allied themselves with an array of protofascists in the Christian right, the tea party, groups such as the National Rifle Association and The Heritage Foundation, the neo-Confederate movement, the right-to-life movement and right-wing militias. The elites in the Republican Party, who needed an ideological veneer to mask their complicity in the corporate assault, saw these protofascists as useful idiots. They thought, naively, that by demonizing liberals, feminists, African-Americans, Muslims, abortion providers, undocumented workers, intellectuals and homosexuals they could redirect the growing rage of the masses, sending it against the vulnerable, as well as against the only institution that could curb corporate power, the government, while they greedily disemboweled the nation.

But what the Republican elites have done, as they now realize to their horror, is empower a huge swath of the public—largely white—that is gripped by magical thinking and fetishizes violence. It was only a matter of time before a demagogue whom these elites could not control would ride the wave of alienation and rage. If Trump fails in his bid to become the GOP presidential nominee, another demagogue will emerge to take his place. Trump is not making a political revolution. He is responding to one.

The corporate state was never threatened by the liberal class’ myopic preoccupation with cultural diversity or the right wing’s championing of supposedly “Christian” values. This was anti-politics masquerading as politics. The culture wars did not challenge imperialism, neoliberalism and globalization. The dictates of the market, the primacy of corporate profit and the military-industrial complex remained sacrosanct. The mounting distress of the underclass was ignored or manipulated during the culture wars. Liberals who embraced cultural diversity did so within a neoliberal framework. Feminism, for example, became about placing individual women in positions of power—this is Hillary Clinton’s mantra—not about empowering poor, marginalized and oppressed women. Post-racial America became about a black president.....”


85http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027396652
Dystopia of Endless Night [View all] H2O Man Nov 2015 OP
Thank you for sharing these thoughtful and powerful passages. Crystalite Nov 2015 #1
Thank you. H2O Man Nov 2015 #5
And, Why Is This? We worked so Hard for Change......How can this be? KoKo Nov 2015 #2
Very good! H2O Man Nov 2015 #6
There's defintely a "lull" in Progressive Activity Support... KoKo Dec 2015 #23
Oh, you nailed it! H2O Man Dec 2015 #25
The wind that shakes the barley. Zorra Nov 2015 #3
Thank you! H2O Man Nov 2015 #7
Kick. nt Laffy Kat Nov 2015 #4
Thank you, Laffy Kat! H2O Man Nov 2015 #8
Are you going to do a sweat? panader0 Nov 2015 #9
Yes. H2O Man Nov 2015 #12
Well stated and much of what I have been pondering 2naSalit Nov 2015 #10
The past few days H2O Man Nov 2015 #13
You're welcome. 2naSalit Dec 2015 #17
I tell my son H2O Man Dec 2015 #19
Eloquent mmonk Nov 2015 #11
Thank you! H2O Man Nov 2015 #14
When you mentioned what you were mmonk Dec 2015 #15
Yep. H2O Man Dec 2015 #16
I will come back tomorrow to read in full. As always, thank you for your thoughtfulness. Hekate Dec 2015 #18
Thank you! H2O Man Dec 2015 #26
Best. Ever. librechik Dec 2015 #20
Thanks! H2O Man Dec 2015 #27
The "bad people" are paid, quite well I hear, to be bad. raouldukelives Dec 2015 #21
We have something more valuable. mmonk Dec 2015 #22
Good points. H2O Man Dec 2015 #31
Thanks for that. mmonk Dec 2015 #33
Well done! H2O Man Dec 2015 #29
Nice turn of phrase... haikugal Dec 2015 #34
K&R, with gratitude. n/t OneGrassRoot Dec 2015 #24
Thank you. H2O Man Dec 2015 #30
You are an amazing writer, H2O Man. Octafish Dec 2015 #28
Thank you very much. H2O Man Dec 2015 #32
Simon & Garfunkle Warned Us....Way Back There...When..."The Sounds of Silence." KoKo Dec 2015 #35
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