Impeachment by the People
By Howard Zinn
The Progressive February 2007 Issue
Courage is in short supply in Washington, D.C. The realities of the Iraq War cry out for the overthrow of a government that is criminally responsible for death, mutilation, torture, humiliation, chaos. But all we hear in the nation’s capital, which is the source of those catastrophes, is a whimper from the Democratic Party, muttering and nattering about “unity” and “bipartisanship, “in a situation that calls for bold action to immediately reverse the present course.
“Courage is in short supply in Washington, D.C… Impeach…”
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This is so good I posted this on my site too…(a few days) nice to see his work is being seen & hopefully read too.
This is a series of responses to Howard Zinns letter at: http://www.alternet.org/rights/47467/?comments=view&cID=510342&pID=509078#c510342
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Posted by: MAD on Feb 3, 2007 8:42 AM
So, are all you big Dem fans satisfied that your votes served a greater purpose? Remember all that fierce talk about electing leaders who would hold Bush accountable? Remember how many people warned you that electing the Democrats, rather than looking at alternatives, would only end in disappointment? SO, sorry yet?
I understand that there were not viable alternatives in every instance, but honestly, how goddamn stupid are we? We know that politics is the nexus of money, corruption and greed, and D.C. has become nothing more than a corporate whorehouse where our elected officials pimp themselves to the highest bidder. AIPAC and the Big Oil Lobby come to mind. So I ask you, how does this resemble a democracy in any way?
With all due respect Howard, your naivete is touching and your books are amazing but I think you’re getting a little long in the tooth to be holding on to such romantic notions of a Democrat-sponsored revolt. The hour is getting late and the only people we have ever been able to count on HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH POLITICS! Enough with this silly talk of the Dems impeaching Bush. That was taken OFF THE TABLE, remember? They meant it.
Now, how about growing some balls and taking action youselves? How about civil disobedience on such a scale that there is no “overlooking” it? Let’s shut down several metropolitan areas and force them to face the prospect of having to arrest tens of thousands of us at a time. Let’s put those damn KBR camps to good use! Let’s start parking tractor trailors and CAT front-end loaders right on main street and shut down traffic and commerce. Let’s blockade the entrances to Exxon stations and Wal-Marts. You’ll be amazed how quickly things get rolling when the big boys are threatened.
Time to show the world that we are not the pathetic, sorry ass cowards they think we are, and I’m beginning to believe we are. Oh, that’s right – I forgot. Americans are real big talkers but not much for action. We can’t be troubled to do more than cast a vote every four years, then it’s back to the status quo. Say what you want about the conservatives, but they certainly do more than talk!
Thanks for the speeches, but we need more than blind faith in politicians. What do we do when one group of politicians gets us into trouble? Turn to another group! Give me a break! Politicians aren’t good for much and they certainly aren’t going to fix this mess. We do it or it won’t get done. Why is that so hard to understand?
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I’m in total agreement with this, that it IS time to take the bull by the horns… that it will SOON be too late- forever – if we continue to leave it to the same politicians who do nothing but stall and yammer…! (there is basically not much difference in them, beneath the ‘labels’ they wear. They ALL share ONE major interest: their own personal advancment. How about some SERIOUS ACTION now, start by passing it along to every action group, reposting on as many places as possible…??? (hell, we’ve tried “mandating” and petitioning and street protests) HOW’S THAT WORKING FOR US?
The first thing that has to happen is the hardest thing of all… getting all the action groups to co-operate! I have said so many times since Bush first stole our country: A million Man March does NOTHING when the million men are marching in different directions, on different days…. ImpeachforPeace did make an excellent atempt to get cohesion when they had people writing letters to Pelosi on jan 15th… and to her local office, not to DC where mail is manipulated by HS…
If we could convince some of the Biggest Activists like MoveOn.org and some of the Hollywood people, this can actually be accomplished.
You have to realize that there are just soooo many people in this country now, that half a million screams aren’t going to even be heard in DC… For a reality check, take a look at the morning traffic commute in any of our huge cities, and try to understand how many of those braindead folks couldn’t care less about anything but what’s happening in their own personal day. Not to be discouraging -!- I just want to impress upon you all that it is IMPERATIVE to connect all the action groups for ONE enormous display – one that truly CAN and WILL be heard in every living room and BOARD ROOM in America!
When is the next big protest? March ? …we should each spend an hour or two per day, just making posts to any/all action groups, forums, comments sections we can find, asking for cohesion. What suggestions? Naturally, it is best to use a protest already being planned and that is already fairly well known… then EXPAND it
The Corporate Media monopoly has made it very, very hard for any grassroots accomplishment………….
but we H-A-V-E to try to get past them!!!