And now we must really be vigilant.
When an animal is cornered it will fight for its life. And the Republican party -- as it has been since first being highjacked by radical corporate-fascist interests -- is cornered.
One result of the health care legislation victory -- not for Democrats but for all Americans -- is that people who formerly opposed All Things Obama will come to learn that they benefit from his being leader in ways their previously obstructionist approach would never allow. They will, in fact, be reminded of an America they dreamed of, that they were told could be achieved only at the point of a gun, the shaking of a finger or the threat of damnation. But it will be an America that functions as the founders truly envisioned: through patient, open, Democratic process in which the facts are known and the virtues and vices are clearly stated.
The other result is violence.
As we saw during the presidential election, people could be whipped into frenzies by wolves in conservatively cut skirt suits and lapel pins; they could be encouraged to engage in uncivil disobedience and low-brow invective by greed-bloated media magnates who broadcast from heavily guarded booths.
And those who have tasted blood have a hard time going back to salad.
What about those who have taken "going rogue" literally and are prepared to, out of loyalty to their humiliated, defeated leadership who so casually spun the most vile of crypto-racist fantasies, carry their cause to the death?
We saw their red, quivering faces, heard their endlessly regurgitated talking points, read their misspelled signage. We blanched when they brought guns to gatherings, hurled Nazi salutes while brandishing the American flag and took cues from Fox News producers at "grass roots" rallies.
And we know the truth about the way Americans "lose." And it ain't pretty.
So now, We The Majority, We The People must be vigilant and form a phalanx around this momentous movement toward equity and sanity. Health Care legislation, even in its nascent, not wholly perfect form, is only the beginning. The possibilities for a better America, a better world, are as endless and boundless as hope itself.
And now we must really be vigilant.
Follow Steven Weber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@TheStevenWeber
We all like to criticize and make fun our Congresspersons from time-to-time, and lord knows they deserve it sometimes.
However, watching our Democratic Congresspersons march straight through those snarling throwbacks to an age when caves were called home, and marching, head's held high in defiance of those tiny minds, I felt a deep respect for those servants of the peolple.
Servants even to those who would spit on them and hurl crude dispicable epithets at them, for trying to bring them a better nation for their children's children to grow up in.
And how sad for our nation, to watch the Republican Congressperson's cheering on those who brought back to the present, the cruel face of mindless bigotry we'd hoped would never dare show it's face so publically again. SHAME, SHAME, SHAME!
Your call to vigilance is most apropos. We cannot allow the mob, nor the one's who fan the mob's unfounded fears and ignorant hatred, to stand in the way of putting USS United States back on course, away from the shallowness she's been aground on for far too long.
there are some out there who have reached the tippng point. bring your guns to washington? really?
what happened to homeland security? if it had been announced during shrubs reign, you can bet your
great aunt bessie the national guard would be on duty!
Many are people for whom as recent as a few days hence the bill was poison. Michael Moore did an interview in which he mocked the fecklessness of Democrats, including imitating the voice of one who "kinda wants to do the right thing, but..." and now he's donning the garb and playing the role in earnest.
Another example is Kucinich, who gave no reason for voting for it other than not derailing the presidency. His reasoning was puzzling, to say the least.
I doubt that stating my opinion regarding this new law, and your subsequent debate with me would change either of our beliefs. I knew the bill well enough, as well as the arguments for and against it, and my opinion hasn't changed.
The nutsy right has always been a given in my mind. What bothers me is that after all the attempts to get an unwilling party on board, people actually believe that the other party - to weak to assert itself regarding the strength of this reform - is actually going to suddenly have the guts to get what is needed though reconciliation.
So I'm sorry if my hope fails to serve a counterbalance to my belief.
My how sad the conservatives will be reading that.
The problem of 40% not favoring passage of the bill WILL CHANGE dramically, once they see how this bill will help the, almost immediately. THEN take another poll, and what those numbers drop!!
OH YES WE DID!!
Well talk about "derangement". These "Party of NO" folks are completely bats/hit insane. I mean off their rocker. Calling elected officials (or anyone, for that matter) the "N" word, the "F" word, breaking their office windows, threatening their KIDS!
And now they can get real caffeinated while carrying a loaded weapons into the nearest Starbucks, which is within walking distance from just about anywhere.
I mean, I hated GWB. The arrogance, the mayhem, the smirking carelessness, heartlessness. And his cynical use of the real axis of evil - media, government, corporations - now that WAS fascism.
But never did it dawn on me to incite anyone to violence. Vote vote vote vote, we said. Sue, sue, sue, ACLU, environmental groups, petition petition petition. Stop the madness within the legal system (silly liberals, we). But not "we've got guns" or some sort of version of crystalnacht.
These people frighten me. They think a legitimate election (sans lawsuits and ballot wrangling) is a coup, a moderate President is at once a fascist/communist/socialist, it's at once imperialistic and redistributes wealth. Craziness. Bachmann says health care is the Jewel in the Crown of Socialism. Ugh, Michelle, socialists don't belive in monarchy (see: crown). Shees.
Crazy AND stupid. A very dangerous combination.