Back from another hiatus caused by my inability to process Bush and all the damage wrought. For 7+ years we’ve pointed out the lies and mistakes, we’ve accurately predicted the inevitable disasters, and we’ve called in vain for somebody in power to take a stand against this awful, awful man.
The ’06 elections returned real power to the Dems and allowed us to believe again in American democracy. For about a month, until our new leaders made clear that they would continue to kiss the ring and bow to the idiot demands of this awful, awful man.
But an end is finally in sight — to him, at least, though his many crimes will plague us for years — so the muse is shaking off the rust and dusting off the keyboard.
While I rediscover my own voice,  here’s a little from Scott Ritter, one of few who has been right about Iraq from the very beginning:
The collective refusal of any constituent in this complicated mix of political players to confront Bush on Iraq virtually guarantees that it will be the Bush administration, and not its successor, that will dictate the first year (or more) of policy in Iraq for the next president. It also ensures that the debacle that is the Bush administration’s overarching Middle East policy of regional transformation and regime change in not only Iraq but Iran and Syria will continue to go unchallenged. If the president is free to pursue his policies, it could lead to direct military intervention in Iran by the United States prior to President Bush’s departure from office or, failing that, place his successor on the path toward military confrontation. At a time when every data point available certifies (and recertifies) the administration’s actions in Iraq, Iran and elsewhere (including Afghanistan) as an abject failure, America collectively has fallen into a hypnotic trance, distracted by domestic economic problems and incapable, due to our collective ignorance of the world we live in, of deciphering the reality on the ground in the Middle East.
I am 31 years old. I had all but changed my worldview to a truly Buddhist, non-dualist perspective in which everything is a creation of my own energy force and intention, and in which I wouldn’t dream of wearing or sending political messages because all the change I was looking for could be accomplished in meditation. I thought all I had to do was change my mind.
Well, I changed my mind. And I’ve been e-blasting and spamming people like crazy to let people know. I cannot do it alone, and neither can you. But if we step out of our crippled worldviews and ask each other for help and hope, we can have the world we want. Yes, we can. If we are willing to shed the tears that are aching to fall, and we are willing to believe in something else, we can have something new. Yes, we can. If we can reacquaint politics with civics we can see politicians as people again, deserving not only of our respect, but of our active accountability. We can hold them responsible again and reclaim our participation. Yes, we can. Voting is not enough.
Believe, get mad if you have to, get sappy like me and send this to everyone you know, and don’t be afraid to be laughed at.
This only works if those of us who believe actually cradle others who are jaded and let them know that it is safe to believe again. If you want America, here it is. But voting is not enough. Stir people up, start with yourself and then speak up.
Yes, we can.
If my words have given you even a moment’s pause, please share this with everyone you know.
kecb
……..Do not ask yourself what the world needs. Find what makes you come alive and go do it because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
~ Harold Thurman Whitman