Devilstower finished by saying:
In a high school history book, the fall of the Roman Republic is usually dated to the point were Julius Caesar, in defiance of Senate "micromanagement," ordered his legions across the Rubicon to end effective representative oversight. However, at the time, the Romans didn't see it that way. They continued to call themselves a republic for years. Decades. Long after Caesar, they kept up the hollow pretense of a senate, marching in each day to pass laws that the executive of their day did not follow, and direct armies that moved only at the emperor's command.
The Bush administration is, as Devilstower said, waist deep in the Rubicon. The only question now is whether we the citizens will drive them back to the bank, or else decide by our inaction that we are only play-acting at democracy, the the great American Experiment in self-government is a failure and a lie.
The administration is "crossing the Rubicon." We need to be on the other side of the river, calling out in a firm, united voiice, "Yeah. Go ahead - cross this river and see what happens." And by "we," I mean We the People. It really is up to us. Do we want to live in a nominal democracy, or a real one? The next election is in two years. We don't have anywhere near that long. We have mere days, or weeks at the very least, to make them stop this.
I've written a few meta-type diaries, and a few more personal ones. This is my first action diary, and I'm jumping in with both feet.
The American people, united in purpose, have more power than any of the three branches of Government. I've heard a lot of noise in the Administration about how various people "serve at the pleasure of the President." Well, guess what, talking-point-spewing proto-fascists? The president and congress serve at My and My Fellow Citizens' pleasure. All of you folks are accountable to US.
What I propose is this: begin emergancy planning for implementing the following two national actions by April 10th at the latest:
1. A General Strike (work stoppage). A rent strike. A mortgage-payment strike. No buying anything beyond what is absolutely necessary to survive. No sending children to school, and no teachers teaching them. No university student attending classes, and no professors or TAs teaching them. This will require an absolutely massive coordination effort, and I think websites like this can play a critical role.
The main effort must be on a more "personal contact" level, however. Each of us must take responsibility for our citizenship by talking to our co-workers, friends, small-business owners, members of our congregations in our churches, synagogues and mosques, classmates in our college classrooms, fellow union members in our local, PTA members - any place where we gather and talk to fellow citizens. Our democracy is in critical danger. We must defend it.
2. The largest mass-demonstrations in history. We citizens must gather in Washington, and other major cities, and demonstrate in truly massive numbers. Anyone whose freedom is in danger (all citizens) should go to Washington to say, "No." Congress needs to be unequivocal that they damn well DO have the power to hold the Executive accountable, any son of a bitch in the administration or anywhere else that expresses ambivalence on the point needs to be out on his ass right now. Not "after consultation" with his boss, but right. freaking. NOW. And we, the citizens, need to insist in an undeniable way that congress do just that - with the understanding that if they don't, we will peacefully and non-violently deprive both branches of their legitimacy and then do it ourselves.
This Is That Serious.
