by Michael Arvey
OpEdNews.com
It's going to be a nasty, tough election year and certainly the most
crucial one in this nation's history. It'll be a knock-down,
street-fighting, no-holds-barred donnybrook. And with rampant voting
machine fraud promulgated by Republicans a likely prospect (see
www.blackboxvoting.com, and a NY Times editorial on voting glitches,
Jan.18, 2003, "Fixing
Democracy"), will that most enshrined of
democratic rights, the vote, even make a difference?
And in this countdown to election day, count on the hard-right, rank and
file armies to besiege any disagreement with, or criticism of, the current
U.S. regime, and to pile on their targets while they're at it. They're
already pouring out of the cracks in every letters-to-the-editor column
across the country and on
web sites. Their trumpet call's been blown: Protect the front man at all
costs. React, attack, spit, fume and foam, smear, belittle, weary them
down. Whatever
it takes.
I'm becoming too much of a realist. As much as I'd like to see Bush
clearing brush along a scorching, Texas highway rather than remain a de
facto-like president, no matter what happens in the next ten months, I
think Bush will be the Man again in 2004. His re-appointment will either
be orchestrated by the
aforementioned means, or as a result of another attack on U.S. soil.
Without these avenues, he stands to lose and the Bush administration is
more than aware of this.
Here's my logic: If Bush has the election in the bag, why vote? Why
contribute to a corrupted system? Why lend it any more energy, any more
facade of
legitimacy? Let BushCo purloin the presidency again. With four more years
of corporate rule and its ensuing feudalism, their me-only policies will
surely hasten the utter collapse of this country--all its economic,
ecological, medical and social edifices and infrastructures. In fact,
that's probably their
goal--why not make it ours, carpe diem? Even dumbed down and enblinded
citizens will be able see the dark scribbling on the wall. Despite all its
noble-sounding platitudes and rhetoric, nothing this administration has
done to date has benefited the average citizen.
Even a heavy sleeper will wake up when he's slugged in the face by the
wooden bats of reality.
After the fall and past the ensuing chaos, and assuming we aren't
completely ensnared by literal camps or by the high, internal borders of
technological fences, we can begin reconstructing our own country with our
(emphasis on our) money:
diminishing the out-of- control power and influence of corporatism and its
headlock on our collective lives; curbing an out-of-control Justice
Department
and its multi-fronted attacks on liberties and privacy; creating jobs
through new energy and ecology technologies (bring in and consult with the
indigenous
peoples of the planet), healthy living, and people-centered programs;
crafting an enlightened and workable, universal non-profit health care
system; put
the kibosh on this government, especially presidential powers and
privileges; absolutely pursue and enact campaign finance reconstruction;
by uncloaking the national security system; and by curtailing the new
tsunami of entitlements for the military, which the current government
clearly intends to use not only for
expanded warfare but also with which to militarize space-- from that
vantage point control and basically own the entire planet.
Those are just a few areas in our society that require urgent applications
of healing and rationality for our national security, characterized by
historian Howard Zinn: "I define national security as making sure
every American has health care, employment, decent housing, a clean
environment. I define national security as taking care of our people who
are losing jobs, taking care of our senior citizens, taking care of our
children."
( http://www.progressive.org/jan04/zinn0104.html
)
Why not let the collapse come and get it over with sooner than later?
Perhaps in the larger scheme of things Bush's unwitting presence will
influence a better future for us? Just speculating.
I'm being facetious about voting, by the way. It's our sole flicker of
momentary power in this, our beloved country, in which we might affect the
towers of entrenched authority.Even if they steal it with their rigged
machines, I'll not give it up and go gently into that nightmare envisioned
for us by BushCo.
Michael Arvey spiritmed@rocketmail.com Freelance writer, author, poet, teacher Boulder, Co. his article is copyright by Michael Arvey and originally published by opednews.com but permission is granted for reprint in print, email, blog, or web media so long as this credit paragraph is attached.
