CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?
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From: Bruce S.
Date: Wednesday, January 20, 2010, 9:29 AM
Subject: Can you hear me now?
Reply to: 269581
ID: 269584

Dear JaneAnne -- good to get your message. I've thought a lot about what you've said on this network over the past year, and some of your experiences -- how you called the Whitehouse switchboard -- and then two weeks later, Obama announces his surge in Afghanistan, and how you felt about that....

I think your experience has been typical of many people, who have gone through something similar. This big tension between "keeping the faith" -- and turning on the news and seeing what is actually happening...

For me, yes, I'm still keeping the faith. Like millions of Americans -- the polls generally tell us that Obama is still very popular with the people, despite their unhappiness with policy -- I still like Obama. I still believe in the guy, and I have seen something in him that I found profoundly beautiful. That hasn't changed.

But -- some other things have....

When I was advocating for Obama, and thrilled at his election -- I was thinking and feeling that "the people" were going to play a big role in this new administration. I was looking at the MyBO system -- and seeing a tremendous potential for bringing this country together. Network Integration, pull the people together, pull the voices together, this is going to be fantastic....

But what happened? As soon as Obama won the election, MyBO morphed into OFA, and became a strictly top-down tool of the Democratic National Committee. Now, instead of working closely with the spirit of Obama, we're all expected to take marching orders from Washington. The way to show your love is to salute on command and do the assigned tasks. Your voice is nothing -- you elected the dems, now you take orders from the dems...

Immediately -- in 30 seconds -- I could feel the lights starting to dim...

And the way it looks to me is -- it's been a steady progression in that direction. More and more allegiance to the power establishment, less and less contact with the people and the nation.

Now, yes -- maybe some of this had to happen, there's an argument that this incredibly huge bailout thing had to happen or things would be much worse. And maybe yes, since the Titanic did not sink to the bottom, too many of us tend to forget. Maybe Obama (and Bush??) did indeed head off a much worse economic disaster.

But something sho don't smell right. Them Wall Street guys and the bankers having a bigger year than ever? And this health care thing, that was going to be so "transparent" -- ending up hugely complicated and put together behind closed doors, in ways that appear to be bought by big insurance and big pharma (ever noticed who advertises on MSNBC??)

My bottom line on this right now is -- Obama just couldn't really do it. It was apparently just too much to hope for. He's locked into a top-down power establishment and all the people who supposedly "know what they are doing" are part of that establishment. So, he can't be with us anymore -- he's with them now...

And you know what -- America hates that....

That's what we are furious about.

That's what the tea-party stuff is about.

A couple of months ago, I had lunch with Max Pappas, a young guy high up in the ranks of Freedom Works -- Dick Armey and company. We talked about the Teabaggers -- and he more or less agreed that when that movement first started happening, those people didn't really know what they were doing. They just felt the huge encroachment of the Federal government, looming over them in undefined ways, and threatening their vision of the American Way. We thought they were loony-tunes -- "rebels without a cause". They didn't make any sense.

But now -- that movement is starting to make a lot more sense. And this new Senator from Massachusetts, that's what he was saying last night. He didn't say once that he was a republican - he said he was an independent, and that this was "the people's seat". The voters are becoming furious with the dems now, yes, that's true. But they have been furious with the republicans for a long time.

What's left?

The people.

Don't put 'em in a box, don't call them some category, don't try to label them. Everybody is different, everybody is independent, everybody is free.

And to your question, JaneAnne -- about what we do next -- I'd say the answer is

We come up with a new way to organize ourselves -- that does not depend on the two-party system.

Just hear me now. You guys with wax in your ears, so angry you won't listen to anything -- just cool it for a second. There are 200 million people on Facebook. Obama did amazing things with MyBO, with just 13 million.

If we could define a new political movement that is based on EVERYBODY -- not right, not left, not progressive, not conservative, not moderate -- but EVERYBODY -- and we came up with a way to do that -- we could could release some tremendous power.

This new political movement -- could become an immense force on the scene.

Like a political lobby -- a huge influence -- kind of like the 70's organization "Common Cause" -- that took on everything from the center, and spoke for the People.

You become a big-enough political force -- and forget "the parties" -- they are a screwed-up mess -- you get powerful, and in-synch, and you know what you are doing -- congress and everybody is going to listen.

If you want to "take sides" in the circular firing squad of the existing political parties, have a ball. But if you want to come together with the American People, and start working it out as One Nation, One People -- then you join this new coalition and alliance, you form or join local groups, and you include your local congess-person....

That's where this is going, guys.

The People -- the voice of the people -- rising up from the grass, rising up from everywhere. Yes, "fed up and not going to take this anymore" -- but noticing that these people around us, these neighbors, these fellow Americans -- they are some great folks. Let's settle down, let's talk about this, we can work this out...

That guy over there, he's been an M.D. for 30 years, he knows a little something about health care. And so does that nurse. And that hospital administrator, and that technician, and that insurance specialist and that nursing home person and that lady with the chronic health condition....

And you know what -- a couple of those folks are progressives, and a couple are conservatives and one or two are independents -- and between them, sitting at that table, they got a lot of good ideas. And all in the same room like that -- it doesn't take long before they start to become friends -- to realize that these political differences ain't that big a deal -- what really matters is our common humanity and our common concern with this messed-up health care situation.

This is where it's going, gang. If the media's not telling you this, it's because they are so jacked up on all their political expertise and all that fancy language they use to talk about how the game is played. They love the battleground, they can sell lots of tickets....

But the people are tired of that game, and are looking for something new. And there's something new coming. Get on the sunlight express....

--- On Wed, Jan 20, 2010, in msg269581, JaneAnne Jeffries Johnson wrote ---

Hi, Bruce and Sharon:

I see it as you see it, Bruce. Obama is in the ivory tower. Beyond that, I believe he is taking orders from the military/industrial complex. I only had 'hope' because he did. I figured if he could lend his heart and soul to this primarily racist country and put his life on the line, I would support him all the way.

Now, I think he has bargained for his life. I'm fine with the bargain, because I don't want him to die. But I'm back to wishing the USA were not my country. I'm back to thinking how stupid I was to have 'hope,' when I knew this republican form of government was not a democracy and did not represent me.

As for the media, I'm awaiting Oprah's network. She gives me hope. I believe she is moral to the core. I'm certainly tired of hearing the wealthy give their reasons that they should maintain their wealth while the rest of us suffer. Oprah makes use of her money for common causes.

What happened to Haiti can happen anywhere. The difference is that Haiti has been relegated to abject poverty. There is something very immoral about a world in which nature is subjugated by the wealthy for personal gain. Is it any wonder that Haitians have been able to survive under the rubble for all these days? They have been living on next to nothing for centuries.

I'm wondering who in this country feels represented by Congress, other than the insurance industry. I guess it would be those who are members of big corporations, banks, and the insurance industry itself. I guess I could add the top brass of the military--the ones who don't get killed in combat.

Those of us who are subject to job loss or pay cuts certainly must outnumber the fat cats. The question is: What do we do now?

JaneAnne *

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