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Demanding Truth, Justice and Accountability in Government

Netroots Activism: The New Foundation of American Democracy

Reed31463

Previously, I wrote about the tentative beginnings of the netroots movement (See comment #23). In the spirit of the long awaited announcement for the final update, printing, and distribution of John Conyers Jr's minority report the Constitution in Crisis in hardcopy, I am updating my historical analysis of our progress.

There is a time and a place for all things. Ten months ago there was an annoying DoD CIFA troll who advocated unmitigated anger. This manifested itself in the form of frothing at the mouth, screaming from the roof tops, and belittling Democrats. (See comment #26)

You are forgetting to mention the "watchful eyes" of the God damned cowards that are supposed to comprise the "opposition party". This partisan bullshit has got to STOP. The asshole democratic "leaders" are just as culpable in this mess as the faux conservatives are. The only opposition we see is whispered back door tsk tsks that are ALLOWED to be allocated to the back pages of the nation's compliant rags. People like Conyers need to stop writing these mewling letters, get together in groups, PUBLICLY, and start raising a God damned furor, LOUDLY. These cowardly sons of bitches are selling us out to the Monkey Boy and the Dick with their politics as usual inaction and mewling subservience.

The entire thread is worth a reviewing. Some of the frequent comment posters started to follow along with this sentiment. Others chose to ignore this bully. A few others, including myself, chose to challenge the tactics of this blog troll and bully.

Disruption was his agenda, but his attacks were not devoid of truth. His offensive rhetoric only served to discredit Democrats and paint the progressives in a poor light at a time when it was still necessary to garner support. There was still a lot of work to accomplish and the proper foundation needed to be built: many necessary facts were still in doubt and many Americans were still asleep.
(See comment #39). Therefore, I and several others felt it was more prudent to rationally spread the truth rationally and appeal to middle ground congressmen before rushing headlong into attacks of unharnessed rage.

In December after the President admitted to warrantless surveillance, (which when looked back upon really amounts to treason (See comment #36)), the grassroots progressive activists (now self-dubbed netroots movement) began our meager operations. In January, the netroots called for the filibuster of Judge Alito. Originally, the Senate dems did not even consider a filibuster feasible, but after considerable pressure from calls and faxes, the Senate was forced to take a vote on a filibuster of Alito. Though the vote fell short for a filibuster, the netroots movement demonstrated it's ability to influence politics.

February brought us calls for congressional investigations into the NSA warrantless wiretapping programs, calls for investigations into impeachable offenses, the release of all Abu Ghraib pictures, a drunken Cheney shooting people in the face, the acceleration in the divisive Battle for Conyersblog (See comments #60 & 61), and tahoebasha1 releasing EMD's (emails of mass distraction).

Apparently, the netroots near success on the Alito filibuster caught the attention of the criminals in the Senate because in March, we were suddenly confronted with an unexpected vote for the renewal of the Patriot Act (See comment #21 & 32). The date that that vote was to occur was carefully kept secret. March also saw the culmination in the Battle for Conyersblog (See comments between Rusty and POA, especially comments 10-14), the beginning of the public smearing attempts on Congressman Conyers, Bush fleeing the US from sagging poll numbers, the truth exposed about the administrations response to Hurricane Katrina, the calls for impeachment and State Resolutions for impeachment gain traction, the facade that members of House and Senate are not NOT involved in facilitating the executive grab for power began to peel away.

The ensuing months of summer brought more evidence of the crime being committed in America. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Constitution in Hamdi v Rumsfeld and Hamdan v Rumsfeld: the netroots first true victories. Another victory came later in US District Court ACLU v NSA, where Judge Taylor ruled that NSA warrantless wiretaps were both unconstitutional and illegal. Media has begun to awake to the crime being perpetrated with Keith Olbermann taking the lead, followed by Lou Dobbs and a few others.

Well folks, the election is now less than three weeks away and here comes the irony: (See comment #64) What was once a wrong tactic is what now must occur.

You use your methods, I'll use mine. Eventually, you'll be using mine too. Thats where we are headed. I only hope my anger is contagious, because it is only a united and ANGRY citizenry that is going to turn this around.

With the Constitution in Crisis now in hardcopy, the eleventh hour has come. Now is the time to stop waiting for the Democrats and the Democratic leadership to gain their moral courage. It is time for the netroots movement to flex its muscle a little. We need to make the Democrats understand that they need to regain their spines and start acting like the representatives we hired them for. We need to get angry and send a message.

Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi et. al., need to understand where this started. It was the netroots movement that will eventually make them the majority leaders of the House and Senate. They need to understand what we expect: leadership. If they have a problem leading, then they should step aside in order to allow someone more capable of strong leadership. John Kerry demonstrated strong leadership at a fundraiser. President Clinton demonstrated strong leadership on FOX. We expect moral courage, personal accountability, and more than anything else, we expect justice.

Keith Olbermann's special commentaries demonstrate that the people want and need to hear the truth from public figures. His ratings and viewership are sky high. Those politician in the Democratic Party, who upon occasion, have found the courage within themselves to speak out, find their popularity also go sky high. But afterwards, when the inevitable attack comes from the paid GOP media attack dogs, the person just "goes away". The problem is no one else is speaking out too. Imagine 300 Democrat politicians calling Bush, Cheney, Specter, Hastert, Rumsfeld, Addington and Gonzales for what they truly are: liars, fascists, traitors, and war criminals. How would they spin this? How could they run away from the bright light of truth?

Right now, I get the feeling that Nancy Pelosi and others in the Democratic Party do not favor HR 635, 636, and/or 637. If Pelosi thinks that all we care about is universal health care, education, and the poor, she has another thing coming. I want every one of these MFers placed before The Hague and tried for war crimes. They perpetrated these crimes under the flag of my country America and committed these crimes in mine and your names.

I want America fully redeemed and the only way to do so is to bring those responsible to justice. And the only way to bring them to justice is through a leadership dedicated to accountability. So listen up Nancy and Harry! If you will not or cannot fulfill your responsibilities, we will find leaders who will. For far too long, Netroots activists have been demanding effective action, moral courage, and responsible leadership from you, but feeble posturing is all we have seen.

You still have not acknowledged that Netroots powered democracy is the only way America can be redeemed. You are still clinging to your illusions that coddling the corrupt political establishment in Washington is the only practical course to pursue. It is not practical, it is suicidal. Either help us reclaim America or get the hell out of our way. From this day forward, if you do not do everything in your power to hold these Republican criminals accountable, ALL OF YOU will be held accountable.

Comment # 1 ~ keenekarl ~ 10/05/2006 18:13 GMT

Obstruction of justice is a crime, and it has been nice, in these last few days, to see the truth sneak out from behind all of the walls of obstruction.

The truth haters couldn't catch this latest leak in their dike. Had they been on the ball, we never would have known. This latest revelation of truth quickly overwhelmed them before they could put up the walls of obstruction.

The Republican obstructionists were found lacking the mortar,bricks and whitewash needed to prevent this last onslaught of truth - and now they are overwhelmed.

This fulfills God's word about those who try to mislead people:

"They mislead my people by saying that all is well. All is certainly not well! They have put up a wall of loose stones, and then they have come and covered it with whitewash. Tell them that their wall is going to fall down. I will send a pouring rain. Hailstones will fall on it, and a strong wind will blow against it. The wall will collapse, and everyone will ask you what good the whitewash did." Now this is what the Sovereign LORD says: "In my anger I will send a strong wind, pouring rain, and hailstones to destroy the wall. I intend to break down the wall they whitewashed, to shatter it, and to leave the foundation stones bare...Then everyone will know that I am the LORD. "The wall and those who covered it with whitewash will feel the force of my anger. Then I will tell you that the wall is gone and so are those who whitewashed it--- those leaders who assured you that all was well, when all was not well!" The Sovereign LORD has spoken. (Ezekiel 13:10-16)

Their "cover" is being washed away. Now everyone can see the truth.

Comment # 2 ~ topperfalls ~ 10/05/2006 19:02 GMT

A letter to the editor relating to this topic:

Ambivalence (and that’s being kind) to child sexual predators. An endless, pointless war in Iraq. Osama bin Laden still free as a bird. The shame of Abromoff, Delay, Scooter and the horrors of Katrina (or is it the other way around?).

Anyone that votes Republican in November ought to have their citizenship revoked, because what’s happening under the Republicans in this country is soul-destroying at best, criminal at worst. Can any moral, thinking American want more of this?

Comment # 3 ~ Rusty ~ 10/05/2006 19:13 GMT

It's sickening. These Midterms shouldn't even be close.

Comment # 4 ~ Patriot ~ 10/05/2006 23:25 GMT

One page and one journalist are changing the course of history, good point.

I like the 'having citizenship revolked' for voting Rethug comment. That's so true.

You guys are so brilliant and on point. I'm humbled... as usual!