Watching the Democrats, one would think that they never gave up believing in Santa Claus.
Like little kids in December, they seem to believe that just by being nice, Santa will deliver the gifts: election victories and control of the Congress.
The Republicans know better. They analyze, they scheme, they think things through, they act aggressively and ruthlessly, and thus they win.
Unfortunately, the Democrats never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. And opportunities aplenty are coming their way which, for the most part, they simply ignore. For example, when one of their number, Senator Russ Feingold, speaks up with a loud and eloquent voice, he is told to shut up. Demanding censure of the outlaw President, he is told by his own party, is "not nice."
One begins to wonder if the Democratic Party really wants to win in November. If they keep on behaving as they have, and if conditions remain essentially as they are now, they won't win.
Why is this so obvious to so many people and not to the Democratic strategists? It just boggles my mind.
Now take a look at this passage:
Critics who use "the F-word" (Fascism) to describe the Bush regime are denounced as "shrill" and "irresponsible." Are they? Consider this: when Bush signs bills from the Congress forbidding torture and warrantless surveillance, he issues "signing statements" which states that he is free to ignore these laws when, at his discretion, he chooses to do so. And now this: "Last month ... President Bush signed into law a bill that never passed the house." In effect, this demotes the Congress of the United States from a law-making to an "advisory" body. Add to that the fact that Bush and his party are "elected" with privately owned and operated, unverifiable "black box" voting machines and compilers, conveniently provided by GOP partisans. So it comes to this: rule by decree by a "leader" who has placed himself above the law and beyond recall by the voters. If this does not define a "dictatorship," I don't know what does.
Meanwhile, the Congress, the courts, the media, the Democratic Party, and public acquiesce in silence.
We've not fully descended to totalitarianism. Dissent, however muted, is still tolerated. (But don't you dare protest within sight or earshot of "Our Leader"). Those of us who continue to criticize the regime have not yet been charged with "thought-crime," and sent to "re-education camps." Not yet.
So the task before us is not to protect our democracy; it's too late for that. Our task is to restore our democracy, to re-institute the government we once had, "deriving [its] just powers from the consent of the governed."
I wonder how long it's going to be before dissent is not tolerated. If we don't do something soon - while it is still possible - we may, indeed, end up feeling our regrets in the camps.
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