I will begin by saying I respect Lowell Feld and Raising Kaine. I'm a regular visitor and I often agree with what Lowell posts. "BUT," no one and nothing is perfect and I think some criticism is in order. I remember being the lone blogger who broke the silence on Israel’s invasion of Lebanon when no one in VA was blogging this. I was surprised that this huge topic was being ignored then I heard a rumor that Lowell would rather not have this topic blogged and bantered about; it might interfere with the Dem's Senatorial campaign. Whether or not that rumor is correct I have no knowledge. But enforced conformity always raises my hackles.
I’m having difficulty with Lowell's recent rant about some pics of the latest march against the war. He came to some erroneous conclusions. First—that the march consisted mainly of “whackos.” Obviously Lowell has not been marching. The march in January, for example, consisted mostly of folks that looked like they came from suburbia… Most marches these days look like middle suburbia and include large contingents of veterans and active duty military (out of uniform of course). Middle America is on the march Lowell.
The fact that folks armed with their cameras are often attracted to the folks dressed up in costume (Underneath the costume maybe a high school teacher or military person currently serving) and some signs aren’t on message does not equal “whacko.” From what I have seen in the corporate media the message did not get distorted and the organizers stayed on message also. (I do agree with the concept that an action needs to stay on message as much as possible...I’ve seen some different groups show up at local HR actions with their own message and this has “disrupted” what we had planned. But let’s not go to an extreme and throw the baby out with the bath...and banish anyone who is not a card carrying capitalist from our ranks.)
I’m particularly offended at Lowell’s suggestion that only "normal folk" are worthy of being counted in the progressive movement. The underlying assumption is that these "normal folk" are capitalists. The whole free trade issue that has caused so much harm in the world is proof enough that our current economic system needs some serious adjusting. What that adjustment should be I don’t think anyone has the entire answer and it will take lots of creative and “DIVERSE” thinking to come up with an optimum answer.
I see a lot wrong with the American Capitalist system and how everything is weighted to favor powerful corporations over the rights of the individual. I see nothing in the current Republican or Democratic party that is working to correct this. My hat is off to Jim Webb b/c he is one of the few Dems who is starting a discussion about the inequality of income distribution, looking at the current incarceration system, and Webb is a Fair Trade advocate. I’m hoping that Webb will help turn the Democratic party around to representing the American people and not the multinational corporations with all their money....
In Europe the Socialist party often has numerous seats in their parliaments (my gracious we actually have one socialist in our congress Lowell) but due to the horrible McCarthy era "socialism" was struck a deadly blow in this country.
I am not a member of the A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition and I'm not a card carrying Socialist but I do understand that A.N.S.W.E.R. is worthy of criticism and this occurs even among the left....Unfortunately I was not able to personally attend this latest march...but I have attended A.N.S.W.E.R. marches in the past and will in the future...whenever our goals, such as ending this war, are aligned.
I want to remind Lowell that the founding fathers of this country did NOT TRUST corporations nor did they want them favored. When our legal system gave corporations the right of “persons” a whole lot went wrong in our current legal and economic system. There is a lot that needs to be adjusted in America's Capitalistic system....it is the man behind the curtain in the current evil empire drive that Bush/Cheney are engaged in.
Unfortunately, unless campaign finance reform takes place our government is owned and financed by corporations and their agenda gets priority over the rights of ordinary Americans.
Sorry Lowell but I don’t want to “create” a homogeneous world of capitalists and folks that look the same and talk the same. If the “revolution” doesn’t allow for dancing in the streets with a diverse group I want no part of it.
What’s happening in South America is a beautiful example of real democracy. The people have rebelled against the horrible consequences of Free Trade in their lives and said no more to the global corporations and to the United States (which seems to be the military enforcer for the global corporations). I’d love to see more of the South American love of democracy and freedom occurring here in North America.
Until we stand up for our rights they are going to continue to be trampled. I choose to stand with a large, diverse, creative group of people… They don’t have to agree with me on everything...in fact, I hope they don’t.
Lowell I don’t find your post credible. The march’s message was not distorted by the “lamestream” media and the organizers did not get off message. Personally I have not found the right wing neocons credible as they march in lockstep and all use the same slogans and rhetoric as they dutifully stay on the party’s message. I hope that neither the moderates nor the left takes your advice and adopts a lockstep attitude.
Personally, I think we need to keep less of an eye on a few crazy, amusing, diverse creative souls, i.e. what you call "whackos." and keep a close watch on what the corporations are up to....hopefully we can disrupt the corporate capitalist system enough to make it more humane and fair.
Well now I've ranted and I feel much better. Buzz...Buzz....
