Shall We Finally Stand Up and Be Counted?
There is an interesting quote from David Addington, Cheney’s chief of staff, printed in the Masthead of the October Hightower Lowdown.:
“We’re going to push and push and push until some larger force makes us stop.”
And that is exactly what Addington and Cheney have done - pushed and pushed and pushed to impose an imperial presidency on our country. The Lowdowner article points out that We The People are the “larger force” that can make them stop.
Hightower talks about a Harper’s Magazine article by Garret Keizer (www.harpers.org) that suggests a general strike of the people, not unions, just ordinary people like you and me. Keizer says:
“The question we need to ask ourselves at this moment is what further provocations we require to justify digging in our heels…. It is one thing to endure abuses and to carry on in spite of them. It is quite another thing to carry on to the point of abetting the abuse.”
He suggests that on the symbolic day of the second Tuesday in November, (Nov. 6) we stay home from work, don’t go to the mall, or the bank, or the grocery store, or use our credit cards, or participate in any commercial transactions that day. What better way to let the corporations and this pro-corporate president know that we have had enough and that business as usual is not acceptable. As Hightower puts it:
“On one level, the strike is against the war, against Bush thumbing his nose at the American majority… and against the Democratic leadership that can’t seem to muster the will to rein in the Bush administration. On another level, however, this is a strike for the Constitution, a strike against the betrayal of the rule of law and our democratic ideals. It’s a strike for the America we thought this was. It’s an affirmation that the people are the only “larger force” that can stop the Bush-Cheney coup and make America whole again.”
If you are ready to do more than just complain, ready to stand up and be counted as a supporter of the real America and the Constitution, then pass the word about participating in this general strike. Talk to your friends and family and encourage them to pass the word. Even if there is some part of the strike that is impossible for you, participate in the rest of it. If we don’t take a stand, then George Bush is the president we deserve.