Moneybomb!
All of this highlights the central political dilemma in the U.S. The Bush-led Republican Party, marching in virtual lockstep, has been the author of the radicalism, extremism and lawlessness of the last seven years, presiding over an endlessly expanding Surveillance State and accompanying war-making machine, and the dismantling of numerous core Constitutional principles. While numerous individual elected Democrats have opposed many of these measures, the Democratic Party’s leadership, and the Party collectively, has done nothing to stop it and much to support and enable all of it.
As the 2006 election and these subsequent events conclusively demonstrate, mindlessly supporting and electing more Democrats for its own sake doesn’t solve or even mitigate anything. But it’s also true that actions which result in handing Republicans control over any branches of the Government — including supporting third-party candidates or abstaining from the process altogether — makes matters worse still. Nobody who finds the above-documented events objectionable can rationally embrace a course of action that directly or indirectly empowers those who are the prime forces behind these events: namely, the mainstream GOP in its current incarnation.
All of that, in turn, leads to this pressing question: what is the best course for those who want to battle against these civil-liberties-destroying, rule-of-law-trampling, war-making policies that the GOP leadership pushes and the Democratic Party leadership supports, enables, and/or passively accepts? In a two-party system where blind support for either party will do nothing but perpetuate these policies, how can they be undermined?
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In the last couple of months, we have done the following as part of our campaign, in several instances in partnership with Color of Change, the African-American grass-roots group devoted to compelling greater responsiveness among the Beltway class:* newspaper ads in every newspaper in Steny Hoyer’s district, along with a full-page ad in the local section of The Washington Post, exposing to his constituents his lead role in engineering the Bush-enabling FISA bill;
* a massive robocall campaign in Hoyer’s district, narrated by respected Pastor Lennox Yearwood from that district, exposing how Hoyer’s work in Washington is so out-of-step with the political values of the constituents on whom he relies for re-election;
* an ongoing multi-media campaign — involving TV, radio and newspaper ads — aimed at vulnerable “Blue Dog” Rep. Chris Carney, who worked with Doug Feith at the Pentagon to disseminate pre-war “intelligence” and now is one of the most vocal pro-Bush Democrats in Congress;
* a full-page ad in the “A” section of The Washington Post, the day before the Senate’s approval of the new FISA bill, demonstrating what a profound assault on the rule of law the Congress was waging, and how it further cements the two-tiered system of justice the political establishment enjoys;
* donations to 12 members of Congress and Congressional candidates who, at political risk, vigorously opposed the new FISA bill;
* newspaper ads aimed at vulnerable “Blue Dog” Rep. John Barrow, who proudly runs for re-election by denouncing “cut and run” Democrats and who supports one radical Bush measure after the next, despite representing a +2 Democratic district.
This campaign, just in its incipient stages, has already been covered by numerous news outlets, including The Wall St. Journal, Politico, Wired, and numerous others. All of this is intended as just a start. We will spend the entire $350,000 already raised for the Blue America fund between now and November by targeting selected, vulnerable Democratic members of Congress who supported this FISA bill and who generally have enabled Bush radicalism.
The August 8 Money Bomb is intended to be used to fuel a long-term campaign and an enduring organization devoted to changing the behavior of the political class with regard to these issues. We intend to begin now actively recruiting and promoting credible primary challengers against the likes of Steny Hoyer and other key culprits; to target for defeat those members of Congress who continue to support policies of this sort, Democrat or Republican; and to find ways to affect the public discourse on these issues, which are jointly distorted and ignored by both the so-called “liberal Beltway establishment” and the crux of the Republican Party.
In other words: REVENGE. And a lot of people have a lot of trouble coming their way. Click here to pledge today.
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September 9th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
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