oh be still my beating heart

The text below is copied and pasted from the link below. I would love to be here, on this earth, when something like this actually happens. The monumental changes in our society would be thrilling to watch. I have always been a strong believer that the right to earn a living and support yourself in a decent manner far exceeds the right for a business to earn a profit. Call me a communist if you must, but it's just right.

Memoirs of a Non-Mechanical Man


How the Progressives can win next election, and not even feel that bad about voting for Democrats.
When it shall be said in any country in the world, my poor are happy; neither ignorance nor distress is to be found among them; my jails are empty of prisoners, my streets of beggars; the aged are not in want, the taxes are not oppressive;... when these things can be said, then may that country boast of its constitution and its government.

--Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man

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So, are you burnt out and depressed about the Bush win?

Sad that bigotry won the presidency?

Think we're all doomed?

That the whole Democratic party is just as bad, and a bunch of spineless weasles to boot?

Don't fret, I have a surefire solution. A counter-zeitgeist for the anti-gay agenda and pure banality that won the last election: A Constitutional Ammendment Guaranteeing a Right to a Job at a Living Wage.

This is not only a surefire win for the democrats, if they adopted it as their platform, it's a surefire win for everyone who's fed up with them. Quite certainly going more rightward hasn't won them anymore elections, because even republicans don't want republican light. Fuck, Kerry's platform was more or less "Same Flavor, half the carbs."

So, this a really sneaky, and guaranteed to be successful way to inject progressive ideals back into the mainstream dialogue. Don't worry about a "Republican New Deal", they can't offer it. Honestly the only reasons the democrats can actually offer another "New Deal" is because they still have members that don't totally bend over to their large financing interests.

So, why is this a sure win?

One, because the Republican party can't come up with anything better. Which would you vote for if you were those reclusive undecided voters: Privatizing Social Security? Or... A constitutional right to a job at a wage you can live off of? Considering that 1 in 4 Americans falls below the ridiculously low federal poverty guidelines for their household, that's 1 in 4 Americans who're likely to vote their goddamn economic self-interest. "Gee, should I vote for privatizing social security and slashing social programs, all to benefit growth for the kleptocrats.... or should I vote for the immediate pay raise?" You figure that one out.

But wait, it gets better...

Two, A 2001 poll showed that 8 in 10 Americans support creating temporary government work programs for the unemployed. That's 82% of Republicans, 90% of Democrats, and 83% of Independants.

Three, A right to a job at a living wage cuts across both Progressive, and Conservative ethic. Thus the great neo-con fear: that someone would appeal to the inherent populism and nativism of the old-right, to take it to its actual logical conclusion --shafting the kleptocrats. Consider this, conservatives are allways those bitching about people on welfare not working and all of that bullshit, right? So, we as a nation put a high value on work, conservatives perhaps more so. But, 7 out of 10 poor people in our country actually work for a living. So successful has this political distraction been, that while we've moved millions off of welfare rolls, we've done nothing to actually improve wage conditions. And with wages falling across the board, for those who actually work for a living, (as opposed to those living off of rents and interest), along with jobs getting sent overseas, the time is now right to awaken that sleeping giant. Lets face it, you have to be nuts to politically oppose a guarantee that everyone whom is able to work shall have a job, and it shall be decent, and pay a wage you can live off.

Four, this is having your cake and eating it too. It's a progressive ideal, but also a staple of old-right populism, it appeals to the middle class, the lower class, the working class, the poor, the unemployed, the retired, pretty much everyone who isn't a CEO. You can vote your concience, because honestly, what better ticket is there at the moment that has a snowball's chance in hell of winning, and still vote for a party that will actually win. Sorry, hate to tell you, I love the Green Party, but It won't be next election, or the next 20, that they win a Presidency unless they stop running a national candidate and start pushing harder and harder into local candidates.

Five, This will get the momentum going. A giant, lambastic progressive win. People will forget the fucking New Deal, and instead be saying "Kids, when I was young, we pushed hard and got a guaranteed right to a job and and end to poverty, I wept when it happened."

Six, you'll be able to rub it in the faces of neo-conservatives and the DNC, and every other soulless bureaucrat for the next 20 elections.

So, in conclusion, while this is the cure to the Gay Marriage Ammendment, we must also take care that it doesn't end up like the Gay Marriage Ammendment, in the dustbin of History.

So, say "Fuck you, I won't vote for you." To your Congressman, unless they immidiately support this.

Hey, that's kind of catchy. I'm calling this the "Fuck you, I won't vote for you." Campaign.