“The richest one percent of this country owns half our country’s wealth, five trillion dollars. One third of that comes from hard work, two thirds comes from inheritance, interest on interest accumulating to widows and idiot sons and what I do, stock and real estate speculation. It’s bullshit. You got ninety percent of the American public out there with little or no net worth. I create nothing. I own.”—Gordon Gekko to Bud Fox (Wall Street, 1987, directed by Oliver Stone)

The anti-war movement seems to be at a crossroads these days. The rapid contraction of anti-war activism after George W. Bush left office caused many skeptics, including activists themselves, to wonder if most of the protesters had been more anti-Bush than anti-war. However, there are signs that the ranks of Americans who are determined to protest the evils of war, no matter which party controls the White House, is growing.

Empowering We the People

Could the culture war itself, rather than the incessant debating of issues within that war, be the real reason our electoral system – and thereby our government – sucks?

Well before Senate Democrats passed their health care bill on Christmas Eve, the debate over health care reform was dividing progressives. Now there is an even larger division among progressives, as some will support any candidate running as a Democrat in 2010, while others will not.

Inspired by Grayson-Paul, Sanders-Bunning (yeah, Bunning), and a host of recent developments, a libertarian friend of mine and I have been discussing the possibilities for a strategic “convergence” of sorts. The question is ‘What would be TRULY frightening to the predatory corporate-governemental monster that is destroying this country?’ Answer: an electoral coalition of, possibly a third of us. Not only is it possible, it’s been working. Pls. read more below.

Note: I first posted this diary on dkos 12/18. In light of Jane H.’s recent dKos post I thought it was worth placing here. I think many on dKos are lately coming to understand the perils of being an Obama Dead Ender. I’ve been a progressive long before Obama, during Obama and I will be after Obama. Let’s not get fooled again!

Hard to believe I have never heard about a comany as insidious as Koch