This idea of leaving this country is something that I've sort of half-joked about for awhile now. I guess I wish it was all joke, but Bu$hCo & his ReThug minions have made me reconsider what this country stands for, what it means to be an American. Being an American at this stage means that we, as Americans, support torture, support the jailing of people, without charge, indefinitely, are happy to deny habeus corpus to whomever we feel like denying it to. The list could go on & on. It's more than disheartening, but it makes for sad thoughts in the middle of the night, or on some highway a noon in northern Wisco.
High on the list of reasons for the potential move was their concern that their grandchildren would have to serve in Iraq -- 10 years from now.
"What would you do if we remain involved in combat for 10 more years, and your grandkids were drafted?" asked an exasperated participant discussion. (All quickly agreed that a draft is essential in a democracy. The current lack of shared sacrifice fuels the irresponsible warmongers.)
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Every one of them had plunged into elective politics on their own or in support of candidates at all levels, served mostly in the public sector or in medicine and had that American post-World War II "can-do" optimism all their lives. We are always "just one election away" from a better country. They belong to the generation of "if only JFK, RFK, and MLK had not been killed," we would have a sensible U.S. Supreme Court and no war.
Now that optimism has disappeared, and "can't do" has replaced "can do." Elections have become auctions, and the ability of middle-class Americans to influence the outcome of national elections is about the same as it would be for one of them bidding on a Picasso at Sotheby's. The money boys have taken over, and they are delivering a defective product. Incumbents, as our Wisconsin Supreme Court chief justice said in 1873, are "the feudal serfs of corporate capital," not "educated and patriotic free men (and women)."
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We have lost our democracy. Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce selects, trains, and funds our Supreme Court winner; AT&T pours money into campaigns, and they will get what they want from these cheap dates; the occupation in Iraq along with the surge continues; and good people give up on government and consider Canada.
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