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Can we assume that the rank and file republicans are merely content and accepting of their party’s so-called victory? I wonder. Hey, there must be at least some of them as wary of what’s happened as the rest of us. Their party affiliation doesn’t necessarily mean they can’t think...doesn’t mean they’re unconcerned, does it? They have eyes and ears, they can read...they know a "coup" took place and just because it resulted in a republican unpresident doesn’t mean they necessarily like it...the process by which it happened, that is. Personally, I think they’re a little worried too. If it can happen "in their favor"...the more-aware ones among them know it can happen the other way around, too. Yet, as already said, we don’t hear much from them, do we? They’re not the ones foaming at the mouth on website after website. Just what are they thinking? Lord knows.

So, what a mess, huh? The unpresident lives each day as if he’s really a duly elected president. He’s busy giving nicknames to everyone, busy speaking on the "high road" while his lackeys continue to debase and revile anyone who dares to disagree with the party line or his legitimacy. He continues his folksy approach...hoping more and more people won’t notice the difference between his form and his substance. He continues to use doublespeak in the best tradition of Orwell. This Unpresident Dubya hopes and hopes that the more time that goes by...the less we will remember just how he got the keys to the Oval Office. He’s already beginning to finish the job in Iraq that his daddy couldn’t do...bombs are falling again. They can say over and over again that the latest bombing of Iraq is a "normal/routine policy," but who the hell really believes it...even his supporters must know its HIM doing it for daddy.

What a mess, huh? I know I’m sounding rather pessimistic...hell, I know I’m sounding that way. Yet, even though optimism isn’t easily attained these days, there ARE millions of us who don’t accept this unpresident, who know that "business as usual" isn’t going to get us very far. I don’t think either pessimism nor optimism fits the moment. So what does, you ask? I’d say "realism" does...Bush is real, power is real, ideology is real, hypocrisy is real...and so is critique. But the most "real" thing is that a takeover is in progress and that everyone should sit up, listen, and take notice. People, just people...democrats, republicans, progressives, independents...everyone, needs to talk with each other. We need to let the power-brokers know we’re here and that we’ll be damned if we’re going to e=let them complete their takeover. I know its hard for most to get past their beliefs and perspectives which they cherish and maintain, but real is real, folks. Personally, I’m going to think real hard about finally buying my first gun. Oh-oh, now he’s talking about guns...just what is he advocating??

Well, I’m not completely sure of that myself. Self-protection comes to mind first, at least to me. Somewhere along the way, we’re all going to have to face the possibility that "they" will be "coming for" at least some of us. Hyperbole? Dementia? Paranoia? Ask the survivors of the Nazi roundup of jews? Ask the survivors of Stalin’s purges? Hell, as the native americans of this continent! No, its realism...and I have no plans to go quietly. I’m not worried about today or tomorrow...or even about next week. It’s still relatively safe for the foreseeable future...but for how long if the fascist and theocratic atmosphere continues to spread. If it does, then they eventually will come. Bet on it. If you’d like a realistic, but fictional, portrayal of what I’m talking about...read Margaret Atwood’s futuristic book...The Handmaid’s Tale. Then tell me I’m just overreacting...then tell me these people changing our society aren’t serious. No, I don’t own a gun...never have...and I DON’T advocate violence as a first approach. But sooner or later...well, let’s put it this way...we just might have to defend ourselves...literally. Meanwhile, don’t ignore what’s happening just because you don’t "believe" it will get that bad.

So, on the President’s Day, 2001...I’m nervous, anxious, and angry. People of good will...no matter what your affiliation, label, or loyalty...PLEASE, lets find and meet on some common ground...its our only hope. We must talk across the divisions which separate us (most aren’t real, anyway...we’ve only be conditioned to think they are)...we must DEFINE that common ground anew and for ourselves. And what do I think that is? My answer is...resistance to power for power’s sake...for that’s what is happening underneath all the ideological claims about this or that. Forget the public agenda being articulated...the only principle being fostered is the "absence of principle." Power people have no principle...its power for its own sake...and end in itself...it is its own justification.

David H. Kessel