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LONG BEACH (coup2k.com) May 25, 2001 -- The endless stream of Bush appointistration policy and appointment outrages, such as bankrolling the Taliban, were and are part of a carefully planned strategy to distract dissenters from staying focused on protesting the coup.
In all honesty, I have been all over the map on this issue. Here, in no particular order, are some of the different theories I have held since January's Infraudulation, regarding the political strategy and tactics of Bush 'n Thugs, Inc.:
1. "We killed the ref, so it's no-holds-barred from here on in." This was my first and most disturbing theory. After campaigning as a "uniter" [sic], the intense hard-right direction taken by Bush and his appointistration -- the endless flow of egregious nominations, policies and statements of "principle"-- seemed to indicate a fearlessness in the Corrupt Coupster Party (GOP) that evidenced unconcern about consequences at the polls. The logical inference seemed to be that there would be no more free, fair elections, so Bush need not fear the voters in 2004, and could act without a mandate, and yet with perfect impunity. The American people, after all, could not touch him with their puny ballots in 2000. Why would 2004 be any different? All bets were off, and I was frightened.
2. "Hey! Let's do a smash-and-grab!" This was a theory first proposed by a BBBR Resistance Fighter who wrote in to provide comfort to The Diva. The Fighter made the point that, just like criminals who aren't interested in stealth but in a fast haul, the Bush appointistration knew that they could not paint their policies as anything other than what they were -- mostly class warfare on the average American intended to enrich the coup-conspirators and their financers -- so they opted for a "smash-and-grab" (noun a robbery committed without stealth, by breaking store windows in order to steal the merchandise on display). The coup was the "smash", the windows were voting rights and democratic self-governance, and the First One Hundred Days' laundry list of larceny and quid-pro-quos, was the "grab".
3. "Let's demonstrate The Second Law of Thermodynamics." This law states that entropy (the amount of disorder in a system), absent the application of effort (work or energy), naturally increases. "Any idiot can burn down a barn," and thanks to the Extreme Court, the idiot is now calling the shots. Bush does not need to be elected in 2004, because controlling all three branches of government (particularly the Extreme Court, which can overrule the soon-to-be-democratic majority in the Senate) gives him carte blanche to destroy the forward progress of decades of hard-fought political gains in a matter of months. It only takes one reactionary in the Oval Office every twenty-or-so years to keep America from moving forward toward greater justice, freedom and participation; and it only takes the damage done by that occasional reactionary to keep us moving two steps back for every step we have moved forward. (...Or is it the other way around?)
5. "Release the bunnies!" This is my current theory. [PLEASE NOTE: It is a Diva's prerogative to change her mind.] This is all about the radical right's exploitation of the natural tendency of good people to chase the bunnies we love. On the left, our beloved bunnies are legion -- a clean environment, economic justice, progressive taxation, personal privacy, workers' rights, fundamental fairness, the protection of children, civil and human rights, opposing religious oppression... and so forth -- and we can't help but chase them. The Bush appointistration made a concerted effort in the First One Hundred Days to put as many of our bunnies on the run as possible. There was a method to their political madness: it was the easiest way for them to fight the anti-coup movement. Since most members of The Resistance don't have the time to chase bunnies AND fight the coup, threatening a veritable herd of beloved bunnies all but guaranteed that we in the movement would drop the coup to chase the bunnies.
And we have...
When I recently wrote The New York Times to dissent from their assertion that Americans had grown comfortable with Bush's legitimacy, and had left the coup behind, I received many letters from activists who had, in the frenzy of chasing their beloved bunnies, all but forgotten the coup. Many expressed shock that the pain and betrayal of having their government stolen from them could be dulled by the hypnotic horror of the First One Hundred Days. Some thanked me for reminding them that those horrors began with a crime -- a crime of which they were victims, as were we all.
Please understand... I am not asking ANYONE not to chase our beloved bunnies. I am asking you to realize that our bunnies will never be safe -- we will never be able to protect them -- if our self-governance is an illusion. Winning the hearts and minds of the American people, as we have on issue after issue (if polls are to be believed) means NOTHING if we cannot translate that support into ballots that CAN be cast and MUST be counted. It is the sanctity of the will of the people as expressed by their ballots for which we fight on.
That is the mission and commitment of the BBBR Resistance. I may chase my beloved bunnies on these pages as well, but I never forget that the greatest protection I can afford my bunnies is the protection of the American people, through their votes.
PART II: On the Duplicitous Fourth "Estate"
ALSO TODAY: UPDATED VOTERMARCH REPORTS
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