====> The following, which I have methodically trimmed of the
unsightly traces of 5 forwardings, presumes to be Michael Moore's
very own campaign season encyclical. Considering the networking
credentials of the friend who received it only today, two weeks
plus after its launching, I must entertain some doubts about
either its authenticity or the state of Moore's popularity.
Regarding the exhortation itself, well.......
valis
****************
October 8, 1998
Dear Friends...
Ok, I've had it. The right wing is trying to overturn a national
election because... they didn't like the results! This must be stopped.
I would like to propose a legal act of civil disobedience that could
send the Right into a spin.
I am not a member of the Democratic Party. To me, they are a
barely-tolerable version of the Republicans.
I did not vote for Clinton in 1996. I had voted for him in '92, but
could not in good conscience vote for him again (NAFTA, welfare, etc.).
We had the lowest turnout ever in 1996, but the majority who could
stomach that pathetic choice on the ballot went and voted for Bill
Clinton. That was the will of the people. And that is the will the
Republicans are trying to subvert.
All the public opinion polls-New York Times, Wall Street Journal,
CNN-have said the same thing over and over: The American public does NOT
want impeachment. Yet, the Republican governed Congress has decided to tell
the public to take a flying %$#& and has moved ahead with the impeachment
process anyway.
I have never seen the American public so fed up and disgusted that they
are ready to do anything now to stop this madness.
I wish our members of Congress had listened to the polls. But they
haven't. So, now we have to make them listen to the other polls, the
only ones they understand-the polls that are filled with voting booths
on November 3.
The act of civil disobedience I am calling for is for each and every
American to go to the polls on November 3 and vote for the Democratic
candidates for Congress on your ballot. That's right, my fellow cynics
and progressives- the only way to send a true message to the right wing
is to throw every Republican out of office. I'm talking about a
backlash the likes of which American politics has never seen. If you
think this is something that can't happen, I need only point to the
national election In Canada in 1993 when the voters threw all but two
members of the Conservative Party out of Parliament. In 1995, in Great
Britain, the people of Scotland and Wales removed every single member
of the Torries from Parliament-that's right, EVERY SINGLE ONE.
Now it's our turn in America. Each of us must do all that we can to get
our fellow citizens out to vote on November 3. The Republicans are
hoping and praying that the turnout will be low, figuring that the
public, especially those who had voted for and trusted Clinton, is so
burned out on politicians and politics that they are just going to stay
home. They know, though, that their own diehard conservative supporters
WILL be at the polls, come hell or high water.
I realize a lot of you have had it and probably want to turn your back
on the whole damn thing. I don't blame you. But if we don't vote, we're
essentially placing our democracy in the hands of some very bad people
and we will surely suffer the consequences of this for years to come.
Yes, most of the Democrats suck. I rarely vote for the sorry,
wishy-washy losers. But this election is not about how I feel about
them- it's about US using THEM to whack the right wing a good one.
Imagine if the Democrats are voted in by overwhelming numbers (when all
the pundits are predicting a Republican landslide). The message would be
loud and clear to all these new Democrats-THE AMERICAN PUBLIC WANTS THE
AGENDA OF THE CHRISTIAN RIGHT REMOVED FROM THE HALLS OF OUR UNITED
STATES CONGRESS!
Yes, we would then have to stay on these Democrats to make sure they
behave and vote the way we want them to. But that's a whole lot better
than allowing individuals to stay in office who want to subvert the will
of the American people because they would actually prefer a theocracy
over a democracy.
I wish we had more than two political parties and I will continue to
work toward that goal. Two parties cannot represent the broad spectrum
of political thought in a country of 270 million people.
But that is not the mission before us. If you want to stop this witch
hunt, if you want Congress to start focusing on the REAL problems facing
the country and the world, then the ONLY way this nonsense is going to
stop is to throw the bums out.
Find out who the Democrat is who is running in your district,
www.democrats.org/action/, and then call up his/her headquarters and
volunteer to help turn out the vote.
Then get out and vote November 3. Hold your nose if you have to. This is
a one-issue election and if you want the impeachment stopped-and I
assure you, you have the power to stop it at 8:01 PM that evening of
November 3--you must remove the Republicans in your districts.
I can think of a lot of reasons why Clinton should not be President.
Staining a blue dress from The Gap is not one of them.
Enough is enough.
Yours,
Michael Moore
end email.
