A reminder of what is at stake

The detainee and warrantless wiretap bills were passed late yesterday, as most of you certainly know by now.  I was thinking about writing a huge piece on it, and exposing what senators were influenced by whom -- and so forth.  Although, you've heard all that.  All that really needs to be said is that if this doesn't fire our base up for November, then we have a disorder.  The fact that moderate Republicans, some of which are in close election battles, could sneak this one past us really is a testament to how radical the Republican Party has become.

With 140,000 troops in Iraq and 20,000 in Afghanistan, they should know that this detainee bill will put our soldiers in greater danger.  The bill goes to show how disconnected the politicians in Washington are from real soldiers on the ground who are putting their lives on the line every day.

And how about those warrantless wiretaps?  They should know that this power will eventually be used to smear political opponents, and has little to do with protecting the nation from terrorism.

Enough said.  Want two more years of this?  Want two more years of reading blogs like this one complain about the status quo?  Or do you want bloggers like myself working hard each day to rally support for progressive bills that our Democratic majority needs passed?  The choice is yours.  But if you do want change, you have to get involved.  You can't leave it to the Washington establishment Democrats to get it done.  They have a record of losing, and they are good at doing just that.  The grassroots needs to get its game face on, and from now until the election we need to do our part as individuals:

• Calling radio shows
• Holding up signs on street corners on the weekend
• Passing out pins and stickers outside grocery stores
• Registering students to vote
• E-mailing the editor of your local newspaper
• Texting your family and friends on election day, reminding them to get out to the polls
• Posting comments on popular non-political blogs

In the end, it's all about people powered democracy.  That is the only way we can get this done on November 7th.