David Sirota's <I>The Uprising</i>
Because the media over the last six months or so has made the primary races the be all and end all of the news, creating narratives to make the horse race seem closer than it was or piling on the cream to encourage the pie fight (if you'll excuse the mixed metaphors), it's easy to not realize that the country is, as a whole, swinging back to the left side of the political spectrum as a response to how far right we've gone in the last decade or so.
David Sirota has documented this swing in his new book The Uprising and he sat down with Stephen Colbert to discuss it:
Download | play 
Download | play (h/t Heather)
DS: The Uprising is not about any candidate. The Uprising is about seeing candidates and politicians as vehicles for a movement. People want…
SC: Okay, what candidate is the vehicle for the movement? Let’s…okay, it’s the people, the people swell up underneath the candidate and they inflate him like a political power balloon. Who’s inflating faster?
DS: It’s your state legislators; it’s your city council people; it’s your governor…
SC: I wouldn’t want those people as President. I’ve met those people…
DS: That’s the whole point. We’re led to believe, by people like you, that the President is the only place…the presidential campaign is the only place where change really happens. And the point is that change happens all over the place. When I went out and reported this book, again, I met with people who are unionizing workers in Seattle. I met with people who are forming a third party in New York. I met with people again on the border. These are people who say change is happening far away from the presidential race.
SC: The New York Times—and I’m seeing why—even the NY Times has called you “a populist rabble-rouser”, okay? Are you a Che Guevara? Are you a Che Guevara for our age? Do you look forward to a day where college students wear your face on their shirt and don’t know what you did?
CREDO looks like a great alternative to ATT!
Marc @ 1:
(Formally Working Assets)
Nicole Belle said,
"Because the media over the last six months or so has made the primary races the be all and end all of the news, creating narratives to make the horse race seem closer than it was"...etc...etc.
I say,
The media is guilty of a little bit more than that!...
...you forgotta mention that they practically decide who gets elected by marginalizing other candidates...etc. etc.
Do you look forward to a day where college students wear your face on their shirt and don’t know what you did?
That's always been MY dream.
Actually my dream is that people wear this face on their shirt and know exactly what he's done - and that's why they don't for him in November.
Marc @ 1:
I've had Working Assets (Credo) for years. They are great. All progressives should use it.
Mark @ News Corpse @ 4:
Your link requires authorisation.
I saw Sirota at DemocracyFest in California, and I get his autograph in his book, "Hostile Takeover." Good times.
I agree with Sirota. Even my local state senator (Val Stevens) puppets the neocon baloney all the time. They are just robots supporting
the chamber of commerce at every turn. I have decided to work to get her Democtat(ic) opponent elected. America has really had it's fill
of getting screwed by big business and the Repubs!
I'm glad to see David Sirota getting on Colberts show.
He's been a stalwart for the people for a long time.
Jeezum, I remember when he worked for Sen. Bernie!
Mark @ News Corpse @ 4:
Is this the link for the plebes?
http://www.crasscommerce.com/product_info.php?products_id=390
Oops. I messed up. Here's the correct link:
John McCain - NOPE!
miss_kitty @ 6:
Mark @ News Corpse @ 11:
Thanks miss_kitty. :-)
Yep, and college students in South America are frequently seen sporting the likeness of Ronald Reagan..........phfft!
The shirt would be meaningless here, but i like the idea.
Nobody here even knows who McCain is (barely) but they sure know who OBama is.
I know a lot of people who have voted republican their entire lives and are now just waking up. I wish they would have awakened in 2000... but better late than never.
I live in a small town in a rural area but I think this is just the tip of the iceberg. I'm hoping we have a revolution underway.
Are you a Che Guevara for our age? Do you look forward to a day where college students wear your face on their shirt and don’t know what you did?
God I hate those idiots with Che shirts.
So, David Sirota is the new Che Quevara...and Barack Obama is a Marxist?
I see where this is heading...and the gullible right-wingers will suck it up, just as they've sucked up all the lies of the Bush administration and the conservative spin machine...evil, satanic lies that have done so much harm to our nation, our nation's families, our nation's children. (To say nothing of all that these warmongering, anti-Christian conservatives have done to the families of Iraq, and Iraq's children).
So, no doubt, gullible conservatives will eat up the idea that Obama is a Marxist, just because it's the latest nefarious Republican talking point, just like they've fallen for all the previous ones.
"... the country is, as a whole, swinging back to the left side of the political spectrum
as a response to how far right we’ve gone in the last decade or so."
Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis.
sirota needs to get a sense of humor
colbert went right over his head
I heard it on CSPAN today, they need to make the primaries a one day event. We vote for the president in one day, yet it seems we have been voting for a democratic candidate for over a year. It is ridiculously long and steers attention away from the real issues of the day, and wastes precious time and money of our candidates and party. Who was doing Hilary's job as a senator while she has been out raising and spending money over the past year, all in a losing cause? I could care less who the candidates are now, after years of hearing about it. An even bigger waste of time it will be when florida and ohio are stolen yet again.
I think Sirota is correct. However, I think what we are seeing today is a counter uprising to the one that the Bush Administration/Republican/Neocons started years ago. It was those groups that attempted to gather a popular worldwide uprising against the "evil" Arab/Muslim world in addition to an economic one that placed a lot of the power in the hands of the military and the military industrial complex. That, as we all see today is falling apart eventhough they still try to peddle it to the public. This is why we see politicians constantly use the word "change". In order to change something there must be something wrong with the current system in the first place.
No, no... Sirota got it, but was just trying to make his point. He's really great.
and Colbert is BRR-I-L-L-I-A-N-T.
The 'uprising' is Dems taking 3 out of 3 special elections for House seats in RED districts, it is progressive Donna Edwards winning the primary in VA against the incumbent bush-Democrat. Sirota is right on top of it as usual and I can't wait to see it happen.
NewZZZ @ 20:
A one day primary doesn't allow people to really get to know the candidates as they are spread too thin trying to campaign everywhere. It will reduce the primaries to name recognition/popularity contests even more than they are now. I agree, the process now is ridiculously long and it steers the mainstream media away from real issues -- but there are now tons of resources [like C&L] where we can get real news and stay informed. Also, do you know how many floor votes Clinton and Obama made during the campaign? You can find out at senate.gov -- they weren't always out. Hopefully you will care come November -- because it matters big time. But if you can see your way clear to caring now, maybe you could keep yourself informed and help in the efforts to keep Fla. and Ohio from being stolen again.
If the changes David Sirota anticipates actually do occur, then Colbert's show will become ten times more popular.
Why?
Because the next generation of better-informed, better-educated Americans will actually understand what he's satirizing.
LIBERTY - The Great Uniter
By: ERIC ALLEN BELL
The United States is not polarized by a Liberal versus Conservative point of view. The media is. Our government is. But we the people are not. There is a center, a very large center which makes up the majority of America. There is one thing upon which we all agree. Everyone of us wants, in fact demands personal Liberty. Liberty means that you own you. No one else can impose their will upon you. I believe this value to be uniquely American. This blog is dedicated to a discussion on how we can preserve our Liberties, especially those being threated by our very own government.
The time has come for good people to get involved. We cannot let the ignorant, the lazy or the misinformed bring down this great nation of ours. People fought so that we might continue to enjoy “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”. Now the responsibiliy falls on our shoulders to preserve those values for generations to come.
www.BELLofLIBERTY.com
Bush didn't take us to the right...he's a neo-con...so that's half socialist, which is on the left side of the political spectrum. Bush believes in Collectivism which is the basis of Communism and Facism. The "right" traditionally believes in Individualism, whereas the "left" believes in Collectivism.
examples:
Democrats want Universal Healthcare - collectivist
Republicans want the 2nd amendment to be upheld - individualist
Now, neo-cons (Bush and his friends) are waving the "right" flag, but are actually acting like the "left". What traditional republican would vote for the Patriot Act? None - that's why Bush ain't a real Republican.
My dog is named Che, Big Che to be exact, he's 120 lbs. I named him that cause when he was a pup he would stand on the little footrest and howl and he has a little black beard around his mouth and I thought he looked like Che, but at least I know what Che did.
Sirota:
I've been saying that for a long time. We absolutely must stop thinking of the presidency as the end-all-be-all of politics in the U.S. Third parties that seek viability ought to work for electoral reform from the bottom up, not try to run for the presidency in the system as it is. People need to learn who their local representatives are, and begin to feel that they have something to say about what happens in their lives.
gregor @ 26:
I don't see much socialism in neo-conservatism. Perhaps, since many of those who conceived of the nonsense that is neo-conservatism began as socialists of one stripe or another, there is some socialism in its origins. And perhaps the imperialistic drive to make over the entire world has something to do with it, but ultimately, it seems a stretch to call neo-cons "half socialist."
Heh, traditionally, Communism and Fascism are considered to be on opposite sides of the left/right spectrum. But, since the left/right spectrum is an unhelpful paradigm at best, and the parenthesis in history that was Communism wasn't much more than Fascism in practice, I don't much care which side either is labeled.
This is the same perverted paradigm George Will was advancing on Colbert's show. It doesn't really hold up. It's just too simplistic.
And then there are us Libeqrats who believe in both the Second Amendment and Universal Health Care, and whose "collectivist" policies are aimed at securing individual rights. Not really a way to figure us into the left/right spectrum, though I suppose we could be called libertarian-progressives.
Republicans and Democrats are merely umbrella organizations for continually shifting alliances and coalitions. People with genuine political philosophies will act like sand crabs -- they'll get under the best shell to be safe and to grow. For a long time, libertarian-minded people and authoritarian-minded people have been in a coalition under the Republican tent. It has culminated in the idiot Bush, who can say in the same breath that he's fighting for freedom and reduced spending while seeking warrantless wiretaps and a theocratic federal government.
You want your "real" Republicans back? Stop looking through the lends of the left/right spectrum.
I have a feeling hippie clothes are gonna come back in style: frayed jeans, beads, peace signs, etc.
I have to agree with Sirota. There's a feeling that alot of people are just plain pissed off with ALL of the bullshit. Every bit of it. Bush's manipulation of the country to war, corruption in the corporate world and in government, the media not doing their job well, the loss of common sense (i.e. the rise of the psychopathic religious right), election fraud, the recession, high gas and health insurance prices...it's driving people to give the whole system the finger. I think we are moving into a big shift left.
I have said for years that if people were half as passionate about
their local politics as they were about national politics we would
all be better off.
If your taxes are too high, don't blame Your senator,your congressman
or the president, and don't look to any of them to solve the problem.
State legislatures, city councils, and county commissions, have far more effect on your pocketbook than Washington D.C.
If you are looking for cleaner air, cleaner water, better roads,or
better schools, you had better start with state and local govts.
You can always hold these people accountable unlike federal office holders who are almost entirely immune to such things as recall votes and petitions. Hell they don't even fear a good old fashioned sex scandel the way they once did. They just take a wide solid stance and soldier on. Local officials have no such immunity, they usually have listed phone numbers and offices and very little staff to cover for them. In essence we can force them to be public servants. Sadly national politics is mostly about self service.
I've attached a link to a tremendous story by Eric Margolis (American who does a column in the Toronto Sun) and it's very enlightening.
Essentially it points out, where Democratic America has chosen a man who happens to be black as their candidate, McCain is looking at either Colin Powell, Louisiana Gov. Jindal both black or even ex-HP boss Cory Fiorina (female) as his VP. Does it sound like it's to offset the Dem candiiate's wave of popularity? Sounds more "token" than best choice to me.
But hey.......it's AMERICA!!!
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Margolis_Eric/2008/06/08/58074...
I had a discussion with my brother right after Bush got in office in 2000, about how awful Bush was going to be for the country, and he pointed out that sometimes you have to really go in the wrong direction and horrible things have to happen before people to wake up and realize it. Turns out he was right.
majicman @ 32:
milquetoast @ 3:
-------
18 million votes is a close horse race. The super delegates were the deciding factor.
The voters margianalized other candidates. Prior to the first primary, Paul and Kucinich were included in debates.
They had ample time to make their case. Voters, by and large, were simply not interested in what they had to say, to the point that they would choose either of them for President. Kucinich can blame the media for cutting him out, but only a few percent voted for him and that was not going to change.
Sdubya @ 27:
Particularly when you step in it.
This guy looks like a more jewish me.
But the presidency (and the congress) is the place where the most change is needed.
#19 Unka Joe said:
>sirota needs to get a sense of humor
>colbert went right over his head
You're kidding, right? If not, apparently the head gone over was Unka Joe's. The kid is selling his idea, "Uprising," and Colbert, brilliant as he is, was unable to shake him; yet, Sirota never lost sight of his host. Note how instantly he responds, then returns every Colbert non-sequitur back to the message; or, just catch the last few seconds again, then reconsider, please.
BTW - anybody going to Culver City to the Sirota Meet & Greet at Brave New Films courtyard Monday evening?
Comments are closed on this entry