“We Want Our America Back”

By dianeravitch

November 5, 2018 //

This is a short video.

Please watch and share.

Categories Hope, Jobs, Justice

41 Comments Post your own or leave a trackback: Trackback URL

LisaM says:

November 5, 2018 at 9:22 am

A very moving video but just as many Democrats have joined in the pillaging of “America” as Republicans. FYI….. I am a registered Democrat (although I’m actually an Independent). The Democrats have decided to go high and and not run a smear campaign even though they have participated. I’m sorry, but even if there is a blue wave this election cycle, I think most (not all) of the Dems will fall back into the corporate “reforms” enacted since the 80’s (the funneling of money into their own pockets). I’m being a realist and I’m seeing my glass as half empty….sorry if I’m being a Debbie Downer.

Reply
- Linda says:
  
  November 5, 2018 at 9:58 am
  
  In Ohio, the public has a greater opportunity to thwart the rich from taking community tax dollars for edulite and racist charter schools, if Democrats are elected. The public has a greater chance of stopping Gates’ testing agenda which greases the wheels for his schools-in-a-box (“brands on a large scale’), if Dems are elected.
  Going forward, the WFP and Bernie’s Our Revolution, will, with hope, steer the nation left, which will make it more difficult for DINOS to operate.
  
  Reply
  - dienne77 says:
    
    November 5, 2018 at 10:12 am
    
    “Going forward, the WFP and Bernie’s Our Revolution, will, with hope, steer the nation left, which will make it more difficult for DINOS to operate.”
  - Linda says:
    
    November 5, 2018 at 12:04 pm
    
    Dienne 77 wants to live without hope, I don’t.
    Revolution may be inevitable. But, I will know I tried to avert oligarchy.
    
    The gilded age ended- revolution averted. The Great Depression resulted in legislation for working people, revolution averted.
- Bob Shepherd says:
  
  November 5, 2018 at 10:04 am
  
  The Age of the DINOs (Democrats in Name Only) is drawing to a close. Trumpf was the catastrophe that has brought this about. If you haven’t already done so, vote tomorrow.
  
  Reply
  - Duane E Swacker says:
    
    November 5, 2018 at 3:27 pm
    
    “If you haven’t already done so, vote tomorrow.”
    
    Trying to wrap my head around that one Robert! 😉
  - Bob Shepherd says:
    
    November 5, 2018 at 3:48 pm
    
    Many people have already voted by mail-in ballot, Duane.
  - Duane E Swacker says:
    
    November 5, 2018 at 3:52 pm
    
    Yes, I understand. The sentence is just humorously ambiguous in my reading of it and points to the sometime perils of human communication. My comment was meant as a good natured jab, nothing more.
  - Lloyd Lofthouse says:
    
    November 5, 2018 at 4:50 pm
    
    “In the 2016 US Presidential election, approximately 33-million ballots were cast via mailed out ballots (about 25% of all ballots cast).”
    
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_voting#United_States
    
    I’ve been voting by mail for years, and I mailed my ballot in on October 30th.
  - LisaM says:
    
    November 5, 2018 at 6:34 pm
    
    I wish I could believe that the Age of the DINO is drawing to a close. When it was blatantly obvious years ago, I couldn’t understand how voters couldn’t see it….or maybe they didn’t want to see it because it wasn’t affecting their lifestyle at the time?
- Joe says:
  
  November 5, 2018 at 11:37 am
  
  From Democracy Now:
  ALLAN NAIRN: Well, this midterm election, this is it. The U.S. is facing incipient domestic fascism. The rightist revolution that Trump dragged to power has a chance to consolidate itself. The way to stop it is to vote the Democrats into control of at least one, and preferably both, houses of Congress.
  
  AMY GOODMAN: It’s interesting you say that, because you’ve been a fierce critic of Democrats.
  
  ALLAN NAIRN: Yeah. I mean, for years, I’ve been documenting how many of the senior Democrats are complicit in war crimes, how they belong in prison. But we are now in an emergency situation in which there is a huge, fundamental difference between the Democrats and the Republicans at this moment. The Republicans would abolish democracy. They’re looking—because that’s the only way they can perpetuate their power. They have a minority of the votes. They have to rig the system so they can stay in power, as their minority of votes diminishes over time. The Democrats, their interest is in maintaining, even expanding, democracy, because that will help bring them to power. In addition, Trump personally—
  
  Reply
Bob Shepherd says:

November 5, 2018 at 9:41 am

Extraordinarily moving. Thank you, Diane.

Reply
- Laura H. Chapman says:
  
  November 5, 2018 at 12:58 pm
  
  Agree, unless you also read the comments.
  
  Reply
  - Bob Shepherd says:
    
    November 5, 2018 at 3:49 pm
    
    Yes, those are frightening. It’s as though these people live in a different country on another planet.
retired teacher says:

November 5, 2018 at 9:48 am

Well done and inspiring, but not a word about public schools. Public schools are also about democratic governance, democracy in action and the common good.

Also, the deteriorating paycheck has been a problem since the eighties, at least that is what I have heard several economists claim. It is not a product of just the past ten or fifteen years. It is only recently that people have reached the point of diminished return where the cost of living has out paced the ability to to pay to live for many working families.

In today’s paper, here’s a bit of good news about the midterms. Our Pensacola paper reported that Republican voting is down in the Florida Panhandle due to the devastation of Hurricane Michael. My part of the state suffered minor damage, but the rest of the conservative Panhandle was hit hard by the hurricane. I feel sorry for the communities that were devastated. However, it is a natural form of ‘voter suppression’ in the conservative counties.

Reply
Susan Lee Schwartz says:

November 5, 2018 at 10:10 am

TRUST ME—-YOU NEED TO GO to the video that follows– “Comments on New Democrat Messaging” and listen to the guy talk about the video, which he claims that was created by ‘the radical left’,– you will see how they ‘take it apart’ for their audience…. how they twist the truth in what was just shown. So rational, as you listen to him tear apart the message. Don’t miss the end of his rhetoric…you will want to vomit.

Then read the comments..

Reply
- carolmalaysia says:
  
  November 5, 2018 at 10:31 am
  
  The comments show how far off people have come. Here is mine… posted below the video:
  
  Carol Ring
  1 second ago
  I’m appalled at the comments. Republicans stand for tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. Trump is spreading hatred and bigotry. He was willing to take away healthcare from 32 million people. He now lies 30 times a day. How sad that anyone hears his rantings and believes he cares about anyone but himself.
  
  Reply
  - Susan Lee Schwartz says:
    
    November 5, 2018 at 10:49 am
    
    Because I am writing about the unintended consequences of the internet, I read on how the internet affects us. Shorty after I read the comments, I read an article that discussed “Where do you go for news that you trust?” which ended with:
    ” Few people I spoke with understood that the keywords they use to find information online can actually shift the ideological slant of their search results. Even after doing research, I’ve seen how voters walk away from Google armed with alternative news and alternative facts. One woman discussed the phenomenon directly, telling me, “I’ll Google the keyword, key phrase, a name, event, whatever, to try to see if there’s anything out there. Sometimes all I get is the same things I read on Twitter.”
    
    “She didn’t realize the extent to which her search results were tied to the keywords she entered or how Google algorithmically orders information. Rather, she used her results to validate her beliefs, as though Google failing to return an alternative perspective meant that one did not exist.”
    View this collection on Medium.com
    
    “This is why Google’s monopoly on search matters. While conservatives have been taught to dig in and “unpack” the meaning in original sources, many of them are unaware that the sources Google provides are a product of what they search — and how they search, and sometimes Google results are inaccurate.” https://www.theverge.com/2017/4/25/15418490/google-search-snippets-changes-fake-news-offensive-results
    ” In a time where everyone is taught to be critical of the media, people searching for truth see Google as weighting facts, not just ranking results. This is true on both sides of the aisle.”
  - carolmalaysia says:
    
    November 5, 2018 at 10:53 am
    
    Susan Lee Schwartz: I extremely rarely ever use Google. I don’t like being tracked.
    
    I don’t know whether or not the results are any better but I use DuckDuckGo for my search engine. It was recommended to me by a person who worked for Apple. He personally used it instead of Google.
Bob Shepherd says:

November 5, 2018 at 10:18 am

Since 1975, productivity in the US has increased by 85%, but wages have flatlined. Now, the Repugnican Party is talking about gutting Social Security and Medicare to pay for the enormous increase in deficits being caused by their recent huge tax cuts for corporations and the very wealthy.

Reply
Bob Shepherd says:

November 5, 2018 at 10:31 am

As one of the people who commented on this video said, DINOS worked with Repugnicans and

repealed Glass-Steagall,

“reformed” welfare by cutting aid to the very poor,

kicked off the standards-and-testing regime (in the Clinton administration),

supported draconian drug laws that allowed the prison population to soar to such a point that we now imprison a greater percentage of our population than another other country does,

voted overwhelmingly for the six-trillion-dollar Iraq War,

made the Bush tax cuts permanent,

bailed out Wall Street on the backs of Main Street,

passed RomneyCare instead of single-payer, universal healthcare,

and much more.

Let’s hope that the party is now FINALLY coming to its senses and returning to its commitment to working people and to justice for all. That would be a refreshing change.

Reply
- Bob Shepherd says:
  
  November 5, 2018 at 10:32 am
  
  cx: “than any other country does”
  
  Reply
- retired teacher says:
  
  November 5, 2018 at 10:38 am
  
  Well stated. The corporate Democrats have actively worked with conservatives to undermine the middle class and create today’s dystopia.
  
  Reply
Bob Shepherd says:

November 5, 2018 at 10:35 am

Interestingly, it is women and people of color who are leading the way toward reform of the Democratic party. Here, from the March, 2018 Pew Study of Party Affiliation in the United States

Women 56% Dem, 37% Rep
Blacks, 84% Dem, 8% Rep
Hispanics 63% Dem, 28% Rep
Asian Americans 65% Dem, 27% Rep
College Graduates 54% Dem, 39% Rep
Postgraduates 63% Dem, 31% Rep
Millennials 59% Dem, 32% Rep
Millennial Women 70% Dem, 23% Rep
Nonwhite Millennials 72% Dem, 18% Rep
Jews 67% Dem, 31% Rep
Religiously unaffiliated 68% Dem, 22% Rep
Urban voters 62% Dem, 31% Rep

Reply
- Bob Shepherd says:
  
  November 5, 2018 at 10:43 am
  
  We are seeing this, as well, in the many fine women and people of color running for top spots in tomorrow’s elections.
  
  Reply
  - retired teacher says:
    
    November 5, 2018 at 11:31 am
    
    Perhaps if our politics had not become so disgusting and imbalanced, we would not see this revival on the left. I hope the pollsters are wrong. My husband said pollsters mostly gather information from land lines so there is an over representation of older voters in the polls. I hope he is right. I would love to see Beto O’Rourke win in Texas, and the Senate flip as well. A recent poll said there is only a one in six chance for this to happen.
  - Linda says:
    
    November 5, 2018 at 12:09 pm
    
    Rupert Murdoch’s Fox and, AM talk radio, are significant threats to democracy,
  - retired teacher says:
    
    November 5, 2018 at 5:34 pm
    
    I cannot understand how his flock keeps falling for his lies and deceit. New Yorkers have always known Trump as a con artist. Too many pathetic, gullible sheep around the country vote against their own self interests.
  - carolmalaysia says:
    
    November 5, 2018 at 6:28 pm
    
    retired teacher: I don’t understand why intelligent people vote for this lying con. I do HOPE that since Trump is framing this as vote on him, that he crashes. Of course if he does, it is all because of the illegals who voted for Democrats. The Orange one really gets motivated by speaking in crowds that adore him…three states in one day. Is someone carrying him to the platform?
    …………….
    
    Trump is visiting three states for three separate rallies on Monday, doing everything he can to motivate his core supporters to vote for GOP lawmakers on Tuesday.
    
    “In a sense, I am on the ticket,” Trump, who has tied the midterm election outcome to his presidency in a more pronounced way than most presidents, told attendees at a rally in Ohio.
  - dianeravitch says:
    
    November 5, 2018 at 7:15 pm
    
    Carol, like you I am puzzled why people vote for this con artist. The people who adore him are marks. They are the ones who will suffer most from his cruel policies. I can see it. Why can’t they?
  - Lloyd Lofthouse says:
    
    November 5, 2018 at 6:39 pm
    
    What I call the Alt-Right: FOX news, Hannity, Limbaugh, Alex Jones, the Koch brothers and ALEC, and the Waltons, et. al, have been working non stop for decades to program the people they could influence. Trump’s base didn’t happen overnight. It took a long time to prep these easy to fool people who then are easy to manipulate because of the pre-programmed, confirmation bias, people that now live in a world of conspiracy theories and fear that breeds hate for who and what they fear based on the conspiracy theories they now think of as fact.
    
    The Koch brothers started in 1973 or even earlier. Along the way they found like minded monsters and recruited them into ALEC.
Lloyd Lofthouse says:

November 5, 2018 at 1:22 pm

The only way “We will get Our America back” is if we are willing to stand up and fight the 0.1 percent wealthiest and most powerful, and stop them no matter what it takes, no matter the sacrifice. I don’t think most of us are ready for that commitment yet. The suffering will have to become much worse than it already is.

Reply
- LisaM says:
  
  November 5, 2018 at 1:38 pm
  
  Agree 100%!!! Poverty exists not because we can’t afford to feed/clothe/educate/house the poor, but because we can’t satisfy the rich. All of this is about greed. I’ve never seen a hearse with a luggage rack on top and that stupid saying of he who dies with the most toys wins…..well that just makes my skin crawl.
  
  Reply
  - Lloyd Lofthouse says:
    
    November 5, 2018 at 2:10 pm
    
    Jesus said: “No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
    
    Matthew 6:24
  - carolmalaysia says:
    
    November 5, 2018 at 2:34 pm
    
    Lloyd Lofthouse: The Evangelicals will disagree with you. After all, Trump has been blessed with the goodness from god in the form of wealth.
    
    I think they somewhere forgot that Jesus said the wealthy are not the ones to emulate. He also believes the poor and the sick should be helped. Even strangers who need help should get it. This definitely isn’t the GOP motto. [Take healthcare away from the greedy, lazy poor. Put up barbed wire to keep out starving, poor, bedraggled strangers and have the home grown militia and the military shoot those strangers. When necessary, take their kids away and put them in cages. Yep. Great stuff.]
  - Lloyd Lofthouse says:
    
    November 5, 2018 at 3:26 pm
    
    These extremist evangelicals are not real Christians and can’t forget something they never learned.
    
    Political Magazine calls this group “The Church of the Donald”. In reality, DT has become their god.
    
    https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/04/22/trump-christian-evangelical-conservatives-television-tbn-cbn-218008
  - Bob Shepherd says:
    
    November 5, 2018 at 3:53 pm
    
    What Has America Learned from Having Attended Trump University?
    
    Trump offered America a deal. I’m smart. He said. Really, really smart, OK? I started with a small loan from my father (a quarter million, half a million, a million–the figure kept changing) and turned it into BILLIONS. That’s because I have great genes. I know how to make deals. I can make a deal for you.
    
    Now, a New York Times investigation has revealed that Trump’s father gave him not a “mere” million to get started with but ALMOST A HALF A BILLION DOLLARS (413 million, to be exact).
    
    Gee, how could one possibly become a successful businessperson with only half a billion in seed money? Wow. I guess only a very stable genius could do that. (The Times report points out that if he had simply invested that much much money in a stock index fund, he would be worth more than he is today.)
    
    So, the whole argument was a con, perhaps the most flagrant con in the history of cons on the American political carnival Midway.
    
    But Americans have gotten so used to being lied to by this man that this revelation–that the argument on which he based his appeal was a lie–has barely registered with them. Is this what we’ve learned? That politicians lying to us is OK because it’s to be expected? That the Art of the Deal is, in fact, the Con?
    
    Step right up folks for one thin dime and see the most spectacular show in history–the Wiz of Biz–as he takes on and single-handedly defeats those dastardly impoverished babies in the migrant caravan. Thrills, chills, and shills! It slices, it dices, it rends the Constitution and the body politic! Come one, come all. . . .
  - carolmalaysia says:
    
    November 5, 2018 at 4:45 pm
    
    Bob Shepherd: Well stated. How great it would be if everyone understood what is happening. All of our lives would be much better and Trump would be gone with nobody to cheer him on. I luxuriate in the thought.
  - Lloyd Lofthouse says:
    
    November 5, 2018 at 4:55 pm
    
    After his father was gone, and DT went broke again, he hit his siblings for a handout, and to get rid of him, they gave him about another 1/4 of a billion dollars.
    
    Then there is the almost a billion he gained from government subsides better known as Corporate Welfare.
    
    That was followed by several bankruptcies costing banks about another billion until US banks decided they’d lost enough from DT’s business successes.
    
    DT might well be the biggest panhandling loser/failure in business in this country’s history.
GregB says:

November 5, 2018 at 4:44 pm

There is quite a rhetorical gulf between “I want my country back” and “We want our American back” even though at first glance it might not seem so.

Reply
LeftCoastTeacher says:

November 5, 2018 at 8:13 pm

That was an inspiring video, and spot on. I hope it was made by someone who understood the importance of being earnest. It seemed like it.

Reply