The Protest Movie "SICKO" and Mo(o)re!

Michael Moore, regardless of subject (but let's take managed health care and SICKO for example) pushes back on American fascist politics. Even if there were no reasons other then his current willingness to lambaste the media and his documentary work as examples of powerful media protest, I would say he is a national treasure and we need all the examples of single individuals committed to personal political responsibility --for the good of working people-- that we can get!

One thing that Moore's work should not be used to inspire is an attempt to redirect American protest into a third political party.

At the launch of SICKO, the Green party sent Mike this letter. The letter's lead point (emphasis mine) “ ...we're not going to get a national health plan as long as the political landscape remains limited to two parties addicted to corporate contributions,” is spot on-- except for the qualifier “...limited to two parties.” Creating third-party competition as a push-back mechanism to stop corporate influence on politicians --a very compelling argument –presumes political parties and not the individual people of which parties are comprised control lawmakers in this country. That premise is wrong for a strong democracy.

Think about this: Want to stop a massive pro-business immigration bill that even the current imperial president desperately wants? You don't need a political party. ACCEPT YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTEST and just do it!

That's what right-wing radio “hawk” show hosts—all three of them and their impersonators --recently did on the issue of immigration reform. Their ten-to-one market dominance over all other voices makes them radio's “main stream” media and gives them access to millions of listeners. Providing awareness of an immigration policy (spun as it was) and which they did not like-- combined with a leadership-style call to action to destroy that policy -- led angry security-panicked listeners to flood state and federal politicians' offices with threats of future election retaliation should that representative be associated with passage of the bill. 51% of Americans polled on support for the bill said they didn't have enough information to form an opinion, yet the 16% who were against it created protest enough for a crushing defeat.

There was no time to create the mechanism of a third party challenge, nor was there a need. Instead, the irresistible force of citizen anger met the immovable object of bad legislation and like it or not, The People Prevailed. On issues of health care, the imperial presidency and so much more, I believe that you can too.

Join me this Sunday on Action Point, noon to 2PM, 1480 KPHX. Let's talk about your reaction to SICKO and hear what author Drew Weston is advising Democrats do to recover the emotional influence of their ideas in politics. We'll talk about protest options in the form of impeachment and more --the how-to part YOU control for taking your democracy back!