Friday, February 22, 2013

The Voice of Protest



Open letter to Michael Steele, former head of the RNC.

I saw you on "Hardball," 2/21/13.  You informed Mr. Matthews that the opinions of the American people matter only during an election year.  Sir, who do you think you are?  Are you under the impression that you speak for a ruling aristocracy?  Certainly, Senators McCain and Graham give the impression of believing that they are members of one.  My opinion and the opinions of my fellow citizens matter at all times because they are cumulative.  We are not fools, sir.  Nor do we have the attention span of small children or cooked vegetables.  We hear.  We see.  We know.  And, we remember.  I give you the last two presidential elections, not to mention a loss of seats in both the House and the Senate. 

Do not count too much on our ignorance or our distraction through overwork and increasingly difficult circumstances.  Do not count too much on our abysmal economic situation post 2008 to sidetrack us from following the idiotic machinations of that theater of the absurd in D.C.  In point of fact, such self-serving and duplicitous rubbish has much more to do with where we are today than the School Lunch Program, Head Start, Medicaid, Medicare or Social Security. 

We have every right to be concerned about people who put their ideology over our welfare and call it love of country - and we are, sir; we are concerned.  Do not rest too easy on the belief that we can be diverted and entertained by media minutia out of engaging in acquiring the perspicacity to defend ourselves against the not-so-tender mercies of our "leaders.”  We have many sources and many options, and we grow better at using them day by day.

Above all do not overestimate the security of your gerrymandered districts and persistent interference with the exercise of the franchise.  As the demographics of this country change so too can the demographics of your precious red districts.  In any case, in a country where the obstructionist Right in Congress enjoys an approval rating slightly higher than bubonic plague it is not beyond the realm of reasonable possibility that save a small, loud and ideologically isolated minority - highly distasteful to the general public – you may stand to lose your own supporters.  Finally, we will wait in line for hours and days to cast our vote.  We will use social media, protest, write and rely upon our allies like Maddow, Sharpton and Shultz, to name three, to expose interference with voting rights for what it is, elitist hubris and desperation.

Be careful sir, who you underestimate and disregard.  We are out here.  We are watching. 

This letter was sent to Steele at this Email address:  steele@wharton.upenn.edu
This is his home page: http://www-stat.wharton.upenn.edu/~steele/

People like Steele must be called on their condescension toward and marginalization of the American People.  Give him a peace of your mind.  Perhaps he can paste them all together and make one of his own. 

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