{"id":278,"date":"2008-11-11T09:07:39","date_gmt":"2008-11-11T09:07:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/progressiverevival\/2008\/11\/the-peoples-countercoup.html"},"modified":"2008-11-11T09:07:39","modified_gmt":"2008-11-11T09:07:39","slug":"the-peoples-countercoup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2008\/11\/the-peoples-countercoup.html","title":{"rendered":"The People’s Counter-Coup"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>It’s
\neasy to look at the events of Election Day and draw the wrong conclusion. It’s
\ntempting to conclude that what happened after a long cruel and repressive eight
\nyears is that our democracy simply worked once again and proved to be
\nself-correcting. Easy to breathe a sigh of relief and turn back to cultivating
\nour regular pursuits.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Easy
\n— but wrong. The right lesson to take from this election is NOT that the
\nsystem is in working order without our active and radical participation.
\nRather, we should understand that we were, as a people, in direct engagement
\nwith other actors who sought to subvert our liberties in a dynamic and delicate
\nfeedback loop. Our actions checked their actions; our decision making on the
\npart of thousands and millions shifted the landscape so that the worst could not
\ntake place — so that their decision making was likely to have been altered.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>What
\ndo I mean? I have said that since October 1st<\/sup> we have been in a
\nsituation in which a coup has taken place. I stand entirely by that statement
\n— with the update that we have taken steps to counter the further progression
\nof that coup FOR NOW. This is cause for both rejoicing and caution as well as
\nfor understanding the lessons learned. Even such established historians as
\nChalmers Johnsons have described Bush’s subversion of the rule of law as `a
\ncoup d’etat’ and I argued that with the deployment of the First Brigade — four
\nthousand battle-hardened warriors — onto US soil, that coup had gone from a
\ntheoretical legal nexus to one that could be activated in military terms with the
\nstroke of a Presidential pen or a simple Presidential statement. Those who follow
\nmy posts know that, from my study of the history of closing societies, I was
\nworried about a closely-fought election, made close by the multiple attempts at
\nvote hacking and vote suppression which the Republicans had set in motion, and
\nI was worried about citizen unrest as an excuse for an assertion that we were
\nin a `state of emergency.’ Many serious historians, most recently the author of
\nAngler, have noted that Cheney’s interest in Continuity of Government processes
\nthat suspend the Constitution, draw dissidents into detention and deploy
\nmilitary for domestic security dates back to his active work on such plans in the
\n1980’s and many others note that some aspects of the COG plan were indeed
\ntemporarily set in motion on Sept. 11. Many have noted the proliferating legislation
\n— from the Military Commissions Act of 2007 to Bush’s signing statement
\nrefusing Congress’ limitations on military deployment — that would make such a
\nstep easy.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Obviously
\nthat did not take place – nothing like it did. But why? Should we never have
\nbeen concerned about these laws being crafted and lying around like loaded
\nAK-47s? I would argue that it was our caution that prevented any such
\ndisruption. I have been saying for two years now that in a closing society the
\none sure protection is for millions of citizens to draw the line at the same
\ntime in multiple ways. This creates a `herding cats’ effect, making it far more
\ndifficult for threatening plans to be set successfully into motion. Other
\nelements that protect citizens at such a delicate time are awareness — so they
\ncan’t be lied to or shocked or intimidated by an official story line as easily
\n— and the threat of prosecution. When would-be dictators realize their
\nactions, if they have even a chance of backfiring or proving not successful,
\nwill lead to real jail time for them and their cronies or worse — they tend to
\nre-strategize and choose a less risky path. History is full of plans for coups
\n— including `stealth coups’? like the subversion of foreign elections or
\nintimidation of the opposition in other countries by US operatives? (see John
\nPerkins’ work on this, for instance) that were averted or revised or abandoned
\nbecause the atmosphere became more dynamic — the people were vigilant — and
\nthe legal and judicial system had stepped up its own threat level against those
\nwho would subvert a constitutional system. What happened last week? The people
\nstepped up on multiple fronts at once. They were, for once, not passive. Many
\nhundreds of grassroots voting rights activist had toiled for years to
\ninvestigate vote tampering. These citizens faced ridicule, neglect and
\nmarginalization. But in one of those moments of critical mass that you get when
\nenough people speak up, the culture shifted — there were some major stories in
\nthe mainstream news media about vote tampering — and Mike Connell was subpoenaed
\nto testify about having allegedly hacked the vote in Ohio after Stephen Spoonamore
\nhad come forward and blown the whistle on Bush\/Cheney’s history of vote
\nsuppression and election fraud. So even as hundreds of examples of vote-flipping,
\nmachine shortages and other oddities — all of them, with few exceptions,
\nbenefiting the Republicans — popped up throughout the nation, all over that
\nsame nation citizens THIS TIME were observing, recording and reporting them to
\nthe voting rights’ groups’ hotlines. And their work was strengthened by media
\nscrutiny: because the media finally understood from citizens’ raised voices how
\nbroad a base of support for such investigation there was, THIS TIME CNN set up
\na bold and to-be-duplicated initiative, that let citizens report vote theft or
\ntampering on a national platform in real time. Mark Crispin Miller, one of the
\ntrue unsung heroes of this era in history — a vote-theft documentarian who was
\nobsessively, tirelessly and in the face of what has until lately been a media
\nblackout been tracking these stories for years in town after town and region
\nafter region — argues persuasively that it was the combination of high
\nturnout, mass voter scrutiny, multiple legal actions, and the Connell subpoena
\nthat allowed Obama to prevail. (On Monday evening, just a few hours before
\nConnell’s deposition, Rove suddenly reversed himself, forecast `an electoral
\nlandslide’ for Obama, and thereby `pulled the plug’ on the attempt to block
\nObama’s victory.) And their work was strengthened by media scrutiny: because
\nthe media finally understood from citizens’ raised voices how broad a base of
\nsupport for such investigation there was, THIS TIME CNN set up a bold and to-be-duplicated
\ninitiative, that let citizens report vote theft or tampering on a national
\nplatform in real time. Mark Crispin Miller, one of the true unsung heroes of
\nthis era in history — a vote-theft documentarian who was obsessively,
\ntirelessly and in the face of what has until lately been a media blackout been
\ntracking these stories for years in town after town and region after region —
\nargues persuasively that it was the combination of mass voter scrutiny,
\nmultiple legal actions, and the Connell subpoena that led to the counter-coup.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>I
\nwould say the background drumbeat of `prosecute’ helped a great deal as well.
\nAnd for the first time the `prosecute’ call — which I am proud to say the
\nAmerican Freedom Campaign has been out front with for more than a year — has
\nbeen given real teeth by the promise of Charlotte Dennett, in her campaign for
\nAttorney General in Vermont, to draw up the indictments of Bush and other high
\nofficials. Such prosecution is not dependent on her victory: she and Vincent
\nBugliosi spelled out a clear roadmap to prosecution that any AG can follow in
\nany of the states. And Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights
\nhas an important new book out demonstrating how to prosecute Donald Rumsfeld. History
\nshows that this drumbeat of a real threat of prosecution does more to deter
\nwould-be coup leaders than even the mass activation of the people’s voices
\nraised in saying No.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>So
\nall these elements came together — and gave us that miracle, a mostly transparent,
\nmostly accountable election and the prospect of a peaceful transition. (Though
\nI will relax fully only after Inauguration Day, especially since Bush stressed
\nhelpfully how much terrorists like `transitions’ as times of `vulnerability’
\nfor a nation. He soothingly added the examples of Madrid and London, both of
\nwhich were struck by attacks soon before or after a national election. It is
\nlike the end of a horror movie in which you think the villain is dead but he
\nrises up and just keeps trying to threaten the fleeing babysitter with a
\nmachete).
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Then
\n— just to remind you that we may have won the battle but we are in a war — the
\nday after Obama’s win — the military announced that two more brigades would be
\ndeployed to the US to set up a permanent military beachhead on our soil. Unless
\nthese are disbanded by Obama, unless he restores Posse Comitatus, they — or
\ntheir who-knows-how many brothers and sisters to join them — are ready for use
\nby the next Republican president. Just like the aspects of legislation that
\nhave been seeded `like bombs in a minefield,’ as Frontline producer and
\ndirector of Bush’s Law Michael Kirk noted, so deeply, or buried in secret
\ndirectives that no one is likely to find all of them who does not know they are
\nthere; he argues that these too can be activated by the next Rovian prot\u00e9g\u00e9 in
\npower.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Practicing
\nproactive citizenship — citizenship undertaken in a revolutionary spirit by
\npeople who are aware of how fragile democracy is and how easily it can be
\nsubverted or even overthrown, and who, above all, take personal responsibility
\nfor their and the nation’s safety?– is like practicing safe sex. In both
\ncases, you can never know for sure exactly what kind of horror exactly you have
\naverted for yourself and for others. But if you don’t take such steps you are suicidally
\nstuped and irresponsible. And if you do, you can know that you are taking the
\nwise steps, the grown-up steps, the steps that do avert horrors.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>In
\nthe case of the millions of Americans who said No to a stolen vote or worse, it
\nis that personal responsibility, that decision to take an action step, that brings
\nabout real, healing, saving change.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It’s easy to look at the events of Election Day and draw the wrong conclusion. It’s tempting to conclude that what happened after a long cruel and repressive eight years is that our democracy simply worked once again and proved to be self-correcting. Easy to breathe a sigh of relief and turn back to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":169,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-election-08"],"yoast_head":"\nThe People's Counter-Coup - Progressive Revival<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2008\/11\/the-peoples-countercoup.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The People's Counter-Coup - Progressive Revival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It’s easy to look at the events of Election Day and draw the wrong conclusion. It’s tempting to conclude that what happened after a long cruel and repressive eight years is that our democracy simply worked once again and proved to be self-correcting. Easy to breathe a sigh of relief and turn back to…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2008\/11\/the-peoples-countercoup.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Progressive Revival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-11-11T09:07:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Naomi Wolf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The People's Counter-Coup - Progressive Revival","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/2008\/11\/the-peoples-countercoup.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The People's Counter-Coup - Progressive Revival","og_description":"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It’s easy to look at the events of Election Day and draw the wrong conclusion. 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She was an undergraduate at Yale University and did her graduate work at New College, Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. Her essays have appeared in various publications including: The New Republic, Wall Street Journal, Glamour, Ms., Esquire, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. She also speaks widely to groups across the country. The Beauty Myth , her first book, was an international bestseller. She followed that with Fire With Fire: The New Female Power and How It Will Change The 21st Century, published by Random House in 1993, and Promiscuities: The Secret Struggle for Womanhood, published in 1997. Misconceptions, released in 2001, is a powerful and passionate critique of pregnancy and birth in America. In 2002, Harper Collins published a 10th anniversary commemorative edition of The Beauty Myth. Wolf is the author of Give Me Liberty and The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot. Wolf is co-founder of the Board of The Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership, an organization devoted to training young women in ethical leadership for the 21st century. The institute teaches professional development in the arts and media, politics and law, business and entrepreneurship as well as ethical decision making. Her most recent book, a New York Times bestseller, is The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot, published in 2007 by Chelsea Green.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/author\/nwolf"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/169"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/progressiverevival\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}