Flashback from the early DB days.
Like many others, we knew nothing about the real Larry Flynt before the film that made him famous. Once exposed however, we were intrigued by his innate intelligence, stubborn nature, and seemingly indomitable spirit. We were not surprised by his satirical demand for a porn-industry bailout late in '08, and we laughed at the 98% of journalists who missed the satire and reported that story as real. It was one of best anti-bailout stunts any of us have seen, and the professional writers mostly missed it.
Last Friday he delivered a sermon on Huffington Post calling for a general nationwide strike in protest of Washington and our one-party system replete with career politicians. It was a courageous, and long-overdue call, and one that we at The Daily Bail take seriously. Our nation has a rich history of general strikes, though most were pre-union, and yet it's a tradition that's been practically forgotten.
Similarly we have forgotten how, just 15 years ago, we were tantalizingly close to a victory against political capture with the Term-Limits movement. Originally, a component of the Contract With America, the term-limits and campaign finance reform movements were then part of the daily political discussion.
Now a mere decade later, they have been forgotten and have fallen completely out of the public debate. Flynt's siren call is a reminder of their importance. A one-day national protest strike would serve as a beacon to Congress that we have awakened and that we again understand the rules. Washington works for us and should fear our power. We have had enough.
We call on other media organizations to report Flynt's editorial, spread the word, and let citizens decide if a strike is appropriate for them. It's not just the right thing to do, it's a patriotic duty. Journalism has no purpose if it solely entertains. It must also inform and even occasionally incite. This is one of those times.
We have Flynt's piece below. No one should miss this one. You may not agree with his choices but his editorial makes for powerful reading.
The American government -- which we once called our government -- has been taken over by Wall Street, the mega-corporations and the super-rich. They are the ones who decide our fate. It is this group of powerful elites, the people President Franklin D. Roosevelt called "economic royalists," who choose our elected officials -- indeed, our very form of government. Both Democrats and Republicans dance to the tune of their corporate masters. In America, corporations do not control the government. In America, corporations are the government.
This was never more obvious than with the Wall Street bailout, whereby the very corporations that caused the collapse of our economy were rewarded with taxpayer dollars. So arrogant, so smug were they that, without a moment's hesitation, they took our money -- yours and mine -- to pay their executives multimillion-dollar bonuses, something they continue doing to this very day. They have no shame. They don't care what you and I think about them. Henry Kissinger refers to us as "useless eaters."
We all know that the first American Revolution officially began in 1776, with the Declaration of Independence. Less well known is that the single strongest motivating factor for revolution was the colonists' attempt to free themselves from the Bank of England. But how many of you know about the second revolution, referred to by historians as Shays' Rebellion? It took place in 1786-87, and once again the banks were the cause. This time they were putting the screws to America's farmers.
Daniel Shays was a farmer in western Massachusetts. Like many other farmers of the day, he was being driven into bankruptcy by the banks' predatory lending practices. (Sound familiar?) Rallying other farmers to his side, Shays led his rebels in an attack on the courts and the local armory. The rebellion itself failed, but a message had been sent: The bankers (and the politicians who supported them) ultimately backed off. As Thomas Jefferson famously quipped in regard to the insurrection: "A little rebellion now and then is a good thing. The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
Perhaps it's time to consider that option once again.
I'm calling for a national strike, one designed to close the country down for a day. The intent? Real campaign-finance reform and strong restrictions on lobbying. Because nothing will change until we take corporate money out of politics. Nothing will improve until our politicians are once again answerable to their constituents, not the rich and powerful.
Let's set a date. No one goes to work. No one buys anything. And if that isn't effective -- if the politicians ignore us -- we do it again. And again. And again.
The real war is not between the left and the right. It is between the average American and the ruling class. If we come together on this single issue, everything else will resolve itself. It's time we took back our government from those who would make us their slaves.
