by Stephen Lendman

On October 6, thousands massed in Washington on the 10th anniversary of America's illegal Afghan war against a nonbelligerent country.

Years ago it was lost. Nonetheless, it continues without end. The business of America is war, permanent wars, multiple ones. One nation after another is plundered for wealth and power while homeland needs go begging.

US duopoly power spurns human and civil rights, rule of law principles, and democratic values. Long ago they were abandoned to advance Washington's imperium globally.

Allied with America's military/industrial profiteers, Wall Street runs America. Political Washington serves them. Public needs are increasingly shut out.

The criminal class in Washington is bipartisan. Every new administration and Congress exceed the worst of previous ones. America's heading straight downhill.

Political Washington is corrupted, broken, and unfixable. Thomas Jefferson wrote in America's Declaration of Independence:

"Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government..."

That time is now! Change never comes top down, only bottom up by committed people demanding no less.

Fed up Americans across the country want long denied social justice. Slogans like "Banks Got Bailed Out! We Got Sold Out!" are chanted. Occupy Together.org said "meetups" were established in 761 cities and towns.

They're heading everywhere, despite enormous obstacles confronting them. Corporate money wants them co-opted. Corrupt union bosses and political insiders are involved.

Committed leaders city by city aren't evident. Neither is focus on what matters most. Without it cosmetic changes only are possible.

Issue one is money power in private hands to make more of it. Political Washington gave bankers control for private enrichment. Wall Street crooks took full advantage, transforming America into an unprecedented money making racket.

Working Americans got scammed. They've lost their savings, jobs, homes and futures so privileged elites can get richer and more powerful.

Transforming America depends on returning money power to public hands, according to the Constitution's Article 1, Section 8, giving people through Congress sole control.

Not Goldman Sachs. Not JP MorganChase. Not Bank of America or other Wall Street giants, running America like a wholly owned subsidiary. Taking full advantage, they exploit people for profit, bribing public officials to go along.

They willingly grab all they can, getting more every election cycle to serve power, not popular interests.

They, crooked bankers and other corporate criminals transformed America into a corrupted business-run sinkhole.

Change depends on people power regaining what's lost. It includes making the business of America social justice and peace, not unbridled greed and war.

On Thursday, thousands came to Washington for social change. They also want imperial wars ended.

Their October 2011.org site said "(j)oin us in Freedom Plaza starting October 6. STOP THE MACHINE! Create a New World!"

It's for everyone concerned about "injustice, militarism and environmental destruction to join in ending concentrated corporate power" and corrupted politicians serving America's super-rich alone.

"Agitate! Agitate! Agitate!" urges wrongfully imprisoned human rights lawyer Lynne Stewart until another world worth struggling for is gotten!

Now's the time for full throttle action. Rage against the system until it is!

On October 6, after massing in Freedom Plaza, thousands marched past the US Treasury, White House and Commerce Department, shouting:

"We Got Sold Out!" "We Want Jobs! We Want Jobs!"

On the Progressive Radio News Hour, Ray McGovern said he and other were heading to Washington to stay until their demands are met.

In his September 18 Charlottesville, VA speech, he said he "look(ed) forward to descending on our own 'Tahrir Square' at Freedom Plaza in Washington....In the final analysis, we will be confronting the 'upper crust,' which my Irish grandmother described as 'a bunch of crumbs held together by a lot of dough.' "

In Washington and across America, fed up workers, students, teachers, and others vow no longer to take it anymore. Hopefully that spirit won't wane despite enormous corporate pressure to co-op it, when cold weather arrives up north, or because cops keep beating up on people as crime boss enforcers.

So far, committed activists vow to stay the course. October 2011 Americans want "to take control of our country and our lives." They'll occupy Freedom Plaza "and hold a People's Assembly (to) come up with just and sustainable solutions....and demand....people's needs be addressed.”

Civil resistance is planned to achieve long denied "inherent rights and freedoms (so) our children have a chance to live in peace, to breathe clean air, and to grow edible natural food."

Urging millions to join them in person or online, "peace, justice and equality....starts here."

"History is knocking. Will you answer the call?"

Martin Luther King's Message

On April 4, 1967, one year to the day before his assassination, Martin Luther King spoke at New York's Riverside Church, saying:

"We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence, or violent co-annihilation. We must move past indecision to action. If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight."

King headlined his speech, "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence."

Silence is "betrayal," he said. War in Vietnam was "an enemy of the poor." So are multiple Obama ones today.

"(I)t should be incandescently clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life (in) America today can ignore the present war. If America's soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read Vietnam."

"This madness must cease....We must stop now....We must continue to raise our voices if our nation persists in its perverse ways in Vietnam."

He called for a "revolution of values, (including) declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism."

He ended quoting James Russell Lowell (1819 - 1891), saying:

"Once to every man and nation

Comes the moment to decide,

In the strife of truth and falsehood,

For the good or evil side...."

That time is now, said King. It still is unfulfilled 44 years later.

A Final Comment

On the Progressive Radio News Hour, Trends Analyst Gerald Celente discussed a visionary new society - "DIRECT DEMOCRACY NOW!"

America's "representative democracy" never worked. Today it's too corrupted to fix. Presidents and congressional members serve monied, not popular, interests.

"DirectDemocracyNow.org is a global movement to spread Direct Democracy," using popular referenda power replacing back room deal making.

Victor Hugo said, "There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come."

That time is now. With enough believers committed to stay the course, "Direct Democracy can happen if we make it happen."

Get involved. Enlist family and friends. Join groups. Link up with others. Do it for yourself and children. Do it for their future and yours.

Do it to stop political Washington and Wall Street crooks from selling you out. Do it to save humanity before imperial warmakers consume it.

Do it because it matters! Do it now!

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.