What I want Obama to say:

I saw President Obama (okay, that's a cool phrase somewhat) ask a little girl what she wanted him to do. She responded meekly, "Fix the schools."

A lot of people are making demands of him through video and the internet. This is what I would like for him to say to the American People:

My fellow Americans,

it's been 100 days since I took the oath of office. It's been too much. I can see how this job crushed the souls of many of my predecessors. Going in, I thought I could handle it. I thought we could get past the partisanship that has hampered the progress of this great country. But I was wrong. The dichotomy of Republican and Democrat, conservative and liberal cannot be briddged for it is built into a system of inequality. What am I saying? I'm saying that we're asking the wrong question. We're acting out the wrong roles, here. We as a society are making the wrong decisions about who should be making the decisions. Maybe I should be clearer. As long as we the government, your representatives are making the dicisions, as long as the power to make decisions and the control to enforce those decisions is in the hands of the people you've elected to represent you, not only will you the people be devoid of power yourselves, but the concentrated power that the system gives uswill invariably be corrupted, and it will work for your benefit less and less, until it is your master.

What do I mean when I say invariably? Democrat or Republican it doesn't matter. The power we wield is too much for one person or any small group of people. We will be lulled by money, by the influence of good friends, by the desire to do good and we will invariably, time and again become corrupted-the power used not for the benefit of the people but for a few at the cost of the people. It seems perfectly understood in some ways: people know officials are corrupt. But you haven't put two and two together to see that it's not the person, but the seat of power you give to that person which is the problem.


Jimmy Carter is a person I have much respect for. He has dedicated his life after his time in office to humanitarian ends building homes for the homeless speaking out for justice when it was theunpopularthing to do. But as President he sold weapons to Indonesia so that Suharto could invade East Timor and slaughter a third of its people. He recently said that as Presdient he didn't understand the situation, that he--most powerful man on earth--didn't have the information on what those weapons were to be used for, and this ignorance willful or not cost 200,000 people their lives. I don't want that on my conscience.

This power you entrust us with is like the ring Lord of the Rings. No matter how good the character of theholder of the ring, eventually they become corrupted with its power. Now I do not claim to be Gangalf or the Elfin Queen or even Frodo the Hobbit whose task it was to bear the burden of taking the ring to Mordor to have it destroyed. But I have caught a glimpse first hand of the awful power that I now wield, and I have come to the conclusion that I must take steps to destroy this power before it becomes corrupted, before it corrupts its holder, before it consumes the entire earth and its inhabitants.

No, I did not realize when I assumed this position what an awesome and awful power it was. I knew it was great, but I thought I could control it, protect it from those who would corrupt it, but it's almost as if the power was meant to be corrupted, was meant to be used for the destruction of all life. That I have concluded, is its goal, its purpose. So it must be destroyed. But like the ring of fire cannot be destroyed in any other way except returned to the fires of Mordor, to its origins, so too we must send the power back to its origins.

But what is this power?

The power behind every decision I make behind every bill I sign into law is your power, the people's power. Now that has becomse so maligned, so cliched a term as to not mean much more than a slogan for so-called hippies and protestors.

It belongs to the citizens of this nation. The citizens have no right to abdicate this power to anyone, to anybody of officials. This is illegal power therefore. But we have a problem here. Power like this cannot be given back to the citizens. It was not forged to be given back, just as the ring was not meant to be destroyed. This power must be taken back. In this sense it must be earned back. First what would it mean if I "give it back" to the people? I don't have the power to give it back. Second it is onlymeant to be used singularly, remember. Third, there aremanyforces massing all thetime-while you sleep, while you work, as I say these words--forces that would blow up the entire world rather than see this power lost to them. (Do you believe that this power would stage wars to make you think your enemy was somewhere over there?) These destructive forces think nothing of assassinating a president to hold on to their poewr, especially at this time when I lay it bear for you, my plan to begin the take back of power.

What I want from every US citizen is to gather and meet with people in your community and in yourworkplace in whatever size is determined to you work best for your community, and come up with a list of demands of your representatives, your servants in government. We need to know what you need. And we need you to tell us. This step is absolutely essential to finding out what you need. Those of you who speak loudest in meetings listen more than you speak. Those who do not speak, your voice is essential to thisprocess. Inclusion must be the watchword at these meetings. How are you going to decide what your needs are? Take a vote, reach consensus?

When your lilst of demands is complete, meet with other communitieies andfigure out, hose to meet at least half the demandson the list, and how to satisfy as manydemands of another community's list. Your community should ask, are we self-sufficient?

Next I want you to meet at your workplace and do the samething. Now this will be tougher than meeting in your community because your boss will want you to work. But I am going to make sure people dcan freely meet in their workplaces to discuss and tell us what your workplace needs are.

http://www.pscelebrities.com/whitelightblacklight/2007/06/tolkien-anarchist.htm