By David Swanson

Remarks at the Rutherford Institute, June 16, 2010
Video of these remarks and the following Q&A posted at
http://afterdowningstreet.org/rutherford

I want to save most of the time we have for your questions, so I'll be brief and I'll start with a couple of questions for you. And then I want you to think of questions for me, because otherwise I'll just go on and on about what I want to talk about.

Who can tell me who said this and where they said it?
"I -- like any head of state -- reserve the right to act unilaterally if necessary to defend my nation." -- President Barack Obama, asserting the illegal and unconstitutional power to make war, in a Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in Oslo, Norway.

What about this one -- who and where?
"There may be a number of people who cannot be prosecuted for past crimes, but who nonetheless pose a threat to the security of the United States. . . . As I said, I am not going to release individuals who endanger the American people. . . . We must have a thorough process of periodic review, so that any prolonged detention is carefully evaluated and justified." -- President Barack Obama standing in front of the U.S. Constitution in the National Archives, a Constitution that reads "The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended."

OK. One more. Who said this and where and when?

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By David Swanson

This past Saturday, I joined in a protest at a former president's house, took part in a four-hour progressive politics forum in an enormous theater packed with an enthusiastic crowd, and spoke at a fundraiser for GI resistance in a giant gay cathedral, all in the heart of the hinterlands: Dallas, Texas. All of which is not to say that the United States is a purple country and we should all just get along, but is to say that there is to be found across this nation a crowd much larger and saner and yet even angrier than the deluded corporate pawns and racists shown daily on your television.

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Americans who voted for peace last November but are getting only more war are becoming increasingly disillusioned.

The majority of Americans, polls show, would slash the military budget by over 30 percent yet President Obama has increased it by four percent. A majority of Americans want U.S. troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan but the Pentagon will garrison 50,000 in the former country indefinitely and dispatch perhaps 20,000 more shortly to escalate the war in the latter.

Since voting doesn’t bring the desired change in national policies, people wonder what they can do individually. The answer is quite a lot. “Things have gotten bad enough in the minds of enough Americans that there is an opening for creating a mass movement for real change, and that movement is already growing all around us,” writes citizen/activist David Swanson of Charlottesville, Va., in his new book “Daybreak”(Seven Stories Press). Swanson is cofounder of the anti-war After Downing Street Coalition.

He ticks off a number of examples where grass-roots citizen groups won a round vs. the Establishment:

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By David Swanson

I got pulled over for speeding in Texas yesterday and the officer looked like the kind of guy who dreamed about using his taser. So when he asked for my license and registration, I slowly got them out and handed them over.

"Do you know why I stopped you?" he asked.

I replied, "I think I do, sir, but I think you may be looking backward a little bit." Officer Rigveda (that was his name) looked behind him and then looked confused.

I tried to explain: "What I mean is, this is a time for reflection, not retribution. I know you don't want to hurt the morale of speeders and put the nation in danger."

"Step out of the car please."

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