Thursday, March 23, 2006
RATIONALE FOR CAMPAIGN
A Zogby poll released June 30, 2005, found that 42 percent of Americans polled favored Bush’s impeachment if it were found that the President misled the nation about his reasons for going to war with Iraq. (http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1007 ).
A Zogby poll released January 16, 2006, found that 52% of Americans wanted Congress to impeach Bush if he wiretapped American citizens without a judge's approval. (http://www.zogby.com/Soundbites/ReadClips.dbm?ID=12528 ).
Despite majority support for impeachment, most Americans think that there is no way that Congress can be persuaded to impeach Bush. People forget, however, how many tyrants have been toppled in recent years by public protests. It has happened, at least, in the Philippines, Indonesia, Serbia, Ukraine, Kyrghizstan, Fiji, Peru, Ecuador, and Argentina.
Only a minuscule fraction of persons favoring impeachment will turn out for demonstrations, and even fewer will stay out day after day, as happened in some of the countries mentioned. A different tactic is needed to turn the massive passive support for impeachment into something visible, that can focus the attention of the entire population on impeachment week after week. The CIA successfully promoted such a strategy in the Ukraine, most notably with the wearing of the color orange by demonstrators in Kiev.
Advocates of impeaching Bush need to choose a color and wear it. It might not be feasible to wear the same color every day, but perhaps one day of the week. Suppose most Americans who supported impeachment wore a distinctive color on Friday, or Saturday? That would be millions of people wearing the color, as many as 50% in some particular locations or situations. It would have to be noticed. It would not be millions the first week, but as more people noticed and word got around, the numbers would grow week after week.
A Zogby poll released January 16, 2006, found that 52% of Americans wanted Congress to impeach Bush if he wiretapped American citizens without a judge's approval. (http://www.zogby.com/Soundbites/ReadClips.dbm?ID=12528 ).
Despite majority support for impeachment, most Americans think that there is no way that Congress can be persuaded to impeach Bush. People forget, however, how many tyrants have been toppled in recent years by public protests. It has happened, at least, in the Philippines, Indonesia, Serbia, Ukraine, Kyrghizstan, Fiji, Peru, Ecuador, and Argentina.
Only a minuscule fraction of persons favoring impeachment will turn out for demonstrations, and even fewer will stay out day after day, as happened in some of the countries mentioned. A different tactic is needed to turn the massive passive support for impeachment into something visible, that can focus the attention of the entire population on impeachment week after week. The CIA successfully promoted such a strategy in the Ukraine, most notably with the wearing of the color orange by demonstrators in Kiev.
Advocates of impeaching Bush need to choose a color and wear it. It might not be feasible to wear the same color every day, but perhaps one day of the week. Suppose most Americans who supported impeachment wore a distinctive color on Friday, or Saturday? That would be millions of people wearing the color, as many as 50% in some particular locations or situations. It would have to be noticed. It would not be millions the first week, but as more people noticed and word got around, the numbers would grow week after week.
Poll results: Wear Orange on Fridays
An informal email poll among peace and anti-war email groups March 7-12 elicited 55 positive responses and two negative ones for the proposal for a campaign to wear a particular color one day of the week to show support for impeachment.
The results of the poll so far favor Orange and Friday. So we are initiating a campaign asking people to wear something orange on Friday - whether shirt, pants, scarf shoes, ribbon, lapel pin, or wrist band.
Meanwhile, for further discussion of the campaign, you can register at this blog. To do so, click on comments at the bottom of the page, then scroll again to the bottom and click on "sign up here." It takes a few minutes, but it's free. To start a new post rather than a comment one logs in at www.blogger.com
We also have a regular website up for the campaign, impeachbushcheney.net (Note the .org and .com sites have been taken by big slurpers, not us.)
Previous messages mentioned only impeaching Bush, not Cheney. After a few persons mentioned their disagreement, since they would not like to have Cheney as president (We don't think this is a serious objection, because Cheney already is president), we decided that the movement should be to impeach both of them (or all of them), or just for impeachment. If anyone now disagrees, and thinks we should impeach only Bush and not Cheney, you may record your views on the blog.
Single votes were counted if persons specified a first choice, but if they mentioned multiple colors with no preference, they were counted as "also's". There were 52 single votes and 18 also's for color, and 23 single votes and 28 also's for days of the week (many voted just for week day or weekend). Here are the results:
The first number after each color is votes, and second is also's)
Color Votes Also's
Orange 18 4 two people suggest "Day-glo"
Peach 9 2
White 6 4
Pink 6 1
Blue 4 1
Black 2 3
Purple 2 1
Green 2 1
Red 1
Red on yellow 1 like "poisonous snake"
Black, yellow 1 colors of anonymous website impeachbush.org
Clear 0 1 This is the most original suggestion. . .but just for arm bands
Day of Week Votes Also's
Sunday 0 2
Monday 6 4
Tuesday 2 4
Wednesday 4 5
Thursday 0 5
Friday 9 6
Saturday 2 2
Many voters for Friday added that Friday is a more casual dress day in many offices. Why a lot of people prefer Monday or Wednesday is a mystery - perhaps someone can explain it. There was one comment - "start the week off right," possibly indicating that people who prefer Mondays are more energetic or better organized than some of us.
A lot of interesting or entertaining comments were made. I quote here a couple that have serious impact on the decisions, and might lead us to reconsider, choosing instead either blue, white, or pink (though one person did say that peach is a nobrainer).
"I would support choosing a color that is very commonly seen, like white or blue. The more common, the better. Not many people want to wear an unflattering color anyway, much less go out and buy a shirt they don't need. The problem with deciding this by a poll is that your respondents will be the most ardent and active ones, i.e. the ones that would wear an orange shirt once a week. Not typical."
Next is not a single quote, but the fact that several people objected to pink because it already is recognized as a "brand" for Code Pink. Those were mostly men. Several votes received from women in Code Pink favored pink, suggesting that the branding argument is a pink herring.
There were a number of remarks about the need for publicity. That could be the next step. Someone suggested flash mobbing - a possibility. Another suggested having a start day as a rallying point, with an effort to get press publicity - also a possibility not precluded by wearing orange this week.
Some opinions about orange - reminds people about GITMO prisoners, as well as the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. One person objected to the CIA association, but another said "it is a brilliant idea to study the CIA's tactics and put them to use!"
One more thing: PLEASE DON'T BUY YOUR ORANGE APPAREL AT WALMART.
The results of the poll so far favor Orange and Friday. So we are initiating a campaign asking people to wear something orange on Friday - whether shirt, pants, scarf shoes, ribbon, lapel pin, or wrist band.
Meanwhile, for further discussion of the campaign, you can register at this blog. To do so, click on comments at the bottom of the page, then scroll again to the bottom and click on "sign up here." It takes a few minutes, but it's free. To start a new post rather than a comment one logs in at www.blogger.com
We also have a regular website up for the campaign, impeachbushcheney.net (Note the .org and .com sites have been taken by big slurpers, not us.)
Previous messages mentioned only impeaching Bush, not Cheney. After a few persons mentioned their disagreement, since they would not like to have Cheney as president (We don't think this is a serious objection, because Cheney already is president), we decided that the movement should be to impeach both of them (or all of them), or just for impeachment. If anyone now disagrees, and thinks we should impeach only Bush and not Cheney, you may record your views on the blog.
Single votes were counted if persons specified a first choice, but if they mentioned multiple colors with no preference, they were counted as "also's". There were 52 single votes and 18 also's for color, and 23 single votes and 28 also's for days of the week (many voted just for week day or weekend). Here are the results:
The first number after each color is votes, and second is also's)
Color Votes Also's
Orange 18 4 two people suggest "Day-glo"
Peach 9 2
White 6 4
Pink 6 1
Blue 4 1
Black 2 3
Purple 2 1
Green 2 1
Red 1
Red on yellow 1 like "poisonous snake"
Black, yellow 1 colors of anonymous website impeachbush.org
Clear 0 1 This is the most original suggestion. . .but just for arm bands
Day of Week Votes Also's
Sunday 0 2
Monday 6 4
Tuesday 2 4
Wednesday 4 5
Thursday 0 5
Friday 9 6
Saturday 2 2
Many voters for Friday added that Friday is a more casual dress day in many offices. Why a lot of people prefer Monday or Wednesday is a mystery - perhaps someone can explain it. There was one comment - "start the week off right," possibly indicating that people who prefer Mondays are more energetic or better organized than some of us.
A lot of interesting or entertaining comments were made. I quote here a couple that have serious impact on the decisions, and might lead us to reconsider, choosing instead either blue, white, or pink (though one person did say that peach is a nobrainer).
"I would support choosing a color that is very commonly seen, like white or blue. The more common, the better. Not many people want to wear an unflattering color anyway, much less go out and buy a shirt they don't need. The problem with deciding this by a poll is that your respondents will be the most ardent and active ones, i.e. the ones that would wear an orange shirt once a week. Not typical."
Next is not a single quote, but the fact that several people objected to pink because it already is recognized as a "brand" for Code Pink. Those were mostly men. Several votes received from women in Code Pink favored pink, suggesting that the branding argument is a pink herring.
There were a number of remarks about the need for publicity. That could be the next step. Someone suggested flash mobbing - a possibility. Another suggested having a start day as a rallying point, with an effort to get press publicity - also a possibility not precluded by wearing orange this week.
Some opinions about orange - reminds people about GITMO prisoners, as well as the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. One person objected to the CIA association, but another said "it is a brilliant idea to study the CIA's tactics and put them to use!"
One more thing: PLEASE DON'T BUY YOUR ORANGE APPAREL AT WALMART.
