to say loudly and often - NO!
No to treating us like incompetents and fools. No to being manipulated. No to being used as cannon fodder. No to propaganda. No to trying to make us think we have to accept their view of the world.
I just read a Richard Eskrow piece at CAF about elder poverty and Social Security/Medicare. Mr. Eskrow states that "someone 65 in 2009 could expect to pay $197,000 in out of pocket medical expenses." That is even with Medicare! That's to stay alive for how many more years?
For a while now I have been thinking of these things since I am only months from my 69th birthday and my husband is 76. How much longer do we expect to live and how much are we willing to pay? Not just financial costs but energy and agency. My answer for myself, not my husband, is that I am not willing to live longer than the first time I am confronted with a life threatening illness. I am saying NO.
Now there are other things to say NO to. Do you allow the media to manipulate you and hate that. Say NO and turn them off. Say NO to the lure of Christmas that is only about spending and giving retailers a black bottom line. Say NO to corporations that expect you to hand them the ammunition with which they will destroy you and your family (Koch Industries, et al). Say NO to airlines that treat you like a criminal/terrorist before you even get aboard their increasingly cramped uncomfortable flying cigars.
Say Yes to the thousands of OCCUPIERS. Say Yes to schools and educators who are doing their best with so few resources. Even say YES to police now increasingly made scapegoats to power.
Say YES to equality, liberty, and empowerment on your own terms. The power elite will hate that the most.