America is, by it's very nature, in a constant state of flux. Because of the nature of democracy there is always the possibility of change, and that change comes frequently. And there is no time when that statement is more true then during a presidential election where neither party includes an incumbent president or vice president. This election has been, and will continue to be, about change, and no one is more excited about that change then me. And because of the current political climate, we as a progressive movement have a very real opportunity to make sure that the change that is coming is the sort of change we are searching for. In my opinion, there are two main types of change: there is reactionary change and revolutionary change. What we need is a revolution.
Obviously, I'm not talking about a true, bring your guns to Washington, rewrite the Constitution kind of revolution. We don't need that, at least not yet. But it is certainly time to radically alter the way that policy is reached, both in the democratic party and in the broader government. For decades now, conservatives have controlled the seats of power in D.C., with only the slightest of relief during Bill Clinton's presidency. That conservative dominance has seeped into the democratic party itself, and so the few "democrats" have been able to come to power have often only contributed to the rise of conservatism. I don't think I necessarily need to lay out what all has happened here. Most of the readers of this site are more then familiar with America's unfortunate drift away from the progressive movement.
Fortunately, the drift has ended. More and more people are looking at the unfortunate nature of things in the George W. Bush presidency and recognized it as the logical conclusion of the path started under Reagan. And while there is much change that still needs to be made (a truly independent MSM would be a nice touch), the bulk of Americans seem more ready to consider the more liberal path then they have been in decades. And so as progressives now have an amazing opportunity to change the direction of our nation. And it seems to me that we have two choices as we mold the future. We can either continue to react to past policies without any real direction, or we can envision the sort of future we wish to see and move towards it. It is that sort of visionary action that I mean when I say we need a revolution.
Each of us has our own list of what to include in that future, and the order of priorities differs even when the items on the list are the same. I, for one, feel most strongly about the Iraq War, the environment, and civil liberties. Because of my time as a soldier and my multiple deployments, the war is the thing I care most about, but it's alright with me if your list contains different goals or if those goals are in a different order. We're a big tent party; there's room for lots of different kinds of people with lots of different kinds of agendas. As long as your list has more then just getting the Republican party out of office, your alright by me.
When Bush the Younger was "elected" in 2000, I was but a tender 18 years old. Whether I like it or not, my political awakening has been in large part a reaction to his presidency. My understanding of issues from defense policy to civil rights has been molded by the actions (or misactions) of this president. I desperately want him and his cronies as far away from the oval office as possible, but that doesn't mean I want nothing else. I am ready to stop reacting, and I'm ready to start doing.
That desire to move towards a future free of anyone named Bush is part of why I haven't been able to support Hillary Clinton. I'm sure that she would be a fine president in the most technical since of the word, but I'm just as sure that she put most of her focus into reacting to events on the ground rather then molding them. She showed me that in one of the earlier debates when she posited that, "It took a Clinton to clean up after the first Bush, and it might take a Clinton to clean up after this one." I don't necessarily want someone who's best idea for improving the house is to simply clean up the mess. I want someone who is going to remodel the whole f-ing place.