Long long ago (so it seems) when I was in college, I still believed that we could take build a big Democratic majority that would change the country.
Two years ago, when we actually elected a big Democratic majority, I was overjoyed. I believed that our man, our majority and our time had come. I thought that the days of Democratic half-measures and weakness would finally abate.
But over the past 18 months, I have really had the wind knocked out of me. Not only does it seem that our party leaders really don't have the political starch to address big problems, I have discovered that many liberals and progressive activists get just as easily distracted by totems and taboos as they do by substance.
For example, the public option, while incredibly important, would not have made or broken the health care bill. In addition, a cap on carbon, while important, wasn't our only shot at reducing emissions.
However, the fact that each weren't an absolute given in the bill underscored to me how weak the DC Dems really are, how utterly unwilling they are to take a position, decide how and when to effectively compromise and not cave. Why have a party platform when we all know the policy will actually come down to Ben Nelson, or Blanche Lincoln?
Today, in a similar vein, the Dems have decided to do absolutely nothing to control our carbon emissions prior to the fall elections. This means, effectively, that nothing will happen until at least the middle of the decade. There is no understating how unproductive this delay will be for our planet and, particularly, for our economy.
And as far as the activist base is concerned, we have lost our focus, and done so at the hands of the new internet-savvy right. We care more about what Andrew Breitbart says or does than we do about long lasting policy achievements. For shame. We are no longer changing the system: our reaction to daily events has merely become part of the system.
For this reason, I frankly do not see what help I am here at dKos, what help I am as an activist beyond my voting preferences. I gave nearly the maximum to Barack Obama. More money than I really had to give to him. Not next time around.
I am sad that it has come to this. I will focus on what I can in terms of energy policy (my specialty), realizing that whatever great effort I expend is not likely to make enough of a timely difference. I only hope our future leaders will know when to capitalize upon the work that was done for them, the preparation of the ground upon which they would walk.
Barack Obama should have known better of the ground we activists prepared for him. He would not otherwise be considered the great squanderer of opportunities that he is.
Until we charge head-on at our corrupt system of government and take as much undue money and influence out of the system, nothing will change. Until we have a leader that has the gumption to take on the nature of the system, I'll just content myself to sit, watch, and, occasionally, vote.
After all, if nothing really changes, politics is really just a lot like sports. I can turn on ESPN if I want to see a good game or fight, and it won't make me wish I had nothing to do with this sorry society we live in.
Certainly, I will vote for him 2012. But it won't be out of a sense of mission or confidence in our final victory. It will be a defensive vote, a John Kerry-esque vote: to deliver us from the evil of the GOP. No passion, no excitement. Just duty.
If very little actually comes of the election of Democrats, I'll leave the excitement for their re-election to others.