The recent lameness of President Obama and Democrats, though maddening, is evidence of what we already knew: the country is an oligarchy, we're losing the class war, and the Democratic Party, because of complicity and cowardice, is not on our side. The horrific state of affairs has been decades in the making and difficult to deny at least since the eighties. The question, the only question, is what to do about it.
In the nineties, disgusted with Clinton's neoliberalism, I drifted away from the Democratic Party and registered as an independent and voted for Nader twice (in New York, people, so let's not have that debate here.) I felt a lot like I feel now, although I was probably more hopeful then, because the country was in better economic shape and we hadn't yet launched a perpetual war. George Bush was a governor.
The blogosphere helped bring me back to the Democratic Party. For one thing, most people who hung here were opposed to the Iraq War. For another thing, the dominant message emerging from the blogosphere was: Toughen up, Dems. You can be progressive and do well, indeed you must. And Howard Dean, a serious candidate for president, was speaking for us, and to us. For various reasons I resisted him, but like many of you, I took notice when he said things like this.
What I want to know is what in the world so many Democrats are doing supporting the President's unilateral intervention in Iraq?...
What I want to know is what in the world so many Democrats are doing supporting tax cuts, which have bankrupted this country and given us the largest deficit in the history of the United States?
What I want to know is why the Democrats in Congress aren't standing up for us, joining every other industrialized country on the face of the Earth in providing health insurance for every man, woman and child in America...
As Paul Wellstone said-- as Sheila Kuehl said when she endorsed me-- I am Howard Dean, and I'm here to represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.
So what if Howard Dean had been a budget-hawk, moderate governor who seemed to have, uh, happened upon his antiwar position. He was saying what needed to be said. He was saying what we were saying. The blogosphere was an exercise in spine-stiffening.
And organizing. The plan was to take over the Democratic Party just as conservatives had taken over the GOP -- an undertaking that began with Goldwater's loss in 1964 and culminated in Reagan's victory in 1980. A sixteen year plan. Could the country wait that long? Could we? We would have to, it seemed.
If the start date of the progressive revival was 2002, then we're halfway through those 16 years. How's that change-the-Democratic Party-thing-from-within thing working out for ya? This isn't a call to abandon the Democratic Party, although as the POB say about cutting the deficit and nuking Iran, "nothing is off the table." Most of us believe we should keep trying to elect progressive Democrats, a few of us don't, but surely we all agree at this point that this approach isn't sufficient, don't we?
You won't be surprised to learn that I don't have clear answers or brilliant ideas. But the first step is to acknowledge that conventional politics alone won't change the country; Big Money is too powerful to allow change through the election game or the legislation game as they're normally practiced. While, for example, it's true that public financing could make a difference, it's also true that no public financing bill could pass, not unless the forces pushing for it manifested and applied pressure in unique and unforeseen ways. The same can be said for Medicare-for-All, real Wall Street reform, and pro-worker legislation.
For one thing, we need to show up. I don't have any illusion that protests and marches are the end-all-be-all, but they're needed to make our presence felt and to buoy our spirits; in my experience, there's no substitute for getting out there. We need to look into each other's eyes and gain strength from each other. Call me old-school, but I feel a movement isn't real until it shows itself. Surely, if it was good enough for the civil rights movement, it's good enough for us.
Kos opposes marches because, he says, they bring out the lefty freaks that make us look bad, but that's just fear-based bullshit. Let's stop worrying about the corporate media; they're going to keep disparaging us and lying about us regardless. The only thing they respect is power. Let's get some.
That's not to say new media aren't essential. Often we feel the need to apologize for being online activists. (This very moment, I'm aware of the hypocrisy and contradiction inherent in sitting here at my desk writing a blog post calling for radicalism!) But an alternative, non-corporate source of information is crucial. It ain't the revolution, but it's a prerequisite for one. Blog proudly, people! We need to think about new ways to use technology. John Tyner, whatever you think of him, sparked a furor with his cell phone.
What's more, talking and debating and strategizing are important, because we need to figure out what issues around which to organize. The beauty of the civil rights movement was its moral force which grew out of its clear and unimpeachable goal. What's our goal? Should we focus on expanding and strengthening the programs that are already popular, like Social Security and Medicare? Should we target Wall Street directly?
We need to unite with constituencies that could form the backbone of a progressive revival. The labor movement is the obvious example. There are also the millions of people fucked over by the housing mess; perhaps the most radical words to emerge from Congress in recent years -- Marcy Kaptur's call for people to squat in their own homes -- made barely a ripple here. And what about the millions of people who've lost unemployment benefits; wouldn't they be receptive to our message and perhaps open to activism?
Yes, yes, I know, there are people already out there on the ground trying to unite people around progressive goals, have been for years, I realize I'm not saying anything new, if it weren't hard as hell it would've already been done, but godammit it needs to be done, and we need to help. There are no new ideas under the sun, but there can, must be, new purpose and new passion.
We need to think about how -- and be prepared -- to harness and channel the populist anger that will only grow more intense in coming years. Sure, this isn't France -- protest is not in our DNA -- but economic injustice simply cannot exist to this degree for this long without widespread ferment. Perhaps the greatest tragedy of the two years is that Right, and not the Left, is doing the better job of leveraging populist, anti-Wall Street energy. This must end.
We need to free our minds -- rid ourselves of conventional notions of "acceptable" tactics. And then we won't worry, not for an instant, about what "serious" people and "respectable" Democrats think about us and say about us. We'll welcome their hatred. And we'll take inspiration from Julian Assange as well as Dan Choi and other gay rights activists; they're not counting on Congress or waiting for a savior or doing the same old things. They're taking action, radical action. What're you doing?