It usually comes in two forms, one from the pragmatists and the other from the purists respectively. It's either:
- An implicit failure to recognize that institutions can be challenged and changed because you believe their flaws are essentially immutable, which translates into the notion that we should accept anything that comes out of the Democratic Congress because it is "something better than nothing."
- A rigid idealism that leaves people angry and making short-sighted judgments, on top of making them very cynical about pursuing political action, supporting politicians, or holding them accountable because of the belief that little will change.
To the former, I say to you that you should recognize when institutions and their officials have failed to deliver. You must be able to admit when President Obama and Congress can clearly be doing more and call for both to deliver.
To the latter, I say to you that President Obama did indeed campaign on the promise of progressive change and he will fail us on occasion, but he is an intelligent leader and probably our best hope for progressive change in years. For his promises to be realized, we have to hold Congress and him accountable. The success of this is contingent upon you not giving up.
The first obligation of every progressive is to action. You are a liberal if you support a philosophy that concerns itself with social justice, equal opportunity, and equality before the law, but you are a progressive if you tangibly help us realize this ideal.
Fatalism does not help us realize this ideal. It is poison. Whether it's in the form of this borderline ridiculous co-opting of "pragmatism" to mean supporting what our institutions churn out for us because 1.) it's allegedly "better than nothing" and 2.) you don't believe these institutions will ever change OR if it's in the form of purism that's not accompanied by a willingness to "play the game" anymore because Democrats don't do everything you want them to, fatalism is poison. Let's not argue over which form is worse; let's just simply agree that fatalism and progressivism should be mutually exclusive.
I don't have some grand, comprehensive strategy in this diary. I'm simply sick of apologia without holding officials accountable or people whining about how Obama has failed us and that they won't support him or try to hold him accountable anymore!
Being perfectly honest, I have had moments where I temporarily fell into the latter category, so I don't excuse myself from my condemnation of fatalism in progressive groups, nor will I pretend that I have always been above fatalist tendencies. I haven't been, but fuck, I will be.
**I will use every story about Congress that pisses me off as an excuse to do something, whether it's in the form of writing my representative or senators, organizing a phone call campaign (which is what I'm currently doing), or blogging for awareness.**
And to the pragmatists, don't just accept the political reality, look for every opportunity to change the political reality and get other people to do the same.
These upcoming elections shouldn't just be an opportunity to get Democrats elected. They should also be an opportunity to get Democrats into both houses who are cognizant of the dangers of fatalism. For example, I want a Democrat who will support a simple majority vote in the beginning of the next session of Congress to remove the filibuster from the Senate rules, not simply someone who will push the "we need 60 votes" crap for another two years. And if I don't get a Democrat nominated who supports reforming our institution in this manner, I'll find some way to get loud about it so the party knows what the base wants. Because right now, a simple majority of Americans want the filibuster gone. Again, it's about finding every excuse you can to actually do something, which will hopefully translate into getting politicians into office who appreciate this action-oriented philosophy.
/end rant