By WE, I mean all Americans who believe government should support the goals and needs of working and middle-class people - not corporations or moneyed elites. Everyday people, committed to fairness, social justice and small-d democratic values.
The Long Game is a long-term strategy towards a clear goal. WE don't have one. THEY DO.
We have energy, marchers, and passion. Petitions. Once in a while, our candidates get into office by riding a wave of emotion: Out of Iraq, Green Jobs, Impeach! If they last more than one term, they almost never rise to Leadership, let alone hold real Power.
WE play the Short Game. WE meet a short term goal, then disperse. We got certain folks elected; we got a bill passed - whatever. Smile smugly then go back to our low wage jobs and foreclosure battles.
THEY play the Long Game. The LG goes on whether they win or lose elections. They invest in the LG. Decade after decade. They fund think tanks, buy regulators, co-opt officials, own media empires and fund any number of dirty tricks. They seem to know how to find and groom candidates that will woo the masses and serve the masters.
One goal: get all the money and power in the hands of their own elite. All around us, we see the invisible hand of right wing co-ordination and field maneuvers. Is it by accident IN, MI, WI, FL, NH and now UT just happened to launch sudden bold, agressive oligarchic initiatives in the same TWO weeks. Are you surprised that Red State Governors and legislators use similar tactics? Amazing how they stick with them despite national outrage and recall drives. Long Gamers are confident, hopefully too confident. Soon (they are betting) we'll forget the putsches of 2011 and move along. It worked with NAFTA, the 2000 Election, Iraq and the Bailout.
The Short Game got us here. WE have no Long Game that I can see. If there was a powerful, savvy Progressive/Populist core movement - I"d help fund it and support it. Trouble is, we're all over the map, multi-focus, multi-factoral. Time is running out.