Were you ever bullied as a child? Chances are you were. There was always some kid a little bigger and a little meaner than you. As you know, bullies rely on threats and physical intimidation to impose their will on the bullied. They act as though they run the playground, strutting around doing whatever they like. But then the time comes when one of the bullied has finally had enough. He decides to strike back, catching the bully off-guard with a blow to the eye. Stunned, the bully retreats, crying, and a new social order is established.
The same thing happens in the grown-up world - though mostly without physical violence (unless you're John Cornyn or Tom DeLay, then physical threats are just fine). There are workplace bullies, social bullies and political bullies, to name a few. They act with impunity, knowing that until someone challenges their world view, they can do what they want.
The examples are without limit. Let's start at the top: President George W. Bush. Classic bully. Bush - especially now that he's secured a second term - can seemingly do and say whatever he wants. All illusions of care for the social safety net, the environment, the middle- and lower-class and the world-at-large have disappeared. But do you remember what happened when he was challenged in the debates by Sen. John Kerry? He grimaced. He pouted. He shouted. He ducked. He dodged. He was clearly uncomfortable. Kerry had metaphorically punched Bush in the face.
Moving on, take a look at DeLay, another classic bully. Talk about acting with impunity, DeLay's the poster child. Texas redistricting. Political strong-arming. Lavish, lobbyist-expensed trips. The list could go on and on. But what do we see now that DeLay, riddled with ethics violations, lost his way on the Terri Schiavo case? The political rope-a-dope: Using threats to subdue the judiciary. Keeping his party in line behind him using the carrot of campaign support. Telling them to blame the Democrats for his own problems. Figuratively bloodied, DeLay is retreating with his tail tucked between his legs.
You can see the Republicans acting like Bush and DeLay as a whole. Losing badly on Social Security, they've become quite fractured on the issue. Losing badly on the Schiavo case, many of them have resorted to making threats against the judiciary. Losing badly in Iraq and on the War on Terror, they've decided to pursue a ridiculous domestic agenda that promises to take away our rights while doing nothing to protect us from the real terrorists. Caught by surprise, the bullies are at a loss for what to do.
Take another, more personal example: The other day, I wrote a blog entry about the insufferable Food Network host Sandra Lee, in which I depicted a WASPy stereotype based on my Midwestern surroundings. Sure, I cut a few corners, painted with a broad brush. But wasn't it like clockwork when someone took me to task for saying something critical about middle-class, Midwestern white people. Being a middle-class, Midwestern white person, I figured we could all have a laugh at our own expense. But no, as the persecuted, discriminated against majority that we are, we couldn't "get the joke." It hit a little too close to home when someone used a stereotype to make a rhetorical point. Sound familiar? The same people who have turned using stereotypes - crafty Asians, good-with-money Jews, athletic African Americans - into a sad art form couldn't take the heat when it was applied to their pale-complected selves. Guys, we obviously don't know how good we have it.
Getting back to my point, we can't let the bullies continue to push us around. If we've learned anything from our elementary school days, it's that bullies won't stop with a simple verbal warning. They will keep pushing, keep prodding, keep abusing their power until someone has had enough. Well, haven't we had enough? It's time we keep up what we're doing, keep pointing out Republicans' foibles, follies and complete fuck-ups. They've stepped on us long enough, it's time to step back. Not physically, of course, but by our words and our deeds. If we don't stand up, I fear these bullies will continue to push us around. And we can't let that happen.