Back on May 4th a number of diaries reminded me of that period in my life, 1970, when the National Guard shot the four students at Kent State and then others were shot at Jackson State. And there were demonstrations everywhere against the shootings and the invasion and bombing of Cambodia. I was 16 and organized a strike at my Catholic HS. I was already a far lefty. My two older brothers were draft resisters (not dodgers) and I had come to see the Vietnam war as an imperialist adventure. It was a time that allowed a young man like myself to dream of revolution. Black Panthers, SDS, The Young Lords - this was all pretty heady stuff. Being too young to vote made it easy to reject electoral politics. There was no difference between the parties. Johnson got us into the war, Nixon was expanding it. They were all part of the Establishment (anybody remember the establishment?). Voting was a sham only demonstrations were going to do anything.
Not surprisingly the Movement (surely some of you remember the Movement)began to quiet down in the wake of those shootings. So that by the time I was of age to vote I was less iclined to reject the whole business. In fact I got very excited about McGovern's candidacy and did some work for his campaign. I really wanted that war to end.
But McGovern got his ass whupped by Tricky Dick and I thought that sucked but I also knew at some level that McGovern was just too left for 1970s America. Then I had to watch the whole Watergate imbroglio develop and came to the realization that Nixon had just pissed all over the US Constitution and his hand-picked successor, Ford, had pardoned him. The Dick had gotten away scot-free. I gave up on electoral politics.
I remained political but didn't have anything to do with the major parties. I didn't vote in 1976 and watched Carter implode slowly in the miserable conditions of the 70s recession. And I didn't vote in 1980 because I guess I didn't see a difference between Reagan and Carter(and maybe because I didn't believe Reagan could get elected). In a short time, though, it became quite clear to me that Reagan was far to the right of even Nixon and that it would be much better to have a Democrat in the White House.
Voting Democratic has since become routine for me. But the point of this long history is that my reason for voting Democratic is basically to protect me from right-wing ideological Republicans. They give me the creeps. They are the biggest threat to my personal liberties and to the Constitution. Now I may or may not have come a long way from my revolutionary days, but it is nonetheless important to me that the Constitution remains in force and that opposing voices can be heard in this society.
In the present situation it is intelligence to be concerned about fascism and other authoritarian systems. The religious right would love to institute a theocracy and they have major inputs to the Republican Party. Given that we (Democrats) are in a minority in Congress how best do we block that? Do we fight every battle full-bore? Draw lines in the sand?
We could certainly but we might get creamed. And despite all the bluster about a post nuclear "work to rule" regime. We would have no filibuster, which means we would have no Senate, no checks and balances etc. That would be a victory for all the un-American theocratic scum. That would have been their Enabling Act. And they didn't get it. Frist and his bosses did not get their victory. But neither did us partisan Democrats (if there was a victory to be had). No the victory this evening was for the Constitution and the two-party system, and checks and balances. During the times where I wasn't voting it was partly because I wouldn't accept a partial or compromise victory. But many times that is what has to happen. Don't make the best the enemy of the good.