I refuse to go down without fighting. I refuse. It's going to get tough from here--and this is where we determine who gets going. I refuse not to get going.
I refuse to get sucked into rejoicing at the overwhelming Democratic turnout, in which all the Republican votes combined could not match those of Hillary and Obama alone. A lot can happen in 10 months.
I refuse to be so stupidly blinded by the football match of D's versus R's that I lose sight of the reason why I care about politics in the first damn place.
I refuse to sit back and, like some, look forward to the upcoming "race" due to a misguided desire to see other states than Iowa and New Hampshire pick the president, or because they got burned by overzealous support of a candidate in a previous election cycle. Howard Dean's loss in 2004 didn't deflate me; it only made my determination to smoke out the Establishment assholes who undercut him just that much stronger.
I refuse to accept the inevitability--or even endorse the possible desirability--of the victory of Machine Politics and Machine Politicians.
Here's the truth, and it's time for a straight dose of it:
Hillary Clinton is an unacceptable candidate. She has more lobbyist donations--by double--than any other Democratic candidate. She has hired Mark Penn, one of the most disgraceful hacks this side of Karl Rove, as her closest longtime adviser. She, her husband and Mark Penn are nearly singlehandedly responsible for creating the strategy of triangulation. She was onetime head of the DLC, and the most conservative candidate on the issues of any of the leading Democrats.
Most importantly, she has the backing and support of the Clinton Machine. She runs on Bill Clinton's record during his presidency--a presidency marked by concession, triangulation, and petty "accomplishments" marred by an historic growth in the gap between rich and poor, zero action on global warming despite Al Gore as vice president, the appointment of a Republican bubble-creating Fed Chief, and the spread of NeoLiberal economic policies around the globe. Bill Clinton's presidency was successful in so destroying the Democratic Brand that George W. Bush was, incredibly, capable of running a neck-and-neck election with Al Gore, the man the who most deserves to sit in the White House at this moment.
The Bill Clinton Presidency was a disaster in all but the economics of those with money in the stock market or a mortgage (is it any surprise that Clinton politics don't appeal to youth?). And Hillary wants to resume it. Her being a woman does not make her a transformational and revolutionary candidate any more than Colin Powell's being African-American would represent anything more than a return to the politics of idiocy on the other side.
The only possible reasons to vote for her in the general election (which I will do, should the tragedy of a Hillary victory take place) are for the Supreme Court, and to prevent an even bigger disaster from accruing under another Republican Administration (though even then, at least they'd take the blame).
Those of us who still remember why we give a shit about progressive politics understand what is at stake here. We may support different candidates--but those who supported Edwards, Obama, Dodd, Kucinich and Gravel know what is going on. We know.
So here's the rub, folks: from here on out, Clinton's Machine will be back in full swing. There are thousands more voters like those who bought her crocodile tears effortlessly reproduced on the stage of her victory speech with the skill of an accomplished actress. There are thousands of African-Americans who, having been inspired to believe that an African-American could win the presidency, will be deflated and vote for their second-best bet. Thousands of Americans inspired to fight back against the corporate interests by Edwards will simply fail to come out to vote.
And most importantly, the Clinton Money Machine will spend big in South Carolina's and Nevada's media markets, followed by the Super Tuesday primary.
To compete with her, her competitors need funds. Lots of them.
Iowa and New Hampshire, much maligned as they are, have the advantage of being retail politics states that are difficult to purchase. Not so South Carolina and Nevada--and certainly not New York, Florida and California. The only thing that will win those states is money and effort on the ground. Lots of it.
If you still believe that Edwards and Kucinich can positively affect this race and truly fight on in a way that matters, I strongly encourage you to give. Give until it hurts. And donate your time.
Those of you who, like me, believe in the transformative potential of Barack Obama's campaign--or even those of you who believe that he's the only one who can stop the DLC from getting its ugly claws back on the White House--know what you have to do.
If you care about this country and its future, these opposition candidates need your money. If you live in one of the Super Tuesday states, but especially and more importantly, South Carolina and Nevada, they need your organizing power. They need your hard work--your canvassing legs, your mouths and hands on the phonebanks, your exuberance and energy.
The firewall against incremental change starts here.
Fighting online is certainly no longer enough--it never was, but never is that truer than now. If ever progressive politicians needed your support, now is the time. Besides, the money race matters to the traditional media as one of the storylines.
Give. If you know as much as I do just how important this is, you know what is needed: your time, your money, whatever you've got.
I've just given $100 to the Obama campaign. So has my girlfriend. I'll be traveling to Nevada to canvass and phonebank. And I'll be working to get out the vote for Obama in California.
Let's show the Establishment what we've got. Because we don't want a "fun" horserace. We don't want "more Democrats" or a pastel blue White House. We want our fucking country back.
The Clinton Machine won't go down without a fight. So let's fight for it.