In the last few months I've engaged in a number of pointless but occasionally satisfying flame wars with posters who are blaming President Obama for everything from TARP (Bush) to Guantanamo (Bush), torture (Bush/Cheney) to undermining Health Care Reform (Republicans, HCIC, scaredy-cat Democrats, the MSM, and RW crazies), not to mention unleashing the ever-popular corporate shill meme.
There are more, but let's start smallish.
The reason I fight these attacks is really simple - I'm an unapologetic liberal, an Obamabot (I guess - who knew?), and I think we have some really serious enemies in this country who ought to be the focus of all this amorphous LW anger and disappointment. Let's start with this link:
Rachel Maddow on corrupt contractors
and go on to link with this diary: Ministry of Truth Diary (please rec)
It seems to me that the one thing that unites the left is our conviction that corporations are undermining our country, and I stand strongly with that belief.
The problem is that we feel impotent to change this, and we have been helpless and overpowered for decades. There are some really creative people on the Left, but we seem to have lost our creativity in dealing with corporate power and RW bigotry.
We try to clean up politics by pushing for election finance reform, and we fail miserably every time. We rail against the MSM, but have no power to change how they control the message - blogs are good for disseminating the truth, but they only reach a like-minded audience. Trust me when I tell you that there are ways to get the MSM's attention and I believe I've suggested a few below.
We can make Glenn Beck angry by pressuring his sponsors, but we can't get him taken off the air. In fact, we may be shoring up his nutsoid base. We can speak out against his lies in our families and in our workplaces, though. We may not convince anyone, but if we show some spine maybe we'll get some respect.
We share our fears about Obama's safety, and ours, as we watch RW militias step up the violence, but we can't stop them without becoming them. We can only hope the Secret Service is being vigilant, and the FBI is keeping tabs on the worst offenders, but the blessing/curse of living in a democracy is that we must allow people to express their beliefs or we become contributors to a repressive regime. Curtailing freedom of speech from the left is just as destructive as it is from the right.
So what's left for us? Creativity in fighting for what we believe to be in the best interest of We, the people would be a good start.
Let's focus up here. What undermines the powers corporations carry? Strong unions, a strong labor movement would bring the fight directly to those in charge. But that only works if large numbers of people support it. Blogging, railing against the corporate overlords is pissing into a headwind. Organizing workers is concrete action.
What about harnessing the power (and anger) that's out there? What about finding issues that are close to hearts? Parents who fear that immunizations are causing Autism have made themselves heard, loud and strong. If mercury is the culprit here why isn't the focus on coal plant emissions? It wouldn't be difficult for those of us who know those agonized parents to reach them with facts about how much mercury is in the water, earth, and air. Believe me, as a mother I can tell you that few things will energize me like a threat to my kids.
What about the dangers of huge amounts of hormones in our water, food and land? The parents of the 9 year old down the block who is in full puberty could certainly be mobilized to fight if they had some facts about what has caused this abnormal condition in their precious daughter.
Just talking about issues in the abstract doesn't create change. If we are able to tap in to people power (how I long for the '60's sometimes), things will change.
Obama talks about this all the time - he's a community organizer at heart. He knows the power that's out there, and he's telling us that change never comes from the top down, it's always from the bottom up. We also know that a small minority can change things on the macro level. We don't need 100 million men marching against corporate overlordism, we need 1 couple in every neighborhood powerfully motivated by personal, heartfelt concern. We need people speaking in support of unions every time the brainwashed bash them. We need the courage to confront racist comments, lies about abortions, and bigotry focused on the GLBT community. If we do this every time, no matter how nervous it makes us or how vulnerable we feel, if we do this every time we'll become a real voice in our culture.
What do you think would happen if, every October, each Catholic Church in the country had a visit from 5 new mothers who can't care for a child without undermining their future, 5 women who each found a couple in a pew and handed their newborn to them, saying "Her life is precious to you. Thank you for raising her." (October is Support Life month.)
What would happen if newly pregnant women approached every anti-abortion protester outside a Planned Parenthood clinic with a contract that either binds that person to adopt her child, or to agree to have her embryo implanted? (This includes men, who can now carry a fetus to term if it's implanted in their abdominal wall, and their hormones are managed carefully.)
What would happen if corporations were bombarded with lawsuits, enough of them to strain their corporate legal departments beyond what's sustainable? There are certainly grounds for taking action against pharmaceutical companies that market damaging drugs, manufacturers and power companies that pollute surrounding communities and cause disease. If hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people filed suit within one week, an organized effort, that would have an impact.
If local organic farmers and their supporters filed complaints with the EPA about factory farms in their communities, all at the same time, it would get attention.
If every representative in Congress got letters, thousands of letters, from constituents detailing their personal experience with recision, denial of coverage, what Blue Cross considers a pre-existing condition (acne for cancer patients, femaleness for pregnancy etc.), don't tell me that wouldn't create some serious pressure, even on diehard Republicans.
You know, the FBI couldn't stop the Mafia directly by fighting prostitution, drug-running, or any of their other illegal activities, so they went with RICO. Why aren't we looking for creative solutions to fighting the corporatocracy, and using the skills we have right here, with Kos bloggers, to change the world?
Ranting may be satisfying momentarily, but it doesn't change reality. Blaming Obama/Washington/lobbyists gives us the comfort of not having to take responsibility for the overwhelming challenges we face, but it doesn't change reality.
I don't know how realistic my suggestions are, but I do know there are ways to act locally to make change globally, and I'd love to hear some concrete ideas that might begin those changes.