Some progressives seem to think the failings of the Obama Administration and our frustrated attempts at change are a new problem:
"Historically, government, whether in the hands of Republicans or Democrats, conservatives or liberals, has failed its responsibilities... until forced to by direct action..." -- Howard Zinn.
I was at a loss as to how to begin this diary, but I saw a comment from War on Error that encapsulated perfectly my readings and understanding; where, @ 1:40, Howard Zinn gives us a strong summary reading of the history of change:
"Live your own life, think your own ideas and don't depend on saviors. Now, traditional history creates passivity, because it gives you the people at the top, and it makes you think that all you have to do is go to the polls ever 4 years and elect somebody who's going to do the trick for you. And we want people to understand that's not going to happen. People have to do it themselves.
He then goes on to cite Depression history. And rather than mentioning FDR, he talks about the factory workers, in places like Michael Moore's beloved Flint, Michigan, who sat-in on their own plant and made the owners and management of businesses like Ford [in nearby Dearborn] helpless utterly. In this great tumult amidst the prospect of class retaliation, with the opponents wielding billy clubs or guns workers and leftists laid their lives on the line. It is this power of the American individual when organized that gave birth to the middle class.
"Strikes all over the country galvanized people and pushed the New Deal into the reforms we finally got from the New Deal. And Genora Dollinger represents the women who are often overlooked in these struggles...
Notice the use of the word finally?
We share the impatience of the left of the 1930s, 1910s and 1960s, but lack their discipline.
This is what a progressive movement and effective political theatre looks like:
"Bloody Sunday," 1965. Police beat and gas middle-aged civil rights activists marching east of Selma, including John Lewis.
To protest the Vietnam war, Norman Morrison burns himself to death under Defense Secretary Robert McNamara's office at the Pentagon. November 2, 1965.
"Over the Pass of By-and-by you go to the Valley of Never"
Suffragettes marched down main street in nearly every city at the turn of the 20th-century.
And it's not like successful disruption hasn't changed the public's perception since.
Long ago it seems, when I was protesting Iraq on the sidewalk along a busy street in a right-wing part of Oregon, I noticed many of my fellow protestors used overly verbose signs. That made no sense to me. Only the cars stopped at the light could read the words and there were essentially no pedestrians. My sign only read "Ali Ismail Abbas" with this picture underneath:
With a verifiable name, it was impossible for people to deny the reality of what the bombing of Iraq did to Ali. Though those predisposed to ignoring this cruelty would continue to do so, the sign of Ali reduced passersby to tears, or having to hide their eyes. I even wondered to myself if it was right to use that picture. However the image proved itself powerful. Thousands of small actions like our's, and those of Women in Black, and activists across the world slowly convinced the persuadable to doubt the corporate-propaganda narrative on TV, and as new doubters turned on the war they created the cascade that destroyed Bush's standing with the people.
But you can see with these examples that our current incarnation of progressivism lacks strong action to support stated goals. We want to have our desired results without any of the cooperation and sacrifice necessary for obtaining change. If pressuring the president seems to be mainly writing diaries, well then that influence is underwhelming. Blogging for me seems like a way of internally communicating and reflecting most of all. Where is our influence? We have 100% influence over ourselves and we have the proven ability to change the dynamics of our town halls and congressional meetings, of media coverage and public discourse. We have ways of being impossible to ignore. Again:
...don't depend on saviors. Now, traditional history creates passivity, because it gives you the people at the top, and it makes you think that all you have to do is go to the polls ever 4 years and elect somebody who's going to do the trick for you. And we want people to understand that's not going to happen.
Basic progressive history.