This is a letter addressed to those perpetually dissatisfied with other people's performance on their behalf - namely, those who just cannot fathom doing anything more productive with their citizenship than endlessly expounding on how disappointed they are in what other people do for them. Your bleeting, melodramatic, affected helplessness would be endearing in a newborn puppy, but in an adult citizen of the United States of America pretending to be an enlightened liberal activist, it makes my stomach churn. You are the inspirational equivalent of 2 Girls, 1 Cup, and I could not possibly overstate my level of disgust and revulsion at the emotions, beliefs, attitudes, and values revealed by your comments.
Let me make this simple: If you are fed up with the Democratic Party and its leaders, then do for yourself what you insist they should do for you. I dare you. Prove it can be done. Put yourself to the test of the standards you constantly, annoyingly, absurdly apply to everyone else who comes within a country mile of the authority to make something happen. Prove that what you demand is something a human being can do in present reality, and not just you crying for Santa to bring you a present. And what's most important, prove that you actually believe the things you're saying, and aren't just a smaller-scale version of the politics you claim to loathe but take endless pleasure in talking about. Prove that you are capable of democracy, and cognizant of its nature. Prove you deserve even a fraction of what you demand others risk their lives and careers to make possible.
There is not a damn thing past generations of democratic activists had at their disposal that you do not, except maybe a spine and the ability to take responsibility for their situation. Gee, that kind of sounds like what you've been saying your whole lives about Democratic leaders, isn't it? Projecting your own inadequacies on to distant, symbolic figures seems like a handy way to maintain an unrealistic self-image. Much easier than actually earning it or, god forbid, admitting your ignorance and not assuming the worst of everyone else. Stop lying. Stop pretending. Stop following narratives rather than engaging your senses to observe the world around you, including your own influence on it.
Now, in the context of the current crisis, I don't think the American people should have to sacrifice one dime to continue financing a debt that could be erased instantly if the wealthy were brought back under the Constitutional sovereignty of the United States and forced to pay their fair share of taxes. Not one dime, not one nickel, not one penny. We have sacrificed enough to put the wealthy in their current position of luxury and impunity, and now it's time for them to make some payments on the loans we made to them over the past thirty years in the form of endless tax cuts, loopholes, and direct subsidies selectively benefiting them at the national expense.
But since I know what a government is, and particularly how American government functions, I don't expect one man to be sufficient leverage to see that fact reflected in successful legislation - especially not with Congress in the hands of Satanic monsters whose "morality" commands serving the rich at all cost to truth, country, and humanity. And since I don't believe in magic, and haven't become a Scientologist, I don't believe that just wishing loudly enough could make one man sufficient for the task. I trust that President Obama will do what he can within the scope of his office and the reality of the responsibilities he holds, just as I equally trust and demand the same of myself, even though I have no office but citizen. So if an insupportable outcome occurs, that means the attack on our republic has overwhelmed the ability of the Presidency to hold back, and every citizen will have to ask what their own responsibilities have become - a question I do not expect will be foremost on the minds of the kind of people I'm addressing.
Of course, the answer to the question will depend on the exact nature of the outcome and what it is that's insupportable about it. But I know that I, and I alone, will determine whether I accept it - a determination based on my judgment not only of the particulars of the deal, but what I would be willing to sacrifice in opposing it. And there is nothing special in this statement: This is what citizens are supposed to do all the time, not just sit on lawn chairs critiquing from the sidelines and occasionally getting off their asses to vote or march in circles with silly placards to let off steam. If I decide that it's not worth making sacrifices to stand in the way of its implementation, then that means I accept it - it means I have made the decision, and take responsibility for it. This is what free people do. Freedom is not something you are given, nor something you take - it is something you choose. It is, in fact, the very act of choosing.
There is no option to both sit on your ass and condemn leaders for not doing what you won't even try to do - either you accept it, or you don't, and you take responsibility for the outcome of which you choose. By now, of course, you're blubbering all kinds of excuses, beginning to realize how difficult making weighty decisions actually is, even when all you're asked to do is take responsibility for your own damn future rather than that of millions. Well, too bad! You always have the option of shutting the fuck up - then no one will plague you with inconvenient comparisons to your own standards. No one will cash reality checks on your ass if you have the common decency to accompany your political dereliction with verbal silence. At least then you are not a goddamn liar and hypocrite, like you would be if you shriek that something is the end of American democracy and yet act the same as you always do.
Of course, we both know why political leaders ignore people like you: Because you ask them to. Constantly. You beg them to, practically on your knees. "Pretty please, with a cherry on top, in the name of all that is holy...don't listen to me!!!" Maybe you find being inconsequential liberating. And who can blame you - it is. I enjoy it myself. But unlike you, I know it's a choice, and reserve the right and ability to change my mind if necessary. I am as content to delegate to authorities I support as you are content to micromanage the imaginary government in your head, and as determined in reasserting my share of public sovereignty when necessary as you'd be in continuing to shove it as far away from yourself as possible.
So when we see what the outcome of the revenue talks is, some of us will be soberly assessing our national position and how to respond - and you'll no doubt be complaining and spewing Apocalypse porn, safe in the knowledge that you have no intention of or capability to translate anything you say into action, nor the self-awareness, honesty, or character to admit it and respond constructively. You demand a lot from other people - everything, really - but all that's being asked of you is a modicum of self-consistency. Do you think you can rise the half-centimeter off the ground to that "challenge," you repulsive giant toddlers? I guarantee it would be perceived as a political earthquake in Washington to see the ooze you occupy rising even that much.