Dear Fellow Progressives and Liberals, (yes, dont be afraid to wear that word proudly!)
We have come to a difficult time in American political history. On the right, we face complete and absolute absurdity. An absurdity of ideas and ideals that are not challenged by a media asleep at the wheel. Ideas that are simply not rooted in reality, such as letting the country default on its debt or Ron Pauls assertion that FEMA is the real problem, not a hurricane or other natural disasters. We on the left are paralyzed with a different affliction: that of over thinking and over debating what WE stand for. Our constant battles back and forth focus our fight with each other, ignoring the people that deserve our attention: Rick Perry, Michelle Bachman, etc..... believe it or not, there is a strong possibility that without our assertion as a voting block, they could become President of the United States. Without our assertion as a voting block, we could continue to see a backward slide in our numbers in the congress, not to mention at every level of government, state and local, across the country.
Activism is a complicated concept in todays political discourse. 20 years ago, activism was that of Barack Obama..... hands on, door to door, people oriented work. We are forgetting that this is the backbone of what we do. Many of us are being lulled into think that if we write a blog for or against something, we are automatically an activist. You are not! While being a part of the dialogue IS an important thing, we need boots on the ground to get out our message.
Which brings me to what I would really like to talk about. Lets pretend that we have our soldiers in place to go door to door to take on our opponents in the upcoming elections, primary and general. What are the principles that we agree on? Have they been articulated? To my knowledge, they have been not. And we are long past the time when we clearly define what we stand for.
The strength of the Right in American politics is its genius simplicity. Even most of us on the left know exactly what they stand for: low taxes, god, guns, liberty, free markets, etc..... most of its of course BS that even they dont understand, but to the public who walks into a voting booth and has a limited knowledge of matters, they will generally pull the lever for the party that stands for something that they understand. This, even for the most simple voter (especially older voters and red state voters) is that they know what they get, even if its not in their best interest as a citizen. Time and time again, the GOP gets people to vote against their own economic interest. How is that? Its a question that I struggle with often.
In my opinion, one of the main reasons is that we (the progressive Left) dont define what we stand for as strongly as we need to. As a result, we spend far too much time on defense and very little on the attack..... against a GOP dead set on pursuing an ideological agenda that is against the interest of nearly every American citizen. Yes, we are all generally policy wonks who can debate the finer points of health care or foreign policy, but we do get caught up in inside baseball talk far too often. The same can be said for the leaders of the Democratic Party. Howard Dean has been the only leader to articulate a strategy which worked: attack in all 50 states to spread out the opponent. But even this is only a strategy, its not a declaration of a clear political philosophy. The time for that is now.
So what do you stand for, Progressive and Liberal Americans? We are delegates to our own party. And just as delegates to a political convention once voted, debated and approved a platform on which to run, we need to do the same. We need to say who we are and what we stand for.
Let me start:
1) This country was founded on religious freedom. Progressives seek to give everyone the right to worship God however they may choose, or if they choose to not worship a god at all. We are a party of solutions to create a better nation. God is found in a place of worship and should not be found in the halls of congress or the White House, at least as a matter of policy.
2) Americans deserve the freedom to join a union
3) Health care provided to everyone is in the best interests of the nation.
4) The military should be a true defense department, not an offense department. We spend far too much. Its time to re-evaluate our missions world wide.
5) The future lies in education. Reforming education should be of utmost importance.
6) The economic future lies in re-inventing our energy systems, and thus re-inventing our manufacturing base as a result.
7) Not all free trade agreements are in the best interests of the American people, as witnessed by what has happened by NAFTA. We are skeptical on the desires of the powerful offices on Wall Street the need to tear down walls that they define as barriers of trade but what we see clearly as walls that keep jobs in this country.
8) Centrism is a poison. Debate does not come from making everyone happy but by doing what is right for the nation. Elections NEED TO HAVE consequences. (this is Obamas biggest liability in my opinion.... his election did not have consequences for anyone, positive or negative)
9) There should be no voter ID laws.
10) Marriage is not the governments business. You can marry whomever you want. Its the churchs right to say its right with the eyes of god. See point #1.
11) The nation needs a complete makeover of infrastructure, not just as a jobs program but as a reality.
12) Rail needs to become a part of our transportation grid and all parts of transportation need to be combined (rail-road-air) to create a system where we do not need to subsidize air to podunk, america..... because they have rail to get to the nearest major hub airport, just like Europe.
13) Social Security is the backbone of an aging America. We oppose all efforts to take this insurance away from Americans.
14) Medicare is our first try at health care for the masses. It will not survive by making it available to fewer..... it will only survive if Medicare is an option for all.
15) The war on drugs is a failure and its time to admit it. Not only does the federal government spend billions fighting an un winnable war, the states are left with incarcerating millions. Its time to evaluate the "war" based on winability, not moral principle.
These are my off the top of my head thoughts. I welcome your suggestions. It is time we come to an understand of what we all agree on! I love this site and others, but as a progressive, it troubles me to see the pettiness of things and how we always end up beating up on each other. The enemy is not within! We face an election where we could potentially lose all that progressives dating back to Franklin Roosevelt have fought for, tooth and nail. Has Obama been a disappointment? To me, he has, but I do believe that if we make a strong enough statement, he will listen to us. The only way we can get his attention is to make a bold statement about who we are and what the hell we stand for.
Please, please, please keep this positive.
Your suggestions for the Progressive Liberal Platform of 2012 in the comments please!!