WARNING: For those of you who think you know me, I used to be the meek, mild and mannerable mdmslle here on DKos. What you probably didn't know is that once upon a time I was a bit of a....shall I say....political rabble-rouser. I've stayed pretty politically active since my rabbling days, albeit very very toned down. (Who likes hearing clicks on their landline, after all?) But the debt ceiling debacle, well, was just too much for me. I don't know what it was but it unleashed something in me that I thought I'd neatly tucked away, or at least was managing pretty well. I'll admit, the feeling was bubbling up since summer when I wrote my highly acclaimed French Revolution Wiki Rewrite Diary in July (seriously good read. shockingly goose-bumpity in fact). So this newly unearthed "volatility" is not exactly a surprise but...I love you guys. I just wanted to give you a heads up. ;P
Do not read my diaries if you have "delicate sensibilities". You've been warned. I've been re-radicalized.
And now...for my post.
Dear "Professional Left" (oh, I know you used the term to try to mean me and all the other DFHs online giving you a hard time, but really. YOU are the real Professional Left since most of us don't make a damned dime with all our bitchin'. So, from here on, I'll address YOU as the "Professional Left" and you can think of us as the "Real Left", deal?)
The time for lip service is OVER. That's why people are camped out in a park.
The time for pretending you give a shit while taking money from scumbag big money corporations and donors is fucking over.
This is the 21st century and it's not like the "old days" when you could get your palms greased by your Wall Street and corporate buddies, come home during the recess and cut a ribbon in front the "Library Revitalization Project" you funded by slipping the earmark into a Defense Appropriations Bill and happily sail away to reelection for another 2, 4, 6 or 30 years. Those days are over and it's a new day motherfuckers. Time to put up or shut up.
Here's some facebook eyeroll goodness. I'd like to share with you, my friends.
I saw post on my facebook stream by the DCCC. God bless their hearts. "We stand with Occupy Wall Street". It wanted me to sign a petition. Yeah, the one LeftyCoaster is discussing in her Rec Listed Diary.
So I saw "We stand with Occupy Wall Street" and and thought: O Rly?
My response? (I hope you don't think it to harsh).
"The DCCC would do well to examine itself and the incestuous relationship many of our so-called representatives have with Wall Street. Hey DCCC: Want to "Stand with Occupy Wall Street"? Get stumping to change the campaign finance laws (public funding of elections, please), to reinstate Glass-Steagall, and to overturn that abomination to our democracy, Citizens United. Then come back and talk to me."
Well, at least I didn't use any curse words. So there's that. Maybe they'll pass it on to the rest of the Professional Left: the DNC, OFA, DFA, and the rest of the "advocacy groups" that mean well but (hate to say it) rely just as heavily on the constant back-and-forth of an ineffective government as the politicians do. (Did I mention, the radicalized mdmslle keeps it real at ALL TIMES?)
Because the reality is that the Professional Left knows that if this OWS thing works they way they know the organizers and participants want it to, they may all very well end up getting the boot. Or at least the gravy train stops dead in it's tracks.
The current direct conduit that shits money from Wall Street to Washington and back will be blown to pieces if OWS is successful. And the reality is that maybe out of 535 people in Capitol Hill, maybe three of them would be cool with that. Forget the GOP, they aren't even pretending. They don't have to. But on our side the tightrope walking has begun in earnest.
What they are trying to figure out is whether they can insert their own message into this thing and drive it a way that's favorable to the Professional Left. The key for them is to LOOK like they side with it (and with the middle class) while still avoiding the 800 pound gorilla in the room (the corruption of money in our economic policies and our government. Corruption they ALL benefit from).
To a large extent, this is mostly what the Democratic Party has been doing for some time now. Enacting seemingly middle class policies that are actually also a boon to corporations and monied interests. That's why we get things like the ACA, which has actually helped some middle class and poor americans, but also happens to be a bonanza for the big insurance and pharmaceutical companies. The public option was never discussed because our side's task is to make corporate-friendly legislation LOOK middle-class friendly. It was easy to do before the internet. Now, not so much. Even harder, post-OWS.
(Dear Professional Left: We're watching you, motherfuckers. Ninety-nine percent of us are watching you. And we couldn't give a shit less about what pundits say and their confusion over the OWS message. We're not confused. The walls of convention are falling apart, yo. Recognize. I'm gonna help you out a little later in this diary by telling you how to save your asses. But not yet. I've got more to say).
So, my fellow Real Lefties, in the coming months as this OWS grows and intensifies, we will see some Democrats carefully voice support for OWS, hoping to steer that support specifically toward jobs and the middle class slippage. Don't expect to hear too much from our side (except by the usual respectable suspects) about Wall Street investigations or Banking reform or a FED audit or [gasp] campaign finance reform. They will talk about anger and frustration and loss of housing values and all the other things that will be good to attach to in 2012. But they will not talk about doing what it takes to create actual policies to fix those things. Because correcting the problems would shit on their reelection campaign donors.
I'm keeping it real, ya'll. Radicalized mdmslle is keepin' it real at ALL TIMES. And I'm going to let the Professional Left know EXACTLY what they can do, right now, if they want to harness the energy of the OWS movement. Hang on. I have one more thing to share with you first, though.
I had another recent Facebook exchange about GOTV. Now ya'll know how many pairs of shoes I wore out in 2008 and 2010 canvassing in the hot Florida sun. So I'm not against GOTV. You know me, man. But a democratic operative friend on my facebook suggested that "All the occupying in the world is useless unless we GOTV..."
Oh no. He went there so. You know me. [Ms. ALL TIMES]
Voting is only as effective as integrity of the vote and the integrity of the representation. Right now, we have a fuckload of integrity breaches. And they need to be paid attention to or we lose our democracy. I'm sick of the "impression of democracy". I want real democracy.
Voting means dick if our politicians don't LISTEN to us and vote against our interests and in favor of their big money donors. I'm all for voting. I have a duty to. But I also realize that until we begin to address the INFLUENCE of the ungodly amounts of money being shoveled from corporations and other wealthy interests into our candidate's pockets, and how that influence directly effects the legislation that's proposed and passed in Washington, voting will only be an exercise providing a "sense of a democracy" rather than a real one. Too many times over the last several years I've see poll after poll showing that a vast majority of americans (across both parties) favor this thing or that. Yet, those things never get enacted. Or even discussed. Why? Because those who provide our pols with REELECTION CAMPAIGN FUNDS have different and often diametrically opposed interests . And it's the average American that loses out every time. This has GOT TO STOP.
So I got interviewed for a Washington Post article on the subject. Yes, we DO need to look in the mirror. Truth.
So at long last, here's my prescription to you, Professional Left. If you really want to "get out in front of this thing" and work it to your advantage. [ugh].
1) Come out and refuse the money from Wall Street this election season. Make it a public knowledge that you're sick of the game and recognize that for too long, big money has been supporting campaigns with the expectation of favorable legislation.
2) Admit that the pressures placed on you and your Professional Left buddies is intense. Suggest that you've been flawed and have succumbed from time to time but that now it's most important to correct this problem because too many people, 99% of people, are living lives that aren't being improved. People love stories of human failure and redemption.
3) Make a public issue of the fact that without money from Wall Street and other corporations, you won't be able to run a million ads like the Republican will. You won't be able to air ads to respond to the "scary and deceptive" ads the GOP will run with the support of all the Wall Street and corporations who will be giving them money. Let Americans know you'll need their vote to overcome the lack of money. Give them another way to find out the truth about where you stand. And put on your campaign shoes. You're going to wear out some leather. Oh, and remind Americans at every turn to remember that it's YOU who are choosing to risk losing your job to restore real democracy and to avoid being beholden to (or tempted by) those with the most money. For fuck's sake, make integrity and democracy a fucking campaign issue, you dumbasses!
4) Start writing legislation TODAY that would reverse the money-in-politics game. Start crafting legislation to reform the banking system. Start threatening to expose EVERY interaction between those seeking to buy votes and legislation and those with price tags hanging outside their office doors. Be a spy on the Hill. Expose it and you benefit from it. You'll keep your job. But more, you'll actually have a hand in saving this country and preserving the promise of democracy penned by our founders.
So, Professional Left, you want to "Stand with Occupy Wall Street"? There you have it. Jump (to it), you fuckers. Make a choice. The days of duplicity are fucking OVER.
P.S. In case you haven't heard, Progressive Majority has launched a new campaign called Run for America. The idea is to recruit and train progressives to run for office in every city and town in America. I'm liking it. And on a similar note, there's another group of folks organizing an actual National Occupy Wall Street Convention for July 4, 2012. It will feature two delegates (one male, one female) from every congressional district in America (870 delegates) to vote on an, in my opinion, very impressive set of about 20 reforms we'd like to see implemented in our government. Here's the kicker: the delegation will vote on the adoption of these demands and present them to every congressperson and senator and the president. YES, in July. So yes, the Professional Left is going to have to deal with this. And if the Professional Left doesn't speak out favorably about these needed changes, according to the plan right now, the group is planning to run for office in every congressional district on the platform presented. Even if it means a third party must be created. Right now there's some discussion about that, but the whole thing is quite nascent. But I've joined up and agreed to participate and lend my input. Maybe you should to.