Now that the crisis du jour (the fiscal cliff) has been settled, we start planning for the next manufactured apocalypse: the debt ceiling. As far as I can tell, we're witnessing a robbery in slow motion: Over a decade ago, Bush came into office determined to give our Social Security and Medicare contributions to Wall Street. He may not have succeeded in imposing his privatization scheme, but he did manage to start two wars and hand out a lot of tax breaks to the rich (unfunded, natch). As soon as a democrat was in office, the Republicans found religion on spending and began aggressively arguing for "austerity." Now, it's hard not to feel like we're sitting on the sidelines of some complicated negotiations over how our Medicare and Social Security contributions are going to get transferred into someone's "hookers and blow" fund.
The only question is: what are we going to do about it? What kind of leverage do we have?
I think it's clear we need to embrace a more diverse set of tactics. The Democrats in Washington will do their thing, but we need to broaden the struggle. Ultimately, the goal is to build a network of people who will show up in meatspace and engage in political discourse (2014, anyone?) but one thing at a time. Particularly, we need to consider non-violent direct action. Actions could include:
-Boycotts of Republican donors
-Picketing Republicans and pro-Republican businesses
-Wildcat strike actions to disrupt pro-Republican businesses
But how do we do this without inconveniencing ourselves, our friends and our communities? How do we narrowly adjust our focus such that the majority goes on with their lives while the elites suffer sleepless nights? Most importantly, how can we be assertive without scaring average people who rely on the corporate media for news?
I don't have any answers, but I know my retirement is going to suffer if this fight stays in Washington...