You know, I feel like the left has had a case of being a good brownie, for oh, say about 30 years. Somewhere after Jimmy Carter was vilified as the ultimate liberal incompetent and now, liberals became cowed. This is clear to see by the very fact that we have no where near our share of what centrists call "nut jobs" to eat up media time. God, imagine if Elizabeth Warren got anywhere NEAR the amount of coverage that Ted Cruz has had?! Geepers, the right hasn't even bothered going after her much, why bother when the Third Way can do that for them, and they have other Obamacare fish to fry.
Follow me below that which I'm out of creative gas to name in a new way.
Was interested to read this article today:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/...
Please do read the link, it's short and very doable w/in a minute. Because I'm not going to spend this diary quoting it, think it should be read in full.
"Dino hunting season." Sounds good to me. And here's why. IMO, the Democratic party has been slow to balance out the assault from the right. Very slow. And very afraid. Now, as a student of and one time teacher of history, I understand the chain reaction that has occurred since Regan. And, at one time the same chain reaction occurred in our favor. Just don't want anyone to mistake this as a diary about how crappy the Democrats are. That's a useless waste of time.
Instead, I'd like to talk about what I believe is an opening to the discussion we want to have. Many things have carved out that opening, starting with Occupy Wall Street---seems like an age ago, but that movement buried some seeds that are just beginning to sprout, and we impatient ones must observe the time it takes for a seed to grow.
Then came the protests against Wal-Mart, gaining speed all the time, and then came the protests from other workers, and then, for heaven's sake, literally, we get a Pope, now Time's Person of the Year, who begins to amplify the issue of inequality and we hear he sneaks out at night to minister to the poor. Imagine that!!!! Far cry from the last bejeweled pope.
And, in his second term, safe from almost everything but the coming mid terms, the president also begins to amplify issues of inequality, although I would argue he acted on those issues as much as he was allowed to by congress and the need to get re-elected, long before now. But hey, I know that's a dangerous statement here, and I would just say this about that.
Please don't make this another thread about what Obama coulda or shoulda done. Let's NOT make it sux vs. rox. Lord knows, we've visited that ground often enough. And the truth is, there are only three boxes in life. First box: What was. Second box" What is. Third box: What will be. The only box we EVER have real power in is in that second box: WHAT IS.
And I think right now, WHAT IS, is that there is a door opening to everything we want to discuss and represent. And, I think the way to greet an open door, is too barge through it with the most positive language we can manage. Which means we don't waste our time and efforts arguing about our grudges, or who here thought this or that should have happened by now.
What we do, imo, is grab on to the tail of that open door, and push everything through it we can manage. Which is NOT to say we become like the tea party, which many will want to equivocate with the rising left. God, I wish we all got as much coverage as the Tea Party. But I don't want us to be EQUAL TO THE TEA PARTY, in our endeavors. I want us to be better. Much better.
What I dream of is a left that is on the rise, WITHOUT falling victim to the Tea Party's stupidity in how they've fought the battle. What I dream of is a smarter, more strategic, and yes, sometimes a more practical left, that is not cowed, full of voice, yet still, a voice most Americans can recognize.
And you know, if you look at the polls of what Americans want these days, we're in a good spot. Now we need to message this in a way that Americans can hear. Not an easy task, so divided of a country are we.
But the biggest tent in America, is by far, the Democratic Party. And yet, we don't find the full strength in this we should. Part of that is that we NEED to have our own inter party battles, and we should not see these as a threat, but rather a welcome challenge.
The GOP is tearing themselves apart with their inter party struggles. I think Democrats from left to centrist think differently, and that's why we're Democrats, of some stripe or another. We do things differently than the GOP, we think differently than the GOP.
So I'm hoping we can have this inter party fight, and survive it well, not only well, but for the better. I think the personality types who are Democrats have an edge here, because as hard as cats are to herd, once you've got us all together, God help you.
Of course we'll never be all together on anything, but I really feel we have an open window right now, and the way to deal with Ed Rendell and his ilk, is NOT to say, F you, and we're going our own way---Tea Party strategy---but instead to feel that wind under our wings and apply righteous pressure with NO pout, NO argument about what might have been, no grudges. Just WHAT IS. And be relentless like Gandhi---a soft ball that landed so hard in the gut of history.
America is restless, the working class is restless, the middle class is restless. This is what the Tea Party and the media have been milking for years. I suggest we grab a teat and milk this in a our own way, which somehow side steps the mistakes of the right.
Because as the left, we can so easily fall into the same category and actions as our counter parts. How do we avoid that? How do we slide in under an open window of opportunity in a smarter better way?
This is a challenging question I don't have the answer for, except to say, I know it's NOT about exclusion, elitism, you're wrong, I'm right ISM. It's not about inner gangs in the party. It's not about who's more pure in their struggle, or who's not pure enough. That's what we see in the GOP's inner party struggle. And yeah, sometimes in our own,
and yeah, here too.
I welcome our own inter party struggle because I'd like to think we'll handle it better, crazy optimist that I am. I'd like to think we can figure out the true message here, which is after all is said and done, that EVERYONE needs to have a stake in this country for it to succeed, a stake in being well and able to work and have hope. Without that, we're a revolution waiting to happen, another of history's pitiful downfall stories.
I really believe it's up to Democrats to stop the downfall these days, a very big onus that demands we find a way to work together. A tricky challenge that means we must
find a way to strengthen our party through our disagreements, instead of rending it by them.
So bring on the fight in the Democratic party. And let's see what happens. God, I hope we're up to it.