I've been quiet for a while. After this some may well conclude that they were the good months. Months without Twigg, months of calm political discussion, months where progress was made ...
Unfortunately they have been months where the pre-eminent Liberal, Progressive Blog on the Intertubz has all but anointed another neo-liberal as our standard bearer.
Markos, I'm disappointed in you.
Yeah, I know, you could care less what one virtually anonymous immigrant thinks, and I get that. Here is the thing though ... When I came to this country I landed in Oklahoma. A state where they do not count the Republican vote, they weigh it. A state where I have to raise a family a mere 90 miles from where Josh Duggar diddled his sisters, and all my neighbors want us to quit persecuting him. A state that kills more of its prisoners and jails more of its women than just about any other.
This is where I laid my head, hung my hat, married my beautiful wife. Actually I married her in Bentonville, home of Wal-Mart and very close to the home of the afore-mentioned child diddler.
I needed another home, a spiritual home if you like, a place where I could meet like-minded folk, be impressed with their grasp of issues and terrified of their towering intellects, sharp wit and general kindness towards their fellow man.
I found it here, at the 2005 version of Daily Kos. Markos you were our standard bearer. Son of immigrants, a veteran, a man in touch with his roots and espousing liberal, progressive politics. I found a home and I thank you for that.
So what the fuck happened?
When did we start an election season by announcing that there was only going to be one winner, and we should all get behind her? Is that what our opponents do? Jeez ... we have a Campaign bus, they have a fucking Amtrack for all their candidates, and some of those will be left waiting for the next train ... lack of space, you see.
I understand that Mrs Clinton is most likely to win the nomination and, in terms of then winning the general election, she ought to be a shoe-in. But that is not now. Now she needs to be pushed, she needs to be tested, she has a whole lot of baggage to explain. In short, she has to earn our votes and this Blog, above all others should be skeptical about that. No one has a divine right to live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue ... no one. That has to be earned, and this Progressive, Liberal corner of the political debate should be more than just a bit wary of someone who has few, if any, progressive credentials.
We should be not just supporting Primary challengers, we should be seeking them out. I don't need to be told time after time that Elizabeth Warren has said she won't run, I heard her say it. I say to her it is not a choice, it is a duty. If your country wants you then you better damned well serve. Of course, in the end, we all understand that no mean no. Quite honestly though, I'm sick of people who want the job. I want someone in the White House that didn't want the job!
So now we have Bernie.
He's a Socialist. How much more progressive and liberal we could get is entirely lost on me. It's almost as if Mr Perfect Fucking Liberal stood up to be counted and we, well lots of us, simply sucked through our teeth and tutted .... not neo enough!
Well maybe he isn't, and that's a tragedy. I hear talk about un-electable, too radical, too freakin' liberal by half. Okay, point taken. Please point me to which of his stated positions we haven't been demanding for oh, I dunno, about 12 years now.
Of course he can't win if we, the self-proclaimed progressive liberals can't even bring ourselves to support him. This is a Primary battle, not a General Election. That's next year right? I didn't take off more time than I thought, and miss something?
We keep getting our asses handed to us by the most vicious, sociopathic bunch of ne'er do wells it has ever been my misfortune to see become elected to public office. Then we wring our hands when they are re-elected. We bemoan the damage done in state legislatures. We bitch about the fascists running the House, and now in control of the Senate, and we sit and listen to talking-heads who have fuck-all better to do on their million dollar salaries but blame liberals, progressives and yes, socialists ... and we buy into it.
No, we lose, and we keep losing, and we will always lose until we realize that what Bernie is holding out as a prospect is change. Real change, change we really can believe in because it's the change we have been demanding since Markos lived in a bedsit, and Daily Kos was but a gleam in his eye.
Bernie might not win the Primary. Shit, he might not even win a state as the Clinton juggernaut charges across the landscape. We should be very unhappy about that. Sure, with Sanders as our nominee we might not win. We might get President Paul, or Bush, or ... dear God, Cruz. This would not be a good thing. People would suffer, people would even die as the psychotic Administration gets to work.
Yeah, I know, but here is the newsflash ... They are suffering now, They are dying now. Old folk who can't heat their homes. Young black men gunned down in the streets. Kids starving. Moms miscarrying through lack of education and opportunity. They are dying anyway and we cannot offer an alternative ... Just more of the same, only with a bit less nastiness and a few decent social policies.
I could have stayed home. David Cameron, a right-wing shitbag offers at least that much to the Brits. Plus gun-control!
We really have to be the Reality-Based Community we are so desirous of. The reality is that anything offered up by big money and the DNC is highly unlikely to offer anything other than a gradual sink into mediocrity for the American people.
I really don't know if it is worth losing a cycle to get the Democratic Party to pull its head out of its ass, yet neither do I feel that another four years of split administration will advance the progressive cause either. More of the last eight years? How well is that working out for the American people, those families we should be supporting. Those communities we should be inspiring with hope that we can make a difference in their lives. That we have the policies and the guts to clean up the justice system, to get their kids out of jails and into jobs. To improve their lives in a meaningful way, and mean it.
The self-satisfied will be satisfied with another Clinton Presidency. It will be historic in the way the current one has been. And the bankers will bank. The bombs will drop and the schools, and neighborhoods will continue to gradually become Detroit.
Yes ... all of you, if Hillary wins the nomination then she needs, and should get, every last vote you can muster .... but Bernie hasn't lost yet, and we should be applauding his character, his commitment to the very folk we want to help, and his policies. They might never happen ... they sure as hell won't happen if we give up before we even try.
Feel free to ignore my intemperate rant, and resume normal service.
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