Democrats are going to have a hard choice to make. So will progressives. Dividing the Democratic party so that it becomes only centrists will guarantee loss of the executive branch, leaving government entirely in the hands of the right wing, who can then enact even more permanent structural changes like the gerrymandering that has permanently given them the House of Representatives. They have a plan. After 59 years on the planet, I conclude that there is only one way to achieve progressive goals, and that is to completely invade the Democratic party once again and force it to the left. There is no other way to force constitutional changes to campaign finance law, which is the linchpin to every other progressive policy we wish to see happen. There will not be any other road to change. The Left has to roll up their sleeves and get to the hardest task ever before us. If you actually saw Occupy Wall St, and how it withered on the vine from conflict and disorganization, and check the voter turnout for third parties over the entire history of this country, you will see how utterly hopeless the ideas of third parties or revolution are to creating changes that are prerequisite to progressive values. Only by incremental shifts to the left will we get there. It is a 50 to 100 year project, and only the very, very strong and visionary will make it happen. Do we have what it takes? Not so far. It will take a tremendous amount of hard work, talking to people we find odious, and a self sacrificial level of civic engagement that I only see a fraction of a percent of people willing to make at any given moment, never mind a lifetime. If progressives took over the Democratic party, completely re-energized and re-empowered unions who then funded an international union movement that raised the income and rights of workers everywhere, creating the self supporting internal institutions and a platform that included a compelling populist narrative that reassures and does not insult the dignity of workers currently in right wing states, we will have a chance to upend the inequality we see taking over, despite the sham democracy that has been subverted so profoundly in the US. How many are willing to live on next to nothing and give their lives to saving this planet? How many are still willing to trust in institutions and government again? How many are willing to sacrifice for the well being of others, and wait patiently for their own success? How many will expand their tribalism to include all of humanity? I could go on, but you get the idea. If you look at every social justice activist you have ever admired, and imagine everyone picking up a huge chunk of that same task, and carrying it to fruition over their lifetime, that is how much sustained commitment it will take.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Nov 2014 20:06:46 +0000