Elections Ought to Matter

We now have the Obama to repeal the PATRIOT Act and its expansions.

We now have the Obama to establish a clean energy policy.

We now have the Obama to end poverty with green jobs.

We now have the Obama to ensure a living wage for Americans.

We now have the Obama to organize for single-payer health care.

We now have the Obama to crackdown on corporate crime, corporate greed, corporate welfare, and end corporate personhood.

We now have the Obama to assess the negative impact of predatory lending.

We now have the Obama to examine our debt-based monetary system.

We now have the Obama to make politicians accountable.

This may seem unreasonable. This may seem unrealistic. But, when faced with the idea that liberals and progressives who wish to advance their agenda would be wronging this so-called center-right, moderate conservative nation of ours, Dennis Kucinich said on The O’Reilly Factor:

“Every democracy under any administration has a dynamic tension which produces a synthesis which hopefully brings about public policy which serves all the people. That’s the nature of democracy.”

Progressives and liberals should not fear the creation of tension if they protest or assemble. They should not fear speaking out on behalf of their beliefs like moderates, centrists, and Republicans so often do.

Progressives and liberals can say all they want about giving Obama a chance, but progressives and liberals should give themselves a chance.

The country is ready for progressive change. And in this rocky situation we are in with the economy, Naomi Klein says it best, especially since the economy will set the terms for progressive change:

There is no way to reconcile the public's vote for change with the market's foot-stomping for more of the same. Any and all moves to change course will be met with short-term market shocks. The good news is that once it is clear that the new rules will be applied across the board and with fairness, the market will stabilize and adjust. Furthermore, the timing for this turbulence has never been better. Over the past three months, we've been shocked so frequently that market stability would come as more of a surprise. That gives Obama a window to disregard the calls for a seamless transition and do the hard stuff first. Few will be able to blame him for a crisis that clearly predates him, or fault him for honoring the clearly expressed wishes of the electorate. The longer he waits, however, the more memories fade.

When transferring power from a functional, trustworthy regime, everyone favors a smooth transition. When exiting an era marked by criminality and bankrupt ideology, a little rockiness at the start would be a very good sign.

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