With Republicans in charge in Congress, you can kiss a whole lot of reforms and positive initiatives goodbye: no beginnings of an adequate, affordable health care system; no Social Security and no Medicare and a greatly reduced Medicaid; polluters in control of the nation's air and water; no firm oversight of insurance companies raising rates regularly and denying care to those who need it most; an unrestrained "free-market" economy heading us further into the pit of Depression#2, with even more millions of jobs lost; our children not getting an adequate education in the humanities and arts and sciences; more unwinnable wars of occupation, costing trillion$ that could be spent on domestic needs; a continued degradation of our nation's infrastructure and lack of adequate funds for key civic needs (water, police, firefighters, libraries, parks, etc.). And on and on.
Yes, Obama and the Democrats are a disappointment in so many ways. True, "the other guys are worse" is not a great platform for the Dems to run on, but when the Republicans have been so outfront about the damage they intend to do to the existing body politic and the mixed economy, it's not just that they are "worse than" the Democrats but that they would be a horrific catastrophe for the nation. And, because American economic and military policies so affect other countries, for the world as well.
We can't risk considering that a Republican victory "might not be so
bad," that once they got back into power they'd be more amenable to
compromise and civil debate. The Republicans have proven time and time again in the past 20 months that they have absolutely no interest in genuine compromise or civil discourse. Their only motivating goal is to return to power (and thus to control the economic/political System) by any means necessary.
GETTING DOWN TO WORK
Our job in the next six weeks is to hold our noses, if necessary, and
work to defeat Republican candidates, especially the more extreme Senate and House candidates, by voting and working for Democrats.
Our moral imperative is to see to it that the Republicans don't get
the chance to take America back to the 1890s. We need to open our
wallets to the candidates running against Paul, Paladino, Angle,
O'Donnell and the rest of the Know-Nothings. We need to get energized and volunteer to help good Democrats, stuff envelopes, make phone calls, walk the precincts, join a vibrant get-out-the-vote campaign, drive folks to the polls on November 2, etc. etc.
We have no realistic alternative. This year, there is no viable third party from the left. If we remain listless in our opposition to the extreme politics being practiced by the GOP, and refuse to crank up our energy and commitment to the cause, the consequences will be horrendous, and we'll kick ourselves later. By focusing on punishing the weak, centrist-leaning Democrats, we would be committing a kind of political suicide.
Right now, at this moment, we progressives and moderates are the bulwark of democracy. We have a Constitution and country to
defend. We can continue working for serious reform of the Democratic Party after we keep the dangerous, reckless Republicans away from the levers of power on November 2nd.
More purity later, victory now. Onward! #
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Bernard Weiner, Ph.D. in government & international relations, worked as a writer/editor with the San Francisco Chronicle for nearly two decades, has taught at universities in California and Washington, and currently serves as co-editor of The Crisis Papers (www.crisispapers.org). To comment: >>
crisispapers@hotmail.comCopyright 2010 by Bernard Weiner.
First published by The Crisis Papers 9/20/10.
www.crisispapers.org/essays10w/november.htm
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