Unfortunately, the makeup of the U.S. Senate tends to pull legislation to the right, even with a Democratic majority. Wildly popular liberal items like the public option had to be abandoned in order to win the votes of just a few Democratic senators who wield disproportionate levels of power and weren't afraid to abuse it. As aggravating as this is, it's a fact of life -- for now. While I'm here, can I just say that allowing Russ Feingold to lose his Senate seat will not move legislation to the left. So progressives in Wisconsin need to stop moping and get behind one of the most active and outspokenly progressive members of Congress.
Here's another one. The "both sides" meme. It's a very popular and very serious false equivalency based upon the notion that somehow both sides are equally to blame for this or that. Hell, even Jon Stewart's forthcoming rally is founded upon the false "both sides" meme -- organized around the misguided observation that there's equal levels of insanity on both sides -- as if the unmitigated blather and glaring contradictions from the tea party people, talk radio hosts, Fox News Channel and the Republicans who pander to all three is somehow equivalent to, say, a comparatively minor group like Code Pink. It's a cop-out argument meant to sound fair-minded, but bears no resemblance to the reality of a lopsidedly insane far-right.
And finally, Americans can often be kneejerk and impulsive when we're pissed off. Like right now. The rise of the tea party movement and the increasingly inevitable trouncing the Democrats will have to endure in November isn't necessarily evidence of a rightward ideological shift.
It's simply evidence that we have a penchant for temporary fits of political roid rage. We're in a bit of a mood right now. When it comes to jobs, we're understandably angry, but the solution -- electing more Republicans -- won't create more jobs. Unfortunately, there's a good chance a Republican Congress will try to freeze spending or force a government shutdown, risking an economic backslide at the worst possible time. Congress and the press, meanwhile, are mistaking inchoate tantrums for a "center-right" shift and that's simply not the case. We have anger management issues here, and I'm still hopeful that we'll snap out of it and grow up before we put the recovery in jeopardy with a Republican Congress that made its bones by sabotaging the economy.
The sooner politicians embrace the reality of a center-left America, the sooner they'll actually stand up proudly for progressive legislation, rather than running like half-baked Republican knockoffs. There's a powerful, rational, patriotic argument for every progressive vote and every progressive bill. Make the case, Democrats. Don't run away from reality into the twisted contradictions and hypocrisies of right-wing frames. Voters want strong leadership and conviction more than they want conservative policies. Show them.
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