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There’s too much going on. Too many issues. Too many fuck ups. Too many know-it-alls. Far too many experts. Too much of too little.
What am I left with? Huh. It was more fun fighting George W. Bush.
It’s like we’ve entered into some kind of progressive mass hysteria. Like we’re dripping desperation. We haven’t got a real strategy. We haven’t got a real movement. Why, we haven’t even got a real issue that draws Americans, much less progressives, together.
I thought the idea of progressive politics was populist, at its core. That progressive politics had some sympathy for the duped, deadened, and inert among us. But we seem, instead, to love rubbing it the faces of people just as desperate as we, but grasping at different straws.
Yet we have developed our very own left-edged version of Foxesque headlines about teabaggers, birthers, deathers, wingnuts, et al. Head shaking. Who the fuck are we? I’m going to steal a Meteor Blades line: Leave that shit to Ann Coulter. In_fucking_deed.
What can I say? I’m perplexed in phases. The clarion calls: public option in, out, going, going … CTers are now Truthers. Max Baucus is suddenly a household name. Harry Reid is as arid as ever. Who the fuck knows in what Nancy Pelosi believes… and did Hillary actually really, in good gods name, say [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6790980 I'm Secretary of State, not Bill?]
It’s the utter noise of all the pronouncements and prognostications. It’s all the noise of everybody who knows better, from Tom Friedman to Rush Limbaugh. It’s Rahm playing political hard ball with a fucking plastic bat.
And we, the people, end up as monkey in the middle, between congressional chambers and corporate board rooms, jumping up to catch the crumbs and tidbits and shiny objects thrown just out of reach.
Who’s in charge here? Because the one and only thing that would convince me that Obama and Democrats are for real has not happened: credible effort to force Rove, Myers et al to answer Congressional subpoenas. Has a grand jury been convened to consider indictments against Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfield, or Gonzo? Maybe I missed it.
Dems want to be be seen as strong, serious, and having some spine? Then they must round up those who need to account for this train-wreck of a decade. But my sense is that the criminals are still in charge. And the health care debacle is one pretty good example of their continued influence.
I find it amazing that we can NOT seem to make the link between accountability of the powerful and our own inability to impact the policies/practices/laws that run our lives. We don’t fully get that not enforcing our laws has left us in this mess. Un.rule.lee.
Huh. And me? Yeah. What about that? … huh… I am less sure of where we are and for what we stand than I did when we were fighting George W. Bush.
8 Comments
i want a netroots movement. not more and better democrats, since they seem to be on the endangered list.
i want an accountability movement. i want a movement to rebuild gov’t infrastructure in order to pass sound legislation.
i will say it till i have no breath left to speak: it t’aint health care.
it is enforcing our laws. accountability. those in power will NEVER give us fairness. we have to force it. everyday. and we need to get better at using gov’t and our cash.
Those having power are NEVER going to give it up willingly.
The progressive way of voting (always for the Dem) simply reinforces the power of the power holders.
Progressives make a big mistake when they regard Repubs as the true enemies.
Often, progressives are their own worst enemies.
Good to see you here, pf8.
hello letsgetitdone. i’m thinking it’s that unfinished business, dating back from at least Watergate, that’s put us here.
thanks for the comment! and i’ll await that further discussion.
we need some semantics changes. like dems are not “in power” but in service of their country. people should never be “elected” to power. this is a service job. period.
history… they’re already trying to rewrite George’s history. Like those eight years were all Cheney’s fault. Well. no matter what anybody says, Bush was president. not Cheney. but it’s an attempt to cleanse the BUSH name to pave way for Jeb. we shouldn’t let them do it. we really should NOT let them do it.
thanks for the welcome.
Here’s the problem: it was ever thus, and ever will be. All of progressive life is a process and a struggle. We are never going to get everything the way it should be. We have to take what we can get, and enjoy the ride along the way. History will eventually deal with the criminals, if not in this life, then in the next one. Take heart, imagine if McCain and Palin had won…
The weekend is here, I am going to have a cold beer and watch a football game, then get back to the cause on Monday.
Hi pf8, nice diary.
I think we need a program, like progressives used to have, and we need to go after what’s in the program and compromise on it only when absolutely necessary and only temporarily.
I agree with you on accountability and enforcing the laws. We have to take care of unfinished business while we move forward on those things that cannot wait. Among the things that cannot wait is accountability for war crimes, and also restoring constitutional protections. What should be in the progressive program? I’ll leave that for further discussion.
hey… i replied to you i thought… but i apparently hit the button for ART45. i’ll get the hang of it!
jason, thanks for the bump!