Progressives - Time to Flex

Progressives, are you going to take it again?

(For the purposes of this rant, I define a progressive, anymore, as someone with values and ideals that are left of Richard Nixon. This, in 21st century America puts you in the camp of "leftist loons" as Bill O'Reilly would say.)

We have taken it plenty. We took it in 2006 when we made Nancy Pelosi the first woman Speaker of the House, and then watched her crumble before Republican talking points and Blue Dog pressure.

We took it in 2008 as we saw Obama tack hard right after winning the nomination. We were hoping this was just political chess running up to the election.

We took it hard in the shorts when Obama surrounded himself with DLC cronies, including Hilary and Rahm, yet still hoped this was political cover for at least a mildly progressive agenda.

We took it savagely from behind when Obama gave trillions to Wall Street to bail out the criminal bankers who fucked our economy. And this is still going on. We still have these guys gambling, and paying themselves multimillion dollar bonuses - now with OUR MONEY. Oh yeah, and tax cuts too. This was not an exercise in compromise - it was a wholesale cave-in to Wall Street - a plea for them to not hate the new administration. And the economic misbehavior that caused the collapse has not stopped. Just read this Huffpo story, or even worse, this blog post by Les Leopold. No meaningful regulation, no meaningful cap on executive salaries in institutions that exist only because of our tax dollars keeping them afloat, and no meaningful help for the millions of Americans who are still losing their homes to the robber barons who sank our economy, and are losing our jobs to corporations that are sending them overseas. Ouch!

We took it with environmental legislation, which was a gift to Big Coal. Some good stuff did come out of this bill - renewable energy research, and conservation retrofitting - saving energy and creating jobs. If we didn't take it so bad on the economy, I could live with this gift to coal and oil companies. But on top of the Wall Street screwing, this was with no Vaseline.

We took it on Guantonamo. Oh sure, Obama said the right things - then caved in to Republican talking points. Seriously, like moving those prisoners to the United States would cause the country to explode. This cave-in makes so little sense. I know there are some tricky legal questions involved, but Americans should not be afraid of that. This cave-in says that Obama has no faith in our justice system, thinks Americans can't run a high-security prison, or is terrified of even the lamest Republican talking points. Jesus, I don't know which is worse!

Are we out of Iraq? No.

Are we "surging" in Afghanistan? Yes.

Is there even a hint of serious conversation about military spending? Fuck no!

And now, we are bent over the meat-counter on health care, and are about to get rammed. If this is not the line in the sand, then there is no effective progressive caucus, nor a very effective progressive voice. Don't get me wrong, I'm almost sure we will get screwed on the public option, but what will be the reaction? As Firedoglake's Jane Hamsher said on the Young Turks, "we will tear up your progressive card over this one. There is no free vote this time."

What to do?
1. Let your reps know how you feel! The House's Progressive Caucus has enough members to block health care legislation with no public option. Contact them, especially if they are your rep, and encourage them to hold strong. Hand this president a defeat, from his own party, if he screws American families for the sake of Big Pharma, HMOs, and the health insurance industry.

2. Send money to progressive legislators who pledge to vote only for a public option plan. Send money to primary candidates running against those who don't. Obama knows the power of the web, and how much cash you can raise $25 at a time. Check out Fire Dog Lake's whipcount project.

3. Coordinate health care memes as effectively as the right does. It kills me that the professional politicians of the Democratic Party suck so badly at this. Here's one that should have been brought out weeks ago: "Death panels exist! - in every health insurance corporation's office." Follow that with a list of denied claims for essential, life-saving treatments. How about this: "if government can't do anything right, then we definitely won't reelect you to keep running it!" Jesus, how long have I waited for a news anchor to ask a conservative "wait a minute, don't you run the government?" when they talk about how bad government is.

4. Go for a third party. Seriously, if the dems can't deliver on at least one meaningful reform, with control of the entire government, then what fucking good are they? The obvious answer is: none. Bernie Sanders got elected to the Senate, an independent and a true progressive. If the progressive caucus fails, the Progressive party should rise. Could it do to Obama what Nadar did to Al Gore? Sure, but so what? If all we are getting is Republican policies, the Republicans might as well be the face of evil that we fight against.

We have to stop supporting the Democratic Party if they won't give us anything. Health care is the big one. Fuck us here, and you have lost us. The progressives will leave in droves (hopefully), and the dems will go the way of the Whigs.