link:
http://www.workingforchange.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=58F35103-C702-1D69-C3944D8C17C34CBDposted by permission of Mr. Sirota
"By David Sirota
There are a lot of reasons to be optimistic these days if you are a
progressive. A look accross 2006's campaign landscape shows that our
movement is no longer theoretical - it is very real, and increasing
in power every single day. But as the Denver Post today notes in a
piece about our growing movement (attached below), progressives also
face stiff opposition in the form of a corrupt political
Establishment desperate to preserve the status quo. The confrontation
brewing between this new movement and the Establishment is not to be
downplayed - it is escalating, and it will have profound results that
go far beyond just one election.
The Denver Post notes that those defending the status quo are, to be
sure, entrenched. "Political corruption comes in two varieties," the
Post notes. "There are brazen payoffs, and then there is a kind of
gooey rot: the venal abandonment of principles, spurred by the favors
of corporate lobbyists and the need for campaign cash." Ultimately,
"All but the toughest pols and pundits get seduced, and over time,
the party establishment starts to stipulate: globalization is a
blessing, free trade is sacred, billionaires need tax breaks, job
loss is inevitable, workers are expendable, wages will decline, the
war in Iraq is necessary."
The Post is absolutely right - there is a "gooey rot." But it is
being challenged everywhere you look. Though both parties'
Beltway-based political operatives and consultants have tried to
downplay what's going on throughout the heartland, we can see the
tell-tale signs of a true progressive populist movement emerging.
We see grassroots organizations outside the Beltway like (to name
just a few) Moveon.org and the Progressive States Network being
built. We see huge numbers of readers purchasing books like Crashing
the Gate, How Would a Patriot Act?, Lapdogs, The Motherhood Manifesto
and (here comes a bit of shameless self-promotion) Hostile Takeover -
readers who want to join the fight. We see millions of daily
websurfers learning about the day-to-day political battles at sites
like Escaton, Dailykos, MyDD, Common Dreams, Working for Change, the
Huffington Post and hundreds of others. We see a crop of aggressive
writers like Ari Berman, Matt Taibbi, Chris Hayes, Harold Meyerson,
Molly Ivins, Matt Stoller , Chris Bowers and Thomas Frank who reject
the mealy-mouthed style of liberal writers in the past, and aren't
afraid to infuse their work with conviction and ideology. We see
meetings like the Cleaning Up Our Statehouses conference, the
YearlyKos convention and the Take Back America conference being
overcrowded with attendees. And perhaps most striking, we see major
candidates for major office championing the cause.
In two major Senate races, for instance, top-tier candidates Sherrod
Brown (D-OH) and Jon Tester (D-MT) are both using their campaigns to
put Corporate America's destructive "free" trade policy on trial - a
policy pushed by Wall Street Democrats that has undermined Americans'
wages, health care/retirement benefits and job security.
Brown recently told the Cleveland Plain Dealer this week that "People
who like these trade agreements typically are very insulated. They're
economists in ivory towers. They are journalists in wood-paneled
editorial boards. It's senators and presidents who rely on major
corporate campaign contributors and don't walk through those
factories where workers are so anxious about job loss." Brown is
running in arguably the most important Senate race in the most
politically important state in America - and, unlike other
high-profile Democrats in the Senate club, he's not running to
embrace right-wing ideologues - he's instead running as an unabashed
progressive. As he told the Washington Post, "This is a chance to
change the direction of the state and the country
it can
show a progressive Democrat can win in a state like Ohio. It's going
to show that in 2008, there's a very different political dynamic in
this country."
Similarly, Tester told the Billings Gazette that he's sick and tired
of "free" trade deals being justified by those who dishonestly claim
these pacts help farmers - a courageous stand in an agricultural
region, and in a state where both U.S. Senators are ardent supporters
of "free" trade. "As a farmer, you better believe trade deals] are a problem," he said. "The current market is just
plain unfair. The United States has been pushing us into free trade
agreements that have been hurting Montana workers and Montana
farmers, and resulting in the outsourcing of jobs. We need to be
engaging in fair trade so that everybody is playing on a level field.
This is an issue I'll work hard on because it's important to Montana
and it personally hits home with me."
The same thing is happening on Iraq. In Connecticut, first-time
statewide candidate Ned Lamont (D) exceeded steep expectations and
dramatically vaulted onto the primary ballot to challenge Sen. Joe
Lieberman - the guy who has spent the last three years making
headlines as the chief Senate advocate for the Iraq War, and chief
attacker of those who have opposed it. Lieberman and his
corporate-funded sponsors at the Democratic Leadership Council in
Washington are now in an apoplectic frenzy, frothing like rabid dogs
to national reporters, complaining about their plight, fearing that
the ordinary citizens they so despise have broken down the palace
gates. They should be afraid - we have broken in, and come primary
day in August, we're headed for the throne room to depose Lieberman.
Even some courageous leaders in the Establishment are taking notice
of our new movement, and are reacting favorably. House Minority
Leader Nancy Pelosi (D), for instance, "has informed colleagues that
she intends to force Rep. Jane Harman (D) to step down" from the
intelligence committee, according to the Los Angeles Times. Pelosi
made the announcement after many Democrats expressed concern "that
Harman is too moderate and inclined to accommodate the Republican
agenda." And remember - Pelosi's move has not come in a vacuum. It
comes as Harman faces a primary challenge in her Los Angeles-area
district from Marcy Winograd (D), who is hammering Harman for her
aggressive support of the Iraq War.
Not surprisingly, much of this movement building has been met with
disdain from the pundit class's most brazen Establishment
mouthpieces. Time Magazine's Joe Klein, for instance, used a recent
column to call senior progressive African American Members of
Congress "embarrassments," and then proceeded to hurl racially
charged insults at them on behalf of the GOP. His column was a
disgusting and not-so-subtly veiled effort to scare the public about
who will be in control of Congress if the progressive movement
continues to build power.
Top New York Times columnists have (albeit, without the racial
component) ably backed up Klein's attacks on the progressive
movement. For example, Thomas Friedman appeared on television again
this week trying to extend the Iraq War and American troops'
deployment there. Thankfully, watchdog groups nailed him for his
dishonesty. Friedman also this week penned another in a long line of
public service announcements trumpeting the benefits of eliminating
American jobs and shipping them overseas. It's Tom Friedman as
Corporate America's paid public relations flack.
The Times' David Brooks chimed in with Friedman. In a recent screed,
Brooks was shocked - shocked! - that ordinary people are unhappy
about the economy. Brooks, a conservative Bobo in Paradise, just
cannot understand why when the stock market is doing well and overall
GDP growth is steady the vast majority of citizens outside his
comfortable, country-club-Republican life on the New York-DC cocktail
party circuit are not as thrilled as he is. "Forget about wage,
benefit and job cuts ordinary folks are suffering through," Brooks
seems to be saying, "Let them all eat cake while I slurp down another
glass of scotch, puff on my cigar, and marvel at my new silk ascot."
And, of course, he says we must look down on those movement builders
who want real change. "The pseudopopulist renegades who rail against
the establishment are being eclipsed by the canny
establishmentarians," Brooks breathlessly claimed. "They're the ones
who know how to use the levers of government to get things done." If
only he had said "get things done exclusively for rich elitists like
me" he might have actually displayed a bit of honesty.
Thankfully, our movement is sturdy. It flourishes without approval of
the powers that be - which is why it is so frightening to the
Establishment. Ours is a movement that has seized the year 2006, and
finally declared that it is time to put core conviction ahead
partisanship, and time to ignore the insulated, arrogant know-it-alls
who populate the cushy confines of Washington's think tanks, Capitol
Hill offices and pundit circles - the know-it-alls who either have
never worked on winning campaigns or who have consistently worked on
losing campaigns yet spout off as if they were campaign gurus; the
know-it-alls who pocket corporate cash and then tell Democrats to bow
down to the corporate forces that are waging a war on our country's
middle class; the know-it-alls who told Democrats to embrace the Iraq
War, because neither they nor their families have to personally bear
the blood-and-guts consequences of the policies they advocate; the
know-it-alls who, in short, are trying to sell out America.
To be sure, this is a long battle against powerful forces. But as I
note in the conclusion of my new book Hostile Takeover, the new
movement we are building is on the side of history. "In one way or
another, every great American social movement has been about people
taking back their government," the book concludes. "Once again,
America must find its voice, and act on its justifiable outrage – an
outrage that comes with being abused by politicians and cheated by
the establishment, insulted with lies, and denied honest answers. It
is that outrage which has fueled our past battles. And it is that
outrage that will always lead this country to a better future."
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
