When Government becomes the Enemy...

[Tom Rinaldo]

...every progressive initiative starts out with the odds stacked against us.

We need more Progressives if we want a stronger Progressive voice. I don't just mean more Progressives in Congress, though surely we need that too. We need to grow the ranks of Americans who believe in Progressive solutions to the problems facing our nation. In short we need a larger and broader based Progressive movement than currently exists, because there simply aren't enough of us now to consistently achieve the fundamental victories that can decisively change the direction of this country. Progressives don't fear the power of government more than they fear the power of an unregulated and all pervasive "free market". Progressives are sorely lacking in America today.

It's true that majorities of Americans often start out agreeing with Progressives on important issues; until the political rhetoric heats up sufficiently and people default to their political buzz word allegiances. We do not consistently win core battles because it's a given that the political rhetoric will always boil over whenever a political initiative in America challenges the status quo. Single Payer is off the table for a sound political reason, too many Americans can too easily be coached into fearing it. Our opponents have mastered means of shifting public discussion off of the real issues and away from the true facts by promoting an ingrained shapeless fear of government and a supposedly ever immanent loss of American's individual liberties. When people do not fundamentally identify themselves as progressives to begin with, they are too often manipulated into fearing progressives and progressive solutions as "Un-American".

Racism does not explain all of the rightest populist opposition to Obama's Administration, though racism certainly nurtures and buttresses it. "Liberal" got distorted into a 4 letter word long before an African American led the Democratic Party. I was a counter protester yesterday at a bagger protest in Kingston New York. Kingston is not exactly Berkeley, but it ain't the deep south either. Though active baggers are a small minority in America there were far, far too many cars rolling by honking at their protest signs for my peace of mind.

The Right has succeeded in making a large percentage of the American public, people who should normally be our allies on most issues, more distrustful of government than they are of unchecked corporate power. In our political system there is only one force capable of imposing any systematic check on corporate greed, and that is government, so the Right's strategy should come as no surprise. The only surprise, if any, is how well it has worked Since the decline of organized labor there has been no effective large scale populist movement to oppose abuses by big business. Since Reagan, movements with an anti-government tinge have grown, and they have altered the political landscape against us, and shifted the perceived sense of what constitutes the mainstream in America.

Forty years ago we got Medicare. Now it is fiercely debated whether a voluntary "public option" that may cover 5% of Americans is too controversial to be considered mainstream enough for America.

[msongs]

1. libs/progressives vs Obama and the centrists lol good luck with that

we work for progressive values every chance we get. tryin to knock off our repub rep this coming year with a nice progressive dem who came within ONE % of doing the job last election. He would push Obama for sure.

Msongs

[Tom Rinaldo]

2. Good luck with that!

Mostly I'm musing that we need to grow our own movement if we expect to significantly grow our representation in Congress.