The rec list has been clogged of late with dueling pro- and anti-Obama rants, complete with the requisite hyperbole and withering contempt against one another. Normally, for my health and piece of mind, I try to keep out of the crossfire, but I feel that the focus is so far from where it needs to be that I must say a few words. Dialogue about the actions—both positive and negative—of our elected leaders is healthy, and serious discussion about what it really means to be a progressive or a liberal or a Democrat can only help us understand our role in the political world. But we've just been dragged into 2012, the election year, and what happens during the next 10 months will have ramifications that are too deadly serious to ignore. We can't simply keep fighting with one another; we have met the enemy, he isn't us, and he means business.
Yes, Virginia, there are haters. They're called "Republicans." Our job MUST be to stop them from achieving electoral victories, from the Presidency all the way down the line to local school board members and town supervisors. Follow me over the squiggle, if you will....
The Republicans make no secret of their hatred. The people, ideas, and liberties that they hate are legion, and the candidates have spelled them out for us in graphic detail. Despite a concerted effort to translate their many hatreds into action, there have been some constraints on Republicans up until now. But that could easily change. We laugh at the antics of the GOP presidential candidates, but if any of them takes the crown it won't be a joke. No matter that they seem in disarray at the moment. One thing we know about Republicans: they have the discipline to vote for their candidates.
Congress has been in a total blockade. But if their guy gets into the White House, their inactivity will cease. We will see a flurry of legislation beginning on Day 1. The wish lists of the candidates don't vary much. Just as a reminder:
ACA -- repealed
Bush Tax Cuts for the wealthiest -- made permanent
Corporate welfare -- increased
Corporate and banking regulation -- decimated
Medicare -- turned into a voucher program, and eventually destroyed
Social Security -- chopped, minimized, and eventually destroyed
Environmental regulation and safeguards-- gone
Drilling, mining, fracking, logging or selling for profit any public land -- fast tracked
Alternative energy projects -- decimated
Climate research -- decimated
EPA -- gone
NEA -- gone
NPR -- gone
CPA -- gone
Public Education -- starved
DADT -- reinstated
Veterans benefits -- weakened
Constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage -- fast tracked
Constitutional amendment outlawing abortion -- fast tracked
Constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget -- fast tracked
Personhood amendment -- encouraged
Privatization of prisons and other public services -- fast tracked
Expelling immigrants without papers, regardless of the length of their stay in the US -- fast tracked
War with Iran -- fast tracked
Concerned that there's a judicial crisis? Look for an avalanche of right wing judges nominated and approved with haste.
Hate the way local police have been attacking OWS? Look for a spate of national laws banning protests, leading to the calling up of troops to quell such gatherings.
Outraged by voter ID laws, and other poll taxes? Look for more of them wherever Republicans gain control.
Appalled by the insidious influence of ALEC? Look for a multiplication of their legislation wherever Republicans gain control.
Shocked and dismayed by income inequality? Look for it to increase exponentially if Republicans gain control.
Disgusted by Citizen's United, and the Roberts/Alito/Thomas/Scalia unholy alliance? Look for another two similar justices if the Republicans gain control.
I could go on and on; these are not conspiracy theories. They are the policies advocated by the candidates running right now. We MUST do everything in our power to stop these people in their tracks.
If you are so disappointed and angry at President Obama that you cannot bear to see him re-elected, then you need to stop pissing and moaning about him on the blogs, and instead devote your energy to down-ticket races. If you honestly believe both parties want the things listed above equally, then you need to try to find someone you can bring yourself to support.
This is the year, this is the moment. The enemy has a sewer full of money, a megaphone in the press, an uniformed public fed a daily diet of racial resentment and envy, a high unemployment rate, and a veritable armory of weapons. But we have right on our side. If you care about our future, about your parents and your kids and yourself, you owe it to us all to use this next 10 months productively. Stop fighting on the blogs with your fellow Democrats, and get to work preventing as much damage as you can.