As our outrage du jour has once again reminded us of the failures of Democrats to find effective ways to truly challenge and stop this criminal regime in the White House, the inevitable reply diaries have begun. "We don't have the votes." "Pelosi is being courageous by holding hearings and keeping impeachment off the table." "It's not realistic to expect Dems to push for impeachment at this time."
If this is how we are defining political realism - as seeing a tough situation and refusing to find ways to work around it - I wondered how folks in the American past had applied this kind of thinking. Follow me then for GREAT MOMENTS IN POLITICAL REALISM (said in a loud, echoing announcer-type voice).
Dateline: Philadelphia, 1774.
The Continental Congress dissolved itself this afternoon after receiving word of Parliament's passage of the Coercive Acts, including the closure of the port of Boston and the establishment of military government in Massachusetts colony. "We face overwhelming force in the British military - and if we continued on our present confrontational course, a war with that military would be the likely outcome, a war we would surely lose," said delegate John Adams. "We don't think the colonies are ready for us to fight. They selected us to govern, not to stand against Parliament for their rights."
Dateline: Boston, 1840.
The American Anti-Slavery Society voted down a proposal today to seek the abolition of slavery. "Congress just doesn't have the votes to end slavery in this country - with the South holding half the seats in the Senate, they can block any attempt to free the slaves," explained Frederick Douglass. "The political reality is that so long as the South has these votes, we just have to accept the reality of slavery." Douglass instead suggested that hearings be held to shame slaveholders into freeing their chattel.
Dateline: Washington DC, 1862.
Abraham Lincoln shelved plans today to emancipate slaves in areas in rebellion. "Confederate sympathy still runs strong in the North, as does virulent racism," explained the President upon a return from inspecting the troops near Antietam. "The political reality is that America is not yet ready to end slavery - and besides, this proposal might merely risk my re-election bid in 1864. Perhaps once we have reunited the nation and let several generations pass to heal the wounds of war, we can revisit this idea."
Dateline: New York, 1935.
President Roosevelt accepted the defeat of his ambitious New Deal agenda today after his centerpiece National Industrial Recovery Act was struck down by the Supreme Court in the case Schechter v. US. "With a conservative majority on the court, we simply cannot continue with these reforms. We have to accept our losses and move on," he told a rally at Madison Square Garden. "Given this situation, I must also withdraw my support of the National Labor Relations Act, and the Social Security Act. Those will simply have to wait until we get a more compliant court."
Dateline: London, 1940.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill steeled his country for inevitable defeat today in a gloomy speech to the House of Commons upon his ascension to office. "The political reality is that Nazi Germany has stormed across Europe, and let's face it, we're next," said the new PM. "I recognize that after a decade of appeasement the British people have no desire for blood, sweat, toil and tears. We cannot fight them on the beaches, but hopefully we can hold hearings and convince the world that Hitler is a bad man."
Dateline: New York, 1947.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People today announced they were going to abandon a plan to progressively convince federal courts to overturn the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling. "Like it or not, Plessy is the law of the land, and we must respect it," NAACP counsel Charles Houston told reporters. Another NAACP lawyer, Thurgood Marshall, added "we were also concerned that a strong push for our equal rights as promised to us in the US Constitution would divide the Democratic Party. The political reality is that America is not ready to accept our status as equals."
Dateline: The White House, 1962.
In a dramatic primetime television address to the nation, President Kennedy said that America would have to live with Soviet nuclear missiles based in Cuba. "We have concluded that our only options were either World War III or the peaceful acquiescence of our nation to this provocation, and I have decided to take the latter approach," the somber president told a stunned nation.
Dateline: Capitol Hill, 1964.
President Johnson admitted defeat today on his landmark Civil Rights Act after Southerners carried out their filibuster threat. "We just don't have the votes to pass the damn thing," Johnson told reporters. "These Southerners will never waver in their opposition, and there is just nothing I can do, no arms I can twist, no leverage I can wield, to change their minds. Maybe once they retire we can revisit this proposal."
Dateline: Kansas City, 1976.
Former California Governor Ronald Reagan told New Right activists at the Republican National Convention today that their cause was lost. "We have to face up to the reality that America is a Democratic, liberal nation," he told the crestfallen delegates. "Democrats swept the '74 elections and are poised to beat us in November. America is not ready for our brand of politics. We should instead rally behind Gerald Ford and the moderate wing of our party if we are to survive."