What does this mean?
It means there is a economic majority in Congress that is not aligned with the needs of ordinary, working class Americans.
When we won the election to put Obama in the White House, we won on a change message.
What we didn't do is insure that the elements necessary for change were in place. Now, to be fair, it took the Health Care Reform mess to clarify what those elements are. Health care revealed something that is largely being ignored:
A pro-corporate, free market, economic majority exists in Congress, composed of "third way" Democrats, and all of the GOP. How they position economic regression differs some, but the net result is the same. Corporations first, people second.
This is why we did not get change when we won ONE election. This is why people got pissed off when they didn't get the change they voted for.
And this is Obama's fault how?
We need to own this economic problem. That's you, me, everybody, because there isn't any voting bloc, or force of sufficient influence to remedy what has been a 30+ year build up against us.
We don't own our party, so how is it that we expect it to work for us?
Real change is going to require a sustained civic effort, where we replace Coin Operated Democrats with Progressive ones, so that we can break that economic majority always voting against our own best interests. 30+ years of economic regression does not just evaporate, particularly when there are trillions of dollars involved. We have to own this. Nobody else can.
Obama can't do that for us. Only we can.
The idea that we can win one election and right so many wrongs is just frustrating to me. The idea that Presidents are kings is even more frustrating, but the thing that takes the cake is the staunch unwillingness of far too many people to actually own the problem!
It is easier to blame somebody for not taking care of us, than it is to realize the true scope of what has been done, and the effort required to fix it for the better.
We the people are represented by a clear economic minority in our Government. Read that again. Know it. It is the truth.
So then ask yourself, "how can we get progressive legislation for the people?"
It must always come back to that, because Progressive Democrats are the only voting bloc of size capable of taking some of it back for us the people. Nobody else is going to do that.
Why?
The amounts of money are too large, and the Citizens United case insures that the pro-corporate economic majority isn't going anywhere, unless we the people check those dollars with our votes.
Given these things, and given the absolute mess we've got from the GOP right now, is there any excuse at all, not to start building a 50 state Progressive strategy again? Is it clear why having that up and running at all times is important now?
The frustrated people who stayed home didn't have that vision to cling to, and so they bought into the media echo chamber talking about incompetent, corrupt, stupid, weak, and every other dimunutive Democratic party thing, when the truth is a majority of Democrats are pro-corporate, not Progressive, and that stopped the majority of the change right there!
It's not acceptable to 'teach them a lesson' by allowing the GOP more power. All that does is make what is a ugly economic majority more aggressive, costing us time and dollars that we could have otherwise been using to build out that 50 state strategy needed to grow this movement, take some seats, and own our party again, so that we actually do see a shot at real change.
Fuck.
I'm done ranting now. :)