This post is rather long, but I felt the need to write it. So I've made my rounds on left wing blogs and websites over the past few days, and I cannot help but feel that the left needs to start getting its act together and look clearly at the situation we now find ourselves in. I don't consider myself a liberal and while I sympathize with the left, if there was just a higher level of self reflection and pragmatism I would feel more comfortable calling myself a member. It goes like this:
In November you have two choices, Mitt Romney or Barack Obama. Those are the choices you have, there is no far left or far right candidate coming out of the wood work. Sorry Ron Paul fans, you are entertaining, but Republicans know rules are made to be changed for your advantage, so don't expect the delegate thing to work out. So, in November, you stay home, or you vote for Obama. Many on here are disgusted with him, and say they'll vote for him but put up no money or time, or won't vote for him in hopes that a Mitt Romney presidency will be so disastrous that people will finally stare Republican values straight in the face and run into the open arms of the left.
There's plenty to be disgusted about. I know the automatic reaction to any Obama diary is to decide whether I'm in love with Obama or think he is a corporatist shill. Progressives, liberals, Dems, and leftists, you have real, clear criticisms that I agree with. Obama has actually got Democrats and some others on the left defending a health care plan that got the seal of approval from Orrin Hatch. He heavily utilizes drone warfare which massacres innocent people, and he has in some ways expanded U.S. warfare globally. He was soft on Wall Street and the stimulus should have been larger and included nationalizing the banks. Some of you think he just caves in to Republicans at the drop of a hat (I don't agree with this assessment but many on here take it as an article of faith). Bush tax cuts, centrism, weak financial regulations, you name it, the left's got a criticism of it. We got some stuff with the repeal of DADT and the recent immigration thing, but overall we don't feel like Obama is pushing forth our ideas with any sort of zeal and we question his effectiveness.
Here's the problem though. The right has been chipping away at modernity for a good forty some odd years. They have the financial backing of the business world and the cohesiveness and structure of organized religion. These people take high school and college dropouts and turn them into political superstars by promising that through loyalty they will reach on high. This means that they are patient enough to change bankruptcy laws to favor themselves and do it over a forty year span. They can chip away at school choice and bring theocratic propaganda to your schools without fear of retribution. They can get on the pulpit on Sunday morning, rail against a standing president, all the while not fearing that they will lose tax exempt status for overt political grandstanding. They have patiently sent their kids to Jesus college to get law degrees, to be judges and advocate for conservative causes by playing games with precedent. They have created a cabal of scientists that create dissension where there is none. They know that fundamentalists in suits are far more palatable, and they've perfected it. Above all, they have a media apparatus now where you can recede into a parallel universe of ideas and thought.
What's worse, they've gotten a good amount of Americans to follow along. This is the truly scary part. Questions, such as whether or not it is moral to leave someone dying on the street, are actually questions now. There are controversies where there were none before: birth control is a great example. They've mastered framing an issue based on some contrived moral argument so that Americans cut their own pay and feel it's the right thing to do. They turn against unions, even though in other countries unions are what secure the living standard, because the right has trained much of the populace to tear others down instead of pulling yourself up.
Over time they will pad the Supreme Court with their own justices, they will have a financial apparatus for an endless stream of tea party cutouts, they will have think tanks and lawyers debating every tenet of liberal civilization in every court and on every television, and you will have a mushy middle that will be trained to think of every issue as always having two sides that are equal in every way, which in turn waters down just how bat shit the right's argument is. In some ways, the venom of politics that sends some people running in turn makes people less likely to see one side clearly and admit that they agree with the platform and become partisan.
The left can do so much better
The Left did it in the 30's and it did it in the 60's and it can do it again. Lord knows I'm not a big fan of Occupy, but it's a start. You have to think like a right winger. You have to take the long view, you have to think that there is no such thing as taking a step back by agreeing with the people you view as enemies. I live with these people. That is the way they think. They are aware of their leaders selling them out, and it does affect them, but their response isn't to throw in the towel and their plan most certainly is not to allow socialism to take the country so that people will suffer under it and want to turn to conservatism. They believe in giving no ground. They know losing 5 feet now will mean 5 feet they have to make up later, and they believe that as long as you're on their team there must be something they can do with you. The fact that they have actively sought to dismantle modernity over 40 years should tell you about their sincerity and their mindset.
Vote for Obama. Give him money, put his flair on your Facebook profile and take down any right winger who comes at you. It will take a level of self centered-ness you are not used to to accomplish it, I know. You may feel disgusted because you are principled and are tired of being used in a game where you are just trying to keep Republicans out of office without getting stuff in return. Doesn't matter right now, you don't have power to change it. Get yourself in a position to do so. Don't be afraid to be firm against right wingers. Right wingers say nasty and awful things because they do not care what others think deep down inside. They care about themselves first and foremost. Do not despair publicly. Do not moan about anything you dislike about him. If he does something good, shout it from the rooftops. If anyone contradicts you, repeat yourself, because that low information centrist voter who thinks they're super logical only cues in to who looks more confident in the argument. You get everyone who is even remotely sway-able on your side by the pure power of your conviction. Once you have power, the think tanks, the judges, the lawyers, the media apparatus, the liberal ALEC, you can start doing things that the right does, except actually help people.
But we still have drone warfare and Obama is just the smiling face of the corporate agenda....
He's a person, not a caricature. You deal with the Democratic Party the same way the conservatives have taken on the Republican party. Conservatives picked a side and moved on. Obama can be swayed and I don't think he's a comic book villain, he just has different views and can be swayed. He actually most likely thinks the ACA has good parts to it and doesn't vilify health insurers in his head the way some (in many cases rightfully) do. He may not think like you, and that's fine, but like me he is sympathetic to you and most certainly NOT sympathetic to them. That's enough. Run with it.
I am fully behind President Obama and will work diligently against conservatism and the Republican party. We'll have tea after they are destroyed.