I keep hearing progressives vent their disenchantment with Obama and the Democratic party. I will not claim that their feelings have no merit. I share their disappointment over several of Obama’s policies and appointments. But when they speak of abandoning the Democratic Party, instead of working to change it from within, I must respectfully disagree. I have made the same mistake myself. I was an Independent. I almost voted for Ralph Nader in 2000. I planned to do so. I even donated to his campaign. At the last minute, I changed my mind and voted for Gore, because I correctly foresaw the influence Cheney and Rove would have in a Bush Regime. If only a few dozen Floridians had done so too, GW Bush would never have gotten close enough to steal the election. The day after Bush v. Gore was handed down, I changed my voter registration to Democrat.
Sherrod Brown wrote this editorial:
Progressives are an impatient bunch. We fight for people who have waited too long already — for health care, for educational opportunity, for jobs to keep them in the middle class.
But for generations, conservatives have appealed to fear to protect the privileged and preserve the status quo — fear of immigrants, fear of diversity, fear of big government. For conservatives in 2010, it’s easy:
"Stop."
"No."
"Repeal."
Meanwhile, for more than a century — in churches and temples, in union halls and neighborhood centers, in the streets and at the ballot box — progressives have moved the country forward. Progressives brought us minimum wage and Social Security in the 1930s, civil rights and Medicare in the 1960s, and health care and Wall Street reform in 2010.
Opponents of these accomplishments — some of society’s most privileged and well-entrenched interest groups — have not changed much. The John Birch Society of 1965 has bequeathed its fervor and extremism to the Tea Party of 2010.
History tells us that rage on the right should not be confused with populism. The far right attacks government regulation as it feeds Wall Street and the insurance companies. It rails against government spending for the least privileged as it lavishes tax cuts favoring the most privileged.
No one should be surprised over what has happened in the last 18 months:
•We passed health care reform, so the insurance companies are coming after us at election time.
•We enacted consumer protections for homeowners and credit card users, so Wall Street is spending millions to defeat us.
•We worked to end tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas, and now large multinational corporations are doing everything possible to beat us.
We already know the damage that comes from the right’s rage. During President Clinton’s eight years, our country added more than 22 million private sector jobs, incomes went up, and we enjoyed the largest budget surplus in U.S. history.
In the following eight years of the Bush administration, only 1 million jobs were added, incomes stagnated or plummeted for most Americans, and we were left with record budget deficits.
Yet Republican candidates in 2010 are offering the same faux populism and "solutions" of the Bush years: more tax cuts for the rich, deregulation of special interests, and trade agreements that cost us millions of manufacturing jobs. And in places like my state of Ohio, they are even offering up as candidates the same people who got us into this mess.
To fight back, progressives must talk about the historic accomplishments of the last 18 months in specific, understandable terms… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <USA Today>
Brown continues to discuss some of those accomplishments, so I won’t go into them here, except to state that they are progressive accomplishments, they are worth having, and there would be far more of them, were it not for unprecedented obstruction from Republicans.
I’m asking you to hang in there. Hold your nose if you have to, but don’t throw away your vote by not using it or wasting it on someone with zero chance to win. Please stop and think about how much better things could have been under President Gore, avoiding eight tragic years of Crawford Caligula and his partners in crime. Hasn’t this nation suffered enough because a few well meaning folks did not consider that elections have consequences?
12 Responses to “Sherrod Brown on Progressives”
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I don’t want to think about the 2000 election, the “what if’s” can shallow you whole. Despite as much blame I place on Bush, Gore could and should have ran a better campaign.
My disappointments with Obama are on record but he is the only game in town, especially since future campaigns will be flooded with corporate money. My problem is that I am in South Carolina, essentially the enemy camp.
Beach, I agree that Gore ran an incredibly weak campaign, starting with his terrible choice for his running mate. But what I said still applies.
You have it rough, my friend. Many of your Democarts are Repubnlicans. 🙁
Democrats who stay home will live to regret it and everyone else will suffer for their petulant decision. I keep asking for someone to provide the name of just one president they voted for in the past and with whom they’ve agrreed on every single issue. Funny, there’s been no response.
Leslie, sadly I find myself voting against people as often as I am voting for people. Here is you response: nobody.
TRUTHER
What we know is more
than what we wish to,
yet less than we need to,
so we assume we
understand the mess
more than we really do
and what we only want is more
than we individually can grab for
unless we have a gun.
Soothsayer, soothsayer
what do the entrails portend?
In the blood and guts I can
see that if the right lies you believe
by years end
we will be invading Iran.
There will be no more Social Security
And the only medical aid for the poor and lost
will be thrown out the door of the hells of power.
Because the medical companies
love to charge for the more profitable
emergency room costs
The liver tells me about
how that if you don’t vote,
fuck it, you don’t count.
And if you vote according to polls
then you had better be able
to stand and justify your role
and tell the other side
why you keep giving
the wealthiest the freest ride?
That liver is quite a portend giver.
And in the twists and turns of the bloody guts
I can see only a harder life for 17 million
used to be working men and women
now driven to poverty. What little wealth they had
now counted in acorns and peanuts.
© M Durfee
10-10-2010
Mark, I am unable to add to that, so I’ll just say it’s brilliant!
Democrats have allowed jobs to be shipped overseas when they controlled congress in the 70s and 80s. Deregulation of vital sectors of the economy started under Carter – railroads, trucking, and airlines. Democrats allowed workers to be fucked over while they pocketed campaign contributions from the union bosses who were robbing their members while posing as their champions.
There is only one party in this country and it’s controlled by money. And as far as the Florida election theft, Gore won that recount as reported a year later after an investigation by the major news media. Of course it wasn’t reported because of the damage it would have done, but how much more damage could have been done to our already moribund system? The Supreme Court’s action was unconstitutional as even they knew by making their decision a one off event.
Welcome Matt. 🙂
If you were a regular here, you would see that I pull no punches in my critiques of Democrats. Being in their corner does not put me in their pocket. That said, there is a world of difference between the two parties. Democrats in the House have passed hundreds of beneficial bills blocked by Republicans in the Senate.
I know Gore won the recount. That’s why I said the third party votes allowed Bush to get close enough to steal the election.
Reality is that Bush stole the election in 2000 and Cheney scared the crap out of everyone with his “we’ll be hit again” comments – and dem that doesn’t get out and vote is a dumass. Simple as that.
Well said, Lisa. So is the Independent that doesn’t vote.
How are the New Bums any better than the Old Bums? Ricocheting between them had gotten us where we are today: corporate greed enshrined, and the people only good for cannon fodder.
How, well for starters, they have passed in the House and tried to pass in the Senate (blocked by Republican filibuster) several hundred bills, many of which were quite progressive. They have passed somem (not enough) HCR and some (not enough) finance reform. By comparison, the Republicans have given us crisis and the most inequitable society ever. Isn’t that a difference?