The Horror, The Horror Yet To Come

The Wall Street Journal editors peer fearlessly into the increasingly likely terror of an election that produces a Democratic President with larger Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress. Disregarding the delicate sensibilities of women and children, the editors expose to all the stark horrors that could ensue:

Voters will be registered. Workers organized. Banks regulated. Health care provided for all. Government investment will drive a green revolution that generates millions of jobs. The wealthy will pay more in taxes. Guantanamo will be shut down; torture will end. Net neutrality will be mandated. Citizens may even be able to sue corporations that negligently do them harm. And that doesn't even mention ending the war in Iraq.

The horror of it all. Can the Republic survive? The editors hold out one slim hope. Perhaps Democrats will divide. Perhaps the entrenched lobbies, the interest of the corporations and the wealthy will buy enough support to stand in the way of the tumbrels.

And that defines our job pretty clearly: to organize engaged citizens to hold Democrats accountable to the promises that have been made and the agenda the country needs. If we do that well, just maybe we can deepen the Wall Street Journal's lamentations. Cut the military budget. Forge a national strategy for the global economy. Make college affordable for all. Provide the basics in education, from pre-school to small classes, to lifelong learning. Revive national service. Rebuild trust in government. Launch the unspeakable -- a true war on poverty.

The horror, the stark horror of it all. Can Americans -- after Iraq, Katrina, bankers run amok, gilded age inequality, Robber Baron corruption -- actually have the gall to vote the bums out? Say it ain't so, Joe the plumber, say it ain't so.

Comments

[LightningJoe]

It's a pity and an irony, but the only real hope for lasting change lies in Democrats emulating a Republican conceit of the last 16 years, and in taking it to heart.

The Republicans came to power this last cycle with one overriding priority: to make their majority bulletproof and permanent. That the Permanent Republican Majority failed on both counts should not be cause for comfort in the Progressive camp, however. Republicans really engineered their own defeat, by putting their lack of planning, their rapacious priorities, and their rampant corruption front and center; while Democrats politely stood aside, waiting for the fall.

But the lesson should be clear. Republicans have energy and are already gearing up to steal back what they've lost. The ONLY way for Progressives to stay ahead of this game is to maintain a filibuster-proof majority in the House. Anything less, as we've seen since the "big" win in 2006, will let Republicans continue to block any meaningful reform from that quarter.

And then, of course, blame the lack of progress on the party nominally "in power."

[JRsNana]

We could do all of this but the Republicans will never let it happen. They may not even allow this election to happen. This administration cannot leave office with the threat of a Democrat coming in and finding out what they've really been up to this last 8 years. Check out this article. It's remarkably scary.

http://www.gregpalast.com/rolling-stone-its-already-stolen/#more-2118

[indy100]

Thanks for the link, I read the article. Scary, and really pissed me off. I've already sent the link to friends. What can we do at this point?

[quest44]

Wow would that be a wonderful day when the Republican party is sent packing and never to set foot in our government again. I would like to see a three party sysytem ,,a peoples party . Dem's aren't saints either so we need competition to keep them on the straight and narrow !
The Republican party is anti American in that they are pro big corporations and against anything that benefits the American people ,oh they will tell you that if they give tax breaks to the rich corporations that the people will benefit with jobs but what they don't tell you is those jobs will go to forien countries where people will work for much less so the corporations can make huge profits without having to pay taxes.Now to me that is anti-American !

[bigkay]

I would like to see a goverment like Europe where THE PEOPLE have a choice. The Green Party, The Socialist party, The Conservative, Labor Party. The 2 party system in America is corrupt.,

[tmon23]

Socialist Utopia!!! You forgot to ban freespeach on talk radio!!

[metalpipe]

Won't happen. We liberals love a good laugh with Rush every now and then.

[demockracy]

Don't worry about it my young trogdolyte! This is Dennis Kucinich's platform, and you know how well he fared.

[nancytheragingliberal]

What a wonderful America is waiting in 3 short weeks. American people will enjoy all of the benefits of "The Olden Days." For the last 8 years, the American people have been invisible, except when their money was required to bail out the thieves. Somehow, I think the repubs. are planning their usual voodoo to steal the election, anyway, anyhow they can manage to do so. Every person 18 and older needs to vote.

[JanP]

I presume that the author is talking about the wornderful job that Democratic stalwarts Chris Dodd and Barney Frank did of regulating Freddie and Fannie.

He msut be really enamoured of the Democrats creating and pusing the "sub-prime" mortgages.

How about funneling all that money to non-Partisan Acorn?

A dear friend of ours was approached by an Acorn (two legged kind, not squirrel food kind) and told that she would ahve to vote for Obama.

[idest]

Right, because they've always been the chairmen of the Banking Committees, right. There wasn't anyone else in that position for 12 of the past 14 years or anything.

A dear friend of mine was told he was punched and stabbed by McCain campaigners for supporting Obama. See? Anyone can make stuff up on the internet.

[brewsedornge]

"Make college affordable for all. Provide the basics in education, from pre-school to small classes, to lifelong learning. Revive national service. Rebuild trust in government. Launch the unspeakable -- a true war on poverty". I am reviewing my notes.

[Infokronea]

Predators tend to act like this when cornered. Dangerous, yes. But they are simply being true to their nature. That being said, maybe it's time to for America to rethink its position on keeping something like this as a pet. How 'bout we rehabilitate the lot and release them back into the wild where they really belong. Alaska, maybe? According to Gov. Palin, wolves are really popular up there.

[nighthawk808]

"Perhaps Democrats will divide. Perhaps the entrenched lobbies, the interest of the corporations and the wealthy will buy enough support to stand in the way of the tumbrels."

That's already happened. For more details, see FISA being renewed (telcos "coincidentally" made a lot of campaign contributions right before that vote). See also banks being rewarded with taxpayer money for the accomplishment of going bankrupt. See also the bankruptcy reform bill that was bought and paid for by credit card companies and passed with broad Democratic support. See also... practically anything that Nancy Pelosi has ever done in the last two years.

What's the difference between a Republican and a Democrat? The spelling. That, and Democrats don't say "Jesus" every other word.

All the good things you list might happen if a liberal majority were to be elected, but not a Democratic majority. I can fit all the liberal Democrats in the entire Congress into my guest room, and none of them would even have to sleep on the floor.

[idest]

It ain't all gonna happen at once. Its the work of generations to create a true liberal majority in Congress. But damn if its not a step in the right (left?) direction.

[seanseamour]

America has reached a point of no return, while many of those who support the GOP politics live insulated in the image of grandeur and superlatives, our nation recedes from its past position of preeminence.
How much more disaster is required to enable these compatriots to understand that the self serving for the few economic policies have failed, to understand that these polices were designed to serve the few under the premise that trickle down lollipops would pacify the many, even that failed.
We will become a form of "rogue nation" within the community of developed nations if we do not effect change immediately, the choice is stark and timing of the essence as McCain is betting he can mobilize a few of those blindly insulated to his cause and steal the election by a tight margin, an election already partially stolen by the race factor.

[SoutheastReview]

"Beware the unposed question, James!" My English teacher, while helping to organize McCarthy's challenge to LBJ in Bexar County, a stone's throw from Johnson's ranch, said this to me. We were discussing politics, obviously, as he continued, "The unasked question always leads to the unstated premise."

His point still resonates. If we don't state our premises, then we'll almost inevitably rediscover our own assumptions, unproven but somehow as palpable and irresistible as a brick to the head. Our victories can easily be hollow because we won't have a clue what we're after, and we'll find ourselves on paths--like Kennedy and LBJ in Vietnam--we didn't intend to follow.

So saying, here is a question that has guided me recently. "Can practical democratic programs result today without support for social democracy?" Since I'm socialist, I already know my inclination. But I'm up front about it. In many articles and comments here and elsewhere, the premise seems to be something like the notion that 'we've already tried socialism, and we know it doesn't work.'

And indeed, just as the possibility exists that a benign God, his son, and a ghost run the cosmos, so too the chance is plausible that socialism is in fact bankrupt. But we should be very careful of assuming that and then trying to prove something else, lest we end up chartless amid the Nazis, who are very clear--especially with each other--about questions and premises and finding exactly what they want.

[Bruupo]

I think this is an excellent comment, and I will try to keep your point in mind in the future.

But the question it brings up for me is one of language and labels. We do seem to have this attitude toward the history of socialism, but what does that term really mean in the history, the present, and for the future of America?

Aside from debates and how much FDR's entitlement represent that old label, socialism, and aside from debates about how beaurocrats like Rumsfeld and Cheney deliberately screwed up LBJ's Great Society after he was gone-

What label do we use for a corporate, "capitalist" America that allows corruption and collusion to the point that the wealthiest Americans, the wealthiest people human history has ever seen, are the first and only real recipients of social welfare- approved with lightning speed, without question, and with a greater urgency and a more universal claim to the common good than the ending of immoral war?

How are we going to develop the new language, the new labels and terminology needed that can encompass all that has changed in the evolution and interplay of unprecedented technologies, forms of media, and applications and corruptions of political power, without the baggage that comes with useless labels and long dead theorys of economics and politics?

How can we arrive at the consensus needed to even communicate in the era of ninja-ethics in politics embodied by people like Rove?

[SoutheastReview]

In my estimation, you have nailed--let me put it this way instead: you have NAILED--a gigantic part of the problem that confronts anyone who has an honest interest--as opposed to a faint hope or an utter fantasy or a disingenuous belief--in social transformation. These thugs, whom we belittle and about whom we whine ceaselessly, have managed to 'rule the roost' for all but twelve of the last forty years, and the 'Dem's' who have taken over in their stead as often as not tried to out-neo-con the neo-cons.

To do better, we have to take both grassroots politics and intellectual struggle more seriously. Without the involvement of masses of people, we will always find ourselves outflanked by whatever group has a bug up its butt about whatever issues the 'think tanks' have determined will divide working folks. Without a seriousness of intellectual, theoretical, conceptual purpose, we will never attain the strategic sense, the big-picture presentation, that can keep the dividing conquerers at bay.

Not many people here seem to feel this way, however. We should stay in touch and seek common ground, common cause, and common action, along with like minded others, no matter how few they may be at this juncture.

[littlepitcher]

Just for my quote file, what's that English teacher's name? The unattributed quote always leads to the unscrupulous plagiarism...Corrupt organized crime families also are extremely clear about their goals, and we have to choose between two representatives of the same white family. Any changes out of this bunch will lead to less personal control of our lives, far less privacy, and a shrunken employment market run by government databases, in addition to the private database companies already endured by the working class.

[SoutheastReview]

His name was Richard Meskill, a chain smoking role model for many a liberal or social democratic Texan from the sixties and seventies. He taught me at Thomas Jefferson for two of my three years in high school.

Your mention of organized crime is interesting, inasmuch as, whether one wants to look at Mussolini or the Office of Strategic Services and then the CIA, mob agents have been an extremely popular tool for those who would infiltrate, undermine, or otherwise eviscerate popular activism in favor of a working people's agenda.

I'd like to know more about "a shrunken employment market run by government databases," if you have further data. Specific cases of government 'back-door' database control is something that Michael Rupert documents extensively. I'm not a very astute technical person, but I'm interested in learning more.

[slytot7]

The democrats are not spineless: The Republicans have an invincible weapon; The blue and pink collar white males. You know? the guys making between $20K and 60K/yr who are so stupid they believe they have a lot more in common with the white guy making $250K/yr or with donald trump than they do with the welfare mother or the poor blackman trying to make a living as a busdriver or laborer. These people are besoted, so drunk on 'crypto-racism' that they simply cannot be expected to vote rationally in their own interest EVER. This is what has kept and keeps the republican party as a viable organization. Because of these people all good things that could happen in america WILL not happen. All the republicans have to do is portray anything good for the people as a hand out to blacks and the stupid white males will vote them back into power so they can continue robbing the country, vandalizing the constitution, promoting anti-intellectualism, ignorance and mayhem. A classic example is this so called 'joe plumber'. he says that after listening to both candidates, he has decided to vote for McCain because he believes Obama will raise his taxes!!! You see, he is an incorrigible idiot! These are the kind people who determine elections and the republican elite have found a way to mine this motherlode of confused, chauvinistic anti-intellectual cesspool for their electoral benefit......and oh how succeesful the've been .......

[DAE]

Racism, bigotry and hate are so deep seated because they serve to vindicate oneself. By projecting your self esteem onto those who are your economic betters you can rationalize your own failures. The success of the "other" of "that one" over there can be rationalized as the result of favored treatment by elites who are out to feather their own nests by empowering those below your station at your own expense. Joe the Faux Plumber is just such a failure, who can only survive by denigrating anyone different from himself.

[Akacia]

Is it really that bad, isn't there some level of compassion out there.
" The horror, the stark horror of it all" I am thinking bums might be voted out even sooner.

[swkidder]

Nice piece. I love the story about a group of Progressives that met with FDR to promote their position on a handful of issues. At the end of the meeting he shook their hands and said, "I agree with everything you've asked me to do. Now, go out and make me do it."

[PSM42]

Fascinating story. (New to me).

Naomi Klein at Stanford University yesterday, 10/16/08, said that Obama's team needs to hear long and loud that Robert Rubin, or any other Wall Street insider, is NOT acceptable as Treasury Secretary. Perhaps via Moveon.org, "which is always saying how democratic it is." Joseph Stiglitz was suggested as a great alternative.

Some of the groups that are supporting Obama, such as Moveon.org which was a citizens group and has became an Obama supporting group, she said, need to become citizen's groups again. In order to campaign to ensure that Obama is forced to bend to the will of the citizens.

"FDR did not voluntarily implement the new deal," she said. "It was a compromise that became acceptable because of massive grass roots pressure. FDR could then turn round to those in power and say "See, I have no choice.""

[Gretsdog]

Is it possible? Could we really become America, the Beautiful again?

[Davwbaird]

Whenwe believe we can.

[Herkybird]

If we don't then by the time we do this all over in 8 years I will be too damn old to care and can roll over and pull the plug and laugh all the way to the pearly gates! My luck they will force the FDA to approve all new drugs in 3 years or less and I will live to 120!