The general election of 2012 starts today.
We need to do everything we can to make sure Barack Obama is reelected president. But we also need to mobilize for the long haul -- beyond Election Day. We need to fuel a movement to take back our economy and our democracy.
Presidential elections can draw peoples' attention to larger challenges facing our nation, but they can also be distracting. The media focus on the game -- who's up and who's down, and which political strategies are winning or losing -- rather than on the big issues. Campaigns are also geared to winning on Election Day, not to building long-term strategies and movements for fundamental change.
I've been involved in public life, off and on, for over forty years. I've served under three presidents. When not in office I've done my share of organizing and rabble-rousing, along with teaching, speaking, and writing about what I know and what I believe. I have never been as concerned as I am now about the future of our democracy, the corrupting effects of big money in our politics, the stridency and demagoguery of the regressive right, and the accumulation of wealth and power at the very top.
We are perilously close to losing an economy and a democracy that work for everyone, and replacing them with an economy and government that exist mainly for a few wealthy and powerful people.
That's why I've written an ebook called Beyond Outrage (see the above video). You have every reason to be outraged. Moral outrage is the prerequisite for social change. But you also need to move beyond outrage and take action. The regressive forces seeking to move our nation backwards must not be allowed to triumph.
The point of Beyond Outrage is to help you focus on what needs to be done and how you can do it, and to encourage you not to feel bound by what's politically possible this year or next. You need to understand why the stakes are so high, and why your participation - now and in the future -- is so important.
In my experience, nothing good happens in Washington unless good people outside Washington become mobilized, organized, and energized to make it happen. Nothing worth changing in America will actually change unless you and others like you are committed to achieving that change.
Robert Reich, one of the nation's leading experts on work and the economy, is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. Time Magazine has named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the last century. He has written thirteen books, including his latest best-seller, "Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future;" "The Work of Nations," which has been translated into 22 languages; and his newest, an e-book, "Beyond Outrage." His syndicated columns, television appearances, and public radio commentaries reach millions of people each week. He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine, and Chairman of the citizen's group Common Cause. His widely-read blog can be found at www.robertreich.org.
Follow Robert Reich on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RBReich
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 |
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| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Electoral Votes (270 to win) |
332 | 206 |
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 65,899,660 | 60,932,152 |
| Percent | 51.1% | 47.2% |
| Democrats* | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Current Senate | 53 | 47 |
| Seats gained or lost | +2 | -2 |
| New Total | 55 | 45 |
| Democrats | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Seats won | 201 | 234 |
I am far from satisfied with what President Obama has accomplished in his 1st term, but what I've seen so far indicates a total lack of forward thinking on the part of the Republican party. Our competitors around the world are rapidly moving forward, while "geniuses" like Grover Norquist brag about taking the country back to the beginning of the last century.
The choice is thus simple: if you want big business in total control of the government, collapse of our infrastructure, a 2-tier economy (rich and poor), and yet another war, vote for the GOP. If you want a shot at pulling the country back from the edge of the chasm, vote Democratic.
Last summer they used the debt ceiling as a phony issue, while they added 39 riders to destroy the EPA for their corporate sponsors on HR 2585 (they split it up to hide on other bills now).
They created as much noise as possible so the media would fail to report on the extreme tax cuts that needed to expire. They profitted as much percentage wise as the bank lobbyists that wrote that legislation. There probably wasn't a Republican representative that could understand those bills even when they brought them to the floor under Bush's administration. The lobbyists just explained how personally beneficial it would be to our PUBLIC SERVANTS and knew it would be irresistable. This wasn't even Bush in all of these, but the U.S. Republican Party that couldn't resist "doing beeznizzz" the GOP way.
So, please remember last summer and every day since then the Republicans have continued the most assinine, government destructive actions they could, from every statehouse to the nations Capitol. They do not know how to attend to the people's business. They must be fired. We have had 30 years of regressive, wealth sapping, legislation that had Supreme Courts appointing a president, making corporations the gawdzillas of our society and taking away every "magic" bullet or law to rein them in.
Stand up for America. Vote our country. Vote Democratic.
You're finally living up to your potential. You are now so right--about how left we need to be. You're absolutely appropriate in supporting the govts right to confiscate private riches amassed since the kingdom of Reaganism started 30+ years ago. American government isn't big enough and it needs to crowd out each and every CEO robber Barron living an egregious lifestyle with money that could be used for the chronically unemployable and free healthcare (yes--including contraception). There should be tax meters cemented or "booted" to rich people's car to tax their enjoyment of opulence or when they spend leisure time enjoying "private clubs" like Augusta National. it's not the fruits of their own labor, as they have all taken advantage of the American worker and tax-payer to amass wealth. American collective wealth in individuals greedy hands has to be taken back and redistributed according to need and to select populations who meet historic meters of injustice.
After 3.5 years of an Obama presidency, how is this “economy for all” working for the 12.7 million Americans currently unemployed. Or the 4.5 million who since 2009 have grown so disillusioned they've dropped out of the labor force entirely. What about the owners of the 11 million homes worth less than their mortgages? Or those who wince every time they have to put $4/gallon gas in their cars while Keystone XL becomes partisanship's latest victim? What about scores of entrepreneurs unable to realize their dreams because of prohibitive regulations?
Also, we're warned about losing a democracy that works for all. Is that the democracy that passes PPACA in strictly partisan form using a congressional maneuver known as reconciliation? How to harmonize this "democracy for all" with poll after poll that reveals most Americans don't want Obamacare? Is this the democracy that forces Americans into unwanted commerce? Or that forces religious institutions to facilitate services that run counter to their core beliefs?
If these are the reasons to support President Obama's re-election bid...
Our democratic process has indeed been subverted by the campaign finance process that has grown more preposterous over time. This election offers an important chance at a critical moment to actually get a handle on this situation.
Even if we put ideology completely aside, it makes much more sense to support a candidate that will not have to maintain a relationship with Corporate America because of an upcoming election.
1) Have a new war with Iran
2) No Medicare, SS
3) Abolish the remaining social safety nets that still exist
4) Completion of the transition of this country into Feudal Lords and Serfs
And you, my brother, will not be one of the Feudal Lords.