[Mb-civic] Stand and Fight

[ean at sbcglobal.net]

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20041122&s=pollitt 


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Stand and Fight

[from the November 22, 2004 issue]

The fight is over. 

Let the fight begin.

First, we grieve for what was lost--the opportunity, which flickered for a 
moment early on election day and then died, to steer the nation onto a more 
reasonable and less destructive path. At the same time, we salute the efforts 
of those many millions who mobilized themselves to achieve a better 
outcome. 

Next, we are angry about what the election of George W. Bush portends for 
the country. Bush's victory will tighten the grip of the Republican Party's 
virtual monopoly on the institutions of the federal government. The checks 
and balances on presidential power contemplated by the country's Founders 
are in tatters. Bush's election gives him the chance to shape the Supreme 
Court to his purposes: two branches of the government possibly lost in a 
single election. Roe v. Wade and a host of other protections of basic human 
rights are at risk. Bush is bound to try to assist the Christian right in its 
fantastical efforts to "Christianize" public institutions. Further inroads into the 
liberties of Americans are likely, through a "Patriot Act II" and other legislation 
as well as by executive fiat. In the near term, a terrible acceleration of the 
violence in Iraq may be in the offing. In the longer term, new aggressive wars 
may be launched. The transfer through regressive tax cuts of hundreds of 
billions more from the poor and the middle class to the rich and the super-
rich has been announced. 

Anger should lead to action. TV anchors and the candidates themselves call 
for a new civility and ask the public to "come together" as one people. Pay no 
attention. The progressive movement in this country has suffered a huge 
reversal. But the struggle for the country's future--and its very soul--was 
anything but settled. It will be renewed at a higher level of intensity, and for 
higher stakes. There must be a fierce, protracted resistance in defense of 
democracy. The Nation dedicates itself to this cause. As a journalistic 
institution unbeholden to and uninfluenced by any economic interest or 
political power, we will continue to provide truthful information not available 
on a timely basis--or sometimes at all--from the mainstream news media, 
which too often during the campaign took slanders and pumped them up into 
running news stories while failing to hold the Administration accountable for 
its exaggerations and outright lies. 

What might the Democratic Party learn from this election? First, that a 
posture of meekness, resignation and accommodation leads to failure. At no 
time during the campaign did the Democratic candidate discuss in an honest 
way the single most important issue facing the country: how to disengage 
from the war in Iraq. Second, that money, while it can indeed make a major 
difference, is not the party's problem; the familiar excuse that Republicans 
raise more campaign funds was extinguished this year. Nor was the country 
at large indifferent to Bush's alliance with industrial plunderers and his 
shameful schemes to dismantle social, economic and environmental 
protections; almost half the electorate voted against these things. 

It would be a mistake to adopt the television stereotype of red states and blue 
states. Many states of both colors were in fact almost evenly divided. The 
Democratic elite are out of touch, as Republicans claim. They have lost 
reliable connections to ordinary people, including some long loyal 
constituencies. John Kerry did not lose this election in the South (those 
defeats were fully expected). He lost it in leading industrial states that, given 
their economic condition, should have belonged to the Democrats. Kerry 
advocated establishment views, on trade and globalization, for instance, that 
distanced him from his natural constituency. He could not find the words and 
images to speak authentically about their lives. He did not offer plausible 
remedies to their pain. 

Events are likely to create new chances for opposition and resistance. At 
home and abroad, Bush has inherited his own messes. The sputtering 
American economy is now Bush's to repair. A much larger threat to his 
presidency is the deepening crisis of the global economy, now burdened by 
swollen US trade deficits and towering indebtedness to foreign creditors, 
including major trading partners like China. The establishment in both parties 
avoided this subject throughout the campaign, perhaps because they know it 
will mean a very painful economic reckoning. 

The debacle in Iraq that Bush created will also be his to face. At least half of 
the country understands that the war in Iraq is unwinnable. The most 
immediate need, perhaps, is for a revived antiwar movement, which not only 
calls for a withdrawal from Iraq but opposes and prevents new bloody 
adventures. 

The Democratic Party is not the only vehicle for change. Historically, that 
party's finest moments have come when it was pushed into action from 
outside by popular movements, from the labor movement to the civil rights 
movement to the women's movement to the gay-rights movement. Such 
movements--independent of the Democratic Party but powerfully influencing 
it--must foster and increase their strength. The Nation will support these 
movements. 

We must all stand and fight. 

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Action is the antidote to despair.  ----Joan Baez
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