Turning Left on the Road Ahead

We lost. Badly. Now what?

While the President’s craven cave-in to the right has been a nauseating embarrassment to behold, it is different only in degree from the triangulations of the Clinton era. Lest we forget, Dick Morris was actually advising Clinton on how to play progressives in Congress off the table so the president could maintain relevance in legislative sausage making.

The spectacle of the past month is depressing but it is not new. Many of us on the left have long complained that establishment Democrats always play slap-the-lefty whenever they need to prove to the media that they are ‘grownups.’



Tom Friedman wants you to grow up.

The corporate media always thinks it’s a good idea for politicians to ‘moderate’ their positions and compromise to a ‘middle’ that just happens to serve the status quo arrangements of power and privilege. Outliers are always depicted as ‘childish’ while establishment ‘centrists’ (who in America are actually rightwing hacks) are characterized as ‘mature’ and ‘adult; Democrats who exhibit a willingness to denounce or resist left-progressive elements among the party's base are always amply rewarded with media approval and praise. Nothing new here. 

Pandering to this pressure, nationally elected Democrats have for 25 years consistently ignored the ‘base’ and allowed major erosions of cornerstone progressive policy institutions hard won during the Roosevelt and Johnson years. (Carter and Clinton did more harm to progressive programs, policy institutions and regulatory structure than Nixon, Reagan, Ford, Bush, and Bush could ever have done in their wildest imaginings.) So, nothing new here either.

But here’s the thing: The problem isn't any longer 'them'; it's us. This has been going on so long, blaming all the usual suspects for the systematic destruction of social justice is like blaming the fire for consuming your house.

The problem is we have allowed political power to accrue in the hands of the opponents of our values and interests. Assume you believe your interests and values align with the highest aspirations of the people of this nation. It is simply not enough to be right. This is not a contest of ideas to see who will get an A for being smart. It is smug, elitist, painfully privileged, and anti-democratic to believe that your ideas and views should prevail simply because they are better, smarter, more worthy, or whatever. Politics in a democracy requires that interests are organized and can deploy political power.  

Once upon a time the left used to have the power to hold Democrats accountable for their votes. But we got used to allowing organized labor do the heavy lifting; in case you haven’t noticed, labor barely has enough power to bargain with employers anymore let alone sweat congress.  That vacuum has not been filled and thus Democrats face no cost in ignoring the voice of progressives.

The problem is not the teaparty or their ‘maximlaist’ tactics. Nor is the problem this current president's manifest inability to negotiate. The real problem has two simple parts: (1) the policies and ideological preferences of the right are dangerous and contrary to the interests of workers and the people—but we all know this; the more significant problem is (2) THE LEFT IS GETTING OUT ORGANIZED. The right has proven itself to be a movement (my heart is breaking here); the left has proven itself to be nothing more than a discordant nagging drone of clever complaints.

We chose to give this president and the Democratic leadership room to sell us out. Where were our rallies to threaten mayhem if social programs were touched? Where was the summer of townhall confrontations following up on the initial outrage over the Ryan plan?

Bernie Sanders has been pleading for popular public mobilization to put fear into the hearts or iron into the spines of Democratic legislators. But Sanders wants Obama to call out the progressive ranks. I think Sanders actually knows this president is useless to the progressive cause having clearly now pinned his reelection hopes on convincing ‘independents’ (read ‘the media’) that he is a trustworthy and reasonable adult seeking to achieve compromise solutions despite the childish partisanship he faces from extremists on ‘both sides’. I think Bernie’s just frustrated.

The framework for left-organizing is not going to come from the Obama 2012 campaign. Not that the Obama 'groundgame' will not be a wonder to behold. Who cares? I'm not saying there's no difference between Obama and any of the likely contenders from the toxic Republican party. There are major and crucially important differences. But I am saying that no matter who wins the presidency in 2012, the progressive agenda is doomed anyway if the left cannot build the power to credibly threaten to primary any Democratic party defectors in 2014.

A renaissance of the progressive movement is the only hope left for saving the dream of a just and generous nation that manifests public provision, social justice, the dignity of workers, and the grace of democracy.

The questions we have to ask ourselves are these:

• Are we willing to overlook small differences from contesting orthodoxies on the left?
• How can we transform our current role from that of a clever criticariat to that of a movement?
• Can left-progressive organizations lay aside turf battles, power struggles, and the personal ambitions of their leaders (I’m looking at you Andy Stern!) to patiently (re)build a progressive movement?
• What structures already exist for organizing the interests of various left constituencies? How do we nurture them? How do we reform them if need be?
• Will we confidently ignore inevitable media criticism? Will we refuse to apologize or moderate our message in the face of the usual media terror tactics?

There will be no quick fixes. Looking for one will only leave us vulnerable to the next message of ‘hope’. 

I know have become lazy in my own commitment. I could say I’m demoralized (because it’s true) but this is precisely how democratic discourse works: you keep your agenda moving forward; you push your perspective into the public consciousness; you seek to make those whose views you believe are a genuine danger to your interests or to the aspirations you have for justice feel isolated and behind the curve of history. (If this is too much for you, fine. But don’t complain that Obama seems too weak—his weakness is yours.) To the degree I feel demoralized I have all the evidence I need that my side is getting outplayed. It may well be that America is beyond hope and it's time to move someplace else. I'm not prepared to do that now so I have to make myself useful here. I need to reengage, so I’m going to try to add some new (old) habits to my currently diminished repertoire of activism.

Here’s some stuff I think we all need to do (or do more of no matter how much we’re already doing)...

• Find a real, ACTIVIST left organization and join it and give it money. (I already have and do, but I’m going to add another one).
• Let every sitting Democrat from the oval office to dog catcher know that you will not be taken for granted and will happily oppose any incumbent or challenger who does not demonstrate actual active support for left-progressive policies and values. (In my case I’m sooooo tired of Virginia Democrats, they will all know I am willing to sit at home as long as it takes.)
• Go to one event whose cause you support, even though your schedule (or crankiness) makes it difficult to attend. (I’m sorry to say how long it’s been…)
• Do everything you can to make the left perspective publicly heard and a routine part of social discourse. Speak your views and values anywhere you can any time you can. (I’m not going to let up!)
• Bear witness to the truth you know. Make sure every member of your family, friends, and associates know exactly where you stand. Figure out where the point of diminishing returns lies and stop just short of it. Await your next opportunity. (I’m going to have to get better at identifying the point of diminishing returns and waiting for better opportunities)
• NEVER give up trying to persuade everyone you know to move even one tiny step to the left but NEVER concede to a falsehood or benighted idea of the right in the name of courtesy or ‘reasonableness’. Words and ideas matter; change the subject if you must, but stop capitulating. (Okay, I’ll try to change the subject from time to time…)
• Read more. Write more.
• Follow the mandate of Frederick Douglass: Agitate! Agitate! Agitate!