Where Are We Going?

As has been pointed out numerous times, the Democratic Party has never been what might be considered the vanguard of progressive thought and action. Certain members, sure, but, as a body, it's been rather conservative in some respects, having been dragged kicking and screaming to follow a more progressive agenda...by citizen activists, progressive members of the judiciary, and what amount to renegade executives like FDR and LBJ who were willing to take heat for doing the right thing.

This isn't meant to be insulting. While it's true that Americans aren't conservative, they tend to be wary of radical change and, as far as that goes, that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's one of the reasons the Republican Party is in the state it is now. They tried to do too much too quickly and the frogs noticed the water heating up.

There is no quick route to utopia, to perfect justice, and to the kind of America in which we'd all like to live. That America never existed, as well we know. But it was the PROMISE of that America that drives us liberals, a promise that the recent years have shown us to be on the verge of being foresaken altogether.

Yes, some of it is due to the obsessive tenacity of the "culture warriors" who'd like nothing more than to rewrite history to make the United States into a theocracy. They're a real threat, but, unfortunately, they're fighting a losing battle and some of them actually know it. The younger generation really couldn't give a damn about their war on gays or secularists. They have, in general, no passion for this fight at all.

But the real threat to America, over the long term, is the same threat that imperils the whole world, and one that those of a more conservative bent are entirely too willing to ignore or make apologies for. And, yes, that also includes those who might call themselves "moderate" or "centrist" Democrats. The ones that some of us might call "corporate whores" or "quislings." If we were going to be confrontational about it, anyway.

It is these elements within the Democratic Party who are too happy to remind us that we're "on the fringes" of the party and that we've never truly controlled it. Which is quite true, as far as it goes. When the system is broken, those who still desire to work within it rather than exploring ways to deconstruct and rebuild it are simply accepting their status as broken cogs in a malfunctioning machine. There is no honor or value in being such, and it's ludicrous for anyone to pride themselves in it.

Especially now.

We don't have to oppose the very concept of corporations to wish to curtail corporate power, or its influence in our political system. Corporations do have a place, but that place is NOT at the high table helping to make policy decisions that affect the way of life of every single citizen of the country while the average citizen stands outside the window peering in at the sumptuous feast laid out before them.

This influence is the reason we're still addicted to foreign oil, why alternative, renewable, "green" energy sources have not been pursued with the vigor they should have been. Had it not been for this influence, we might even now be on the verge of complete energy independence rather than just beginning the quest to find it.

It is this influence that is the reason behind the discovery of so many high levels of various toxins in our air, water, and earth, and, thus, in the very food we eat. It's the reason our waters are growing more acidic, and the reason great swathes of our oceans are becoming unfit for habitation.

This isn't our parents' Democratic Party. We have something they did not. The ability to discuss and oversee what they do in something approaching real time, in a venue that allows us to pool our ideas and criticisms into a very effective ideological insurgency. We can be mocked, but it's growing very, very hard to ignore us.

The Republicans can. But our Party cannot. Because when they do, we get louder. We reach out and combine our forces, shoving our ideas into the mainstream. We may not always be successful, but you could probably ask Nancy Pelosi, Joe Leiberman, or even Joe and Valerie Plame Wilson how much of a ruckus we can raise if we're sufficiently motivated.

The Republicans, most notably people like George Herbert Walker Bush and others of his ilk, have vocally condemned the netroots for "poisoning the political dialogue," when everyone knows that we've taken this tool in hand to fire back at the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and a host of venomous talk show "hosts" who've been using the public airwaves to pollute the dialogue for entirely too many years with no effective contradiction.

We can use this tool to put unprecedented pressure upon our elected leaders. The kind of pressure they've really never known before. Even now we can watch them squirm when we do it. They don't like it that we're looking over their shoulders and letting them know our displeasure. Up until now, the general public never really HAD a voice other than the ballot box. As individuals they could write LTTEs, but it was always the choice of the editor whether to print them or not.

All in all, the progressive agenda is one that would be good for America and, in the long run, the world as a whole. To return America to the icon of justice and liberty that it once was, and actually find a way to bring more truth to the image, would be an exceptional achievement. Imagine universal healthcare, energy independence, effective diplomacy without resorting to armed conflicts at the drop of a hat, and a real chance for equal rights for the discounted minorities still struggling to be accepted in this country.

Imagine an America where people had justifiable pride in themselves as Americans. A land that could get things done. Positive things that changed lives for the better. Not a Utopia, but a society with a belief in the power of people working toward a better world for everyone rather than fighting tooth and nail to succeed at the expense of one's neighbors.

Competition has its admirers as a motivation to pursue excellence. But it has always been my belief that the greatest motivator in this regard is competing against oneself, to always strive to do better than one did previously.

So what's stopping the United States from trying to better itself, to become a greater nation than it's ever been? Greed, selfishness, and, simply, a lack of vision on the part of those who think they should be running things. People who rarely think any farther ahead than the next fiscal quarter.

We can do better than that. We can BE better than that. We CAN be patriotic about something other than war. We can improve ourselves by striving to be better than we were, not by setting ourselves against someone else to see who can rise higher.

All we need is the will, and the vision to make it happen. And we've got plenty of that. We always have. Now if we could just get some people to stop behaving like anchors and throw their talents into the effort.

People, if we want to live in a better world, we have to dedicate ourselves to building it. Starting...

NOW.

Don Henley went on to make a point about electing Elvis ... c'mon ... this is nothing new and we're poised for a brighter future than I ever imagined in the 60's.

We could have that too, but I'm coming to believe that people like America the way it is- a bloated monster that swallows other nations whole, while it preens and looks pretty for its future victims.

Heaven or hell...it's all up to us.

when was there ever a case America "swallowing another nation whole" and at the same time "looking pretty".

Stop kidding yourself.

while we torture, maim and kill anyone who has something we want.

Just because we don't smell like roses right now doesn't mean we won't in the future.