Comment Rescue – What will be the next act for the Consevative States of America ?
Whatever happens in congress over the next 24-48 hours, it is clear that we’ve entered a new phase of American democracy. In this phase, the notion that we can have rational debates and honest policy disagreements that are settled reasonably has flown out the window. Instead we have one party that is determined to fuck shit up in order to cleanse the country by fire. That means they should lose elections, but they have billions on their side, a willingness to flat out lie, and a committed core of ovine followers, so they are competitive in every election in spite of themselves.
All that raises the question, What next? Think 123 does a great job imagining what life will be like before it gets any better:
In a way, New Age Conservative extremism is no different than the Old Age Communist extremism. It’s based on absolute self-certitude centered around a manifesto. It took the USSR seventy years to finally prove that manifestos and theories are not a fit way to govern.
A few years of Ayn Rand manifesto based government, dismantling the safety nets, destroying Federal agencies, America will see the folly of trying to govern by ideology. Communism died by it’s own hand. Aynrandism might have to find that way to the ash heap of history too.
The progressive movement in the USA has the ability to turn this nation -wrecking strategy of the teabaggers and Republicans away. We’ve done it before as history has shown. We ended the Gilded Age with the progressive movement by mobilizing to turn back the robber barons. We ended a manifestation of imperialistic America with our mobilizing in the streets and ballot boxes to end the Vietnam war. Our black brothers and sisters ended overt oppression of African Americans with peaceful, non-violent organizing, first in the streets then in the halls of Congress. Yes, and more recently, we deflected overt voter suppression by record turnout in the 2012 election, against huge odds.
The courage of African Americans in registering to vote in a manipulated system and standing in obscene lines for hours in the face of hate, harassment, unjust challenges to voting rights to turn back the tea party and Republican assault on our democracy can inspire us to do battle now to save our internally embattled economy with the threat of national debt default.
We must and can support our President to turn back the marauding neo-confederates. We must and can enlist the likes of George Soros and Warren Buffett to match and exceed the money needed to turn out our vote.
It is our job to push the DNC from weak kneed capitulation to aggressive advocacy for our belief system and push our fence straddling office holders to act with courage and smart offense to expose the liars and truth distorters for their treasonous behavior.
It is our job to demand our messaging people in the White House and Party organizations to get clear, frame astutely and write and speak as never before.
Why not start with asking our Delaware Democratic Party Chair and Executive Committee to stand up and speak; shout if necessary to get heard. Silence is complicity and they are certainly silent. Why are they passive and silent?
As a newcomer, I am appalled. We need them at the grassroots. We need to see organizing from them too to get our message out.
John Culberson, my former teabagger-libertarian Congressman in Texas misappropriated the words “Let’s roll” from 9-11 history of Flight #93. Those are our fighting words as is the image on the yellow tea party flag, don’t tread on me.
To battle with all the tools at our disposal.
This is what New Age Conservatism looks like.
Pennsylvania has the greatest number of at-risk bridges in the nation. At last count, they had 5300 bridges that were classified as in poor, serious, in imminent failure, or failed condition. No matter the safety risk — this is also an economic risk as commerce has to reroute in order to pick up and deliver goods. Yet the New Age Conservative PA Legislature can’t figure out how to get the money to actually fix these bridges — and haven’t been able to come up with adequate funds to do it for years. This is what the future looks like with conservatives in charge.