General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The "extreme left" didn't give us Trump. The path to hell was paved by [View all]pat_k
(9,313 posts)What paved the road to the point that the electorate, when faced with such a clear choice between Real American Values vs. Authoritarian/Reactionary rule, went for the later in such UNBELIEVABLE numbers?
And those numbers are truly unbelievable. The few that jumped ship saying "a pox on both your houses" were a minuscule force in the scheme of things. But for the failures of leadership on the part of the "good guys" at the top of the Democratic Party, no attempt to grab the levers of power by such a blatant racist, reactionary, authoritarian, corporatist would have had a shred of a chance of succeeding.
Democratic failures in leadership in driving the policy debate, plus their monumental and immoral failures to draw lines in the sand at critical junctures, brought us to this point.
The adulation of Reagan would not exist if he had faced the impeachment his actions demanded.
Bush Jr would never have been in the running at all if Bush Sr. had been prosecuted.
Those failures alone didn't bring us here. The leadership had another chance to fight for us -- to fight for our right to have our votes counted -- by standing and objecting to the unlawfully appointed Florida electors.
And, even failing that, they had yet another chance to turn the tide by drawing a line in the sand and fighting to impeach Bush to defend perhaps the most basic human right there is -- the right not to be tortured.
Their failure to draw ANY of these lines in the sand allowed a barrier that should be inviolable in a nation that calls itself a constitutional democracy to be crossed with impunity.
When the leadership went all out to stop the momentum that was building for impeachment, it was the "nail in the coffin" (to mix up a few more metaphors). The message they sent was crystal clear:"This is not important enough to us. Torturing in the name of the American people isn't really so bad." And that message gave power to the worst of humanity.
Brick by brick they built the road. It is akin to a city being overrun by criminals when the cops turn a blind eye and stop doing their job. Criminals are out there. They will do destructive things. That is a given. And reactionary, racist, authoritarian, corporatists are out there. They do destructive things. That is also a given. It's when the "good guys" who are supposed to keep those destructive forces in check don't do their job that those forces run rampant.
This is NOT about "bashing." It is about taking a HARD look at what REALLY brought us to this point. We MUST understand the irrational rationalizations that motivated the leadership to "sit on" efforts to fight the good fights in the past. We must do it because we must understand those rationalizations if we are to challenge them, transform the thinking "at the top," and enable them to be the effective leaders I KNOW they can be.