Assuring a Progressive Future By Siegfried Othmer

[Demeter]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_siegfrie_080324_assuring_a_progressi.htm


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We must live in current times with two contradictory realities. The first is that the state of our democracy is dire. And the second is that we have only what is left of our democracy to get us out of the bind that we are in. The first reality is enough to make one despair, and the second demands that we not shrink from the challenge. Democracy is not a self-righting enterprise. It demands our active involvement. Voting for the right person or party is not enough. The alternative is to have tyranny close in on us even more...One of the most exciting things I see coming out of the Obama campaign is that the center of gravity of Barack's conversation with us is out here with all of us, and not up there with him. Hillary Clinton, by contrast, refers to herself a great deal in her speeches. Give me the charge to lead the country, she seems to be saying, and I will bear that burden competently. And indeed she would. Barack, on the other hand, is mobilizing a force that is much bigger than he himself. If Barack wins, he will have wind in his sails as he enters the White House. It cannot be otherwise. The opposition has no intention of playing fair. The reaction by the opposition to the most incisive, most heartfelt, most intelligent, and most moving political speech I have heard in my lifetime was one of panic to get this guy knocked off his pedestal by any means available, fair or foul. Barack may need to stay above the fray, but we don't. These guys are not democrats (small d). They don't regard the Democratic Party as legitimate opposition. We need to call them out on their foul schemes.





In this fragile state of our democracy, it is not enough for us to shove Barack out front as our gladiator against the forces of evil. It is not enough to mobilize for the election and then retire to the sidelines. Obama's presidency will only be as strong as we who collectively stand with him. That's the demand that Barack is making of us, and I believe that our democracy is at stake in our response. The groundswell must be enough that the presence or the absence of any one man no longer matters. This is important. We saw the politics of this country radically altered by the assassinations of four people in close succession: John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X. The nascent political movement must be in our bones; it must be massive; it must have its own autonomy; it cannot be embodied in a single person or that person is perpetually at risk.
.............

The restoration of a progressive majority can come in three ways. The first is a repetition of the 2006 election experience. The Democratic Party skinnies by in the face of Republican vote-suppression and vote-stealing schemes. Things then go on much as they are now, in virtual stalemate. The second possibility is a multi-faceted political realignment as the conservative coalition fragments and the independents shift ground. The third possibility is a slide into an economic morass. That would certainly set the tombstone on Alan Greenspan's Randian fantasies, on Milton Friedman's pieties, and on Grover Norquist's pipedreams. It would also set the stage for a resurgence of popular democracy. Nevertheless, much as Wall Street deserves its comeuppance, and one way or other the rot needs to be cleaned out, the eventuality of a financial cataclysm is too dreadful to contemplate. We must now wish Bernanke every success. It's just that I don't ever want to hear Republicans complain about the nanny state ever again.

It is not a stretch to presume that Clinton's campaign, if successful, will effect only incremental change. It is the Obama campaign that virtually depends on option two, a political realignment that promises to enlarge the Democratic electorate for years to come. Such a realignment will then open up a larger scope for policy upon election. Barack Obama, having had the vision to discern this opportunity for political realignment, is the right man for our time.




Authors Website: www.eeginfo.com

Authors Bio: Siegfried Othmer is a physicist currently engaged in the development of neurofeedback as a brain-training strategy for mental dysfunctions and for enhanced cognitive and emotional functioning.

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.