Taking a Bullet
Published on
Friday, November 11, 2016
by
Common Dreams
Taking a Bullet
Progressives must seize the moment or suffer the consequences
by
John Atcheson
(Photo: Steve Marcus/Greenpeace)
There goes my people. I must follow them, for I am their leader.
- Mahatma Ghandi
Pundits seem shocked by Trump's victory. They shouldn't have been. As I
said here, here, here and as I've been saying for years, America is a left
of center country, and Democrats have been ignoring it at their peril.
The good news is, Trump didn't win - the Democrats lost. Seventy-six per
cent of Americans wanted change. Trump offered it; the Democrats offered
their usual roll of status quo tools of the Oligarchy.
The bottom line is, a lot of the people - particularly white working class
males -- who supported Trump did so because they'd been abandoned by the
Democratic Party. If Democrats can stop being sock puppets for the
Oligarchy, then they can win a sizable number of these folks back.
If the Democrats fail to do that, then our country runs the risk of being
permanently torn asunder by the hate and fear unleashed by Trump.
Sadly, that will require all of us to keep engaged in this political
toboggan ride to hell when what we'd all like to do is turn our heads; avert
our gaze; go back to our TVs and video games and pretend that we're not a
nation in which one Party is motivated by hate, fear, envy, greed, jingoism
and racism; while the other is in thrall to the Oligarchy.
Our challenge now is to make Democrats a progressive Party. And if there's
one thing this election should tell us it's that a rhetorical flourish from
some centrist poser pretending to be a progressive isn't going to cut it.
One of the great mysteries of this entire political process has been the
willingness of progressives to deny the reality of Ms. Clinton's positions
and to count her as one of their own.
She wasn't, and here's a quick summary of why.
She embraces a neocon foreign policy that's nearly indistinguishable from
the disastrous Bush/Cheney folly. Her "tough on terrorism" stance -
something that's actually created more terrorists -- risks embroiling us in
an endless and expensive war that's doomed to fail.
She insists on seeing Russia and China through the lens of the neocons - a
dangerous and discredited view that has little basis in fact - and benefits
no one but Defense Contractors.
The emails released by Wikileaks reveal her obvious duplicity on big banks
and Wall Street.
For example, Clinton essentially apologized to Wall Street for Congress's
attempt to regulate the big banks, and claimed that Dodd-Frank - a bill that
was too weak to make a real difference and is getting watered down even
further as it is translated into regulations - was necessary only for
"political reasons." As if Wall Street's central role in the worst
recession since the Great Depression weren't reason enough to regulate. They
also reveal that Ms. Clinton believes there's a need for a public position
on these kinds of issues that is different than her privately held one.
What we see here is political calculation, completely devoid of any
progressive values.
Her position on climate change poses an existential threat to civilization
and the global ecosystem. And it's about as cynical and deceptive a
political stance as we're likely to see in a long time.
Yes, Trump is a lunatic, who denies reality. But Clinton's position on the
issue was a classic example of the slick politician who tries to be all
things to all people.
OK, she embraced renewable energy and acknowledged the science behind
climate change, and she backed Obama's Clean Energy Plan.
But it's one thing to back efficiency and renewables; quite another to do
what needs to be done to avoid catastrophic climate change.
For example, she steadfastly refused to ban fracking; she would not endorse
a carbon tax; she would not put an immediate end to allowing exploration for
new fossil fuel resources on public lands, at a time when we have to leave
80% of the fossil fuels we've already found in the ground to have even a
glimmer of a chance to avoid a full-on global catastrophe. In fact, her
surrogates vehemently fought inclusion of any climate policies and positions
that would overtly cut the use of fossil fuels in the Democratic Party
Platform.
Paying lip service to the use of renewable energy without adopting policies
to immediately cut carbon emissions is tantamount to putting a spot of duct
tape on a broken airplane wing, while you're flying at 30,000 feet. It's
like trying to jump the Grand Canyon in a series of ten-foot leaps. It's
like jumping off a cliff and trying to knit a parachute on the way down.
It's like . well, you get the idea. It's just plain stupid, and we're stupid
for accepting it.
Climate change is an existential threat to civilization and to the
ecological life support systems we evolved in; it is far too dangerous to
allow pay-to-play politicians to push half measures as solutions; and if we
want better than a 66% chance of avoiding catastrophic climate change, then
the clock starts NOW for starting immediate and comprehensive efforts to get
off fossil fuels, not 20 years from now as the IPCC scenarios suggest, and
as Clinton's policies would do.
When the people lead, leaders follow. There are two responses for a real
progressive to this election. One is despair. We were offered a contest
between representatives of the Oligarchy on the one hand, and a
misanthropic, narcissistic hate monger on the other, so this would be
understandable.
The other is hope.
A critical mass of "we, the people," have figured out that the two party
duopoly doesn't serve us, and thanks to Sanders, we have a platform we can
build upon to fix the broken system. Our task is to stay engaged; to hold
those elected accountable for their actions; to ignore the elite
establishment media's pathetic pandering to the uber-rich and corporations.
We have two years to expose Trump for what he is - a blow-hard who uses hate
and fear to divide us; a man who is espousing tax and other policies that
benefit the uber-rich while masquerading as a man of the people.
We have two years to recapture the Democratic Party from the elites and the
Oligarchs. If we can't do that, then we need to create a third party.
The only basis for hope lies in what actions we take. If we lead, the
leaders will follow.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License
John Atcheson
John Atcheson is author of the novel, A Being Darkly Wise, an eco-thriller
and book one of a trilogy centered on global warming. His writing has
appeared in The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the
San Jose Mercury News and other major newspapers. Atcheson's book reviews
are featured on Climateprogess.org.
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Taking a Bullet
Published on
Friday, November 11, 2016
by
Common Dreams
Taking a Bullet
Progressives must seize the moment or suffer the consequences
by
John Atcheson
. 23 Comments
.
. (Photo: Steve Marcus/Greenpeace)
. There goes my people. I must follow them, for I am their leader.
- Mahatma Ghandi
. Pundits seem shocked by Trump's victory. They shouldn't have been.
As I said here, here, here and as I've been saying for years, America is a
left of center country, and Democrats have been ignoring it at their peril.
. The good news is, Trump didn't win - the Democrats lost. Seventy-six
per cent of Americans wanted change. Trump offered it; the Democrats offered
their usual roll of status quo tools of the Oligarchy.
. The bottom line is, a lot of the people - particularly white working
class males -- who supported Trump did so because they'd been abandoned by
the Democratic Party. If Democrats can stop being sock puppets for the
Oligarchy, then they can win a sizable number of these folks back.
If the Democrats fail to do that, then our country runs the risk of being
permanently torn asunder by the hate and fear unleashed by Trump.
Sadly, that will require all of us to keep engaged in this political
toboggan ride to hell when what we'd all like to do is turn our heads; avert
our gaze; go back to our TVs and video games and pretend that we're not a
nation in which one Party is motivated by hate, fear, envy, greed, jingoism
and racism; while the other is in thrall to the Oligarchy.
Our challenge now is to make Democrats a progressive Party. And if there's
one thing this election should tell us it's that a rhetorical flourish from
some centrist poser pretending to be a progressive isn't going to cut it.
One of the great mysteries of this entire political process has been the
willingness of progressives to deny the reality of Ms. Clinton's positions
and to count her as one of their own.
She wasn't, and here's a quick summary of why.
She embraces a neocon foreign policy that's nearly indistinguishable from
the disastrous Bush/Cheney folly. Her "tough on terrorism" stance -
something that's actually created more terrorists -- risks embroiling us in
an endless and expensive war that's doomed to fail.
She insists on seeing Russia and China through the lens of the neocons - a
dangerous and discredited view that has little basis in fact - and benefits
no one but Defense Contractors.
The emails released by Wikileaks reveal her obvious duplicity on big banks
and Wall Street.
For example, Clinton essentially apologized to Wall Street for Congress's
attempt to regulate the big banks, and claimed that Dodd-Frank - a bill that
was too weak to make a real difference and is getting watered down even
further as it is translated into regulations - was necessary only for
"political reasons." As if Wall Street's central role in the worst recession
since the Great Depression weren't reason enough to regulate. They also
reveal that Ms. Clinton believes there's a need for a public position on
these kinds of issues that is different than her privately held one.
What we see here is political calculation, completely devoid of any
progressive values.
Her position on climate change poses an existential threat to civilization
and the global ecosystem. And it's about as cynical and deceptive a
political stance as we're likely to see in a long time.
http://www.commondreams.org/november-9http://www.commondreams.org/november-9
Yes, Trump is a lunatic, who denies reality. But Clinton's position on the
issue was a classic example of the slick politician who tries to be all
things to all people.
OK, she embraced renewable energy and acknowledged the science behind
climate change, and she backed Obama's Clean Energy Plan.
But it's one thing to back efficiency and renewables; quite another to do
what needs to be done to avoid catastrophic climate change.
For example, she steadfastly refused to ban fracking; she would not endorse
a carbon tax; she would not put an immediate end to allowing exploration for
new fossil fuel resources on public lands, at a time when we have to leave
80% of the fossil fuels we've already found in the ground to have even a
glimmer of a chance to avoid a full-on global catastrophe. In fact, her
surrogates vehemently fought inclusion of any climate policies and positions
that would overtly cut the use of fossil fuels in the Democratic Party
Platform.
Paying lip service to the use of renewable energy without adopting policies
to immediately cut carbon emissions is tantamount to putting a spot of duct
tape on a broken airplane wing, while you're flying at 30,000 feet. It's
like trying to jump the Grand Canyon in a series of ten-foot leaps. It's
like jumping off a cliff and trying to knit a parachute on the way down.
It's like . well, you get the idea. It's just plain stupid, and we're stupid
for accepting it.
Climate change is an existential threat to civilization and to the
ecological life support systems we evolved in; it is far too dangerous to
allow pay-to-play politicians to push half measures as solutions; and if we
want better than a 66% chance of avoiding catastrophic climate change, then
the clock starts NOW for starting immediate and comprehensive efforts to get
off fossil fuels, not 20 years from now as the IPCC scenarios suggest, and
as Clinton's policies would do.
When the people lead, leaders follow. There are two responses for a real
progressive to this election. One is despair. We were offered a contest
between representatives of the Oligarchy on the one hand, and a
misanthropic, narcissistic hate monger on the other, so this would be
understandable.
The other is hope.
A critical mass of "we, the people," have figured out that the two party
duopoly doesn't serve us, and thanks to Sanders, we have a platform we can
build upon to fix the broken system. Our task is to stay engaged; to hold
those elected accountable for their actions; to ignore the elite
establishment media's pathetic pandering to the uber-rich and corporations.
We have two years to expose Trump for what he is - a blow-hard who uses hate
and fear to divide us; a man who is espousing tax and other policies that
benefit the uber-rich while masquerading as a man of the people.
We have two years to recapture the Democratic Party from the elites and the
Oligarchs. If we can't do that, then we need to create a third party.
The only basis for hope lies in what actions we take. If we lead, the
leaders will follow.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License
/author/john-atcheson
/author/john-atcheson/author/john-atcheson
John Atcheson is author of the novel, A Being Darkly Wise, an eco-thriller
and book one of a trilogy centered on global warming. His writing has
appeared in The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the
San Jose Mercury News and other major newspapers. Atcheson's book reviews
are featured on Climateprogess.org.
