Progressives

Powered by the Internet, e-Democracy is threatening conservative power in Iran. But it's also threatening conservative power in Washington DC, even if the media isn't covering the story.

In Iran, citizens are confronting police in the streets to protest a stolen election. Despite Iran's government-controlled media, this rebellion is visible to the world through digital photos and videos which are being uploaded and forwarded through Facebook, Twitter, and other global networks.

This week, Gallup tried to identify the Republican spokesperson. Among Republicans, it was a tie between Rush and Newt at 10% each.

Obviously the Democratic spokesperson is President Obama. But who speaks for progressives? This is an important question, because President Obama has been "captured" by the conservative establishment on key issues like bailouts for Big Banks, the wars in Iraq and AfPak, accountability for torture, and corporate control of health care. Who best articulates the progressive alternative to the establishment on these issues? Here are some possibilities:

By Dave Lindorff

If Democrats want to come out of this economic crisis with a
powerful mandate to continue running the country, they need to bag the
nonsensical talk of “bi-partisanship” and tackle two big lies that have
been stymieing progressives for decades.

The first lie is that the only solution to the nation’s deepening
health care crisis, which now has over 42 million people—roughly one in
seven Americans—living without any health insurance or ready access to
medical care, is a combination of limitations on treatment and
continued reliance on the private health insurance industry.

The second lie is that Social Security, the single most important
economic “safety net” under the lives of America’s elderly, its
disabled, and children who lose a wage-earning parent, is headed for
“bankruptcy” and needs to have its already skimpy benefits cut back.

By David Swanson

I just read an interesting new book by Alicia Morgan called "The Price of Right: How the Conservative Agenda Has Failed America (and Always Will)" -- a timely message right now, but let's hope it does not remain so always.

If you read a lot of progressive political books, this one may seem a bit repetitive. Chapter One retells a Thom Hartmann theory about liberals as hunters and conservatives as farmers. Chapter Two is the early development of advertising techniques. Chapter Three is George Lakoff, Chapter Four Frank Luntz, Chapter Five the Christian Right, Chapter Six the neocons, Chapter Seven authoritarians, Chapter Eight voodoo economics and the bankruptcy bill, Chapter Nine single-payer health coverage, Chapter Ten corporate trade, and Chapter Eleven corporate media. Chapter Twelve is a very timely essay on corporate bailouts and John McCain, and Chapter 13 a pep talk in support of doing something about the whole rotten stinking mess we're in.

By Dave Lindorff

I don’t want to overstate the case for Barack Obama, who has been fairly circumspect about his intentions if elected. While saying he is against the Iraq War, he has not acted very forcefully to help bring it to an end. And he certainly has not called for any downsizing of America’s bloated military budget or any end to its imperialist foreign policy—absolutely essential if there is to be any progressive change of consequence in the US.

That said, those who believe that the Democratic Party is firmly in the hands of a malignant and self-serving corporate and political elite have to explain why “their” candidate, Hillary Clinton, seems to be sinking.

Excuse me, but I have to vent here.

Having grown up in a college town (Storrs, CT, home of UConn), and then having attended college in two cities that were not my hometown, in both of which places I voted in local elections (Middletown, CT and New York City), I want to take issue with the candidates, like Hillary Clinton, and the people in the Democratic Party leadership in Iowa, who are claiming it's somehow untoward for a candidate, like Barak Obama in this case, to urge students who are from out of town or , god forbid, out of state to vote in the Iowa caucuses. Officials in other states have made the same kind of complaint.

Students, in case these people haven't noticed, are full-fledged citizens with full rights.

MoveonGate has hit the Netroots like a hard kick in the gut. As well it should - we poured out our hearts and wallets to elect Democrats in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006. We watched two presidential races stolen and our war heroes trashed without a peep from the Democrats. These losses were deeply painful but we mourned, analyzed, and vowed to work harder the next time. And in 2006 there was (finally!) a miracle, and we won the Senate and the House without losing a single seat.

So what have the Democrats done for us since we gave them the long-sought keys to the Congressional kingdom? Not much besides raising the minimum wage slowly over many years and holding a lot of hearings that have exposed just a few of the infinite number of White House scandals.

Just in from Senator Feingold:

Over the last week, I've held Listening Sessions across Wisconsin and heard the same sort of comments that thousands of people like you have emailed my way over the last week - it's time to hold the President, and his administration, accountable.

Become A Citizen Co-Sponsor of Censure

The President and Vice President led our nation into an unwise war, under false pretenses, without adequate planning, and have mismanaged the situation that continues today. The President and Attorney General have time and time again thumbed their noses at the Constitution and the rule of law - on everything from warrantless wiretapping to undermining Congress' role to conduct adequate oversight.