Time To Toughen Up.

[20score]

A friend recently said to me that he thought Obama was weak because he gave the right-wing far too much power on issue after issue, time and time again. We had been discussing healthcare, offshore drilling and abstinence education. In all three of these subjects, the left ended up with less than they expected, and the right came out with more than they deserved. I countered that I thought it was the left that was weak, and not Obama. In my estimation, this has been the case for decades. Whether the subject is labor rights, war, trade, economics or healthcare, what is being labeled as “the left” is the first faction to be closed out of the conversation. And the marginalization of the left continues irrespective of the strength of the arguments or the number of people making said arguments. In many cases the positions held by the left are also held by, not just a plurality of the country, but a clear majority.

This is not because individuals on the left are weak themselves, as many on the right believe. There are millions of progressives that show the strength of heroes on a daily basis. This is because the right holds positions that overlap with corporate interests. And when corporations and moneyed interests come down on one side of a particular issue, that side is then labeled as the “moderate” position by the media. Then, it is just a matter of time until the moderate position is codified by law. The reasons for the overlap between the right and the corporations are un-important for this subject matter, but it is very hard to deny that the overlap exists.

This problem of the left losing battle after battle is more than just some people getting the short end of the stick - our health as a nation depends on the tide turning. During the 1930’s labor and the left were winning battle after battle and the middle class expanded and became much stronger because of those wins. Some of the recent wins for the corporations and the right include, deregulation of the financial industries, the Iraq War, trade deals that favor multi-nationals over American jobs, TARP, the PATRIOT ACT, privatization of schools, prisons and highways, and tax codes that siphon money to the top. There are many more of course, but those examples alone have harmed the country in myriad ways.

There are two ideas that I hope will help turn the tide in a direction more favorable to the left and the country as a whole. First, toughen up and be loyal to ideals and not a person. Compromise on tactics, not principles. Although it is a given that not all battles should be fought to the bitter end, and we should pick our battles and be ready to compromise in many circumstances, that compromise should not include a complete sellout of your main platform. How much better would the healthcare bill now be, if the left had demanded a public option as strongly as the right demanded that the non-existent death-panels be removed? And standing up for principles does not mean that you have sold out your own side. Some use the very weak and illogical argument that if a person stands up for a particular principle, then that person likes/stands with the other side. It was an offensive tactic when used by the right push the Iraq War – “If you’re against the war you must be for Hussein” – and it is an offensive tactic now.

The second and most important idea is one that I hope will come to fruition. There are umbrella groups that tie labor and environmental groups together, and other organizations that loosely tie certain groups on the left to one another. But there doesn’t seem to be one strong organization that ties labor with environmental groups, civil liberty organizations, consumer advocacy groups and progressive companies. An organization that would concentrate solely on lobbying and campaign donations. Working in conjunction with all the afore mentioned groups and political organizations like PDA, plus fundraising using average citizens for the donation pool. A citizens union, so to speak. This would be to counter the money spent by corporations, so that citizens would have more power and more of a voice in our legislative process. Without public financing of campaigns, or a citizens union, whatever average people will benefit from will continue to be sidelined as “the fringe” as long as Corporate America stands against it.