Earlier in the week Arianna Huffington wrote a post that - in my view - sums up where progressive Americans and the country now find themselves. Barack Obama's lofty promises of "Hope" and "Change" have proven to have been false and unless the grassroots does something to change the game, the changes desperately needed are never going to happen. Obama has abdicated his role as an outspoken leader of the Democrats and left far too much of the movement for change with Congressional Democrats who, with a few notable exceptions, have shown themselves to be either utterly incompetent or too beholden to special interests (think health insurers, banks and drug manufacturers) and far to eager to sell out average Americans. So what needs to be done? Recreate a ground swell across the country that demands the bullshit politics as usual need to end now, or else there will be adverse repercussions for both political parties, but particularly the Democrats. Here are some highlights from her post:*
On the eve of the first anniversary of President Obama's inauguration, it's become painfully obvious that elected officials are not going to save us. The 2008 election was all about "Hope." But Hope is simply not cutting it. . . . our system is too broken to be fixed by politicians, however well intentioned [or not]-- that change is going to have to come from outside Washington.
*
This realization is especially resonant as we celebrate Dr. King, whose life and work demonstrate the vital importance of social movements in bringing about change. Indeed, King showed that no real change can be accomplished without a movement demanding it. As Frederick Douglass put it: "Power never concedes anything without a demand; it never has and it never will."
*
since the days of FDR and LBJ, the system has only gotten more rigged, and the powers-that-be more entrenched. As Janine Wedel shows in Shadow Elite, the power of special interests to thwart meaningful change -- often by co-opting the rhetoric of change but producing in its name a further consolidation of the status quo -- has never been stronger. The health care bill's path from fundamental reform to fiasco is only the latest example.
*
One year later, wracked with conflict and discord, and battered by petty grievances, false promises, and worn out dogmas, we stand on the verge of passing a giant boon to health insurance companies and calling it "reform." The reason we are given? What else: the votes just aren't there for a real reform bill. That's where Hope 2.0 comes in. If the votes aren't there, the people need to create them. Just like King did. They need to build a movement. And to make that happen, we need to adopt another of the great lessons of Dr. King's life: elevating the role empathy must play in our society.
*
Watching the [bank] CEOs, I was stunned by the utter lack of even a feigned sense of empathy for those whose lives the banks have destroyed. Only a complete inability to feel empathy could explain the fact that the bankers are not just back to operating at their old bonus levels, but at their old smugness levels as well.
*
One year ago, writing about former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain and his now infamous $1.2 million office redecoration in the midst of the economic collapse, I bemoaned the Marie Antoinettes of the Meltdown, and our era of Not Getting It. Little did I realize just how small-scale Thain's outrages would now seem, and how much worse things would get in the ensuing year. Lloyd "Doing God's Work" Blankfein and his fellow "too big to fail" CEOs -- with their utter cluelessness about the public's anger over what they've done and continue to do -- take Not Getting It to a whole other level.
*
But the question is, can this righteous -- and entirely justifiable -- rage be productively channeled to produce a real movement for reform, or will it be hijacked by tea party wackos and dangerous demagogues? . . . One year ago, Hope was about crossing our fingers and electing leaders that we thought would enact real change. Hope 2.0 is about using the lessons of Dr. King to create the conditions that give them no other choice.
*
Of course, the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down restrictions on corporate campaign contributions that will be used to literally buy legislators will not make the task any easier. On the other hand, if corporations are "persons" within the meaning of freedom of speech rights, perhaps the Court's bestowing of such rights on non-living "citizens" can be used to somehow bite the conservatives on the Court in the ass when Perry v. Schwarzenegger makes its way before the court sometime in the future.
On the eve of the first anniversary of President Obama's inauguration, it's become painfully obvious that elected officials are not going to save us. The 2008 election was all about "Hope." But Hope is simply not cutting it. . . . our system is too broken to be fixed by politicians, however well intentioned [or not]-- that change is going to have to come from outside Washington.
*
This realization is especially resonant as we celebrate Dr. King, whose life and work demonstrate the vital importance of social movements in bringing about change. Indeed, King showed that no real change can be accomplished without a movement demanding it. As Frederick Douglass put it: "Power never concedes anything without a demand; it never has and it never will."
*
since the days of FDR and LBJ, the system has only gotten more rigged, and the powers-that-be more entrenched. As Janine Wedel shows in Shadow Elite, the power of special interests to thwart meaningful change -- often by co-opting the rhetoric of change but producing in its name a further consolidation of the status quo -- has never been stronger. The health care bill's path from fundamental reform to fiasco is only the latest example.
*
One year later, wracked with conflict and discord, and battered by petty grievances, false promises, and worn out dogmas, we stand on the verge of passing a giant boon to health insurance companies and calling it "reform." The reason we are given? What else: the votes just aren't there for a real reform bill. That's where Hope 2.0 comes in. If the votes aren't there, the people need to create them. Just like King did. They need to build a movement. And to make that happen, we need to adopt another of the great lessons of Dr. King's life: elevating the role empathy must play in our society.
*
Watching the [bank] CEOs, I was stunned by the utter lack of even a feigned sense of empathy for those whose lives the banks have destroyed. Only a complete inability to feel empathy could explain the fact that the bankers are not just back to operating at their old bonus levels, but at their old smugness levels as well.
*
One year ago, writing about former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain and his now infamous $1.2 million office redecoration in the midst of the economic collapse, I bemoaned the Marie Antoinettes of the Meltdown, and our era of Not Getting It. Little did I realize just how small-scale Thain's outrages would now seem, and how much worse things would get in the ensuing year. Lloyd "Doing God's Work" Blankfein and his fellow "too big to fail" CEOs -- with their utter cluelessness about the public's anger over what they've done and continue to do -- take Not Getting It to a whole other level.
*
But the question is, can this righteous -- and entirely justifiable -- rage be productively channeled to produce a real movement for reform, or will it be hijacked by tea party wackos and dangerous demagogues? . . . One year ago, Hope was about crossing our fingers and electing leaders that we thought would enact real change. Hope 2.0 is about using the lessons of Dr. King to create the conditions that give them no other choice.
*
Of course, the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down restrictions on corporate campaign contributions that will be used to literally buy legislators will not make the task any easier. On the other hand, if corporations are "persons" within the meaning of freedom of speech rights, perhaps the Court's bestowing of such rights on non-living "citizens" can be used to somehow bite the conservatives on the Court in the ass when Perry v. Schwarzenegger makes its way before the court sometime in the future.
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