The radical right wing tea party which has taken over the Republican Party seeks to control the federal and state governments with a philosophy that says bring back laissez-faire and don’t have the government do anything to help those who need help.
Today’s incarnation of the radical religious right, has taken the name of the proud patriots of 1773, who threw the tea into the harbor of Boston because they objected to being taxed without representation, (the Tea Party people now would throw everything overboard except tea) and claimed the mantle of Populism which they apparently think means appealing to the basest, crassest and most selfish impulses of the American people. Populism began in the late nineteenth century in America supporting political reform like recall, initiative and referendum, direct primaries and direct election of senators and easy access to currency based on two precious metals not one so that farmers could save their farms from corporate inspired bank foreclosures and urban workers get paid sufficient wages to enable them to become consumers. Boy would Sarah Palin have been uncomfortable as a real Populist.
Beginning at the turn of the 20th century with Theodore Roosevelt and then Woodrow Wilson and Robert Lafollette a Progressive movement grew in America that incorporated the Populists of the 1890’s and merged rural and urban forces – farmers and immigrant workers -- culminating in Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Liberal New Deal. A Liberalism that was overwhelmingly ratified by the American people in the election of 1964 and by the endorsement of most of its tenets by Eisenhower and Nixon.
In 2008 we Progressives thought that America had again ratified the New Deal and Great Society and we saw the election of Obama as the culmination of the cultural revolution of the past few decades. Well the backlash set in after the election. The Tea Party fueled with racist and states’ rights energy sources is today threatening to unravel the entire Progressive program of the past century and build an America where everyone is expected to take care of themselves. Health care – get insurance if you can afford it. Education-- pay for private schools. Workers -- talk with your employers and settle for the job and wage they give you.
Liberals and Progressives need a to build a movement using all the media available to them to fight back, to spread the true facts to those who will listen or read, to protest when and where appropriate, and support Progressive candidates regardless of party label.
This is what is happening in Wisconsin where Progressives united with organized Labor have recalled two Neanderthal state senators who seemed entrenched in their districts. This fighting back is what happening in Ohio where over one million voters signed a petition to put the Governors anti- union bill up to a public referendum this fall (they only needed about 325,000 signatures.)
Across the country liberal Progressive minded people are banding together to fight to maintain the America that was built for all since the time of Theodore Roosevelt. And here in somnolent Delaware County Pennsylvania just the other day liberal Progressives came together to form a Delaware County Progressive Alliance.
They set forth a platform of some of the progressive positions they advocate:
the immediate withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan and Iraq;
preserving Medicare as it is – a public insurance program for seniors;
maintaining Medicaid - providing quality health care to low income Americans
solidifying Social Security as a government run old age insurance program
enhancing the right of all employees, public and private, to organize for collective bargaining
recognizing the right of all persons, regardless of gender or sexual orientation, to marry
assuring the right of women to have free choice to determine their reproductive practices
full funding for public education at all levels
an end to big oil companies and corporations being allowed to hide assets overseas.
Supporting democratic reforms -- universal ballot access, simplified absentee voting, public funding of election campaigns and opposition to Voter suppression tactics, e.g. Voter ID laws.
Strong environmental protections to ensure clean air and clean water for generations of Americans to come.
Americans who support Progressive positions must mobilize in their communities as the country once again faces a defining moment when it chooses which fork in the road to take. This country has always moved forward and taken the road to growth and progress for as many as possible. We mustn’t let a minority of misled citizens take us off the path of forward Progress.
14 August 2011
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