Howard Dean invites us "to discuss the state of our progressive movement"; Ian Welsh worries about "allies" who really aren't

Over WikiLeaks, Ian Welsh writes: "At least half the “progressives” I know revealed themselves as, simply, supporters of authoritarianism; revealed themselves as mushrooms who wanted daddy to keep them in the dark and feed them shit."


"I know we will fight even harder in 2011 and 2012 than we did in 2008 to make sure no Republican can turn back the clock on the advances we've made so far. We will defeat those who stand against the advances we have yet to make. We will not compromise our values in the name of political expediency. We will always fight to move America forward against those who are determined to force us back."

-- former Gov. Howard Dean, in an e-mail today
on "The State of the Progressive Movement"

"America is going down, and the world is spiraling into an age of war because everyone wants to be “reasonable” rather than do the right thing for their own people. Everyone who matters wants to pander to the rich, rather than care for the masses. And as for the masses, they have treated politics as a spectator sport, allowed themselves to be lied to and made fools of, and have and will continue to reap the bitter harvest."

-- Ian Welsh, in the blogpost
"Stop treating monsters as reasonable people"

by Ken

It may still be happening, or already have happened, as you read this, but tonight at 9pm ET Governor Dean has scheduled a live chat on DailyKos in which "I'll answer questions and discuss with you what you care about most and your ideas on how to move forward on our shared values."

Every now and then I'm surprised to find Dean on what seems to me the surprisingly wrong side of a case, but even that only highlights that he remains one of the few pols of national stature whose political beliefs and goals resonate with mine. (Who else? Well, there's Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, of course, and former Florida Rep. Alan Grayson, and Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, and Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, and former Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold, and no doubt a few others. A lot of "formers" in there, nobody anywhere near the center of real power.) As I've mentioned a bunch of times, through the so-called health care "debate" Governor Dean's was one of the rare voices within the political community of sanity and well-informedness.

"We've never sat back and hoped for change," Governor Dean writes in an e-mail he sent out to the Democracy for America mailing list which I expect most DWT readers have already seen. "We've always done what it takes to make it happen." And so, he says,

it's time to discuss the state of our progressive movement. How we can move forward to unite our country for a better future and take stock in how far we've come. We must decide together where we go from here.

"The question," Dean says, "is still what kind of country do we want to live in?"

Republicans often play to the worst impulses in human nature and separate people from each other, scapegoating minority groups and dismantling our community support systems. We have a better answer.

We know what we believe.

We believe in community. We care about our neighbors and we help each other. We can provide a bright future to our children with a quality education and we can provide a secure retirement free from poverty and dependence for our grandparents. And we can accomplish it within a reasonable budget so we don't leave a burden of debt on the next generation. Democrats are responsible and balance budgets. Democrats lift up the community and make sure that everyone has a chance for a future.

We believe in security. We will foster strong partnerships with other nations to ensure the secure and safe prosperity for all. We will reduce our dependence on resources that make us vulnerable to attack. We will use our American ingenuity to strengthen our own economy and our environment. We won't start wars of choice and then perpetuate them to keep the military contractors in business. We will fund schools and investment in green jobs over funding bombers and missile defense our military doesn't need or even want.

We believe in liberty. We respect every American's right to practice their own religion and to live a life free from bigotry, abuse, and harassment. We will fight discrimination and deliver on the promise of equality for all Americans. We believe that no one, not multinational corporations nor the government, has the right to your personal information to keep tabs on you for profit or unwarranted policing.

We believe in community, security and liberty and we will never back down.

We will fight to live in a country that values those things we hold dear. Whether we are fighting corporate greed or right-wing attacks, we will stand up for what we believe.

So what does that mean for us in the next two years? That means that we must fight for our values against Republican attempts to dismantle any progress we have made. It will be our mission to make sure Americans know the difference between our values and Republicans -- a choice between strong communities, security and liberty -- or Republican division, greed, and fear.

Now, the governor says, he wants to hear from us. "Our movement is best when it's a conversation." In addition to joining in the DailyKos live chat, he invites progressives to share our thoughts at Democracy for America.com. And the thing is, when it comes from Howard Dean, I don't necessarily quite believe but I sure as shootin' listen.


ON THE OTHER HAND, WE HAVE TO BE SURE
WE'RE REALLY FIGHTING THE SAME FIGHT

I'm still pondering a biting post from our friend Ian Welsh that went up on Monday, which begins with him noting that "over the last few years, and in particular in the last couple," he's noticed that he's "become a lot more rude in my political dealings, including with many people I used to consider allies." And it worried him that "anger can blind you and turn you against those who should be your allies.

What I’ve come to realize lately is that I’m not on the same side as a lot of people. If you’re for the Afghan war, aka. for eternal war, I’m not on your side. If you believe in indefinite detention or the President’s right to assassinate whoever he wants, I’m not on your side. If you believe that Wikileaks is evil and that citizens should be kept in the dark as to what their governments are doing, then I’m not on your side.

Through the Bush years opposition to Bush made a lot of people seem like friends, who weren’t. Sure, we all hated Bush (yes, hated. I hate people who torture and engage in aggressive war, and I think that’s the appropriate response), but that hatred, that opposition, concealed the fact that a lot of people didn’t really object to what Bush was doing, they just objected to the fact that it was being done by a Republican, or that it was being done incompetently. They would have been ok with the same policies if they’d worked out, as with all the “liberals” and “progressives” who were pro-Iraq war until it turned into a clusterfuck.

For Ian, "the WikiLeaks imbroglio was a real turning point."

At least half the “progressives” I know revealed themselves as, simply, supporters of authoritarianism; revealed themselves as mushrooms who wanted daddy to keep them in the dark and feed them shit. Revealed themselves as fools who didn’t either understand or, worse, believe that government exists to serve its citizens, who have a right to know what it’s doing in their name.

But while the watershed, it was merely the latest in a string of horrible behavior from the “left”. Whether it was teacher’s unions stealing food stamp money to pay for their raises, unions selling out their own members to support Barack Obama’s health care bill, which was bad for most union members or whether it was the progressive caucus promising to vote against any HCR bill without the public option, then folding like wet cardboard, it was clear that there was no spine and no solidarity on the left. Every little interest group was always willing to sell out everyone else, sometimes for their own interests, but often not even for that: the leadership of organizations was so corrupt that they would sell out their own members interests so they could feel like members of the DC Village.

And, he says, he has "no time for these people," "no politeness or kindness for them." Reasonableness, he says, "in the current political environment means 'willing to sell out the people whose interests she or he is supposed to care about.'”

So count me out. I’m not interested in being reasonable, if reasonable means “a spineless sell out”. I’m not interested in being pragmatic, if pragmatic means “understands that nothing can actually be done to fix any problem”, and I’m not interested in being polite to people who make their living by destroying lives or apologizing for those who destroy lives.

America is going down, and the world is spiraling into an age of war because everyone wants to be “reasonable” rather than do the right thing for their own people. Everyone who matters wants to pander to the rich, rather than care for the masses. And as for the masses, they have treated politics as a spectator sport, allowed themselves to be lied to and made fools of, and have and will continue to reap the bitter harvest.

You not only have only the rights you are willing to fight for, you have only the economic livelihood you are willing to fight for. Americans, being unwilling to fight for either, will soon have neither.

And I have nothing but contempt for those who have led them to this impasse, and with them, much of the world.

It's natural to hope for as many allies as possible. The fight Governor Dean is exhorting us to certainly requires as many as can be mustered. But as if the prospects weren't daunting enough, there's the very real worry that too many of our "should be" allies really don't have the same vision of community, security, or liberty.

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