The Growing of a Heartland Radical
by DC Larson
The last two decades were disappointing for principled progressives. But they also were educational and determinative.
Democrats abandoned progressive ideals like ceasing all executions, the ensuring of universal civil rights (including to marriage and not the separate-but-equal "civil unions"), punishment of corporate crime and the sincere pursuit of international peace.
I'd already known the conservative Republican Party was no avenue for progress and social justice; I learned the Democrats didn't want to be one, either.
I decided that I would never again support a candidate from either major party, having come to understand the problem was systemic and not merely of isolated policies.
Only two parties could not adequately reflect the diversity of legitimate political opinion in the US. Neither represented mine.
I watched as those major parties kneecapped third parties and independents, seeking to cripple upstart democratic efforts with anti-democratic legislative and legal dirty tricks.
One result of the majors ignoring citizen opinion is that the US occupation of Iraq continues, despite polls showing most Americans supporting withdrawal.
Sen. Hillary Clinton voted to grant war-making authority to the Bush White House. So did John McCain. Both they and Sen. Barack Obama have time and again voted to continue funding.
Illustrating the distance between establishment politicians's voting realities and stump rhetoric, both Clinton and Obama assure 2008 audiences that they oppose the Iraq War. (Ignore the bomb-voting Senator behind the curtain.)
It was upon identical pretending at principle the Democrat Party relied in 2004. Counterfeit progressives were abundant across the country's landscape, including here in Iowa. Their gaudy "No Blood For Oil" placards attracted cable news cameras.
But as the 2004 campaign season intensified and though the Iraq War continued, their protests ceased. Anti-war rallies were rare and sparsely attended. Many protesters lined up behind Democrat John Kerry, who had with his congressional votes helped launch the Iraq war.
And when such protesters as there were outside the national Democrat convention were arrested -- as were others at the Republican one -- papier mache progressives were not deterred from their inconsistent donkey advocacy.
I was in 2004 Iowa Coordinator for Ralph Nader's independent presidential campaign. (I'd previously volunteered for Nader in 2000 and had served as the Iowa Green Party's Media Coordinator.)
Criss-crossing the state with the ultimately successful ballot petition effort, I encountered thousands of what Nader would term, "timid liberals." I recall their personal viciousness and loud hostility at Nader campaign representatives. That campaign's genuinely progressive nature pointed up their own falseness.
"Why support Kerry?" I asked one, in Davenport.
"We've gotta get rid of Bush!" she declared. Presumably sensing the insufficiency of that response, she added, "We've gotta get the troops out of Iraq!"
I pointed out that Kerry had as a senator voted to grant Bush unilateral war-making authority, making the Iraq war possible. And that Kerry had assured attendees of the 2004 Democrat national convention that he would send thousands more into Iraq.
"Ralph Nader is the one calling for US troops to be recalled," I said.
She thought for a moment. Then exclaimed, "But, we've gotta get rid of Bush!"
I remembered those fractious months during a recent viewing of the Nader documentary, "An Unreasonable Man."
On the matter of Nader's opponents, veteran journalist James Ridgeway of the Village Voice was succinct: "Democrats are the meanest bunch of motherfuckers I've ever come across."
I reflected on the profanities screamed my way, the snarls shoved into my face and the Democrat Party-organized attempts to disrupt the 2004 Nader campaign in Iowa and other states.
Surely, at least some of the pro-Kerry "anti-war" perpetrators clung self-righteously to the standard-issue gear of the counterfeit progressive: the MoveOn.org membership, the Nation Magazine subscription, the Air America broadcast.
And most probably assured themselves that they were 'the good guys' and were open-minded supporters of democracy.
But I wasn't fooled. Their kind had helped make a progressive radical of me.
END
The last two decades were disappointing for principled progressives. But they also were educational and determinative.
Democrats abandoned progressive ideals like ceasing all executions, the ensuring of universal civil rights (including to marriage and not the separate-but-equal "civil unions"), punishment of corporate crime and the sincere pursuit of international peace.
I'd already known the conservative Republican Party was no avenue for progress and social justice; I learned the Democrats didn't want to be one, either.
I decided that I would never again support a candidate from either major party, having come to understand the problem was systemic and not merely of isolated policies.
Only two parties could not adequately reflect the diversity of legitimate political opinion in the US. Neither represented mine.
I watched as those major parties kneecapped third parties and independents, seeking to cripple upstart democratic efforts with anti-democratic legislative and legal dirty tricks.
One result of the majors ignoring citizen opinion is that the US occupation of Iraq continues, despite polls showing most Americans supporting withdrawal.
Sen. Hillary Clinton voted to grant war-making authority to the Bush White House. So did John McCain. Both they and Sen. Barack Obama have time and again voted to continue funding.
Illustrating the distance between establishment politicians's voting realities and stump rhetoric, both Clinton and Obama assure 2008 audiences that they oppose the Iraq War. (Ignore the bomb-voting Senator behind the curtain.)
It was upon identical pretending at principle the Democrat Party relied in 2004. Counterfeit progressives were abundant across the country's landscape, including here in Iowa. Their gaudy "No Blood For Oil" placards attracted cable news cameras.
But as the 2004 campaign season intensified and though the Iraq War continued, their protests ceased. Anti-war rallies were rare and sparsely attended. Many protesters lined up behind Democrat John Kerry, who had with his congressional votes helped launch the Iraq war.
And when such protesters as there were outside the national Democrat convention were arrested -- as were others at the Republican one -- papier mache progressives were not deterred from their inconsistent donkey advocacy.
I was in 2004 Iowa Coordinator for Ralph Nader's independent presidential campaign. (I'd previously volunteered for Nader in 2000 and had served as the Iowa Green Party's Media Coordinator.)
Criss-crossing the state with the ultimately successful ballot petition effort, I encountered thousands of what Nader would term, "timid liberals." I recall their personal viciousness and loud hostility at Nader campaign representatives. That campaign's genuinely progressive nature pointed up their own falseness.
"Why support Kerry?" I asked one, in Davenport.
"We've gotta get rid of Bush!" she declared. Presumably sensing the insufficiency of that response, she added, "We've gotta get the troops out of Iraq!"
I pointed out that Kerry had as a senator voted to grant Bush unilateral war-making authority, making the Iraq war possible. And that Kerry had assured attendees of the 2004 Democrat national convention that he would send thousands more into Iraq.
"Ralph Nader is the one calling for US troops to be recalled," I said.
She thought for a moment. Then exclaimed, "But, we've gotta get rid of Bush!"
I remembered those fractious months during a recent viewing of the Nader documentary, "An Unreasonable Man."
On the matter of Nader's opponents, veteran journalist James Ridgeway of the Village Voice was succinct: "Democrats are the meanest bunch of motherfuckers I've ever come across."
I reflected on the profanities screamed my way, the snarls shoved into my face and the Democrat Party-organized attempts to disrupt the 2004 Nader campaign in Iowa and other states.
Surely, at least some of the pro-Kerry "anti-war" perpetrators clung self-righteously to the standard-issue gear of the counterfeit progressive: the MoveOn.org membership, the Nation Magazine subscription, the Air America broadcast.
And most probably assured themselves that they were 'the good guys' and were open-minded supporters of democracy.
But I wasn't fooled. Their kind had helped make a progressive radical of me.
END
posted by DC Larson at
June 23, 2008
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