The Stakes in November. I Am Begging You.

David Zephyr

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Tue Sep-21-10 02:22 PM
Original message

The Stakes in November. I Am Begging You.

Edited on Tue Sep-21-10 03:21 PM by David Zephyr

Harry Reid and the vast majority of Democrats in the Senate are at this moment, just before an election, pushing to end Don't Ask, Don't Tell, which most of their political advisers would tell them is not a very wise thing to do. I've been active in political campaigns and activism since the 1960's and I can assure you that this took a lot of courage for these Democrat to do this right before an election. But they did. In another show of courage, they are pushing for The Dream Act these last weeks. Both DADT and the Dream Act will be used as red meat to stir up the right-wing crazies to get to the polls and to vote for the Republican candidates just weeks from now.

Why does this even matter? Because it should crystalize to everyone that there are real differences between these two American political parties. We may gripe about what Ralph Nader calls the Duopoly that exists in American Politics or about DINO's within the Democratic Party, but don't be fooled by your own anger about this: when the GOP is in control the nation moves quickly in a very dangerous harmful direction. Republicans never waste time when they have the helm of the country in taking us right to hell.

If you are working class, if you are elderly, if you are hoping to retire with dignity, if you have children, if you are in a racial minority in this nation, if you have loved ones or friends or children of friends with immigrant issues, if you are a gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, or transgender American, if you are unemployed or worrying about becoming unemployed, if you own a small business, if you are upside down with your mortgage, if you are worrying about your health-care, if you give a damn about our environment, if you are sick of wars for oil, if you want to bring our military footprint down around the world, if you want more open government, if you care about protecting a girl or woman's right to control their own reproductive organs and their very health and life, if you want progressive judges appointed and more seated on the Supreme Court, then you have a real life and death stake in the outcome of the mid-terms. That is not hyperbole.

I'm not asking anyone here to hold their nose and vote for the Democratic Candidate on your ballot for Congress or for the Senate, I'm asking you to work for them...yes, regardless of whether they have let you down or not because should we lose either the House or the Senate, the Republicans will gain control of the committees, the subpoena powers and hearings that go with them. It will saddle President Obama even more than he already is. And if you can't find it within yourself to work for the Democrats, then do something constructive and work against the Republicans. Put your anger, intelligence, funds if you can, and your wit and energy into fighting them.

I am hardly a popular man around here. Anyone here long enough to remember, knows how fervently I supported President Obama throughout the Primaries upsetting a lot of Hillary Clinton supporters who can not or will forgive that. On the other hand, Obama's greatest supporters know how brutally hard I was on him throughout his first year in office in 2009, especially because I felt (and still do) that he should have focused on job growth immediately because I've been around long enough to know that it takes time to ramp up from unemployment to a healthy employment reality. And those supporters are equally upset with me.

I am among a few here who are DU'ers without a camp. And I can live with that.

But, if you are unhappy with the overall progress President Obama and Congress have made, consider what our alternative would be right now. Just look at what is going on with even Don't Ask, Don't Tell in the Senate.

We need more Democrats in Congress, not less. I write you this as one of a handful at the DU who opposed the initial invasion of Afghanistan, who began working as an activist in 1970 in Los Angeles for GLBT rights (we didn't say GLBT back then and our first service organization was called the Gay Community Service Center, so even our community has come a long way), I organized the moratorium against the Vietnam War on my college campus and was threatened with being expelled, and maybe some would say I pissed away a lot of my life being an activist. But I was not alone all these many years.

Our country's history is rich with contributions seen and unseen by millions of courageous women and men who have struggled for progressive causes and it may be a silly notion, but I am proud to have been a part of that "crowd" if even an unseen face.

As a proud member of The Left, I am also still wise enough to understand the enormous differences between what happens when the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are have control of this nation. I may be disappointed in the Democratic Party, but I know how truly wicked, cruel and destructive the Republican Party will be whenever they get the levers of power in this nation.

To my fellow DU'ers who are younger and to the few who are older than me, this is a time for us to unite. We can hold the Democrats' feet to the fire after November, but we will have no influence whatsoever with a Republican House or Senate or in the State Houses where re-districting will be done.

It's time to lay our differences aside for 5 or so weeks and unite. Is this something we can rise to? Can we set aside our differences for a few weeks? To Obama's staunchest supporters, you need the activist base and dismissing their concerns is not helpful at all. To those on the Left, at this point in time, we are not compromising what we believe by preventing the GOP from gaining power in November. We know we are not going to let them off the hook after November, if we are fortunate enough to still have them on the hook. What I am asking you is to keep them on our hook. At least it's our hook. If the GOP takes the House or diminishes our haphazard "majority" in the Senate, then the hook, line and sinker will be in the Republican's hands, not ours. They will have the fishing pole and it will be the radical right who has their GOP representatives "on the hook".

There is really so much at stake.I ask you to just remember the period from 2001 to 2009 and/or that stretch from 1981 to 1993 and pinch yourself. Hard. If you can't fight for the Democrats, then help fight against the Republicans.

Can I count on the majority of those here at the DU, many of whom I've known since early 2001 here? There's a Democratic HQ somewhere probably near you that is short one volunteer, that needs someone to help in a phone-bank, that needs a little money, that needs help with GOTV, and where you, a DU'er, can really make a big difference.

I am begging you.