This Liberal isn't relaxed...because I don't think we've won

I subscribe to Salon magazine because I like it. I get email notices each day, directing me to the main sections and featured stories. Today's featured story is by Michael Lind, and is titled, "Relax, liberals. You've already won." He subtitles it with this tantalizing bit of alleged reassurance, "No matter who prevails at the ballot box in November, John McCain or Barack Obama, the four-decade-long conservative counterrevolution is over."

Oh Michael. You've no idea how I wish that were true or that I could simply agree with you, and relax.

But I'm afraid I think you're wrong.

Let me tell you why and how.

The article is built on this premise, stated in the opening paragraph:

On the Republican side, however, the general election campaign began months ago -- and presumptive nominee John McCain has spent much of that time tacking toward the center. He praised multilateralism in a March 26 speech in Los Angeles and in general is trying to appear more like an Eisenhower Republican than a Reagan Republican. True, every four years all major-party presidential candidates race toward the center. But in the last decade, even during the seven-plus years of the Bush presidency, the center of American politics has moved considerably to the left. Whether Obama or McCain wins the White House, liberalism has already won the national debate about the future of the country.

I don't think that last line---"liberalism has already won the national debate about the future of the country"---is true, not for one hot second.

The article also states, firmly and confidently:

For four decades, from 1968 to 2008, the counterrevolutionaries of the right waged war against the New Deal, liberal internationalism, and moral and cultural liberalism. They sought to abolish middle-class entitlements like Social Security and Medicare, to replace treaties and collective security with scorn for international law and U.S. global hegemony, and to reverse the trends toward individualism, secularism and pluralism in American culture.

And they failed. On every front conservatives have failed, completely, undeniably and irreversibly. The failure of the right has left the structure of 20th-century American liberalism standing, battered and cratered but still intact.

Oh no, oh no they did not fail. They succeeded, beyond their wildest dreams I'm sure, they succeeded. Zealot pundits such as Ann Coulter have been legitimized in mainstream media, giving the impression that the loud and crazy vocal minority is weighted more than the less vocal majority---to the degree that, in fact, they are being weighted heavier. And their representatives are in power making decisions that are severely detrimental to our nation such as

• imprisoning children in terrible conditions at T Don Hutto prison in Texas
• secret lawmaking and behind the screen government, with offshoots such as Homeland Security, spying on Americans without due process, and my personal favorite, Real ID
• fat and happy oil companies while American pay $4 per gallon of gas and face 5.5% unemployment, a 20-year high
• rising numbers of uninsured citizens and a worsening infant mortality rate, thanks to cutting SCHIP
• the War
• a conservative Supreme Court, which seems to have forgotten the main tenets of Constitutional law

We're losing our privacy and our freedoms, and our only hope is to fight to regain the ones we've already lost and prevent any further loss.

To that end, it does matter who is elected in November. Republicans keep saying McCain is practically a Democrat, but he's not. He hasn't got an energy plan that would suit the Democrats, nor has he got a health insurance plan, a plan for furthering equal rights, or an economic recovery plan, much less a plant to end the war in Iraq that would suit Democrats.

The Republican party has been steered so far to the right, even old-time members of the so-called Eisenhower styled GOP don't remember what it's like near the center. Their perspective is so askew they think McCain---a man who thinks a hundred year war is a good idea and who says women just need more education and training instead of the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act---is a centrist who is practically a Democrat.

I asked the MOMocrats what they think.

Jaelithe said:

The liberals will not have "won" in my mind until our civil rights under the Constitution, as set down by the Founding Fathers at the dawn of our nation, are restored, and our reputation as a world leader on human rights is repaired.

Our calls are still being tapped and our email and instant message communications monitored by our government without permission. Guantanamo Bay is still open, as are secret American prisons around the world, holding people, some of them children, in a legal limbo without trial. Judges and lawyers who have approved of torture are still working in our government.

The progressive movement has certainly made progress on social and cultural fronts over the past several decades. But I would certainly not say that liberals have won. It's dangerous, very dangerous, in my view to say we can relax now because some Republicans have come to realize that protecting Social Security is in their own best interests, or because public opinion has turned against the egregious executive-power-grab excesses of the Bush administration. Many of the people behind some of the worst human rights and civil rights violations during this administration, many of the people who totally mismanaged public education and emergency response programs and who mistreated our own injured troops when they came home, are still in power, right now, and have not been held accountable. This article is declaring "Mission Accomplished" when we've only just begun to gain ground.

Jen said:

We have a long, long way to go.  While recent events give me hope, I am and will continue to be shattered by the rampant misdeeds, greed and yes, criminal behavior that has reached critical mass during this administration.  There is no relaxing here.

LawyerMama said:

It's interesting that the author hypothesizes that McCain has been forced to tack to the left on issues such as health care, the environment, and foreign policy "at least in rhetoric." 

 

First, I wouldn't consider McCain's policies to be left of center.  His almost non-existent environmental policy certainly isn't moving to the left.  Left of nothing is still, well, nothing. 

 

His foreign policy?  So far I've heard about 100 years in Iraq, a threatened war with Iran, and belittling of Obama for setting forth the idea that we should engage in diplomacy first.  That's tacking left?

 

Let's talk health insurance.  I still have yet to hear how exactly John McCain intends to insure that all Americans are covered.  His solution appears to be not much more than "let the market fix it."  We all know that ain't gonna happen.  Is simply acknowledging that there is indeed a problem with our health care system a mark of a move to the left?  Not if you're proposing band aid solutions that won't help anyone other than insurance companies.

 

But let's assume for a moment that McCain is actually tacking to the left.  We have to remeber that what we're hearing is only rhetoric and the typical election march to the center.  Does anyone remember George W. Bush and his party of "compassionate conservatism?"  How is what we're hearing from John McCain anything more?

 

We'll only have won when action follows rhetoric and recent history has taught us that that isn't likely to happen if a Republican is in control.  I for one am certainly not going to relax and rest on my liberal laurels.

Now I ask you...what do you think? Do you think the right failed? Do you think liberals can relax? Is Michael Lind on point or way off target when he asserts that it doesn't matter who wins in November because the liberal agenda is already fulfilled?

Although she's not relaxing on this issue, Julie does enjoy relaxing in general, especially at her personal blog Using My Words and Moms Speak Up, where she is Editor in Chief.

Comments

[Caroline]

Thank you Julie for this post! I agree w/ you whole-heartedly that so many of us are counting our chickens and enjoying our "spoils" much too soon. I absolutely agree that the right has mainstreamed some very scary issues. I think this country has been left a bit "dumbed down" after 8 years of Bush. There is no complex grey area, one we need to think carefully about and have open discourse - there is only black and white. Good guys (us) and bad guys (them, whomever we're fighting, anyone "unamerican"). And thats been absolutely acceptable for FAR too long. I think McCain is dangerous, repeating so much of what Bush has been harping on all along, but seemingly coming across as more "center". HOW HOW HOW can't anyone running for president put the environment at the top of the agenda right now - and he's not! I actually think we have a huge battle ahead of us. Obama is the man, and there are a lot of ppl in his court, but we have so very much to do to change the wiring of our country. Fear mongering, hate, war, oil, greed, phobias, and money have over run our values as Americans. Obama needs to convince so many voters still and then FIX THIS MESS. We have very far to go. Again, thank you for the wake-up call post.

[Kristin]

I so strongly disagree with the notion that "all is going to be OK" even if McCain is elected that I just can't even stand it. McCain is and would be a nightmare.

The American Conservative Union, which rates lawmakers on a great number of issues, from tax cuts to judicial appointments to the minimum wage, gave McCain a lifetime rating of 82.3%, with a rating in 2006 of 92%. Hardly a moderate centrist.

On abortion rights, he has received a zero from NARAL for the past four years, voting overwhelmingly to limit a woman’s right to choose. He stated, “If I am fortunate enough to be elected as the next President of the United States, I pledge to you to be a loyal and unswerving friend of the right to life movement.” Consider what this means for our next Supreme Court Justice.

As for his supposedly pro-environment stand, the League of Conservation Voters gave him a 2007 score of zero and just 24% over a lifetime. Considering that Obama has a lifetime score of 86%, there really is no comparison. Simply put, a potential President McCain will continue the Bush Administration’s decimation of the environment.

On other issues, McCain comes across to some Democrats as a really honest guy, not someone who would abandon his core issues or try to mislead Americans in any way. One of these core issues, supposedly, was campaign finance reform. Recently, however, his campaign admitted to spending $4 million over the limit imposed when he agreed to accept public financing. So much for being a man of principle.

And finally, Iraq. Despite the fact that a recent USA Today/Gallup poll has 65% of Americans favoring an aggressive plan for withdrawal, John McCain has, of course, called for a seemingly never-ending presence in Iraq. More Americans dead. More Iraqis dead. The nightmare would continue.

So, I wish I could relax but I know I can't. As for Michael Lind, his piece indicates that he's perhaps too relaxed...as in "bong-water drinking, dorito-eating" relaxed. Hallucinations-type relaxed.

[daisy]

I used to think McCain was the lesser of the evils in the Republican party. He crossed the aisle and worked with Russ Feingold on campaign reform, spoke up against the farthest right, and more.
Now? I think he's reverted to type, if his recent misogynist actions and quotes show his true colors.

[cynematic]

Michael Lind, we have not yet begun to fight. Dude--get up off the couch!

[Florinda]

It would be lovely if this were true, but I'm pretty sure it isn't. I think that there's a vein of conservatism in this country now that's wider and deeper than some people realize, and it doesn't just apply to their politics. In my observation, McCain has actually veered further in that direction and away from the center during the last months of primary season; I actually had (a little) more respect for him a couple of years ago when he wasn't trying so hard to walk the Republican party line.

I very much agree with what Caroline said in her comment -

"I think this country has been left a bit 'dumbed down' after 8 years of Bush. There is no complex grey area, one we need to think carefully about and have open discourse - there is only black and white. Good guys (us) and bad guys (them, whomever we're fighting, anyone "un-American"). And thats been absolutely acceptable for FAR too long."

- and I think that looking at this in terms of one agenda winning out over the other is actually a good example of that kind of black-and-white thinking.

In any case, this is all far from over and no one should get too comfortable yet.

[Gunfighter]

The Conservative movement has failed, and massively... but they don't know it, yet... so you'd better get your armor back on.

[Karoli]

I worry about this. I wish they'd all go on vacation or off the campaign trail for about a month just to end the speculating, polling and constant in-our-face reportage.

Obama is best when he's the underdog. I want no talk of him sewing up the election now, because I'm superstitious about how elections turn. He can't look cocky and he can't underestimate McCain or the Republicans. They have months to organize and smear.

[Sara]

The best way to ruin a good opportunity (in politics or otherwise) is to get complacent and sit back on our laurels. I do agree the the overall climate is more favorable to a Democratic win than it has been since 2000. But that DOES NOT translate to: "we've got it won so we can sit back and relax." It's going to take a lot of effort and a lot of fight to rally the support and excitement of those who support Obama, and to expose McCain for the *very right conservative* that he is. One of the biggest things working against Obama is the perception of McCain as a "moderate" (um...all it takes is a quick glance at his record to see that's not the case) or a "maverick" (he's towing the party line these days better than Bush). As for principled? What happened to the POW who claimed that torture is never acceptable? He voted *against* a bill that would outlaw torture and waterboarding of detainees! Or who thinks that despite my Ivy League education, i just need more training to be competitive in the work force. I could go on and on...

We can't rest! Not only do we have to help Obama prove himself as the inspirational and capable leader his is, we have to work to make sure McCain is seen as who *he* really is...not moderate, not maverick, not "almost democrat." But conservative...really scary conservative!!