Not that liberals politicians are all that much better. The Democrats, rather than reading the public’s anger over the loss of jobs, the collapse of the economy, a permanent war and a bloated budget (caused by tax cuts for the rich and the war), are telling voters to surpress their anger — to “take it out in the ring” — rather than acknowledging the anger and working to give workers the tools they need to take their democracy back.
American workers are disenfranchised and the American public has been lulled into the false sense that their only responsibility to our democracy is to vote once a year. Too many Americans think that the election of a president will address their problems, their ability to act on their own behalf, to control their own political destiny.
The Tea Party is a reaction to this, even if it is a distorted reaction, an explosion of right-wing populism that has empowered a social backlash. The Tea Party may have risen up as a white anti-Obama movement, but it has gained traction because of the failure of the Democrats and the liberal establishment (the theme of Chris Hedges’ fine new book) to address working class concerns.
What we need is a real and vibrant left, one willing to go to the streets, willing to assault the power structure (without violence), willing to challenge the Democrats (as opposed to the obsequious way in which most of the left relates to the party and the president).
Barack Obama is better than George w. Bush (in the same way that a broken leg is better than amputation), but he is still a corporate Demcorat doing the bidding of corporate America and he’ll continue to do so unless we make some real noise.
- Send me an e-mail.
- Read poetry at The Subterranean.
- Certainties and Uncertainties a chapbook by Hank Kalet, will be published in November by Finishing Line Press. it can be ordered here.
- Suburban Pastoral, a chapbook by Hank Kalet, available here.
Hank Kalet 
Unions have been bashed, smashed, demonized, swift boated and gutted since Reagan fired the air traffic controllers. Unionization in the US is down to about 12% of the workforce. It is twice as much and more in Canada and Western Europe. Finland has a unionization rate of more than 80%. In this country, unions are blamed for everything that goes wrong in this country. Car companies go bankrupt, blame the unions. Failing schools, blame the unions. Jobs shipped overseas, blame the unions. Ordinary working folks who would benefit from union representation are often rabid anti-union haters. In part, they are jealous because union workers usually have better wages and benefits. And in large part, they have been brainwashed by the corporate media and corporate shills like Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, O'Reilly, The Wall Street Journal, the US Chamber of Commerce and most of the anti-union billionaires.So we have a beaten, cowed and compliant work force that dare not raise its voice against management unless they don't mind losing their jobs. If US workers went to the streets as the French are doing, the swat teams, the military would be called out and blood would flow in our streets, even if the protesters were peaceful. The Fox News watchers would be the first to cheer the killing of the protesters. Many Americans cheered the killing of the Kent State students and further back in history, many Americans cheered the smashing and killing of the Bonus Marchers during the Hoover administration. The troops were called out against American WWI veterans.