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.
