In today’s Planet Waves podcast, I offer the idea – perhaps shocking – that politics is not a spectator sport. It’s a game with real consequences that we’re invited to participate in, especially if we want to get results.
In the United States we are accustomed to witnessing sports events – and many other events – featuring superstars who supposedly save the day. But that’s not going to work in the political realm. Politics is a game that we must take part in directly, on the ground and in our hearts and souls, if we’re going to get results.
Today’s podcast also covers the Scorpio New Moon on Saturday and the interesting series of Mars conjunctions over the next two weeks — involving Palllas Athene, the asteroid of politics. This suggests that there will be some immediate fallout from the elections.
Dear heart:
Finally listened to your podcast. The 18th is the day Obama is going to meet with the incoming republican leadership.
What a dick-measuring display that should be by those white-assed twerps!
It will be the turning point – of the people getting people riled up enough – I PRAY!!!
This is part of what came into my in-box via e-mail:
“But the results are in. The House of Representatives is in the hands of the most corrupt Speaker-in-waiting ever, the Tea Party is ascendant, and the U.S. Senate, however dysfunctional it has been, is poised to be much worse.
For those of us who had hopes that the Obama Administration could seize the moment and enact popular progressive changes, this is a bitter pill. And like many, we grieve at the lost opportunities.
But now we need to brush off the dust, suck it up, and plunge back into substantive fights. Politics is not fair — indeed, U.S. elections are rigged in profound ways! But walking away is not an option at CREDO Action, and we hope you will join us in some of the actions below we think are strategic in the new political landscape:
1. Commit to Taking Down FOX News. So long as FOX News has any credibility within the Beltway, it will be a pipeline for malicious material that will poison our political culture. Join our friends at Color of Change: turnofffox.org/landing?credo.
2.Tell the Senate to pass the DISCLOSE Act during the lame duck session. We were able to defeat the Texas Oil Initiative, Prop 23 in California, in part because we knew who the enemy was — having disclosure of corporate contributions brings the enemy out in the open for us to take on and fight. The DISCLOSE Act passed the House and came within a single vote of passing the Senate. One vote. You can join this fight by taking action with Public Citizen at citizen.org/disclose-act-action.
3. Keep fighting to end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. This issue will get resolved during the lame duck session. Take action at act.credoaction.com/campaign/bushtaxcuts.
4. Sign up for the fight for a constitutional amendment to reverse the Citizens United decision by declaring that corporations do not have the legal rights of humans. This may take years, if not decades, but we should start now. Please join Free Speech for People: freespeechforpeople.org/.
5. Tell the FCC to use its existing authority to establish and defend net neutrality. Our friends at Free Press are leading this charge: act2.freepress.net/sign/put_up/.
6. Demand that the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service investigate the political organizations set up by Karl Rove to launder millions of dollars in secret cash to change the outcome of elections. Act now at act.credoaction.com/campaign/investigate_crossroads.
7. Defend the EPA from castration by pro-coal interests in Congress. The EPA accomplished almost nothing during the Clinton years because the Gingrich-led Congress used the budget process to prohibit the agency from doing its work. This battle has already started. The Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign is a great way to join this fight: sierraclub.org/coal.
8. Convince the Obama administration to stop appealing progressive court rulings on matters like the Defense of Marriage Act, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and the state secrets defense against torture and wiretapping. Urge the Department of Justice to change its approach at act.credoaction.com/campaign/stop_appealing.
9. Urge Democratic senators to do away with lifetime tenure for committee chairs and open up all chair positions to majority vote elections. This will go a long way towards more progressive legislation. Take action with us at act.credoaction.com/campaign/end_seniority_system.
10. Demand that the Department of Justice enforce the provisions of the national voter registration law that require state governments to offer to register all voters at departments of public welfare and motor vehicles. Many state governments simply ignore these requirements and this is a cheaper and more inclusive way of registering voters than the campaigns of the now dead ACORN. Urge Attorney General Eric Holder to expand voter registration: credoaction.com/campaign/enforce_motor_voter.
I suspect you are angry and exhausted at this point. I know I am. But let us not forget that the values and ideals we fight for are greater than any one election. They still endure, and so must our fight. We have a lot of work to do.”
Michael Kieschnick, CEO
CREDO Action from Working Assets
___________________________________________________________________
Anyone else get interesting e-mail in their inbox today?
That was an astute analysis of the political landscape of your country Eric, as of yesterday that is…….! I share your intrigue as to what is going to unfold in the days and weeks ahead. I do believe though that people are going to start participating more fully in democracy with eyes wide open.
Watching and listening from across the border here in Canada, I would agree that both classism and racism were very much at the heart of the change, but I would also add that age old sexism be included as well, because I feel that Nancy Pelosi was swept out of her office as the first female House Speaker for being precisely that. She was targeted and vilified and the goal of getting her out, fueled the ire of many voters and she got turfed as a result. Pathetic really.
Let’s take stock…shall we? Voting in Repubs because you are mad at the Dems for not doing the job you wanted is like a thief coming into your home; you call the police and they botch things up so that the thief gets away with SOME of your goods and in retaliation for that botch up job, you INVITE THE THIEF BACK? Or maybe it is because the Dems and Progressives threatened white folks by voting a Black Man into the White House?
The biggest problem with people is, we have been so dumbed down as to expect everything in a tweetable sound bite. Dems and Progressives missed that fact and kept droning on and on about intelligent stuff when they should have been saying; “If Repubs get elected, grandma will go back to eating dogfood because Repubs will cut Social Security!” The shock and fear that would bring on are exactly what The People have been primed for and would respond to. Educated discourse is not on their menu; shock and fear in short sound bites are.
I hope Progressives and the intelligentsia that comprise them get it and see that we are dealing with scared, impatient, STUPID people who want a SIGN, a THREAT, to motivate them to change.
The other thing Dems and Progressives must understand and stop underestimating is the deep RACISM that divides us and the fear the dominant white upper class has of the increasing population of the minority brown poor classes.
For me, it is time to stay in the game and do everything I can to help us move forward.
Onward and upward; even if it “feels” like tilting at windmills we must keep working.
phali
ya, but like so many things, there is no plan in place to accommodate legalzed pot. Bad enough that my apartment neighbors get to legally kill me with second-hand smoke. There are some basic rules missing in order to provide for more of this kind of situation. Especially since pot smoking is run rampant anyway. I mean, medicinal marijuana is everywhere now.
Oh – I’m pro legalization and voted that way – BUT we have so many issues to re-distribute, re-plan, re-consider and getting smart about this and other issues (like marriage rights and legal sex work) might have to come first.
But then I completely agree – the shake up would’ve been fun.
xo
“Feel good, pay attention.” Thanks for the advice, Eric.
Its going to be 90+ here in Los Angeles today. Earthquake weather?
I’m ready for almost anything at this point.
At least Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer prevailed. God help them. A little bummed about Prop 19 going down (it would have been fun to watch the chaos).
The next day analysis from the trad media is saying that the W.H. policies failed and the Amer. public rejected liberal politics. Um, whatever. BO is not really a liberal and never exactly claimed to be. Neo-liberal policy cannot work when the economy is spiraling down the toilet and the unemployment rate is continuing upward. When close to 20% of the electorate has been out of work for over 12 mos., you need to implement social democracy.
He’s going to have to tack hard-left as in “New” New Deal. Because other than that, he’s got nothing left in his arsenal and nothing to run on for ’12. Nothing.
Ouch. I have Capricorn Mercury~Sun square Chiron on one side, Pluto and Vesta on the other. I guess Pluto and Vesta from Libra are the breathing, the yoga, the “soft” martial arts taking a bit of heat off of that bluster. I’m feeling the pull of my north lunar node conjunct GC and also conjunct Pallas in Capricorn a few degrees away. What you said about activism is something I noticed back in the 90’s- people were just reacting to the same stuff they brought with them from home. I gotta watch that tendency myself as I become more politically active. The martial arts help a lot as I can breathe and establish a root which brings me into present time like turning on a switch. Maybe there’s niche I can fill- Tai Ji Chuan for political activists…of course you have to get past a lot of bullshit to even start a daily practice which is what it takes to get anything substantial from any kind of self transformation. Anything less and your old patterns have a chance to grow back. I think people also have to get past the idea that doctors and therapists can do the daily maintenance work for them. A massage or an acupuncture treatment or a trip to a talking therapist is great, but without my own practices the effects fade and I’m left with myself in any case. Remembering to breathe is something I can do as long as I’m alive, anywhere and in any situation regardless of whether or not there’s a therapist handy.
From Mark Morford, a great “Letter to a Whiny Young Democrat”
excerpt:
“Of course, you’ve now learned the hard way that the hot flush of a major election is far more electrifying than the gray n’ meaty grind of actual governing. Obama flew into office on gossamer liberal wings, but the real halls of D.C. are a goddamn pigsblood slaughterhouse, brutal and depressing, full of gnarled legislative compromise. Screw that noise, you know?
And you know what? You’re right. Well, sort of. The Obama administration sure as hell could’ve done more to keep young activists inspired and involved. It’s an opportunity squandered, no question. Then again, dude was sorta busy unburying the entire nation, you know? And the twitchy Democratic party has never been known for its savvy cohesion. Maybe you can give him/them a break? Whoops, too late.
Look, I’m sorry. I know I’m being far too hard on you. Of course it’s not just you. It’s not completely your fault these dimwit Repubs were allowed to ooze back into a bit of power so soon. As many analysts have pointed out, this wasn’t a vote for the Republicans, but against the limp-wristed Dems who didn’t step up and lead with more authority and clarity of purpose. Truly, libs and independents of every age are frustrated Obama isn’t governing with the same kind of magical, balls-out visionary zeal that fueled his campaign.
And let’s not forget a shockingly unintelligent Tea Party movement that stands for exactly nothing and fears exactly everything, all ghost-funded by a couple of creepy libertarian oil billionaires — the leathery old Koch brothers — who eat their young for a snack. Who could’ve predicted that gnarled political contraption would hold water? But hey, when Americans are angry and nervous, they do stupid things. Like vote Republican. It happens. Just did.
But here’s your big takeaway, young Dem: It ain’t over yet. The 2012 election is just around the corner. If we’ve learned anything, it’s that two years whip by insanely quickly. Anything can happen, and usually does. You’ll have another chance. And probably another after that. Maybe more. “
My daughter reported from up in northern CA that many many students – first time voters – were turned away from the polls for unclear and untrue reasons. And it takes a little experience to stand your ground and insist that you are registered and entitled to vote.
However, I am relieved to see that CA did a pretty good job of keeping the wolves from coming inside the door.
FABULOUS that (D) Jenny Oropenza was reelected even though she passed awsy before the election. Dems in her district took extra care to see her rival didn’t get an insta-seat. Horaay for the small things.
You know, the teabaggers are in for a VERY RUDE awakening. So are seniors. Having Paul in the Senate and that shitbag Scott as Governor in FL, many of the followers of the Tea Party are going to find out the hard way that they didn’t shoot themselves in the foot; they shot themselves in the face. I took Paul very seriously when he said he thought Medicare should consist of giving seniors a $2,000 check and good-bye. I have no doubt that Alan Simpson wants to implement the “recommendations” on the catffood commission by next year. At the latest. SS benefits will begin to be slashed soon; veteran’s benefits will consist of a $75 check and pre-printed note, “Thanks for your service.”
This has truly been a case of “be careful what you wish for – because you WILL get it, just not the way you think….”
Yesterday here in Arizona, up early to hold signs at 6:30am as the rush to work began, and spending the whole day on my feet walking door to door in the marginalized part of town, urging newly registered voters to get to the polls…I thought…How is this any different than those holyroller wackos, really, who have so much energy and belief?
Today I am exhausted and disheartened.
I knew nationally it would happen, and nationally the ebb & flow between parties will help. But in Arizona…I don’t get it, I marched with 75,000 people in May, if what has happened this summer in our southwestern border state doesn’t bring out the masses to participate, I don’t know what else will….or rather…I’m so very afraid to see what will.
Maybe it is all about 2012…