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A good friend and mentor posted on Facebook, “OK, so when does the revolution start?… Amend that: When does the revolution win?”
This was my response—
The Wheels of the Gods grind slowly but exceedingly fine. We are in this for the long haul. However. This is a blessing in disguise.
How? you may ask… It’s important to look back to where we lost our way.
We again didn’t see the train on the track. Well, I saw it. Most PoC I know saw it. The groups in the crosshairs did our parts.
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The simple answer is we (Progressives) have grown soft. We were complacent. We got our Black President, bought our T-Shirts and HOPE posters. And went home. We did this at the very time we needed to mobilize and secure the gains we fought for.
Remember, the GOP from day one conspired against not only POTUS Obama. They conspired against the American electorate. They were terrified of what a POTUS Obama stood for. The end of the White CIS Male Patriarchy. They desperately wanted to blunt the momentum. Trumps Birther movement was the first salvo.
We stayed home for midterms lost the house and the GOP Coalition of Crazy that tilled the soil for a POTUS Trump had begun. A sluggish recovery and impediments for anything that benefited the “working class” by a gridlocked congress further fed the flames of white discontent.
All they needed was a well-known demagogue to use the tried and true Southern Strategy to ride a wave of white discontent, racism & xenophobia.
Hillary was a good choice but again we (progressives) sat on our own balls by attacking the only person that would hold the ground we gained. Instead of collesing behind her after she was the nominiee we splintered. She got it from the left & right as Trump skated aided by the Press, The FBI & Russia.
We again didn’t see the train on the track. Well, I saw it. Most PoC I know saw it. The groups in the crosshairs did our parts. But white liberals were too busy prematurely celebrating wearing pantsuits or Bernie Bro Dead Enders voting Trump. Trump won Whites overwhelmingly. It was short-sighted and selfish.
And now here we sit.
So, like the children of Israel, because they didn’t heed the word of God, we find ourselves in The Wilderness. A Wilderness of willful ignorance & conscious stupidity, brutality, racism, and oppression.
And like the ancient Israelites, we will be made strong and pure and focused by our trials. Purged of the dead weight. Until we can either resurrect the Democratic Party. Or build a new Progressive Party, with less purity tests and gaslit debates and more Direct Action based and grounded in reality. Frankly, I think GOP & Dems are not much of a choice at all. Where I’m sitting it’s the choice of getting devoured by a Wolf or a Fox.
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I think we need a progressive party. A left-leaning non-corporate, inclusive, SANE, party that embraces everything we embrace without the shackles of big money. Bernie was on the right track, but it’s got to be bigger than any one candidate and the focus must be down ticket where the rubber meets the road legislatively in the state houses and district level support where we got walloped, and where the re districting and gerrymandering happens Grassroots, a true people’s movement a coalition that will raise consciousness high enough for a man like Trump to never rise in the future.
So I’m in this for the long haul.
Every new outrage drives people away from the GOP. We are energized. My wife and son marched on the 21st with millions of primarily women and will keep marching. Ultimately, we got the President we deserve. We can lick our wounds another day. We need strategies to win. Sec. Clinton was a bridge too far. The Patriarchy’s Last Sad Gasp was President Trump and now we all find ourselves stuck on the wrong side of the river Jordan. But the Promised Land within sight.
They’ve unwittingly done us a huge favor.
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Featured photo provided by author.
You know I dont think progressives just got complacent or soft. I think they got hypocritical and full of themselves. During this last presidential election the majority of activity I saw from Clinton supporters was spending more time trashing Trump than pushing Clinton. I can specifically remember talking to Clinton supporters and asking them what Clinton thought about this topic or that topic and do you know what I got for answers? “Ugh. Educate yourself.” “I don’t have time to explain why Trump is (insert insult).” “You must be a (insert insult) if have to ask that.” That is not… Read more »
Furthermore- your entire narrative is flawed. If minority voters had bothered to turn out in the same numbers they did for Obama then Clinton would have won. Trump got fewer votes than Romney. In Michigan (Detroit and Wayne County ONLY)- 75000 Obama voters in Detroit did not even turn out for Clinton. She lost the state by 10000 votes In Wisconsin- same story. No one turned out for Clinton. Trump had the same total as Romney. Turnouts were lowest in minority heavy urban areas. In North Carolina- If the same black voters had turned out for Clinton as turned out… Read more »
If you are inspired by anything Che did or said then I oppose you. Any party leaning on the words of a mass murdering, authoritarian coward is not one any decent person could support.