I know, I know...I wait nine days to write my post-election update. So what? I've had a lot to say and not much time to actually sit down and say it. The work of an activist is never done. Just because the election is over doesn't mean that I get a vacation. (It just means that I'm not going to get paid for it again anytime soon.) But my message to you all was summed up very nicely by my good friend Love back on November 5th: "Never lose hope."
Like most people of my political persuasion, I was devastated by the news last Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. I wound up lying on the couch in my apartment with a beer in front of me for fourteen hours straight, feeling downright inconsolable. I kept hoping it was all a bad dream and that I'd wake up...any minute now....
But when I finally accepted it, got up off my couch, cleaned myself up, and went to the mall for a little pick-me-up shopping (hey, guys do that too, you know), a funny thing happened...
I found my optimism again.
Some people within our movement may view this election as a thorough trouncing. I, on the other hand, see it as a good start.
Even the most hardcore neoconservative Republicans have to admit that we did succeed in one thing: we now have more people actively participating in the political process than at any time since 1968. Having more people sitting up and paying attention can do nothing but help us in the long run if we play our cards right. Maybe this time Americans voted based upon pure emotion and a few cleverly-wielded wedge issues...but it won't always be this way. What we progressives desperately need to do now is to offer people reasons to believe in US again. Rather than the tried-and-failed "vote for us because we're not THEM" strategy, we need to take this opportunity to offer practical, common-sense solutions to the problems facing everyday Americans. Let the Republican Party fall flat on its face; we all see it coming sooner rather than later. Meanwhile, we demonstrate to the American people that we offer not just a different way, but a BETTER way. The winds of change are blowing...it's up to us now to raise our sails.
And we're making headway already. Even in my home state of South Carolina (the BUCKLE of the Bible Belt), both John F. Kerry and Inez Tenenbaum (the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate) managed to get over 40% of the vote. It's actually possible now to drive all the way across South Carolina without passing through a single county that voted for Jim DeMint (the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate.) In a state as solidly Christian Conservative as this one, believe me, THAT'S progress!
So to all my Progressive brethren: now is NOT the time to hang our heads in shame. Nor should we be giving up the fight and fleeing the country, as some have suggested. Now is the time when the REAL work begins! We need to build on what we've accomplished so far and keep up the good fight! It's like Greenpeace USA Executive Director John Passacantando wrote in his post-election analysis:
"I know that yesterday's setback will weed the summer soldiers from the ranks of the movement. But I also know that the sweetness of a victory is in direct proportion to the enormity of the struggle. I know that our...mission is the struggle of our generation and that George Bush is symbolic of all that we oppose. And I know that this struggle is going to be long and bitter, that we will have to work harder and smarter, we will have to make greater sacrifices, and ultimately, the cause for which we fight will be the envy of future generations....
"Our cause is just. We can not afford to be defeated, or to be defeatist. Too much is at stake: our planet, our future and the legacy we leave to our children."
It's not over! Never give up! See you all on the front lines...
Like most people of my political persuasion, I was devastated by the news last Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. I wound up lying on the couch in my apartment with a beer in front of me for fourteen hours straight, feeling downright inconsolable. I kept hoping it was all a bad dream and that I'd wake up...any minute now....
But when I finally accepted it, got up off my couch, cleaned myself up, and went to the mall for a little pick-me-up shopping (hey, guys do that too, you know), a funny thing happened...
I found my optimism again.
Some people within our movement may view this election as a thorough trouncing. I, on the other hand, see it as a good start.
Even the most hardcore neoconservative Republicans have to admit that we did succeed in one thing: we now have more people actively participating in the political process than at any time since 1968. Having more people sitting up and paying attention can do nothing but help us in the long run if we play our cards right. Maybe this time Americans voted based upon pure emotion and a few cleverly-wielded wedge issues...but it won't always be this way. What we progressives desperately need to do now is to offer people reasons to believe in US again. Rather than the tried-and-failed "vote for us because we're not THEM" strategy, we need to take this opportunity to offer practical, common-sense solutions to the problems facing everyday Americans. Let the Republican Party fall flat on its face; we all see it coming sooner rather than later. Meanwhile, we demonstrate to the American people that we offer not just a different way, but a BETTER way. The winds of change are blowing...it's up to us now to raise our sails.
And we're making headway already. Even in my home state of South Carolina (the BUCKLE of the Bible Belt), both John F. Kerry and Inez Tenenbaum (the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate) managed to get over 40% of the vote. It's actually possible now to drive all the way across South Carolina without passing through a single county that voted for Jim DeMint (the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate.) In a state as solidly Christian Conservative as this one, believe me, THAT'S progress!
So to all my Progressive brethren: now is NOT the time to hang our heads in shame. Nor should we be giving up the fight and fleeing the country, as some have suggested. Now is the time when the REAL work begins! We need to build on what we've accomplished so far and keep up the good fight! It's like Greenpeace USA Executive Director John Passacantando wrote in his post-election analysis:
"I know that yesterday's setback will weed the summer soldiers from the ranks of the movement. But I also know that the sweetness of a victory is in direct proportion to the enormity of the struggle. I know that our...mission is the struggle of our generation and that George Bush is symbolic of all that we oppose. And I know that this struggle is going to be long and bitter, that we will have to work harder and smarter, we will have to make greater sacrifices, and ultimately, the cause for which we fight will be the envy of future generations....
"Our cause is just. We can not afford to be defeated, or to be defeatist. Too much is at stake: our planet, our future and the legacy we leave to our children."
It's not over! Never give up! See you all on the front lines...
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
oh and she got her name from the dictionary. i just opened it up and 'gecko' is what i saw. i have no actual affinity for geckos or other reptiles. not that i DONT like them, i just dont know much about them.
so you're in a red state too? hang in there, brotha!
xoxox