How Progressives can Win

The reforms of the New Deal, coupled with the GI Bill that followed World War II, created America's middle class. They made possible the high wage economy and educated work force that lead to sustained, shared economic growth. They were built on a premise that is fundamentally at odds with the Bush-McCain economic dictum that "you're on your own, buddy." That premise is the simple moral imperative that we're all in this together -- not all in this alone.

In his new book, Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win, Robert Creamer makes the case that while some people think that in order to win we must move to the center, adopt conservative values, and split the difference, history shows they are wrong. We don't need to move to the center. We need to move the center. We need to redefine the political center in American politics:

From 1932 to about 1973 -- at least so far as domestic policy is concerned -- traditional progressive values defined the political and economic center in the United States.

By the mid-1970's that changed, and we've been on the political and ideological defensive ever since. For seventy percent of the years since 1968 we have had Republican presidents. President Clinton made many important progressive initiatives. But even in the Clinton years we were forced to battle the dominant conservative value frame.

To achieve realignment, we have to get out of that defensive crouch. To do that we have to forcefully, proudly, consistently stand up for those progressive values. We have to provide a clear contrast between the Right's belief in the unbridled pursuit of individual interest and our commitment to the common good; between selfishness and commitment to others; between division and unity; between fear and hope. We have to consistently assert that fundamental progressive premise: that we're all in this together -- not all in this alone.

Creamer uses the term that fits the situation precisely, "We need to move the center. We need to redefine the political center in American politics". We need a new leader who can open the eyes of the majority of Americans who were deceived by the intricate web of lies thrust upon them by these so called "conservatives" of the last 30 years. Not surprisingly, many true conservatives were the quickest to warm to Barack Obama's message - they are painfully aware of the devastation done to the Republican Party under the "neo-con" flag. The "conservatives" of the early 1970's would be called "liberals" today. And we welcome them with open arms.

I'm not exactly sure when it came about that the Republicans became the "party of the people", but I do understand what so many of "the people" didn't for so many years - Today's GOP has played to their fears, the very lowest common denominators, and used that message to grab their votes while working against the people's best interests nearly all of the time. These neo-con Repubs liked to paint progressives as "tax and spend liberals" and "elitists", while they were busy giving tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans and passing legislation that stripped the working class of their rights. They have courted the middle class of this country as they systematically worked to destroy it!

It has taken a LONG time for people to awaken to what has been done to them behind the false smile facade of today's Repubs. But their eyes are open. . .and they are pissed as hell. . .