The Plutocracy is ascending, taking over the country, and we (Liberals and Progressives) are playing, absolutely fascinated, with our bruised and battered toes; shuffling towards irrelevancy because we have fallen in love with the idea of ourselves as singular seers and diviners, keepers of the truth and this truth is ugly.
We have become a tribe of Diddlers. We diddle around the edges of society, denying our membership in the "lesser", larger tribe, the tribe that contains our neighbors, sisters, brothers, cousins-- the materialistic "American Dream" Tribe; the tribe that will, without guidance, destroy the environment and themselves very simply by just living the status quo, because it is so hard to step outside of things as they are, because they are trapped in lives sold to them by their (our) parents, their church, their peers, their clubs and their government.
The answer is empowering our brethren -- not disempowering them with our defeatist aesthetic. They will go towards the light and in their present state -- Romney and Republican concepts are shining brightly. Romney/Ryan are the light. They hold the keys that will loose the ponderous chains that the middle class, Scrooge-like, drag around, exhausted and furious. They truly believe that the Oligarchs will cause money to flow towards them, freeing them from their struggle -- maybe someday they too will be an Oligarch or, if not them, their child. Liberals especially tend to forget that this tribe of Americans also love their children and want the absolute best for them. We may want our children to be literate, accepting, passionate -- possibly living out our dreams of a more pluralistic, groovy, bucolic existence; they want entirely different things for their children. Are they wrong -- I think so, but I know they love their children and are only wishing for their child what was wished for them. The conundrum here is how to get across the Liberal/Progressive message without, in their minds, endangering their family's birthright. It's obviously not possible this time around. However, constantly bombarding them with dystopian visions of America is certainly not moving towards a joining or a pause.
This also highlights one of the main differences, I believe, between Liberal/Progressives and Republicans, Conservatives, Right Wingers -- we have a tendency to want to level our opponents with pedantry and condescension -- they want to legislate and law us to death. Neither of these approaches is ever going to be productive. We are going to have to empower each other to feel comfortable in a true dialogue, not make assumptions based on our prejudices -- right or wrong.
We assume way too much. For example, we assume that because it is obvious that the climate is indeed changing our society needs to change accordingly. So, we create and promulgate dark, dystopian alternate realities -- they're not real just yet. We then become furious when they don't accept our alternative vision because we know that if we don't affect change these alternative realities can become reality. They subsequently scorn and ridicule us because we are so "Anti-American", doctrinaire and pedantic. We have forgotten that most important to them is getting the "American Dream" for themselves and their children and to get this they, naturally, fall back on what they know and are comfortable with. It becomes a vicious circle of fear-based recrimination -- on both sides.
They will vote and they will vote for Romney/Ryan. A Romney/Ryan Presidency will be disastrous. I strongly suggest voting for President Obama. I believe that if Liberal/Progressives showed up for Obama this time and immediately after November 6th demanded, en masse, with constructive, positive demands that he be Progressive like he said he was, the conversation could not be ignored and our Republican, Conservative, Right Wing brethren would have no choice but to participate in the dialogue or revolt and then once and for all we would know who the enemy truly is. After all, we still claim this place is a Democracy.
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