Sound Off! On the Brink of Turning the Tide

We had our regular DFA - Democracy for New Mexico Meetup in Albuquerque the day after the selection. We had wavered on whether to hold it or not, given the horrors of the manufactured mandate Bush claims. But some people had signed up for it, so we went ahead.

To my surprise, the Page One coffee shop was absolutely PACKED with people. Faces old and new. Long-time DFA folks and new people finding their way from MoveOn and ACT and the Kerry campaign, looking for a way to the future, to remain connected and active despite the Pyrrhic victory of the dark forces of fear and repression and war for its own sake.

We just went around the room and let everyone ramble. People expressed all the emotions I know I have no need to list. But there was an incredibly creative energy also present in the room, an energy ripe with ideas for action by little circles of citizens, small but potent cells of citizens, loosely networking across the city and the state and the nation. Planning actions that may well be effectively politically, but that are also intrinisically valuable because they are right actions, expressive of caring and humanity and soul and democracy with a small "d."

It is only since the early actions of MoveOn and then the wildly inclusive and original tactics of the Dean campaign that we have actually had any real and widespread grassroots citizen action plan for taking out Bush and his minions and evolving the agenda to serve the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party. We almost won, despite how difficult it is to take out a "commander-in-chief" in "wartime" with the corporate media working against us. In spite of the religious poobahs going so far as to claim it would be sinful to vote for Kerry, while posters of Bush morphing into Jesus were making their way into many a small-town and rural byway.

Of course they stole votes. Of course they used all kinds of filthy tactics to prevent our people from voting. But still, they almost lost. We are literally on the brink of turning the tide. A tipping point is coming and Bush's no-doubt disastrous second term may well provide it.

He, and those who voted for him, have made their bed and they will have to lie in it. They have the presidency AND the Congress. There is no-one to blame. There is inevitable disaster coming as an inevitable result of their misguided and dishonest and incompetent plans for our nation and the world. This may well provide the perfect opportunity for completely discrediting their positions and approach. They will look like asses and have no-one else to point to, to blame.

Sure, wide swaths of humanity will suffer and even die. More and more of the planet's natural places will be sacrificed to greed and drilling. Our social safety net, health care system and the remnants of a sense of the common good will continue to deteriorate.  So of course I feel angry and miserable and depressed. But I'm trying to keep my eye on the silver lining.

Lyndon Johnson won a landslide and yet had to withdraw from the next election. Richard Nixon won a landslide and quickly found himself in Watergate and ruin. Sometimes when the asses of hubris get their own way, what they really get is enough rope to hang themselves.

All I know is that I've met so many incredibly talented and passionate and zanily funny people in this new political landscape. And I know most of them are in no way ready to give up now. If you feel the same way, go ahead and click on the Meetup button on the left-hand side of this page and join us. And share your hopes and plans and strategies and opinions here. There's a movement a'brewing.

Barbara Wold