From now until the next big election cycle, it will be a stand-off between the people and the corporations.
Coming out of the midterm elections, the corporate class has clearly won this battle (but not the war) and has handily seized the momentum that could determine the outcomes in 2012. Many voters are standing like the proverbial deer in front of the supersized headlights of the corporate truck full of goodies to gain more power like money, tax cuts, elected officials, banks, the courts, etc.
So the question is: Are you tired of being hustled by the Democrats and rolled over by the Republicans?
If so, I have a few ideas that could advance our collective interests as the working people who continue to be the backbone of this country’s economy. We should never forget this major role. It can be an effective bargaining chip, as the workers in Europe often use.
First, the Democratic Party needs to get its act together. Loyal Dems are tired of being taken for granted. Then at election time, we hear the “but I still love you” crap. Either we put some fire under the Dems to make them more accountable and responsive, or we become Independents. Both parties fall all over each other trying to please the Independents.
And if we really want to be radical, the sick-and-tired-of-both-parties people will start their own party, a party that actually and continually fights for the interests of working people in this country.
Second, winning the hearts and minds of the people can’t only be done through the internet and only at election time. The right has taken a page out of the organizing work done in the 1930s and the 1960s – meeting people where they are. This could be the workplace, the shopping mall, the pool hall, the beauty shop or the local pub. We can’t possibly compete with the millions of dollars in ads and marketing; ours must be a laser-beam strategy that takes a little more time but is way more personal.
Lastly, none of us with an income of less than $250,000 has the luxury of waiting for anyone to save us. We must start reading more and understanding more deeply how the current economic and political system is sucking us dry. We need to work smarter together (we don’t have to love one another) and resist the temptations of egotism and narcissism.
We have already seen that those with the most money or the best education aren’t necessarily the smartest about how to transform our society. There are many roles to play, and there’s one for you.
I don’t want November 2012 to find us further in the economic ditch and in the political swamp because we didn’t use our collective power to choose a different destiny that has been charted for us. There are those who favor Corporatocracy (yes, it’s a real word and a real world) over Democracy (yes, it could be more than a meaningless word and an ideal world). As Mahatma Ghandi once said, let’s be the change we want to see.