The dreaded mid-terms are over. The incessant barrage of political ads has ceased, and leftover campaign signs and literature are stuffed in recycle bins. Yes, the Democrats blew this one, but what most people don’t clearly see yet is the consolidation of states’ rights around a white supremacist ideology and strategy.
A look at the post-election maps of Republican-controlled legislatures is down-right scary. You witness a sea of red states- symbolic of the political, economic and social bloodshed that we can expect over the next several years.
The Democratic Party apparently has amnesia problems when it comes to campaigns and elections. Just as with previous times when they’ve been—in President Obama’s words – “shellacked,” it’s because they have forgotten who their base is and have tried to out-Republican the Republicans. The candidates then had the audacity to distance themselves from the President, which for many of the high-profile races proved to be lethal.
For example, Alison Grimes failed to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in Kentucky because she really didn’t distinguish herself from McConnell and she tried to act like she wasn’t a Dem. She even refused to say whether she voted for Obama in the presidential election. Traditionally blue states like Illinois and Massachusetts elected Republican governors.
Democrats gave their base no reason to get out and vote. They presented us with a bunch of lackluster candidates or those whose platform was indistinguishable from their conservative counterparts.
The Stenger-Stream fight in St. Louis County was a close one. Republican Rick Stream and Democrat Steve Stenger represent two different predominantly white, conservative districts. When one examines their track records for addressing African-American issues, only Stenger’s rhetoric helped to nose him ahead. The fact that some black Dems in St. Louis County broke away from the party to endorse Stream is indicative of the political quagmire we find ourselves in.
President Obama and the Democratic Party machine were timid contenders, an attribute that most voters despise. If you can’t stand up for your constituents, then they will find it difficult to stand up for you. The days of representing the agenda of the oppressed, the marginalized and the disenfranchised seem to be in the rear view mirror.
In the Ferguson debacle of the Mike Brown case, Democratic Attorney General Bob McCulloch and Democratic Governor Jay Nixon have behaved like Dixiecrats. And while white Dems have been totally unaccountable to us, black Dems have some explaining to do as well. When racial profiling, an unfair justice system, discriminatory housing and predatory municipal courts were fully unearthed in North County, black elected officials seemed to be complicit with the oppressive systems weighing down on black residents.
Democratic voters are disillusioned with the electoral process and have been disengaging over time. The 2008 presidential election was a departure but the future doesn’t look bright for Obama, the Democratic agenda or the lives of poor people and people of color.
Fair-minded whites must fight for an inclusive government, not one that favors the rich elite. Too many whites have bought into the fear and hate program of the racist corporatocracy to the point of working against their own self-interests.
The 99 Percenters must find bold and creative ways to build power both inside and outside of the Democratic Party. Our savior in the White House has been busy proving he’s the president for the 1 Percenters. Now that he has a united Congress against him, we can expect even less from President Obama in the next two years.
The majority of citizens must be able to fully participate in the structures that affect our lives, to make systems accountable to us and to benefit from full civil and human rights. That’s what democracy looks like.
