by Toby O’Ryan
Cruising the internet, there is article after article from loyal Democrats expressing extreme frustration with the leaders of the Party.
William Rivers Pitt on Truthout.org, calls for Congressional Democrats to ‘find their spine’ and demands that they walk out of the State of the Union address, stating:
“The stakes have never been higher. You are dealing with a President who wants to make his Executive powers absolute, and with a Republican party that has been usurped from soup to nuts by extremists that would be cartoonish if they were not so very real. . . You are dealing with a group of people that want you exterminated politically.”
Robert Parry, on Consortiumnews.com calls for even a lone Democratic Senator to filibuster Alito, due to the latter’s support for unbridled presidential power. He convincingly assails the notion that the Democrats can win the 2006 elections by ‘finessing’ the grave threat represented by Alito and instead focusing on “corruption.”
Bill Simpich, writing at Counterpunch, exposes Democratic Congressional leader Nancy Pelosi’s attempts to dance around the issue of the war at a town hall meeting.
There are debates to be had on the efficacy of electoral politics, on why the Democratic leaders are doing what they’re doing, on what kinds of changes are really needed, and so on down the line. I’ve been in on those debates and I’ll be in more.
But the point I want to make today is this: if you do look to the Democratic leaders to stop what is becoming a rush to fascism, if you do want them to act against what even Al Gore warns threatens to become a permanent change, then you must understand that this cannot happen WITHOUT those people whom they claim as their base acting in the streets in massive numbers, demanding nothing less than the end to this vicious and dangerous regime.
The logic that we must first elect more Democrats before we demand that Bush step down is a wrong-headed one that will lead to passivity and waiting and worse. If there is not immediately resistance significant enough to change the whole political equation in this country, then Bush will weather this storm and emerge stronger. Not only will Alito join the Court, the theory of “unitary executive” ( which Alito supports and which vests unlimited powers in the presidency, powers which this president has used to secretly lie, spy, imprison, torture and kill ( will become law of the land. The “extermination” (to return to William Pitt’s phrase) of not just the Democratic Party but of any resistance to this madness will not proceed but accelerate.
People must act now, at this crucial juncture. And yes, the Democratic Party leaders must also act. William Rivers Pitt’s proposal is a good one. So is Robert Parry’s.
The signing on to the World Can’t Wait Call that Bush step down by Rev. Al Sharpton, as well as four members of the House of Representatives and a significant number of Democratic state and city elected officials is a very good development. Their actions show that this Call is resonating throughout society; they serve to publicize the cause and embolden other people to step forward as well. And the attacks on these representatives for doing so by Karl Rove just goes to show not only the viciousness of these Republicans ( hey, you already knew that ( but their fear that the huge but still suppressed and scattered anti-Bush sentiment throughout society could find coherence and confidence in the organized actions demanding that he step down.
We need more of this. We need a dynamic where the actions coming from the people are increasingly compel everyone in society to take a stand. But again ( this can only happen if there are masses in the streets on January 31 and then on February 4, in Washington itself.
Bill Simpich had the right idea. At the end of his article, he calls on people to ‘put the heat on Democrats as well as Republicans,’ and tells his readers to join “Cindy Sheehan and The World Can’t Wait during Bush’s State of the Union on January 31.”
Toby O’Ryan writes for Revolution on issues of repression and resistance. See Revcom.us.