The times they are a changin’, a famous prophet once said. And while this statement is almost always true, its utterance is often a signal of its significance. That the winds of change are blowing in the mind (to quote the prophet again), or minds I should say, of millions of angry people all across this great land. With the events that are occurring and unfolding right before our very eyes, change is no longer a hope, it’s a reality, one that will rattle and unsettle and even uproot the systems of the past, the grand institutions of the present and our very belief in the future. Prepare yourselves my fellow countrymen, for the battle for control is drawing to a close.
I know it’s been hard to look around these days at the state of the world. The reality is often to grave to discuss. Disasters at home and abroad, two wars we are unsuccessfully waging, famine and hunger, global warming, recession, the list goes on and on. However there are seeds of very positive things to come sprouting in a very fertile field.
George W. Bush has been badly defeated this week on virtually every front. The farming bill he opposed has passed in Congress by a veto-proof margin, the war spending bill he was pushing for went down to defeat, even a childish side-swipe at Barack Obama was pounced on by politicians and pundits alike. To make matters worse, his own parties nominee for President John McCain, is talking about Global Warming and putting enough distance between the two to build a sprawling condominium complex in between (although in Bush’s economy it wouldn’t sell). Even worse for ol’ W., Republicans lost yet another special election in a die hard Rightie stronghold. It is becoming clearer with each passing day that Bush is the leader of a party in full fledged panic, as even the most smooth and stable Right-wing pundits are predicting disaster in November .Bush is no longer a symbol of cocky, cowboy politics. Today he stands a symbol of defeat, a sad pathetic character who turned America form the undisputed world leader to a nation facing a serious crisis in its own confidence. He’s managed to destroy his own party and make the day’s of Jimmy Carter look like the good ol’ days.
Sadly, no one bothered to tell Bush that the landscape had changed. He woke up yesterday morning, did his routine and headed off to an interview where he admitted that he gave up golf because he didn’t want mother’s to see him vacationing while young soldiers are dying . The moment was picked up by the major networks, pounced on by the Left, which uncovered footage of him golfing after he said he quit. Despite all that, the incident revealed Bush’s incredible disconnect with reality. All the political swipes made abroad can’t save the feeble, little man, especially since using the diplomatic stage to play partisan politics makes him look even smaller.
The era of American Conservatism is coming to a close. Who knows what went wrong for certain, however its fundamental flaws seemed to bring it down in the end, Bush merely brought it down quicker and unified the big tent Democratic Party better than any Democrat ever could.
Bush’s legacy seems decidedly poor at best. Tom Friedman, notable writer of “The World is Flat†has fallen closer to the Neoconservative view in recent years, however his recent article “The New Cold War†clearly depicts Bush as an incompetent diplomat on the world stage. Never mind not talking to Iran, Friedman declares, “when you have leverage, talk. When you don’t have leverage, get some.†In other words, Bush traded away America’s credibility in the region, traded away its leverage and is “not liked, feared or respected†by almost anyone.
So how is this incompetent leader’s demise bring the rest of us hope? Because it signals the destruction of the ideals that led us down the wrong path. Deregulation, education cuts, social program cuts, FEMA and disaster relief cuts, cutting taxes for the rich while increasing spending on prisons, police and defense (which has created a corporate welfare police state, or Oligarchic Plutocracy) are all seen as negative. Health care has become an important issue to workers and business owners alike, while the values of education are becoming increasingly seen as essential to the success of this nation. America is finally turning away from the path that so many Latin American corporate juntas have taken. Americans will NOT lay down while the corporate establishment consolidates its power. No the sense that the times are changing is prominent and prevalent. The feeling that things need to be fixed is everywhere. With our next President, Obama OR McCain, we will see a radically different type of leadership than the current failure and the opportunities for change will be at its greatest point since the Progressive Era!
The Democrats are finally feeling emboldened. With the stripping of the War Spending Measure, anti-war activists have seen just about their first victory in the fight to end this pointless war. Cut the spending, you end the war. With Congress having the balls to take on the President for a change, it is obvious that Bush has lost his influence completely and Democrats finally feel safe enough to inflict their agenda. It is a small victory, since Bush still holds the veto pen, however it is a symbol of the times to come. The long wait that Democrats have forced their supporters to endure is at an end.
Now, On to November, On to a Democratic victory in Congress and the White House and On to the Second Progressive Revolution!