Posted by The Crux |
A chilling silence seized our nation those few years after 9/11: even politely questioning the President would bring McCarthy-esque choruses of "You're un-American!" The Administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina was the last straw, and ordinary Americans began speaking out again.
Not every problem has been solved, but remember: it's been only eight months since Congress changed hands. In a Washington Post op-ed yesterday, Daily Kos' Susan Gardner and Markos Moulitsas reminded us that progress has been made -- despite Washington insiders' insistence that we ordinary Americans loathed even the appearance of progressiveness:
"We who live outside the D.C. bubble -- in all 50 states, in counties blue and red -- were hearing voices at odds with the Washington consensus. People wanted real choices at the ballot box....
"A concerted grass- and Net-roots effort, bridging online activists and the labor movement, forced Democratic officials to reject any 'compromise' with right-wing interests seeking to gut Social Security. Democratic poll numbers rose in the wake of this victory as Bush's fell. Standing strong for a core Democratic program was not only good for our country, it was smart politics.
"Months later we championed Ned Lamont's victorious primary challenge to Sen. Joe Lieberman in Connecticut. Beltway insiders predicted that our success would cost Democrats the U.S. Senate, and consultants allied with the DLC fretted that activists were 'pushing the party to the left.'
"In fact, we pushed the party so far left that we positioned it squarely in the American mainstream and last year won a historic, sweeping congressional victory" (WaPo).
I hope congressional leaders will read and derive reassurance from Gardner's and Moulitsas' op-ed.
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