A Need for Bridge Building

By: Michael Cudahy

For those of you who are familiar with my writing for Greater Democracy, Alternet, Truthout and a variety of other websites and publications, you are aware that I have always been an advocate of bridge building as a means of progressive political organizing.

A few days ago I engaged in an interesting and somewhat emotive discussion with another member of this web site who felt that my attitudes were old-fashioned and no longer relevant.

She may well be accurate. I am inclined, however, to make the case for my position yet again as I believe it to be an extremely effective method for rebuilding a powerful and respected progressive voice in American politics.

Like many people, I was appalled by the results of the November presidential election. The tone and strategy of the Republican campaign reduced what should have been a meaningful issues debate into a circus sideshow. In my mind the means did not justify end. And, as a result, we have a president who has been almost totally discredited in the minds of millions of Americans by his willingness to pursue whatever tactic he felt was necessary to win him reelection.

One of the understandable results of the November election was to foster a powerful emotional backlash against everything this president has done in his second term. The litany of affronts this administration and its allies have inflicted upon the American people has been truly staggering.

Be it the wildly unethical behavior of House majority leader Tom DeLay, the efforts of Senate majority leader Bill Frist to abolish the minority’s right to filibuster, outrageous cabinet and judicial appointments, irresponsible economic and environmental policy, or the recent efforts of the Congress to interfere with a state’s constitutionally protected judicial rights in the Terri Schiavo case. The Bush administration has demonstrated an unbridles willingness to threaten many of the principles that have supported and directed our democracy for over two centuries.

The problem is that many of the issues that incense political activists are inside baseball -- legitimate concerns to the intensely informed, but outside the scope of millions of Americans daily lives.

It has been suggested that all that is necessary to shift the political direction of this country is to educate and motivate the “masses.” The theory is that the resulting reaction will be of such immense outrage that these people will rise up and throw the bastards out of office.

Respectfully, I find such an attitude naive at best, and ineffective at worst.

Over the last 25 years, I have had the privilege to work on dozens of campaigns, from county commissioner and school board to being a senior staff member of congressional, U.S. Senate and presidential campaigns.

If I was able to take nothing else from those experiences, it was an abiding respect for the common sense and wisdom of the American people. It is too easy to suggest that the current plight of our country is their fault. It is too simplistic an answer.

Over 51 million people opposed this president, in what was of the closest elections of the last 9 decades. That indicates to me that a great many people were paying very close attention and just missed their desired objective of throwing this president out of office by a few thousand votes in a handful of key congressional districts.

Those 51 million people did so in spite of the almost crushing challenges of daily American life.

In its efforts to destroy the Social Security system and wage a dangerous war in Iraq, the Bush administration has turned a blind eye to far more pressing problems.

- The fact that over 55 million Americans are unable to access appropriate health insurance;

- That in the last three decades the average annual salary in this country has risen by approximately 10 percent, while the annual compensation of this country’s top 100 CEOs has increased from $1.3 million to $37.5 million. This represents an increase from 39 times that of the average worker in the 1970s to over 1,000 percent at the turn of this century;

- Many American families have at least one family member working 2 or 3 jobs to simply make ends meet -- while the recently passed “reforms” in this country’s bankruptcy laws have stripped them of critical financial protections;

- The current president has gutted the Clean Air Act championed by his father, and replaced it with the “Clear Skies” initiative -- a pale reflection of the former legislation. A move which eviscerates many of its long term goals;

- The “No Child Left Behind” initiative -- legislation which has been grossly underfunded and which has left the education of millions of poor American children in serious jeopardy;

- The Patriot Act enacted in the midst of the post 9/11 frenzy that threatens the privacy and constitutional rights of American citizens guaranteed under the 1st, 5th and 14th amendments.

- President Bush’s recent nomination of John Bolton to be the United State ambassador to the United Nations is a disgrace and a affront to the international diplomatic community.

These are the everyday troubles that engage and consume millions of Americans. Issues that threaten the health and well-being of members of the middle class not only in blue states, but in red states as well.

These are not questions of ideology or party registration. They do, instead, represennt a nonpartisan threat to what Benjamin Franklin referred to as the “bedrock of American society” -- this country’s middle class.

While I am certain that millions of Americans would share the outrage of progressive activists over the more artfully executed offenses inflicted on this country by the Bush administration, I would suggest that addressing the issues that menace the foundations of American society will be a more effective and lasting organizing tool.

The anger and frustration that has been generated in many progressive circles by the results of the last election has created an atmosphere of reaction -- not proaction.

Indignation and bitterness are not effective political organizing tools. Not only do they scare people, they also make it extremely difficult to generate meaningful conversations -- dialogues where all parties involved listen and discuss their mutual concerns and dreams.

Howard Dean demonstrated an ability to initiate such a process when he was governor of Vermont, as a presidential candidate, and as an organizer who was able to elect local candidates all across the country in the November election.

Lasting political reform will not come as the result of efforts to educate and enrage America’s “masses” into some sort of Bastille like revolt -- that disrespects their common sense, and ignores their dreams. Any momentary advance achieved from such a strategy would be short-lived and would diminish the integrity of those who employed it.

While I agree with Thomas Jefferson that, “a little revolution is a healthy thing from time to time,” I don’t believe it was his intent that such an action be some sort of reinterpretation of the basic truths of American democracy. Instead I believe it was his thought that Americans periodically revisit the remarkable political liturgy drafted by the founders of this country -- to guarantee its vitality and security. It is not necessary to extensively read the writings of all of America’s founding fathers. A simple review of the preamble to the Constitution of the United States lays out their basic road map.

It says that the American government is supposed to:

- Provide for the common defense;
- Promote the general welfare;
- Secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity;
- Establish justice;
- Ensure domestic tranquility;
- Form a more perfect union.

These are the obligations that the president swore to, “Preserve, protect and defend” when he took the oath of office in January. These are sentiments that resonate with the American people and have either been forgotten or, more likely, been consciously ignored by President Bush and his allies.

Instead of trying to educate and scare the masses, I would suggest that it would be better to engage them in an active dialogue about their ambitions and the dreams they hold for their children. They know what works and what doesn’t. And, they are becoming abundantly familiar with the abuses of power rained down upon them by this self-righteous and insensitive administration.

There is a growing hunger for boldness and innovation. -- for honesty and an understanding of the problems that threaten this nation. Americans can be motivated by the power of eloquently articulated ideas. It is a formula that has worked for decades. It is an equation that can win today.

Put simply, an effort grounded in such a strategy can shift a few thousand votes in key electoral states, and with it the balance of power.

Posted by Jock Gill at April 7, 2005 10:29 AM | TrackBack