Over at Hullabaloo, digby and tristero’s awesome blog, there have been some great posts that challenge our relationship to the status quo. My recent diaries have in some part taken off from comments I was moved to post there. Here is my latest.
The question, again, is what to do? Given that there is no longer a functioning democracy in this country (arguably hasn’t been for a while if you count the absolute control of the presidential primary process that has been maintained by the status quo establishment since at least 1988), what can we do today? Tomorrow? And yes, as tristero says, you still have to vote for Democrats. As much as possible, and making lots of noise if the Dems you have to choose from all stink, but voting.
Besides voting, though, what can we do? Because we certainly do need to do more.
For me, this is more and more about culture. The thing that separates us from full blown fascism (incipient fascism is probably the best way to describe our current situation, IMHO) is the non-existence of a culture of populist violence, literal physical violence, directed against the political opposition AND one or more targeted cultural minority groups.
For those curious, I still think Dave Neiwert lays it out the best in his essay Rush, Newspeak and Fascism. If you never have, you really should read it.
Right now this is still very unacceptable to the mainstream public. If the offices of Planned Parenthood were bombed, for example, there would still be a lot of backlash. In full-blown fascism, there would be none. For our part this means we have an opportunity/responsibility to develop cultural bastions of strength. Being a part of communities, expressing our diversity in ways that people can relate to, that make people feel good about being “American,” these are our strongest cards right now.
It is important that this is in the public eye. Community celebrations, parades, festivals, etc. are prime venues for presenting diversity and subcultural identity to other civic minded souls. This should be proud and also friendly. We are claiming our part of the cultural fabric- this means we exist in harmony with the whole. If there is hostility it comes from the bigots and proto-fascists.
On the other hand, I also maintain that the time is coming for more traditional forms of agitation and dissent. There is, after all, a lot happening that deserves our hostility. Also, there are messages that are not being presented by the mainstream media. It is up to us to find ways to present our perspectives. This will of necessity be outside the normal system of cultural communication. It will require going outside the lines, but it is also about communicating. Not throwing a temper tantrum and being angry, but having something to say and getting it across.
There are many people within the citizenry who do not like what is being done with the Constitution, after all, and many of those who remember the civil unrest of the 60s and early 70s will connect the dots and blame the people who have created the situation. It is up to us to help them make common cause with us, not make it more difficult. But given the near categorical lack of public communication by Democrats, many people will understand what we are doing and why.
While networking and planning to undertake this agitation we must always be conscious that the electronic communications we have come to rely upon should not be used. (Hmm. Uh, shit. ;> )
Beyond that, be traditional and be creative. The basic strategy at this point is simply to communicate the essence of our dissent as elegantly and forcefully as possible.
But it is time. Torture is too much. It goes against everything the “greatest generation” fought for. We need to solidly establish a position of dissent while there is still a fresh enough memory of that aspect of our history. This will take a lot of work and will not come easy, but it is what we have, and that’s something.
