The End of "Kabuki Democracy"
Saturday, September 4, 2010 at 2:53PM 
by Daryl Northrop
In his recent article “Kabuki Democracy,” in The Nation, Eric Alterman paints a bleak picture on the possibility of a progressive presidency. He refers to the litany of broken promises from Obama, failures of fortitude by the Democrats in Congress, GOP politicians, right-wing think tanks, and right-wing media. All at once, he is absolutely right as to the reasons why progressive policies are not enacted or even vigorously pursued at the level of the executive, while he is also wrong about the reasons why. Worse yet, he is willfully blind about some of the real obstacles to progressive values and progressive policies being enacted by Congress or championed by our president. Here I will attempt to expand and further explain the real blockages to progressive change in America’s political system.
The GOP – Institutionalized resistance.
The GOP is the party of big business. While that statement is neither surprising nor of recent vintage, Alterman correctly notes that the GOP—especially the neo-conservative wing—has been particularly successful at altering the debate. “Preparing the battlefield” is the military term. For decades since the 1930’s, conservative ideas (small government, low taxes) had fallen primarily on deaf ears. Recall President Eisenhower’s statement: “We are all liberals now”; so the GOP got smart. They decided to stop trying to battle mainstream liberalism directly, and alter the environment so that it became toxic to liberal or progressive ideas. For a party based on a small coalition of fiscal conservatives, social conservatives, evangelical Christians, and few others, the GOP has done a phenomenal job of changing the terms of the debate, and gathering election-winning support from independents and disenchanted Democrats.
The Democratic Party – Institutionalized resistance.
The Democratic Party is not a progressive party. Shocked by that statement? You should not be. A cursory review of American history’s progressive accomplishments: the abolitionist movement, the union movement, women’s right to vote, feminism, etc are all movements that had to bring the political elite of America kicking and screaming to the table. Now, it is true that there are many progressive members of the Democratic party—millions, in fact—however, the party as a whole, especially at the top level where real decisions are made, is not progressive.
In 1932, FDR was elected President just in time to try and save the nation from an economic meltdown that makes our present recession look like lost lunch money. Now, FDR and the Democratic majority may have been bold enough, or brave enough, or scared enough of societal breakdown, or fearful of a socialist uprising among the millions out of work, to try just about anything to get the economy going again. It was the policy foundation of the Great Depression that the Democratic Party built on. And why not? FDR was re-elected three times! The success of his program, from an electoral standpoint, makes for compelling reasons not to change. However, the Democratic Party, to this day, has punted in the face of many progressive ideas, including true universal healthcare (Obama’s plan does not count, considering it was primarily written by corporate healthcare lobbyists, and has no single-payer option, or even a Medicare buy-in option), or a living wage, or kicking our fossil-fuel addiction. This list could go on and on, and these are items that have languished in the
Democratic platform for decades now.
The Democrats talk a good game when it comes to progressive ideas. Obama is no exception. His stern, yet warm persona was profoundly believable when he mouthed platitudes about universal healthcare and stopping global warming. Progressive voters stampeded to the ballot box, having projected their desperate desire to have a truly progressive president onto Barack Obama, the nominee of a party that simply is not capable of progressivism. Obama may or may not personally hold progressive values. In the end, it does not matter, because his actions speak so much louder than his words.
Corporate Opposition – the barrier in the boardroom.
The question regarding corporate opposition to progressivism is not “why” but “how.” The amount, effectiveness, and variety of tools at the disposal of major corporations to thwart the will of the American people is staggering and growing with each passing year. Most recently, the Citizens United farce of a decision by the Supreme Court expanded corporate personhood to the point of allowing effectively unlimited spending for and against candidates during elections all under the guise of free speech.
Corporations despise government regulation, but they do have to put up with government oversight, no matter who is in charge. To that end, they activate their political tool kit to devastating and predictable results. They lobby, they make personal donations, they form PAC’s, they hire outside lobbying firms (often staffed by people “retired” from the agency that is supposed to oversee them), they form 527 groups (who can spend nearly unlimited money advertising during campaigns), they throw fundraisers, they bundle donations. Every year it gets worse. So, no matter who is sitting in the Oval Office, or on Capitol Hill, the corporations have a seat at the table…often several seats.
With all these barriers, what is the path forward for the progressive movement?
A Direction Forward – people powered democracy.
First and foremost, citizens of our nation need to take a step back and take stock of how progressive has the Democratic Party really been after all the energy expended, money donated, time pledged, and effort expended to elect Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, and elect Barack Hussein Obama, who just four years ago was a minor politico from Illinois. The campaign rhetoric was there, but the action was not.
The Democratic Party will not enact progressive change, because it is not controlled by progressives. There are those who call for a coup from within the party. There are those who try to impose doctrinaire party discipline by warning everyone to vote Democratic, or else the worse alternative will hold power—the neo-reactionary Republican Party. Cheney or some other equally odious figure is then trotted out as a prop to scare progressives into toeing the party line.
Progressives can take control, and the first place to take control is with their own actions. First, stop voting for candidates that are not progressive and do not belong to progressive parties. Second, stop giving your hard earned money to candidates and parties that do the exact opposite of what you want. Third, start supporting – with money, votes, and volunteer time – such candidates and parties that do embody your progressive values. The Green Party of the United States is one such party. Fourth, start supporting Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), which is a sensible voting reform that solves the spoiler problem, and opens up the field to more—and most importantly—better, candidates.
As Americans, we loan our elected representatives our political power for a defined period of time – four years at the presidential level. It is our responsibility to insure that we are entrusting our political power to those who would act on our behalf, and not simply sell out to the highest bidder. While it brings shame on the elected representative who sells out, it also brings shame on the voter who willingly deceived themselves that such a selling out would not happen.
Alterman spots so many trees, that you expect him to notice the forest he is in. But he does not. He seems to expect President Obama and the Democratic Party so suddenly whip off their mask of corporatism and reveal themselves to be principled progressives. Sadly his delusion is shared by many in the progressive movement. A wise woman once told me, “You cannot expect to get milk at the bread store.” Likewise, you cannot expect to get progressive values and progressive policy from the conservative Democratic Party.
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Daryl Northrop is a Green Party organizer who joined the movement in 2000, in 2004, he ran for U.S. Senate in Iowa. After graduating from George Washington University in 2010 with his Masters degree in Political Management, he has been actively assisting local Green Party groups and candidates. Daryl and his wife April live in Alexandria, VA.
Cross posted at Daniel Extra.
