Vacation musings

By Robby Stern

During my August vacation break I had time to think about some issues that are weighing on my mind.

In recent conversations I heard people ask why there hasn’t been more organized collective anger expressed at the decline in the standard of living and quality of life for the people of our country. Wealthy individuals and multinational corporations use their dollars to buy the government that serves their interests. At the same time, safety net programs, access to education and health care, environmental protection and other basic needs are under greater and greater attack. In addition, the ability to make a family living wage is becoming more and more difficult.

So why isn’t there more of a popular uprising against what is clearly an intolerable situation? Is it, as some say, because not enough people are feeling the pain?

I have several thoughts – and a prediction.

Much of the energy of the discontented went into the 2008 presidential election. Many believed that Barack Obama would attack the economic disparities we were facing. Much faith and enthusiasm went into the election. There is widespread disappointment.. Determining how to move forward from the disappointment and how to organize without turning over the reigns of government to the crazy Republican politician is not an easy task.

In addition, the organizations that can provide the infrastructure for mass action have been weakened by membership decline and are also on the defensive against attacks.

The leadership of these organizations is struggling to determine how to respond to a new reality…i.e., that the very wealthy (with a few notable exceptions), the multinational corporations and their allies are forcefully moving to destroy or neutralize any progressive insurgency in our country. Many of these progressive leaders walk the slender thread between working with traditional allies who are no longer reliable while helping to build a new insurgency that will be very uncomfortable and perhaps even opposed by the traditional political allies.

The mass media has shrunk and has also, in large part, taken a turn to the right. While we may see stories about unemployment, about the growing inequalities in our society, about winners and losers in the new economic order, we hardly ever see or hear coverage of protests and movements to change the present reality.

This lack of reporting leads to a feeling of isolation on the part of those who are acting against the unacceptable political and economic reality. A progressive alternative media is developing through the Internet nd social media, but it has not yet matured into a source that has broad public appeal.

One ruling class strategy in response to the progressive challenges of the 1960s and early 1970s was to promote and fund the idea that happiness comes from consumption of consumer goods and that mass culture needed to be purged of values of progressive social change. The forces of reaction recognized that the media they own, the sports teams they own, and the culture they fund and control should be used to divert the mass population from the critical issues of the day to a more “me first” ethos. At the same time, think tanks were generously funded to lay the groundwork for the attack on the idea that the role of government is to make the lives of the majority better and to create more opportunity for all.

So how do we counter all these bad developments and build a better, more progressive political and economic reality?

1. We have to individually support one another so we do not give in to pessimism. Pessimism will paralyze us. We need to consciously encourage each other to take on the challenges and give emotional and material support to each other.

2. Build organization. It is through organizations that we can reach out, chart a path for progressive change, and unite with other like-minded people.

3. Develop a permanent progressive coalition of organizations, including labor, community groups like PSARA, women’s groups, people of color organizations, religious groups, immigrant groups, etc. We need to do the hard work of arriving at a common vision for our communities and a strategy for achieving that vision. Each organization will have to develop an organizing strategy for their target population. Organizations within such a permanent political coalition will need to be accountable to each other and respectful of each other.

Now for the prediction: We are probably going to get our butts kicked for a while. (We will put up a heck of a fight.) But we are the majority and if we stick to our long-term effort, we will win the day.