Friends,
I'm sure many of you have heard that the Republicans won a
Massachusetts Senate seat in a special election yesterday.
Prepare yourself for a wave of propaganda, as corporate media and
conservative Democrats try to convince progressives that the
Democrats were simply too far to the left, and that's why they lost.
Could it be? Democrats simply tried too hard to help out middle class
Americans? They simply were too hard on the banks and insurance
companies? They tried too hard to stop climate change? And they
simply didn't escalate the wars in the middle east sufficiently? And
that's why they lost?!
I don't think so.
Democracy for America had Research 2000 poll voters immediately after
yesterday's election ended: Even those who voted for Republican Scott
Brown want Democrats to be bolder and they want healthcare reform
that includes a public option.
By a margin of three-to-two, former Obama voters who voted for
Republican Scott Brown yesterday said the Senate healthcare bill
"doesn't go far enough." Six-to-one Obama voters who stayed home
agreed. And to top it off, 80% of all voters still want the choice of
a public option in the bill.
Massachusetts didn't suddenly become a conservative state. Obama won
Massachusetts with 62% of the vote, by speaking up for much more
progressive change than what he actually fought for once in office.
What happened was the Democrats, after winning power, continued down
their foolish path of thinking that they can outflank the Republicans
by becoming more like them, instead of repudiating them, and fighting
for regular people, thus channeling populist outrage into a victory
for Republicans.
Please sign this petition by the Progressive Change Campaign
Committee, asking Democrats to truly fight for progressive change,
not capitulate further to corporate interests, both so progressive
reform can happen, and so that they don't hand the keys of government
back to the Republicans:
http://act.boldprogressives.org/cms/sign/reconciliation/?
akid=243.250069.-geW6B&rd=1&source=e1&t=2
Here is another interesting article on this topic:
http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=7724#more
– Rob Arnow
