This is what Democracy looks like

The world has gone crazy. I started blogging about the crazy politics of the ultra-right and I think I had a notion in the back of my head that the outrage expressed by many of those not in the Tea Party would make the extremists step back, pause and reconsider. I totally missed the boat on this one!

I did not expect moderate republicans to stand up for the extremists in their party. I knew that the country had become more polarized since a black man took the big chair in the white house, but I expected my moderate Republican friends to be willing to chastise their own party when it got out of line. Instead, it seems to have become an 'us versus them' dynamic, with Republicans circling the wagons and standing together against the President and the Democratic party, no matter how unreasonable and illogical the rhetoric has become.

Ironically, many of us on the left feel that this President is a bit too friendly with corporations, himself. Personally, it was one of the reasons I waited until the last minute to make my decsion in the 2008 primary. He gets called a socialist by the right, but his policies are hardly in line with a socialist agenda. He is more of a centrist than I would like. And, I don't think I am alone in this thought.

So, where do we go from here? Corporatist Republicans claim that since we liberals lost the election in 2010, we should simply accept the fact and stop protesting and complaining so loudly. I disagree. I don't think that playing possum is an appropriate strategy. Yes, we lost. The 'winners' are pushing through legislation that is anathema to those of us on the left. In many cases (such as the current case in Wisconsin), we can't stop them. This is such extreme legislation that we need to do what we can to pull it back, even an inch, from the precipice that will slide this state and this country toward fascism - a view that we on the left see looming in front of us.

So, we protest. We chant. We draft and sign petitions. We do what we can, legally and peacefully, to influence those we have elected to vote on our behalf. When and where possible, we attempt recall elections. This country is supposed to be "of, by and for the people." I realize that corporations have been given the rights of people, legislatively. However, I refuse to accept that this means I must roll over and play dead while all the rights, money and privilege slowly gets taken away from the working class and handed on a silver platter to the richest among us.