GOP: 2nd Great Depression not enough damage; bring back McCarthyism!

It's not just the clinically insane Glenn Becks of the world that are scaring people to the gun stores in fear of America "going down the road to Socialism." Republicans in the House of Representatives - people who really should have a sense of responsibility - are raising the specter of Socialism against the President and Democrats in congress. Rep. Spencer Bachus has apparently started a secret list of "Socialists in the House of Representatives."

All of this would be funny if it were not for the fact that a lot of people are buying into this fear. On the Young Turks show last night they had a recording of some people talking at one of those Republican/Fox News tea bagging parties (you know, those events where people are protesting the fact that Obama is increasing the tax rates of the wealthiest to nearly 1/2 of what it was during the reign of that commie Dwight Eisenhower). Some were totally convinced that Obama represented the culmination of a 50-year plot to turn the U.S. into a communist nation.

So is this what happens when a political party is completely devoid of ideas? Do they think bringing back the Red Scare will have any effect other than making them look like idiots? Or was witnessing their idiology and policies ruin the economy too much for them to handle and they've actually gone insane? I hope not. An intelligent oposition is good for the country. Unfortunately, intelligent conversation doesn't seem to be on the agenda of the current Republican party.

We are Obama

I'm done celebrating for now. Obama's victory was an historic achievement for everyone involved. Hope beat fear in our nation for the first time since September 11, 2001. That was worth celebrating. And we helped move our nation closer to MLK Jr.'s dream. That was definitely worth celebrating. But now I've stopped celebrating because I remember something someone said at a Democracy for America group meeting in Indianapolis shortly after the 2004 heartbreak. Our group was scheming about what we could do to help bring progressive Democrats back to power, and Tom Hipple, an experienced Indiana pol said: "Hey, don't worry so much about how you're going to get the Dems back into power. Politics are cyclical, so they will be back in power eventually. Worry more about what they will do with that power."

Now I wonder what Obama and the Dems will do and what I can do now to make sure they do help put the country on a better course. We all realize that Obama can't do it alone. As he has said many times, this election is not about him; it's about us. And that means that collectively we are more responsible for making the Obama administration a success for progressive values than he is. He can't bring about positive change unless we push for it because his political capital is worth only as much as congress members think that not supporting progressive values will cost them elections.

Hence, this blog. Why do I think I should blog? Not because I think I have a particularly unique or insightful perspective on today's political issues. But there is a battle of viewpoints out there and quantity is just as important as quality, if not more. Look how effective conservatives have been at affecting public opinion by repeating over and over again the same ridiculous talking points. In the same way, the more progressives talk about and argue for their values, the less strange they will seem to people who have been getting most of their information from Fox News over the past decade. And thanks to the Internet and the Bush administration, we now live during a period of time when people are more passionate about their political viewpoints and are talking and writing about them more than any time I can remember. I believe that this ongoing public discussion is part of what has moved this nation to the left recently. As exposure to values and ideas from the left and right increases so does peoples' realization that progressive ideas are better than conservative ones. Thus I want to do as much as I can to keep the conversation going.