Yeah, so I've been reading diary after diary, comment after comment.
"Health care reform sucks. I've been working for this for two years. I'm done".
"Afghan War sucks, I helped Obama get elected. No more".
"DOMA wasn't repealed yesterday. Obama hates gays. I'm through."
And on and on and on.
I guess in this world of instant gratification: turn on the teevee, don't like show, change channel. Bored? Play a game, text somebody, stick i-pod buds in your ear and leave it all behind, a friend rubs you the wrong way, drop her.
Folks, I'm here to tell you if that is how you approach the struggle we're in, if you think because you knocked on doors, made phone calls, even got a good progressive candidate elected that somehow "everything would be fine", you and everyone who counts on you, from the poor and disabled to Mother Earth herself are in for a rude awakening. So you may as well go back to sleep, with your lower lip sticking out in spite. Our adversaries would love nothing better.
Did you actually think thirty years of the dismantling of the social system that created and benefited the middle class would magically be ended in less than two? Do you, like the tea party contingent, ascribe magical powers to Barack Obama? Yes, with a wave of his hand, he'll cure everything. Despite the teabag rhetoric, we don't live in a dictatorship. Obama is a brave man on many levels, taking on the juggernaut of sickness and ruin that our government became. He's the first African American President, and that does come with extra risks. I was a young child in 1968, but I know the price that was paid for the modicum of equality we have. And it isn't finished, not by a longshot.
In his book "Rules for Radicals", Saul Alinsky points to a disturbing but important truth: You solve one problem, win one issue, and another instantly pops up. Welcome to planet Earth, folks!
It took decades of intense struggle to end slavery in this country, and for all that we still have racism. The average African American child does not have the same opportunities as the average caucasian. Do we stop trying? There were women who fought, protested, and were tortured for the right to vote. Not all of them saw the ballot box. On and on through history, we stand on the shoulders of those who went before and who saw none of the gains and changes they devoted themselves to.
Did you think that the powers that benefit from the system, the status quo would just roll over for you and say, "Oh, you knocked on doors, you wore out a pair of shoes. You went out of your comfort zone. Of course we''ll roll over and give you what you want. Poor things."
It doesn't work that way. Look, not everyone has the stomach for this. Not everyone can keep working, stay positive and keep the vision of a better world when things don't go the way they want. So don't do it. Palin, the tea party folks, birthers, deathers, tenthers and their master puppeteers will only be too happy to see you retreat into your corner.
The struggle for a better world is ongoing. It takes courage. It takes a willingness to sacrifice. It takes the ability to be thankful for small things. Elementary physics tells us it's easier to break something down than build something. That's just how it is. But if we're going to prevail, the one thing it really takes is commitment.