Sunday, January 12, 2014

It's 2014--LET'S GET BUSY!

A very belated Happy New Year to everyone.  I said in my last post that I was taking a pause for the New Year.  I didn't intend for it to be quite this long.  There's a lot to catch up on, and I'll get there.  But first, I want to take a moment (or a post) in an attempt to use 2013 as a springboard into positive action for 2014.

As a general rule, I am not a big fan of end-of-the-year-summation stories.  I feel that they predictably veer between commenting on the obvious, and/or reaching for a grandiosity that they never quite achieve, except perhaps in their authors' minds.  But this item from Think Progress (thinkprogess.org) caught my eye, and I'm glad it did.  It provided a lot of food for thought on my part as we head into an election year that, although one without a presidential race, could be one of the most critical elections in our country's history.

Not surprisingly, Republicans are counting on a combination of low turnout and Obamacare anxiety to propel them into total control of Congress, as well as an expansion of their recent electoral successes at the state level.  Regarding Obamacare, I don't think their optimism is warranted, and they are in part to blame for this.  They have so overstated the case against the ACA that almost any successful level of implementation will saddle the GOP with an image of foolishness it richly deserves.  And I believe there should be no doubt whatsoever that the White House is fully focused on making Obamacare a success--again, a tribute to the fact that the President's opponents have developed an Ahab-like focus on health care reform.

Turnout, however, is another matter.  History is on the GOP's side:  in off-year elections, especially during a President's second term, voters are more inclined to stay home, especially voters from the President's party.  In the case of U.S. Senate races, it does not help that seven seats currently held by Democrats in GOP states are either open seats or find incumbents in close races.  Picking up six of those seats would give America a Republican Congress for the first time in eight years, assuming that the House of Representatives doesn't flip in the other direction (and gerrymandering plus low turnout would ensure that it probably won't).

If you're a progressive voter, why should you care?  Obama could just spend his last two years pushing new regulations and vetoing bad bills.  Maybe.  Obama might, unfortunately, decide instead like Bill Clinton to be a "good guy" and sign some of that bad legislation, to validate his earlier-expressed desire to b e a leader who "brings people together."  Then again, an all-GOP Congress amped up by six years of blood lust for the President's political head could decide to just be an impeachment Congress, and give us two protracted years of hearings, votes and a Senate trial toward that end.

But, if that doesn't energize you to get out and vote, and get out others to vote, consider the contents of the Think Progress post.  And remember, if you don't vote, you are responsible.  You are responsible for more pension thefts, for more middle-class suicides, for more outbreaks of preventable and deadly diseases because of parents who refuse to vaccinate their children.  And you are also responsible for missed opportunities to expand the use of green energy, and to ensure undocumented immigrants of a future in this country.

It doesn't matter that this is an "off-year."  It's still a chance to make a positive difference.  The President was absolutely correct when he said that we are the change we seek.  And there won't be any change at all, if you give the Republicans what they want--an electorate dominated by their voters.  2013 sucked.  2014 doesn't have to.  And that's not up to the President.  It's up to you.

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