THE GOOD FIGHT RAGES ON

Flags from the progressive community fly high on the National Mall in D.C. on October 2, 2010 at the One Nation Working Together rally.
(photo and commentary by Ove Overmyer)

Rochester, N.Y.-- What did the 2010 elections tell us? Voters largely shun the party unable to fix the economic mess in favor of the party that caused it.

And while the pundits and prognosticators would give you different opinions and their own spin on the truth as they see fit, one thing is very clear: It's time for the labor community and progressives to immediately get back to work.  We have to expect more from ourselves.

The right wing anti-labor folks run a "ministry of truth" on television and radio 24/7, whipping up misinformation, anger and pushing an anti-middle class, anti-democratic agenda.

We need to continue to build a trustworthy and powerful hub for expressing a true progressive morality. We need to engage more working class people who are ready to hear the truth - and ready to fight for economic fairness, equality, peace and to cultivate a real sense of what true democracy is.

Americans need to see political champions out there, every day, fighting tooth and nail for the regular folks. But far too often, on things like the AIG bonus scandal and the housing foreclosure crisis, they saw the big banks, the rich and corporate stakeholders getting their way while the average working class families suffered terrible indignities like losing a job and being thrown out of their own home.  The majority of social scientists believe that income inequality currently poses a problem for American society.  Additionally, Alan Greenspan believes it to be a "very disturbing trend."


It can not be overstated that Obama and the 111th Congress Democrats made genuine and significant progress on issues like health care, pay equity and Wall Street reform. But the Republicans, Fox, and corporate front groups systematically misled America about what really transpired in the past 24 months-- and then those same groups spent hundreds of millions to put Republicans in Congress-- this election was bought plain and simple and we are now seeing first hand how destructive the Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court case was and is to our democratic ideals.

Progressive heroes like Russ Feingold, Alan Grayson, and Tom Perriello stood up for everything working families believe in-- but they were overwhelmed by voter frustration and corporate cash. Remember that "change we can believe in" slogan? This is not the kind of change we anticipated.

We can't give up hope because our country is still hurting. And if corporate Republicans and tea partiers have their way, things will get a lot worse for those who do not have "disposable incomes."  If you do not consider yourself a wealthy person, you have no business supporting corporate Republicans.  They are oppressing you this very minute and at the same time trying to convince you otherwise.

We can't stop fighting because we carry in our hearts a vision of Americans coming together to take care of each other in times of crisis and provide a decent job for everyone who wants to work. And if the labor community and our progressive partners don't fight for that vision, what kind of world will we be giving the next generation?