"time to agitate'

[daynurse]

Norman Solomon
December 14, 2010
Hello,
Last week, soon after President Obama made his stunning tax deal with Republican leaders, Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey told the Marin IJ: "I think when you hold unemployment and the needs of the poorest and most desperate people hostage, that it is blackmail, and I don't think we should give in to blackmail, ever."
In the same article, I made a comment that's often heard among progressives: "This is not what we worked for."
A New York Times story quoted a somber assessment from me: "By giving away the store on such a momentous tax issue, he has now done huge damage to a large portion of the progressive base that helped to make him president."
For progressives, already reeling from the grim midterm elections, the last couple of weeks have been disheartening -- all the more so because the huge giveaway deal for the rich came just after the president went to Afghanistan to reaffirm the escalation of war.
Current policies are "doing immense damage to economic security at home while ratcheting up warfare overseas," I wrote in a Huffington Post article. "Ostensibly battling for economic fairness, the president is flying a white flag high over the White House."
But activists can put up a fight!
Just this month, progressive Democrats and allies raised enough of an outcry on Capitol Hill and elsewhere to rebuff the Simpson-Bowles deficit commission and its long-awaited recommendations that would seriously undermine Social Security and Medicare. The struggle will rage on.
As co-chairs of the Healthcare Not Warfare campaign launched by Progressive Democrats of America, Donna Smith of the California Nurses Association and I wrote a letter that was hand-delivered to each member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus on Capitol Hill a couple of weeks ago.
Noting that "the twin crises of economic austerity and war have become more acute," the letter said: "Never has principled and unwavering leadership been more needed on Capitol Hill."
That's one of the main reasons I take it very seriously that many people here in the North Bay are encouraging me to run for Congress if a House seat opens up due to retirement. In recent years, I've been gratified by the warm responses as I've spoken to hundreds of gatherings in Marin and Sonoma counties. Our communities want and deserve progressive leadership.
I'm fond of citing the observation that in a washing machine it's the agitator that gets the dirt out. The "Green Zone" columnist for the North Bay Bohemian, Juliane Poirier, recently interviewed me about the potential for grassroots activism, and she explored that theme in an article this month, "Start Agitating."
On that note, if you're a registered Democrat, I hope you'll "save the date" for the once-every-two-years caucuses coming up in early January. You can help elect strong progressives to the California Democratic Party's central committee.
** If you live in Marin County or southern Sonoma County, I hope to see you on Sunday, January 9, at 1 p.m., for the Assembly District 6 caucus -- at the Marin Community Center, 775 Miller Creek Road, San Rafael (94903).
** If you live in Assembly District 7, which includes most of Sonoma County, your caucus is set for 10 a.m. on Saturday, January 8, at 600 B Street in Santa Rosa.
(Click here for caucus details.)
To join me for dialogue and info on Facebook, please click here.
Best wishes,
Norman
P.S. -- With revelations from leaked State Department cables still reverberating, you might be interested in my recent article WikiLeaks: Demystifying "Diplomacy."