I am often criticized, justifiably so, for being too dark and negative in the editorials I write for the ECHO. My editorials feature many criticisms and few solutions to our nation’s biggest problems.
Military adventurism must end, but how can we break the back of the military industrial complex? Universal health care must be instituted, but how will we overcome the pharmaceutical and insurance lobbyists? The minimum wage must be raised, but how will we pressure politicians to institute such changes? These all are questions I finally hope to answer.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, the labor movement accomplished sweeping governmental reforms. These reforms included a minimum wage, industrial regulations, an end to child labor, recognized unions, and many other legislative accomplishments. Such accomplishments did not come from a sympathetic elite—one who cared about the lives of poor Americans. Instead, these accomplishments came from organized labor—who refused to produce profits until their demands were met.
The organization of labor, formation of radical third political parties, and an awareness of what Karl Marx called class consciousness, all culminated in forming an effective political movement. Workers who went on strike, and often lost their jobs and sometimes their lives, fought together to improve working conditions for all workers. Socialist and labor parties who organized in states like Minnesota, parties whose leaders were often imprisoned, fought the two main parties to have their platform implemented.
Numerous unions, such as the UMWA and UAWA, were formed and built America’s working class. Labor and socialist parties, such as the Progressive Party and the Farmer-Labor Party, pressured Presidents such as FDR to implement major government programs.
The labor movement utilized two essential political tools—tools that must be rehabilitated and used today. Many workers during the labor movement utilized civil disobedience. Civil disobedience has the power to turn the state against itself and concede the moral high ground to the movement.
Civil disobedience is the breaking of unjust laws to fulfill a just cause. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s is perhaps the greatest example in US history of civil disobedience’s power. Rather than violently demand change, African-Americans peacefully occupied streets, “whites only” establishments, and government buildings to demand change. When police and counter protesters violently attacked peaceful protesters, the state’s moral high ground was highly compromised, and more Americans supported desegregation. After most of the country supported desegregation, and pressure continued, the government responded with civil rights legislation.
We need sustained acts of civil disobedience today. Millions of Americans must organize and protest in the streets, government buildings, and public spaces. We must demand peacefully an end to the reconfiguration of our society into an oligarchy. We must replicate the strategies of the Labor movement, the Civil Rights Movement, the Occupy Wall Street movement, and the Black Lives Matter movement. These movements, while not all completely successful, did bring change and awareness to the issues at hand.
With civil disobedience, we must also organize around third political parties. If a voter, who despises both political parties, votes for a candidate because that candidate is slightly better than his or her opponent, then the state wins. The parameter of debate between the two political parties is reduced to nothing more than divisive social issues. Joining third political parties, such as the Green Party or the People’s Party, sends a message to party leaders.
We must understand that our third-party may never win, but our protest vote will be more valuable than voting for the least worst candidate. Radical parties of the early 20th century understood this concept. They understood that they must work outside of the two-party system to create pressure. Third parties that garner a sizable chunk of the vote will shift the window of debate closer to those parties.
In 1924, Progressive candidate Robert La Follette earned 17 percent of the vote in the presidential election. La Follette so hurt the Democratic Party in that election (with the Democrats only securing 29 percent of the vote) that the party adopted many progressive positions in hopes of corralling Progressives into their party.
This strategy is incredibly effective, and the radical parties of the 20th century drastically changed both political parties. If we want institutional change, then we must break free from the two main institutional parties. The Democratic Party since Bill Clinton has transformed itself into the Republican Party. The Republican Party now caters to the lunatic fringe of the right wing. There is no party in the United States for the workers, the poor, and the disenfranchised. We must create this party. It may not succeed, but it may create the pressure we need to enact these policies in either of the two main political parties.
Yes, I often paint the current political situation in America grimly, but I do so for a reason. Before enacting change, we must acknowledge the bleak reality before us. Many Americans do not truly understand the despair visited upon other Americans. Many Americans do not understand the depth of US military adventurism. And many Americans do not understand the blatant corruption carried out by both political parties. We must accept the current circumstances if we wish to make change. Human progress is not inevitable; if we want progress we must fight for it.
Understanding the past helps us understand our current situation. The radical movements of the past helped ameliorate the egregious inequalities in our society. We must learn from these movements: forming radical third political parties and participating in civil disobedience or moral imperatives. We do not have time to sit idly by. The corporate forces that have seized our government are actively fighting against us, so we must fight back. We must fight or be fought.