Keep Hope Alive

By: ------?

Certainly, we are deeply wounded, but I still have many reasons to be encouraged: The left is more organized, better financed and more wide-spread than it has ever been; Alternative media is gaining power and influence; The idea that America can be a functioning empire has been seriously discredited; Together we have reignited a progressive movement that has grown rather quickly and it will continue to grow.

I know it is easy to despair right now, but I hope you don¹t. Here are my reasons why:

A CRITIQUE OF COMMON REACTIONS TO OUR DEFEAT:

DESPAIR
We have made a great deal of effort and it appears as if it hasn¹t paid off. But wallowing in despair will only diminish what we have achieved. Despair breads more despair and will only make our jobs more difficult when we are ready to fight again. And finally, despair will physically and emotionally weaken us, blinding us to the many ways that we can improve our lives and our world.

HATRED
Our hatred of ³red-state² Americans will only inspire them to continue thinking as they have been. Violent action will only create an equally violent reaction. The worst thing we can do is put ordinary Americans on the defensive. It can only serve to further polarize this nation. We have to find more common ground. We have to articulate our struggles in ways that everyone can understand: Protecting the environment can boost and sustain the economy; Lifting people out of poverty can reduce crime and increase productivity; Partnering with other countries and inspiring democracy through economic incentives instead of war can make our world safer. And so on.

APATHY
Apathy is probably the easiest reaction but also the deadliest. Apathy is blind to the beauty of the world. Apathy is the weakest state of being and we are fighting the strongest of enemies. The Republicans are so powerful now because they never resorted to apathy. They have been organized, methodical, patient and pro-active. But they have also been regressive and narrow-minded. We need to internalize these positive traits, reject the negative ones and continue fighting for progressive causes.

SHAME
The world is very puzzled by our vote yesterday. Americans are not envied anymore, we are pitied at best, hated at worst. Our president is an embarrassment but we still have many things to be proud of. Bush won, but it wasn¹t a landslide. We put up a good fight. We are a country at a crossroads. We thought we would ³cross the road² yesterday, but the transition is still happening. The American
Experiment is the most successful in the history of mankind. It will always be an experiment, shifting and rising and falling. But the idea of democracy and its manifestation in our Constitution are still very much alive. Also, we can be proud that there are a lot of great people in America. I¹m proud of everyone I know. We are engaged in life. We are creative and strong. We care about the world and it¹s people and we have fought hard.

FEAR
There is truly much to fear. I don¹t need to make a list. But fear is exactly the tool the Republicans used to con so many people. Fear makes us vulnerable to reactionary forces. Fear can physically and emotionally weaken us. Fear can also be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Fear of being branded unpatriotic certainly blunted our ability to attack when it was appropriate. We must refuse to be subjugated by fear. Nobody really knows what¹s going to happen tomorrow, but if we fear tomorrow, we won¹t act today. We need to act without fear, or at least in spite of it.

HOPE
The only reaction that will do us any good is Hope. We need Hope to continue fighting. We need Hope to help us think of creative ways in which to fight. We need Hope to inspire others to help us make the world a better place. Without Hope we may as well just give up and jump in a lake. The world is too beautiful to give up so easily.

My biggest critique of Kerry is that he never offered a compelling vision of how the world should be. I think he was too cautious. He had very little to say about the post-9/11 world other than, Let¹s bring our allies back to the table. Leaders need to be visionaries.
Bush is a visionary and the only way to compete with a twisted visionary is to have a compelling vision of your own. We must continue to find ways to articulate our vision of how the world should be. And this should certainly including a more clear articulation of how we define our values and morals. The Right has been very good at choosing the words we use to describe the issues of our times. It¹s all doublespeak, of course, but it has been very effective. We need a set of clear, well-articulated visions for our country and our future.

We have realized today that we are in the middle of our adventure story when we thought we were at the end. Like the heroes of all adventure stories we are going to have to redouble our efforts, face our fears and call upon hidden reserves of power. We¹re going to have to intensify our challenges to our elected officials, the news media and the culture of fear and repression. We are going to have to build grassroots coalitions, pool our money and talent and maybe even run for office.
How can we all keep up (and increase) this fevered pitch of resistance for the next four years? We have to find whatever Hope survives within us and keep fighting. I know we will.