There Has Never Been a Better Chance to Defeat Neoliberals and Neofascists: Hopes for 2018

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Demonstration against G8 Summit in Le Havre

 

As 2017 chugs and sputters to a well-deserved end, I find myself surprised at the pessimism around me.

 

Yes, I know. Donald Trump is still President.

 

The plutocrats have stolen trillions of dollars from the majority in unnecessary tax cuts that threaten our ability to function as a nation.

 

A slim majority of their sniveling creatures at the FCC have repealed Net Neutrality gifting our free expression to huge corporations.

 

And big business continues to sack and burn our public schools only to replace them with charter and voucher swindles.

 

This is all true.

 

But it does not make me lose heart.

 

These defeats may be fleeting, momentary as political and legal challenges mount against them. As far as the tide has pulled back, a wave is gathering strength at sea, such a prodigious burst of water as to create a new ocean once it hits land.

 

Yes, we endured many scars from the year that was. But we have gained something truly amazing – something that we probably could not have grasped without our sexual predator in chief, a reality TV show conman posing as a political leader.

 

People.

 

Are.

 

Awake.

 

They see the undeniable destruction, the naked power grabs, how our lawmakers are owned by the super-rich and the outright denial of democratic principles.

 

They see and they understand.

 

It is no longer debatable that we have lost control of our government.

 

It is no longer a question whether our lawmakers have our best interests at heart.

 

It is no longer at all uncertain that business interests and public interests are not the same.

 

Everyone knows.

 

Everyone sees.

 

The question is “What will we do about it?”

 

I’m reminded of the ending of John Carpenter’s cult classic “They Live.”

 

In the movie, Earth is conquered by aliens but no one noticed. The aliens took over the media and government using a transmitter to hide their ugly faces so that people couldn’t see what they truly look like. These intergalactic shepherds used the media and advertising to herd us human sheep to focus on naked consumerism and ignore how we’re being consumed by the powers that be.

At the end of the movie, the hero – played by Roddy Piper – sacrifices himself to destroy the transmitter so everyone finally can see the hideous aliens among us.

 

I remember watching the film the first time back in the ‘80s and wondering what people would do once they could see the truth.

 

Would they fight? Or would they try to convince themselves that they weren’t seeing the evidence of their own eyes?

 

(WARNING: The video below is NSFW, contains nudity and sexual situations.)

 

We’re in a similar situation today.

 

Trump did not cause all of this. He certainly made it worse, but the groundwork was laid by years of neoliberals from Bill Clinton to Barack Obama.

 

Reagan and both Bushes started us rolling down into the pit, but it was the Clintons and the Obamas who convinced so many of us that we weren’t headed into oblivion, it was merely a trick of the mind, this was the direction we wanted to go and that if anyone got left behind it was merely their own darn fault.

 

But now the truth is right there before our faces.

 

And that’s thanks to the blunt, unrepentant greed of Donald J. Trump.

 

He steals from us and doesn’t even pretend he’s doing anything else.

 

He hordes our money. He destroys our laws and disregards our values. He raises racists and bigots to respectability while appointing unqualified sycophants with the expressed purpose to run our government into the ground. And if anyone dares proclaim the emperor has no clothes, all he can say is “Fake News.”

 

And though I thoroughly despise him for everything he’s done and continues to do bringing our world to the brink of annihilation – I also have to thank him.

 

There is no longer any denying the truth.

 

It is merely a question of how we fight.

 

Opportunities abound for victory, and on a scale we could not previously have dreamed.

 

It would take such a little push to topple this pathetic toy dictator’s regime.

 

Merely a whisper out of all our mouths could bring it down.

 

The slightest flick of the smallest finger on all our hands could send a shock wave causing this pitiful empire to crumble.

 

If we merely took to the streets at the same time, these dollar store monsters would dissolve in our wake.

 

And in their place – imagine the world we could create.

 

All the socialist ideals of Roosevelt’s New Deal could be realized. We could enact a NEW New Deal where everyone truly had a fair shot at flourishing.

 

As the Rev William Barber says, we could bring about a Third Reconstruction so that our future was firmly built on the foundation of equity and understanding for people of all races, genders, nationalities, religions and creeds.

 

We could forever banish money from the halls of power and force the plutocrats to pay for all they have stolen from us – with interest.

 

We could do all this with the merest flexing of our muscles. Because the conquering power is so weak, so disorganized, so pathetic.

 

And the status quo false flag opposition is just as weak and powerless.

 

There is but one puissant force left in this country of ours, and it is us. The people.

 

We were there at the beginning and we are here still at what might be our end.

 

We, the People.

 

We can take this country back from the sick and stunted and powerful.

 

We can take this country back from the frail and the deranged and prejudiced.

 

We can make America great – if not again then perhaps for the first time. We can make America truly great.

 

That is the promise of the future.

 

As our darkest hour dawns, our brightest light may yet shine.

 

Here’s to igniting that spark.

 

Here’s to a brighter tomorrow.

16 thoughts on “There Has Never Been a Better Chance to Defeat Neoliberals and Neofascists: Hopes for 2018”

  1. I agree that the public has been duped: by Trump, and more insidiously, by neoliberals (with the help of the DNC). BUT (unlike you) I fear that the public is NOT even partially awake. And even if they were, what could we actually do? What you’ve written above is inspiring, but I sense that you don’t have a clear idea of any way to get out of this depressing situation. I’d been hoping that Warren/Sanders might have some concrete action plan, but after reading their NYT op-ed, I see that even they are drawing a blank. The great slumbering public snores on, starry-eyed over their new Chinese- made TV, and all too happy to tune in to the latest Trump drama. Sorry to say it, but it looks like we are screwed.

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    • I have no magic ball, but it seems to me that no act of resistance is wasted. Look at what happened recently in South Korea and other democratic nations. If enough of us take to the streets, if we organize, if we speak out, if we run for office, if we vote, we can tear down this atrocity. We have already begun.

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  2. My fear is that people think electing a Democrat is the way to defeat Trumpism. If and when we do, people will sit back and breathe a sigh of relief – the Trump years are over, we will rejoice. I know because that’s what I did in 2008 after eight years of fighting all the evils of the Bush years. Phew – thank god that was over!

    Except that it wasn’t over in 2008 (took me a year or two to realize that and wake up) and it won’t be over in 2020 or whenever we next vote Trump/the Republicans out of office. But so long as people think that electing Democrats is the answer, the pain will only continue, but few will stand up or protest, and those who do will be ridiculed, marginalized, abused and silenced. Even now trying to persuade people that Democrats are not the answer by default means that you are a Trump troll/Putin pawn/Russian agent.

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  3. Thank you for acknowledging that this didn’t just happen this year. I grew up in the Reagan era and noticed the shift then and then it really took off under the Clinton administration. It was awful how the Clinton’s bashed the teachers union in Arkansas to win the Governorship. It was awful that in our recession, Obama bailed out the banks and big business yet so many hard working people lost their homes. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Dem or a Rep politician, none are honorable or trustworthy. This has got to end….and soon!

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    • The Democrats have not proven themselves to be part of the solution. At best, they’ve proven themselves to be part of the problem. They need to do a drastic change or else move out of the way for a true popular third party. I think the time may be coming when the candidate matters more than the party, though I can’t imagine any one getting a Republican nomination who would be worth voting for. As far gone as the Democrats are, the Republicans are worse.

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  5. […] While many people are demoralized about the ongoing attacks on education, the environment, and almost every institution of government, as well as the Trump administration’s plans to widen the income and wealth inequality gaps, Steven Singer thinks that 2018 may be a great year for turning the tide against the neoliberals and neofascists. […]

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