| It has been fascinating watching the criticism aimed at me for basically being insufficiently pro-DREAM. I headlined my piece on Jon that he is wrong on the DREAM Act. I first called him out publicly on immigration in 2007.
But here's the thing, DREAM is a great piece of legislation. I love it. But is it "quite possibly one of the best pieces of policy" of the last four years? Is that defined in that it was all good and no bad? Because if we're talking on net good, the ARRA and TARP kept millions of people unemployed and staved off a great depression that would have crushed the American Dream for millions of families. The ACA marked the first time in American history that we accomplished comprehensive health care reform and laid the groundwork for getting to affordable health care for all -- one of the biggest social justice issues of our time. The passage of DADT repeal marks the first time, I believe, that LGBT civil rights legislation has passed Congress (I could be wrong on this). We saw huge victories on student aid. Lilly Ledbetter. Financial reform.
If you call yourself a liberal or progressive and don't consider this a landmark session of Congress, you need to think long and hard about how change in this country actually happens. Read more history.
Abraham Lincoln was a racist and a tortoise. He also ended slavery in the United States. FDR cut deals with racist southern Senators. He also established Social Security, one of the most important anti-poverty programs and the keystone of America's social insurance system. Both of these leaders had loud, angry critics from the left who insisted that their politics would result in crushing failures. They're now among our heroes.
Our leaders are imperfect. They always have been. But we've made change, always, by fighting one vote at a time.
Moving Jon Tester on immigration reform, if we can do it, is a process that will take years of focused work. One or two rounds of angry phone calls is such an inadequate response without bigger planning. And if the end game here is to oust Jon Tester, you'll actually see the next wave of Montana policymakers get worse on issues that we care about.
This isn't just about what Jon Tester owes our communities. It's about what we, as organizers, owe our communities: strategies that lead to victories. I don't get disgusted by policymakers who cast bad votes. I get disappointed. And I don't get disgusted by my friends and allies in the movement who execute poor strategy. I just get disappointed.
Democracy is hard. It will always be hard. Those of us who tend to be outspent should actually be grateful that small bursts of political pressure have as little of an impact as they do. If electoral threats always moved US Senators, we'd never win a vote. |
