to lindorff, solomon, et al

you have been writing really good pieces lately. in fact, you always write good pieces. but, when it comes to voting your ideas, you seem to fly south. you tell us that third parties have no power, and then quote debs when it suits your purposes. there are many of you, millions in fact, that are to the left of the democratic party, and yet, you vote democrat every 4 years. you tell us that third parties have no power, and then go and prove it by not supporting them. and once you have helped a democrat get elected, you then go back to criticizing him. but you can't have it both ways. with your vote, you help elect war criminals. you can cop out and say the other party is worse, but that doesn't do much for the bombed, does it? what is the point of a left that supports the system? your words are wasted, overpowered by your deeds of complicity and cowardice. you bitch about the bombing of afghanistan, but before doing so, you vote for a candidate who clearly stated that he would carry on that very bombing. you make a fine movie about the brutality of war, and then become a delegate for a candidate who said that he would "never hesitate to use military force." progressives, both black and white, who do great anti-racist work 364 days of the year, wept tears of joy for a candidate who only speaks of race when it allows him to condemn black men on father's day. certain un-wise fellows even looked in on their sleeping children as they shed quiet tears, seemingly forgetting that the man they were crying over said not a word about katrina, jena 6, police brutality, unequal drug laws, segregated schools and housing, and racial health inequities. progressive educators gathered their students into auditoriums to watch the inaugural, as the bombs fell in distant places.

we should be building a movement. instead, we write good pieces, and then vote for a fellow who opposes everything we write about. but what of it, as long as he is half kenyan? with a left like this, who needs a right? we celebrate diversity, as diverse people the world over are destroyed by a system we are unable or unwilling to oppose. we don't use racial slurs, as iraq is decimated. we marvel at the first lady, as black infants in detroit and dc die at a faster rate than they do in many impoverished countries. the nba celebrates mlk day, without ever mentioning his ideas, and then reminds us that the game is sponsored by the marines. beyonce makes 80 million dollars, as the unemployment rate for black men in several major cities is 50%

solomon, lindorff, zinn, and others...are you still excited by obama's victory? do you feel that you wasted your time telling us all on the left to not waste our votes on a third party, now that it is quite clear that it is you who has wasted your vote? what can you point to that justifies your craven acceptance of the democratic nominee? has the military budget decreased? have we begun to move away from corporate capitalism? have we pulled out of iraq and afghanistan? have we stopped bombing pakistan? have we ended the embargo against cuba? have we stopped funding israel? has their been any mention of racism, and how it can be dealt with?

in the meantime, we wait for a true left, a left that fights the system, not one that lines up every 4 years and fights to uphold it. we need to move beyond the current structures of power. one day, perhaps, people will look back and laugh at us for feeling ourselves to be a left.

what have we done to justify the label? maybe there is still time, though i'm not sure. one thing i know, a good start would be building our own movements, our own media, our own learning centers, our own political parties. let us not stand in line in 2012, and drive around with obama bumper stickers on our cars.

and if we do so, let us have the decency to not call ourselves progressives.

debs and che and emma and malcolm and fred hampton and dave gilbert and so many more need to have their legacies carried on.

i'm sorry, solomon, lindorff, et al, but you ain't getting it done.