Liberalism or Radicalism: What Will It Take To Move America Forward?

The WikiLeaks saga has awakened a surge of anger and disbelief on the true-left. The clear contempt for transparency displayed by the Washington and media establishment is despicable, though perhaps not surprising.

There are those who have said, "some information ought to remain secret." And they would be correct: not all government secrets should be revealed without consideration for the nuanced effects of such actions. But the Iraq and Afghanistan war logs and the State Department cables are decidedly not the variety of documents that should be kept from the public. These documents have painted a clear picture of how the US government and military do business-- a picture that the networks refuse to paint-- and, therefore, are indispensable if we are to hold true that government transparency begets a functional democracy.

But the establishment is too entrenched. The decision makers in Washington have nothing to gain from the publishing of such information and everything to lose. This is not our government.

"[President Obama] had two years of full Congressional support to get measures such as health care reform passed: that’s two years that any NUMBER of progressive measures could have been enacted, such as immigration reform (which, thankfully, is on its way regardless), the repeal of DADT (which could have been ended via simple Executive Order), or an improved version of the Food Safety act," wrote a good friend of mine, Charlie Olvera, on his blog last Friday. "Instead, we got an administration more concerned with bi-partisanship and appeasing the will of its most vocal critics than with actually performing progressive governance..."

I share his feelings of disenfranchisement.

"Liberals in this country have a reputation grounded in 60s peacenik culture, which unfortunately gives us, in the public estimation, the impression that we are all Prius-driving, Whole Foods-shopping, spaced-out, over-educated wimps," he continues. "If I have to, I will stand as a one-man testament to the contrary. I’m a liberal. I’m about as liberal as they come. And you know what? I’m fucking ANGRY. And I’m going to kick and fight and yell and scream about my rights and the rights of American citizens, and about the moral and ethical responsibility American governance has to its constituency, until somebody sits up and listens and starts yelling with me."

We liberals have tried to play nice. We've tried to play by the rules and compromise and debate and discuss and cater to all people from all income brackets and from all ends of the spectrum.

I say enough of that. I, for one, am starting to believe that the only thing that will really make any difference-- in the face of the deeply-entrenched and disingenuous 'republi-crat' establishment and the deafening idiocy of FOX News, CNN, and the like-- is radical action, and not just liberal opinion. Radical action such as a reclamation of the congress by ordinary citizens or a forced return of the public airwaves used by for-profit media into the public's hands.

"If these Tea Party buffoons can have their media circus," my friend closes, "so can I." Count me in, Charlie.