Or is it pendula? Regardless, one has to work for progress; it is not an indefatigable natural phenomenon. A while ago, I had this to say about racial progress in the U.S.:
Racial progress wasn't inevitable; it required a lot of sacrifice. It wasn't that long ago, that publicly saying that you weren't opposed to inter-racial marriage, in many parts of this country, meant that you would be called a Communist, un-American, and far, far worse. A few even paid for it with their lives. For all those left-of-center who think the political pendulum will swing back on its own, I think you're mistaken. Liberalism is not a force of nature. Men and women defend it, and men and women can abandon it. Now, more than ever, we need to defend it.
Tristero happens to agree, particularly regarding creationism:
Take the fight against creationism, for example. A creationist bill has, according to sources in the fight, a very good chance of being signed into law by Jindal in Louisiana. Also, I am not at all certain, as Lind is, about the difficulty of rolling back Roe, especially if, God help us, McCain is elected in November.
So rather than saying "I almost agree" with Michael Lind, perhaps I should say that I'd very much like to. As for urging liberals to relax - which is not necessarily his headline but the one Salon assigned - it is the height of irresponsibility even to suggest such a thing. If the past 8 years have taught us nothing else, it's that the price of liberalism and freedom is, to paraphrase a Supreme Court justice, eternal vigilance against the anti-American and virulent political right. If this country manages to avoid another George W. Bush, it will not be because the undefined "people," by some vague process, decided to ignore rightwing propaganda, but because progressives made a vigorous and persuasive case to counteract that propaganda. Before they did, the movement conservatives were winning again and again. And wrecking this country as they did so.
We have to work and keep on working; one election is just a start.
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