The immediate inevitability of revolution

In the 2008 election, the Democratic party faced as close to ideal circumstances as a partisan political party can possibly face: The final term of the worst president ever, a war even more unpopular than Vietnam owned by the opposing party, an economic crisis completely, unequivocally and undeniably the responsibility of and effect of the opposing party's policies, and a charismatic, accomplished and intelligent presidential candidate. They were rewarded by the presidency, an historic legislative majority, and the opportunity to quickly seat a new Supreme Court justice.

And what have they accomplished? Zero. Zip. Nada. We're still in Iraq and Afghanistan. We still have record unemployment. The pathetic "the best we can say about it is it's just barely better than nothing" health care bill is still uncertain to pass. The Democratic party just lost a special election in Massachusetts, one of the great bastions of liberalism and the Democratic party.

The Democratic party has not only failed as the representatives of the well-established policies of liberal and progressive capitalism, they have failed to show minimal competence even as a partisan political party. Stupidity? Weakness? Cowardice? Betrayal? Treason? I don't know, but it doesn't matter. All that matters is success and failure, and the Democratic party is failing orders of magnitude more deeply than the Republican party under Richard Nixon's presidency.

The question is not whether there should be a revolution. The revolution is under way even as we speak, a an unholy alliance of Klansmen, Nazis, Christian fundamentalists, and Randian "capitalists" who have already overthrown capitalist constitutional liberal democracy, a revolution that is at most three years (and possibly less than a year) away from seizing complete power. Only one question remains. Will there be a counter-revolution? And there's only one person who can answer that question: You.

In the next one to three years, there isn't going to be a sideline, and there will be no popcorn. Much as I might dislike polarization, there isn't going to be a middle ground: you'll either be part of the resistance or part of the regime. And it won't be the resistance who will be forcing the choice: the fascist regime will make damn sure you have to compromise your human morality just to survive. Will you? Will you die or go underground rather than compromise your principles? I can't tell you how to chose, because I don't think I can demand that you die or risk death for what I personally think is important. I know how I personally will choose (and if my posts here suddenly stop, check the underground or the concentration camps), but how you will choose is between you and no one but your God or your conscience.