“Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
Ulysses, by Tennyson
That which we are, we are. We may be regaining that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven. (H/T to Judi Dench and
Skyfall)
We won. We won marriage equality in Maryland and elsewhere. We won Senate seats we should not have won. We worked and organized and returned a black man to the presidency in the middle of a terrible recession.
We should remember and restore our old strength. Union power to establish fair wages. Political power in a president who said "They are unanimous in their hate for me--and I welcome their hatred." Righteous power in a flawed president and son of the South who meant it when he said "We shall overcome."
We have been blocked and slowed down before. After WWII union power and liberalism were hamstrung by the McCarthy Era. Vietnam bogged down the push for civil rights. And we lost John, Martin, and Bobby. Bill Clinton created his own speed bump and set the table for the Bush/Cheney wars. Gore won but lost. Nothing similar has happened to the American right. Much abides. We refused to yield.
Now the tide may be moving with us. The challenge of our time is to keep the tide moving towards justice, science, and rational economic management. Our battleground is state governments and the House, starting now. We need to give our President a House majority in 2014 to help our country recover and to set the table for 2016.