Moving Beyond Bush

With the Democratic victory in the congressional elections of 2006, the good and natural inclination of most progressive Americans will be to attempt to enter a post-Bush era of political activism. For six years, we have been reacting to the atrocious agenda of the Bush White House. We've been against the war, against the mixing of religion and politics, and against the attacks on the freedoms guaranteed us in the Bill of Rights. That opposition has been important, but it has never been successful. Has any Bush policy yet been successfully countered? Many will now expect from us progressives to merely move on, and put the darkness of the Bush era behind us. Can this be done, however, when the policies of the Bush presidency have yet to be undone? Can we move beyond opposition to the Iraq War while the Iraq War is still going on? Can we end our opposition to the so-called faith-based initiatives to establish government-endorsed religion when these programs continue? Can we get past our opposition to new laws that undermine civil liberties just in the hope that the President's new powers will be exercised by a Democrat sooner than later? I don't think that we can fairly call George W. Bush a lame duck, so long as he has the power to eavesdrop on our private telephone conversations, and throw people into prison without criminal charge, as the Military Commissions Act allows? That lame duck still packs a deadly kick. We progressives need to be meticulous, and not allow our rush to put the Bush years behind us to interfere with the necessary, thorough restoration of America's traditional safeguards of liberty and peace. Before we can move forward, we need to clean up the mess that has been made.