ELECTION COMMENTARY by Elizabeth Warren

Special to Denver Direct

By Liz Warren

After listening to the morning-after postmortems from our favorite TV talking heads, I can't help but feel they have it all wrong.

A protest is not a mandate. Neither is voter apathy. (Note to Mitch McConnell and John Boehner: President Obama has been a bad boyfriend to the voters who elected him, and his rep spilled over onto the entire fraternity. That does not mean America now wants to get into bed with you. It means that some of us chose "abstinence" this election.)

Polls have consistently failed to show any meaningful support among informed Americans for the free market policies being pushed by those who, having amassed personal fortunes milking the existing system, now want to change the rules so that they won't have to share. Working people, given the option, wouldn't vote for the deals struck on golf courses between CEOs and legislators that privatize public services, leaving communities in ruins and marginalizing ever-increasing segments of society. And few among us would get behind corporate driven military aggression masquerading as U.S. foreign policy if we were given all the facts. Yet we can expect to see more of this (and then some) from those claiming to represent us in Washington, if we don't throw a rock in the gears next time around: http://www.alternet.org/election-2014/will-democrats-try-kill-partys-progressive-wing-regain-power

The next two years promise to be painful for the majority of working Americans, but it could get a whole lot worse before the pendulum naturally swings back. That's why we must plan NOW to get off the couch and hit the streets before November, 2016. I don't know about you, but I don't want to make last minute campaign calls for candidate Hillary Clinton. America deserves better.

BODIES are the only weapons we have to counter the huge sums of money that will be spent leading up to the 2016 vote by both mainstream GOP candidates and corporate-owned DINOs. It's not too early to start working toward uniting opposition forces, and focusing our efforts on creating better alternatives to the status quo. 

To take back America from corporatists of both parties in 2016, we will need every American who genuinely values democracy to step up and rally both progressive voters and their equally disenfranchised Tea Party neighbors, with whom progressives have more in common philosophically than either realizes.

We must create a harmonic convergence of the two ends of the political spectrum in 2016, to defeat "corporate rule."  I see us succeeding if we can apply a healthy dose of "old school" politicking - with millions of us going door to door like Girl Scouts to get out the vote. Given what's at stake, if we can't muster up the motivation to take back control of our country, we will have no one to blame but ourselves when the worst comes to pass. 

Remember: quoting dollars spent on elections is a scare tactic aimed at discouraging dissent. The amount of money spent on campaigns is only as effective as the number of voters it can influence. Each of us has a vote and a voice, and is capable of influencing others. The 1:1 encounter is a powerful engagement tool but we must be sincere, honest, and willing to put in the time.  And if we start now, we can recruit candidates worthy of our support.

Let's not give up. Together, we CAN make a difference.

Hopefully,

Elizabeth Warren

MoveOn Coordinator
National Trans-Pacific Partnership Team

San Diego