Bush's Vulnerabilities and the Seeds of Progressive Revival

Cracking the Conservatives

Over the past two years, the United States has witnessed a staggering reversal of fortune. We've gone from peace and prosperity to war and recession. We've suffered the worst act of terror on US soil ever, the most costly stock market collapse ever, the biggest corporate crime wave since the Gilded Age, the most severe trade deficits. States and cities are suffering from the largest fiscal crisis in over 50 years. And we've gone from record budget surpluses to record deficits overnight. American families pay the price for this. Wages are declining; unemployment is rising. Health care is broken. Retirement plans are shattered. Schools are laying off teachers and shutting down after-school programs. The cost of college is soaring. More and more Americans are struggling simply to make ends meet.

Bush and his movement conservatives have no solutions to these problems. Their mantra, of course, is smaller government, lower taxes, strong military, traditional values. But our government is already the smallest of any industrial nation, our taxes the lowest, our military the strongest, our people among the most devout. We've already been there and done that.
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We need a big argument about the course this country's on -- and Democrats would benefit most from forcing it. Do we want a smaller government dominated by corporate lobbies, or one that is on your side? Do we want to free up corporations and CEOs, or empower workers and support small investors, consumers and the environment? Police the world alone or return to the polices that made this country strong -- alliances, international law, sharing the burdens and seeking to be a source of hope and not of fear? A society where each is on his or her own, or where families gain vital security in an economy of increasing flux, starting with health care, education and training, and retirement security? Do we want a corporate-defined trade policy that ships good jobs abroad while racking up unsustainable deficits, or balanced trade that will spread the blessings of the global economy?

Robert L. Borosage is a founder of the Campaign for America's Future
Web site: www.ourfuture.org.