What if Kerry Wins

Today, via James Wolcott, I was introduced to a blogger who is the first "must read" that I have met in some time. Al Giordano blogs at Big, Left, Outside and greets us by posing a question that seems equally valid for both liberal Democrats and moderate Republicans - should John Kerry win, what comes next? First, he offers his prediction of what must first happen for Kerry in this election, and he does so powerfully.

"It's show time for Kerry: the hour when, in his past campaigns, he has come from behind to slash the tires of his opponent, squeak past him, and cross the finish line first. (Against as dirty a fighter as Bush, Kerry should feel no moral hesitation at all in playing even dirtier to win.) I'm betting - as I did last December and January in the Democratic primaries - that Kerry takes the November election decisively."

Al then goes on to predict what will happen, and more to the point what needs to happen.

"But if you find yourself on the Capitol steps, raising your right hand, taking an oath ?-- well, then you will learn just how powerless even presidents and kings have become in the shadow of the global empire of money and media."

The responsibility, as Giordano puts it, is less on Kerry himself and more on America. Rather than sighing in relief that the wicked Bush of the West has had a house dropped on him at last and dozing off in complacency, he insists that Americans need to continue to exert pressure from below, moving the country in a different direction. Whether you are a moderate or a liberal, I think these words ring true.

"A Kerry victory must not become another national sleeping pill, but, rather, a turning up of the volume on the American alarm clock so that it rings daily at the hours set from every home, farm, workplace, school and neighborhood: may the horns of revelry blow, and may we wake each day into battle to reclaim our country and, with our fellow and sister humans abroad, our world. Kerry, presuming he will take his oath of office on January 20, 2005, will be - from my perspective as one who knows him - an essentially good man in an essentially bad situation. Not even from the official apex of the Empire can he, alone, change the course of history or pull back from wars. The task will not be only his, but also ours, not merely to push him according to traditional political tactics (lobbying, letter-writing, petitions, forming organizations, and the rest of those ineffective choices offered by Power's menu), but also to create, from below, the societal conditions under which he can - indeed, must - act against entrenched and mega-powerful interests, which, for Lieutenant Kerry, can only mean mobilizing the multitudes to awaken and fight."

This is a message that may have been intended for Democrats, but is even more true for moderate Republicans. If Bush falls, the next four years will be vital in pushing the party back towards more centrist, moderate tones that call for inclusion into a truly "big tent" and respect for individual choices, while keeping old school, Eisenhower values. Simply laying about while Kerry holds office for four years will only give the ultraconservatives that much more time to regroup and put yet another Bush up for election in 2008.

Giordano is a frighteningly good writer. I look forward to seeing where he goes from here.