I am very far from being okay. The murder of handcuffed Afghan schoolchildren by American “civilians” (CIA?) who have access to helicopters has me in a surly mood. I have to repeat to myself over and over, “small steps, small steps, stick to the plan.” So I stick to the plan. The Full Court Press is a good plan, a very good plan. But I’m feeling a little less tolerant of bullshit today, so let’s have a fight. Over strategy and method. Let me pick on ActBlue, because variations of its strategy of funding liberal candidates to replace the worst of the Democrats has been holy writ among progressives for so many years.
At one level, no such fight is necessary. I’m sure the ActBlue folks are good people. If I were in the right district, I’m sure I would vote for many of the candidates they funnel money to. In fact, a key feature of the Full Court Press is its flexibility, its compatibility with other tactics. It merely calls for filing candidates in all 435 congressional primaries around a modest but pointed program:
WPA-style jobs program
Medicare for all
Repeal Stupak and Hyde and their ilk
U.S. out of Iraq and Afghanistan
It does not comprise a complete strategy. Since the only bottom line is supporting the above points and getting on the congressional primary ballot, it does not require campaigning hard against Dennis Kucinich if he doesn’t endorse the program. We would not want to undermine an effort to defeat Stupak. On the other hand, if an incumbent said they agreed with “U.S. out of Iraq and Afghanistan” but had voted to fund the war effort, they wouldn’t get the FCP stamp of approval either. Our tactics may be flexible, but our principles are not. Being flexible doesn’t mean being a patsy.