An Opposition Movement Manifesto

Writing at TomPaine.com, former NARAL chief Kate Michelman presents nothing less than a call-to-arms for patriotic citizens who oppose the destructive, un-American policies and inclinations of the Bush administration.

Michelman addresses her remarks to her pro-choice constituency, but every liberal can find inspiration in her words.

The compromises to which we have become accustomed—especially looking the other way as our putative allies either betray our values or remain silent as they are attacked—are the stuff of governing. A movement in power can accede to compromises in order to be assured of a larger gain. We are not getting that. Nor, for that matter, are we even succeeding in guarding against larger losses. That Justice Alito was confirmed without even a real challenge—scarcely a year after the Republican chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee warned that anti-choice nominees would be politically impossible to confirm—is a sign that we are still compromising in the name of phantom future gains.

An opposition movement is far better with the integrity of clear beliefs and politics of conviction and principle even when it must sustain some short-term losses—losses, it must be said, that we are sustaining anyway. It would be far better to lose Congressional votes with a reliable core of clearly defined support than to wonder, on every fight, whether that core will be with us. When supposedly moderate Republicans retain our movement’s support even after voting in near-lockstep for Alito, we cannot make a coherent case to the American people for our beliefs. A movement with integrity may lose battles in Washington. But it can inspire in the heartland—and in so doing, reclaim the majority. A movement with unclear beliefs and a too-quick proclivity to excuse the betrayals of our friends can do none of these things—and it loses, anyway.

Think certainly of reproductive rights, but think also of civil rights and of warrantless surveillance. Think of Social Security "reform," bankruptcy "reform" and Medicare "reform." Think of global-warming. Think of torture and, for the love of God, illegal and unprovoked war.

Think next about the congressmen and senators, Democrats as well as Republicans, who have, at best, looked the other way as Bush executed his multi-front assault on the essential rights, liberties and traditions that Americans have come to take for granted. Think about the lies he told and the lies that were told on his behalf. Such calumnies, such obscenities, must not go unpunished. Bush's co-conspirators in congress have betrayed America and Americans.

Bush is gone in three years, assuming he survives the sharks of scandal circling his administration. But, we have accounts to settle with the men and women who willingly and willfully made themselves his accomplices before, during and after his crimes. We do that by sending them back where they came from.

If liberals hope ever again to guide the ship of state and restore this country's greatness, we must begin acting like an opposition movement now. It is too late to stop the Patriot Act. It is too late to stop Alito and Roberts. It is too late to stop the Iraq war. But, there is plenty of time to keep Bush and his gallery of rogues in congress from harming our country any further. It starts in 2006.