On Calming Down, Not Celebrating and Getting it Right

Throughout the day, I have received some email and seen some comments from people purporting to be "progressive" yet claiming that anyone who opposes the Paulson version of the bailout bill is thrilled to see the stock market decline today, and more generally, happy that America may go into a second Great Depression. These outbursts are likely spurred by fear, which is understandable, considering the Bush administration, congressional Democratic leadership and media are all insisting what Margaret Thatcher famously insisted: that There Is No Alternative to what's being proposed, and that if what's being proposed doesn't pass, we're all going to die.

I'm not going to be blogging tomorrow because of the Jewish holiday, but let me just respond to the comments, because they are, in effect, the same tactics the Right uses is likening progressives to terrorists. When you claim that opponents of this bailout want to see a Great Depression, you are questioning our patriotism, and that's unacceptable. Just because we disagree - or just because what principled opponents say doesn't comport with your election-year partisan desires - doesn't mean we don't love our country. We speak out BECAUSE we love our country. And let me reiterate what I have said all day: The House vote against the bailout bill SHOULD NOT SPUR CELEBRATION - it should spur us to demand a more responsible bill. Claiming that because opponents supported the House rejection of this bill means we are "celebrating" the stock market decline is a malicious and disgusting lie worthy of a right-wing hate site.

I urge everyone to take a deep breath, realize that part of your fear is being motivated by the same people who scared us into the Iraq War, understand that there are plenty of alternatives as outlined on this blog over the last week and a half, and consider the fact that while there is a serious credit problem, simply giving $700 billion to the people who created the problem has more of a chance of making the problem worse than solving it.

Those of us who oppose this plan oppose it not out of some desire to make common cause with right-wing Republicans, nor out of some sense of "purity" nor out of a desire to see the village burned to save it. We oppose it because we believe it will do irreparable harm to our country and potentially CREATE the Second Great Depression its backers purport to care about stopping. And the idea that because the market went down during the day it means voting down the House bill was a bad idea is so fascist and anti-democratic it's hard to comprehend. That line of thinking overtly suggests that legislators in a democracy should legislate solely in the interest of what market speculators - not their constituents - want on a given day.

Let me be clear: I have a modest retirement account that I've worked hard to save. I'm worried when I see what's happened to the market. But I also realize that while Wall Street says this is a new crisis, there's been a health care, wage, job and pension crisis that's been going on for the last decade - and so forgive me if I find it a bit ridiculous that while no one said we had to act quickly on those life-and-death crises, we are supposed to nonetheless see this banking sector problem as Armageddon that demands handing over 5% of our entire economy to one unelected political appointee (Henry Paulson). In that sense, all the alarmism - especially coming from such a discredited Washington crowd - rings a bit hollow.

I'm not saying there's not a credit problem - there is. But we cannot let the authoritarians use that credit problem as a rationale to trample our deliberative democracy in the name of helping their cronies. If we hand over $700 billion to one man - Henry Paulson - under insane deadline demands, we are quite literally subverting our democracy to the whims of authoritarian capitalism, flown under the banner of kleptocratic socialism. Those of us who hope Congress says "hell no" aren't rejoicing at our economic turmoil - we're the ones who have been predicting it, and who think the way to prevent things from getting worse are to actually do something other than giving money to the same people that got us to this awful point.