Not One Step Back!

The Soviet Union won World War II on February 2, 1943. Hitler had his way with every army from Dunkirk to Zagreb and despite the odd setback (Moscow, winter 1941) he had been rolling up the Red Army like a cheap rug all through 1942. Until Stalingrad. This industrial town was a primary railhead as well as sitting near the confluence of the Volga and Don rivers. Take Stalingrad and Soviet Union was doomed; industrial strength shattered, the way clear for Hitler to win the oil riches of the Caucuses.

The Red Army, defeated in battle after battle through 1942 had it's back against the wall. If Stalingrad was lost ultimate defeat was all be inevitable. Somehow during the six months from August 1942 to February 2,1943 they found the will and the means to fight and win against the Whermacht in the bloodiest battle in the history of human conflict. Ultimately, of the over half-a-million men that Germany committed to battle, only 91,000 survived to surrender to General Chuikov. Only a few thousand lived through to the end of the war. The Whermacht was gutted. When allied forces invade Africa in November 1943 there would be no battle-hardened reinforcements for Rommel. When we landed in Normandy no Panzer armies to roll us back into the sea. Hitler was a dead man walking from February 2, 1943.

Social Security is the Democratic Party's Stalingrad. Like Stalin's eponymous industrial crossroads, Social Security is one of the signature achievements of the Democratic Party in the 20th Century. If we cannot find the means and will to win this battle, we have lost the war. The fight may go on afterward, but there will be little left to fight for and little left to fight with. The tables will have turned and, like the Germans after Stalingrad we will have lost, we just won't have admitted it yet.

To win at Stalingrad, the Soviets had received -- literally just in time -- the modern weapons that, when matched with the indomitable spirit of her soldiers allowed the Red Army to match the Whermacht. The Democratic Party even in the sting of our defeats in 2004 has developed a broad array of new weapons; the blogsphere, unprecedented grassroots fundraising and organizing, Air America Radio, and a renewed understanding of how to reframe the public policy debate in America. We have the means to win. Now, it is simply a matter of screwing our courage to the sticking point and crying, like the heroes of Stalingrad, "Not one step back!"

From now on the iron law of discipline for every officer, soldier, political officer should be – not a single step back without order from higher command. Company, battalion, regiment and division commanders, as well as the commissars and political officers of corresponding ranks who retreat without order from above, are traitors of the Motherland. They should be treated as traitors of the Motherland. This is the call of our Motherland.

The Environmental Movement is Dead

Salon today publishes, Dead Movement Walking, (subscription or annoying advertisement required) coverage of some recent goings on in the environmental movement in which notable movers and shakers are saying the movement has failed utterly to move the ball in any significant way and that the public has monumentally ingored environmental concerns.

Former Sierra Club President, Adam Werback is quoted,

With self-mythologizing flair, he declared, "I will not longer call myself an environmentalist," in working to build a broader progressive movement. "Environmentalism is dead in no small part because it could never match the right's power to narrate a compelling vision of America's future," he eulogized.

That and the fact that the momentum of carbon build up and the economic industrial status quo pretty much guarantee that massive climate shifts are a sure thing. Environmentalists need to focus on saving mankind, not the environment.

Fortunately, it seems that those who have come to bury Environmentalism are beginning to twig to the facts on the ground.

Shellenberger and Nordhaus don't believe that activists have to give up on government. But they do believe that the approach has to change. Instead of telling Americans why they should be concerned about, say, global warming, Shellenberger and Nordhaus believe that activists could best further their anti-climate-change agenda by taking on the issues that voters -- and thus politicians -- already care about, while fixing the environment at the same time. Like the economy and jobs.

For instance, instead of presenting the nightmare future that will result if America doesn't take action on global warming -- soon! now! yesterday! -- environmentalists need to change the conversation: "We don't have to talk about global warming," Shellenberger says. "What we need to talk about is what we want America to look like: what a sustainable, economically prosperous America looks like in the 21st century, and what we need to do to get there. And we need to articulate that in the context of a vision that does something about global warming, but also, more importantly to the average American, offers something more than that to them, offers them hope for their own future, for the kind of life they want to live.

BINGO! Someone e-mail Shellenberger and Nordhaus the URL for WorldChanging.org.

Back

Long, long Holiday break. Three trips to Chicago, two family visits, one utterly bebauched party and four snow days later I'm finally recovered from the holidays and back into normal operating mode.