Why we are critics.

[Bjorn Against]

There may be nothing that is more essential to a democracy than the right to voice dissent. Not all of us have the means or the ability to run for office, but each and every one of us has the ability to speak out about what is important to us. It is that ability to speak out in dissent that allows us to hold our politicians accountable and allows ordinary citizens to bring about real change in our nation, and it gives us all a level of influence that goes far beyond the influence we are able to have in the voting booth. Dissent is never something that is going to be embraced with open arms by all, but while dissent may not always be popular or even correct it is absolutely essential to our democracy.

There are some who are frustrated that many of us on the left have voiced dissent to some of Obama's policies. There are voices of dissent against Obama that I agree with and other voices that I strongly disagree with so I certainly can't speak for everyone, but I believe I can speak for at least a good number of people when I tell you why we speak out against several of Obama's policies.

Those of us on the left who speak out are very different from the critics on the right, we have no desire to see Obama fail and in fact we want nothing more than to see him succeed. We want to see him succeed at ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we want to see him succeed at ensuring that our nation does not torture and those who authorized or participated in acts of torture are held accountable, we want him to succeed at giving equal rights including the right to marry to all people, we want him to succeed at ending the unconstitutional wiretapping program that Bush began, and we want him to succeed at breaking up the largest banks and corporations to ensure that there are no more entities that are too big to fail.

There is so much that we want Obama to succeed at, the problem is that many of us think he is moving in the wrong direction on these issues and we won't see him succeed if he is taking the wrong actions. Of course there are many issues in which Obama is taking the right actions on and those issues need to be acknowledged. I have a very high level of confidence that he will take great strides towards protecting our environment and implementing a sustainable energy policy, and I am quite happy with many of the public works programs he has been putting forward. When Obama is doing right he will have our full support, but when he is doing wrong then we must speak out and we must speak out loudly.

Ultimately this is not about Obama however, this is about the system that has been in place in Washington for many years. Obama happens to be the person who has the most power in managing that system at the current moment however and that makes him the main person we need to put pressure on.

For decades we have watched as both major political parties in this country have worked together in creating a system which benefited the wealthiest Americans while ordinary citizens were being squeezed, we have watched while both Republicans and Democrats have supported deadly military attacks against nations which posed us no threat, we have watched while a bipartisan alliance in Congress voted for torture and illegal wiretapping programs, and we have watched while the bipartisan votes for deregulation of banks and corporations led our country into an economic crisis. The bipartisan disaster was created was certainly not created by Obama alone, and in fact his role in this mess is very minor compared to a lot of other people but he is in a position in which he has a lot of power to undo the mess. In order for him to undo the mess however he is going to have to step on some toes, and he is not only going to have to step on the toes of his political opponents but he is also going to have to step on the toes of some of his own friends. Washington is filled with people who bear responsibility for the mess we are in now and they do not all reside on one side of the aisle, and if we really want change in this country then we need to confront the problems with both parties.

It is crucial that the citizens of this country stand up and speak out about what they believe in, we need to write letters, we need to recruit allies, and we need to get in the streets and speak out about what we believe in. Our country is only a democracy if we make it a democracy, because elections alone do not make us a democracy especially when those elections are so heavily influenced by money. What makes us a democracy is the ability of ordinary citizens to make a difference, the Constitution gives us the power to make that difference but the Constitution is only effective if we stand up and exercise our rights. If you support what Obama is doing then by all means get behind him, but realize that in a democracy not everyone is going to agree with him on all the issues and those of us who have disagreements will not be silent.