Does MoveOn work for the 99% or the Democrats?

Today, MoveOn.org was calling for 99% Congressional Speak-Out actions, but encouraging people to go to the offices of members of Congress all across the country.

An action was planned today for 1:00 PM at the Federal building in Grand Rapids, with less than 10 people showing up during the time this writer was there. The local MoveOn.org group also was encouraging people to sign an online petition calling on Rep. Amash to support job creation legislation. Part of the petition language reads as follows:

Unemployment remains at 14 million Americans and a stubborn 15% in Michigan. While Rep. Amash and the Republicans refuse to compromise on raising taxes on the 1% and balancing the budget at the cost of Medicare and Social Security, working Americans are slipping further and further into debt. While balancing the budget should be a long-term concern, the needs of the 99% should take precedence in any legislation before Congress.

The language clearly indicates that MoveOn wants to lay the blame for the current unemployment crisis at the feet of Republicans, since as numerous writers have pointed out for years, MoveOn.org is an operative of the Democratic Party.

The MoveOn 99% Congressional Speak-Out text also says, “On December 1, we’ll organize hundreds of “99% Congressional Speak-Outs” at local congressional offices to express our disgust that Washington has done nothing for the struggling majority. We’ll tell Democrats to act like Democrats and fight for Jobs Not Cuts—and we’ll expose the GOP’s all-out effort to give tax breaks to millionaires.”

Again, the bulk of the blame for our economic crisis is laid at the feet of the GOP, which is simply not true. The current financial crisis and economic policies that support the 1% have been a bi-partisan affair.

What is also objectionable about the MoveOn action is that it attempts to co-opt the language of the Occupy Movement by using terms like the 99% and the 1%. Their new add, Be Democrats, also uses the occupy language, but ignores the fact that the occupy movement has been clearly opposed to the bi-partisan support for Wall Street, political corruption and complicity in systemic exploitation. To watch the Be Democrats ad, one gets the impression that Democrats are generally for working class people. The ad spokesperson says that Democrats support welfare policies, which completely ignores the fact that much of the welfare system in the US was gutted under the Clinton administration.

The co-optation of the occupy movement by the Democrats and their operatives like MoveOn is dissected clearly in a recent article by Kevin Zeese, which points out that MoveOn has a history of undermining grassroots efforts for radical change since the beginning of the George W. Bush administration. And lest we forget, MoveOn started as an effort to stop any impeachment proceedings against former President Bill Clinton. Zeese ends his criticism of MoveOn, Rebuild the Dream and the Democrats by stating:

MoveOn and Rebuild the Dream can prove us wrong if they come forward with a non-partisan statement saying they will fight against any elected official, of any party, in any office, who has not lived up to the anti-militarism and anti-corporatist agenda, especially the president.

Until that statement is made Democratic Party operatives and their allied groups should back off the Occupy Movement.  You have a different strategy – working inside the Democratic Party, working inside the limits of the corrupt machine while we want to transform American politics.

Get out of our way.