And now what?

OK, this extortion catastrophe is probably going to pass and we have to go on from here.

What Progressives now need to do is regroup and declare a manifesto.

We must DEMAND from Democrats and President Obama that they commit NOW to fighting what the Minoritarian Rightists have extorted from our broken system, and reversing these policies immediately after the 2012 election, if we can succeed in regaining the House, keeping the Senate, and re-electing the Appeaser in Chief. Who must un-earn that moniker and start leading rather than capitulating time and time again.

I am a lone voice, hardly a whisper in a torrent of voices, all clamoring for attention. But in coming days or weeks I will lay out what I see as the essential argument for Progressives, which we have to direct at the Democrats, because our system, after Citizens United especially, simply will not tolerate a Third Party.

In a nutshell, the people are by and large with us, but they need the issues to be framed and presented with conviction, and their passions must be inflamed to get out the vote. We must clearly articulate how it is that the Republicans are extortionists, who have stolen these policy changes from a constituency that, by large majorities, opposes them. We must clearly, simply, and succinctly demonstrate to the vast majority of Americans that the Rightist Elite is not on their side, and that their interests, and those of their elderly relatives, and their kids' futures, are being stolen from them by the ultra-rich and corporate interests and their obedient servants in Washington, who have demonstrated a stark lack of basic patriotism and the willingness to jeopardize the economic security of our nation to get their Minoritarian way. This cannot stand... we must fight with all resources we have to overcome this usurpation of democracy.

We can win in 2012, and we can reverse this horrible policy shift. But we must have commitment, including from Obama. Without it, we fail, and he will almost certainly lose. And if that happens, the catastrophe we face now will seem mild.