Hope Someone observed to Patricia Ireland recently that the formation of the rightwing Bush Administration is about as discouraging for progressives as Ronald Reagan's ascendancy in 1980. We are much better positioned than we were in the Reagan era.
Activists are more sophisticated, more experienced, and better organized.
And there is the hope, with the partisan split in Congress, that the worst of Bush's rightwing program can be resisted. A Democratic Congress passed many of Reagan's most regressive programs. But George W. Bush lacks Ronald Reagan's popular support. And progressive interest groups are making it their mission to demand that the Democrats in Congress stop caving in to his agenda. Still, it is a daunting time for people concerned about women's rights, gay rights, social justice, labor, and the environment.