Not sure about you but I am having some post-election blues. Sure, I am not happy with what Obama has done up to now – he’s not bold enough – so, I can understand the disgruntlement but it’s still scary that several tea partiers made it, plus they’re pushing in the wrong direction… There are some articles “out there” that try to bring some perspective, though not entirely successful. Maybe the first step is for us to realize that the glass is empty. We know what needs to be done – get the money out of politics, tax the rich – but I am at a loss on how we can get more people to see this and act on it. Though maybe there’s hope that Obama finally remembers what he said while campaigning… Somehow I doubt it. He’s let us down many times already. But we’ll see…

Starhawk posted some suggestions of what we need to fight for to start changing the system:

• Invest in life, not death
• Make the rich pay their fair share
• Hold the real criminals accountable
• Get big money out of our elections

She ends her post with these encouragements:

Don’t be complacent, but don’t despair. All around us are allies working for more justice, more freedom, more ecological balance, more peace. This is not a time to fall back, but to step up, to be bolder, braver, louder, funnier, more inventive, more outrageous, more committed. Political winds blow back and forth—hold to your deepest values, and we’ll stay the course.

But the winds never really blew in the progressive direction. This might be a backlash – the question is to what, though?

Then Credo has also made a list of 10 things we need to do now:

1. Commit to Taking Down FOX News
2. Tell the Senate to pass the DISCLOSE Act during the lame duck session
3. Keep fighting to end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans
4. Sign up for the fight for a constitutional amendment to reverse the Citizens United
5. Tell the FCC to use its existing authority to establish and defend net neutrality
6. Investigate Karl Rove’s election money laundring scheme
7. Defend the EPA from castration by pro-coal interests in Congress
8. Ask the administration to stop deferring making changes to DOMA, Don’t Ask
9. End the seniority system
10. Let people register to vote when they register their cars

Like Starhawk’s list, these are great suggestions. But, again, I am not exactly sure how we’re actually going to do all this. I think one thing that this election made clear: You cannot change the system from within the system. People who benefit greatly from corporate campaign contributions will not enact legislation that curb those contributions, for example. Credo has lots of petition links in their list but signing petitions is not enough.

The election results are a convincing example of system justification that John Jost and others are investigating: People support the status quo even if that status quo is not in their best interest. We get manipulated way too easily into believing that the tea partiers are on our side – when in reality, they are corporately funded. Instead of learning to think critically, we learn to memorize slogans.

What are the leverage points in this system? How can we shift the current paradigms? How do we break through system justification and help people realize that this system is in desperate need of changing in so many ways?