On September 11, 1970, Spiro Agnew, in an address to the California Republican state convention in San Diego, uttered these famous words (crafted by William Safire): “In the United States today, we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism. They have formed their own 4-H Club — the hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history.”

In the wake of Van Jones’ forced resignation, at the hands of the contemporary nattering nabobs of negativism (Beck, O’Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh, Coulter, Bachmann, Palin …. the list seems endless), what should we do? These people, the leaders of the Party of No, have apparently decided to bring down Obama’s presidency in a display of populist power that is destined to result in a social upheaval of dangerous proportions. Flush with his success in driving Van Jones from the government, Beck is now looking for his next victim. Beck and his ilk are attacking the very foundations of our democracy by sowing discord and fanning the flames of discontent with government. Their appeals to libertarianism, free markets, a strict interpretation of the Constitution, secession, and armed thuggery are extremely dangerous. What is Obama doing about it? Nothing. Not a damn thing. He allows these thugs to drive qualified people out of government and then stands idly by, watching them scream about how ineffective government is. They have nothing positive to contribute, nothing at all. It is well past time for Obama to mount an offensive against these hate-mongers. He has the qualifications – educated, a gift for oratory, a professor of Constitutional law. Does he not remember the words of Eldrige Cleaver, the leader of the Black Panther Party in the 1960s? Cleaver famously declared this, about racism: “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.” I say, to all the right-wing populists: you are part of the problem.

This has to stop. Is government broken? To a large degree, yes, it is. Does driving good people from government help? Not at all. Progressives, all across the country, recognize what is wrong: a government that is run by self-interested parties bent on destroying the middle class by out-sourcing their jobs, creating “innovative” financial instruments to destroy their wealth, draining the country of its treasure by engaging in pointless wars, and ensuring that the pharmaceutical, “defense”, and banking industries flourish at the expense of the rest of the country.

What is the solution? I don’t know the entire solution, but a return to civil discourse would be a huge help. Turn off the TV, turn off the radio, pick up a book, read, and learn something about how our government works. Try thinking for a change, instead of resorting to knee-jerk emotionalism. Then, engage in civil discourse with our elected officials and work for change. Don’t tear the house down and dance on the ruins – re-model it! Van Jones was doing just that, working for change, before he was ousted by a gang of hate-mongering rabble rousers.

If we allow Beck and his cronies to continue much longer, I fear that Obama will be a one-term president and that the ugly forces of right-wing populism will bring this country to ruin. We are well on our way to discovering the truth of the bumper sticker that educators have long displayed on the bumpers of their cars:

“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”